'Constant Development'

Boston native Phil McCabe, now a prominent hotelier and restaurateur in Naples, managed to save his $25,000 nest egg while he served in the U.S. Air Force during Vietnam and worked for the CIA.

Although a new mission stationing him in Australia sounded “exotic,” McCabe declined. “My entrepreneurial spirits were being born at that time. I said, 'I need to go out into the world and find a business,'” he says. “And I felt pretty rich with $25,000.”

Then 27, McCabe purchased a bankrupt beachfront hotel in Maine, rescuing the business. He continued with several ventures. But the anti-growth mentality in Maine “didn't fit with McCabe,” he says.