Anago Cleaning Systems: Franchise for Less

Here's how he got that job: One day Povlitz barged into the Silverdome uninvited and started cleaning the concourse walkways with a state-of-the-art Clarke Autoscrubber. The facility's architect stopped him and asked him what he was doing. Impressed by the results, he helped Povlitz get a three-year contract to clean the stadium.

In those early days, in the 1970s, Povlitz enlisted his three brothers to run the new company, which they called Imperial Professional Building Maintenance. They designed new ways to cut costs and lower their bids for contracts. At the stadium, for example, they swept two rows into one aisle instead of sweeping one row into an adjacent aisle, consolidating trash pickup. For restroom work, Povlitz came up with the idea of using an orchard sprayer to apply disinfectant to bathrooms -- a common practice today.

The brothers worked together for 15 years before splitting up and selling the company in the late 1980s. Povlitz retired in Florida but decided to take a job at top janitorial franchiser Jani-King to study its ways. After a few months, he came out of retirement and started Anago, which scored its first franchisee in 1991. Now there are 1,233 locations and counting. "Our business is essentially recession-resistant," he says.

At age 60, Povlitz is married with two grown children. He enjoys fishing and taking his boat out on the Intracoastal Waterway of Broward County, Fla., where he lives the good life. He has no plans for a second retirement. "I don't think so," he says. "I'm having too much fun."