Bright opportunity

Entrepreneur Earl Hagman, who runs a 30-employee, $3 million manufacturing business, thought the solution to his so-called good problem — too much business — was obvious: Get more space.

“We are in the process of losing orders because I don't have the capacity,” says Hagman, founder and CEO of Ergotech, which makes ergonomic equipment for workers in a manufacturing or industrial setting. Clients range from the federal government to a host of Fortune 500 companies, including Boeing, Ford and Gillette. “I can't even tell you how much business we have we can't get to.”

Hagman never thought he would open the much-needed facility in Florida, a state he always considered long on retirees and tourism and short on engineering and technical employees. But Hagman has embraced the Sunshine State after what he says was a costly and trying two years of failed expansion efforts in Danbury, Conn., where Ergotech is based.