Branch out

Larry Miller thought he was getting out of the recruiting and staffing business in 2000.

He'd worked for Norrell Services since 1986, but was offered a buyout deal when that company merged with another staffing firm and became Spherion Staffing Services. He took the deal and envisioned an early retirement.

But the stock market woes of the early 2000s got him thinking about working again. Which was right around the time Spherion officials asked him to buy his old Polk County territory back, along with the Sarasota and Fort Myers markets.