It's not often that retiring to a remote island, accessible only by boat, can inspire someone to become an entrepreneur and start a second career. But that is exactly what happened to our next guest. Shortly after she and her husband moved to Daufuskie Island, off the southern coast of South Carolina, she started designing handbags. And for two years in a row now, her company has made it into Inc. 5000 list of the countries fastest growing companies. Mike Switzer interview Kay Stanley, owner of Spartina 449, based in Hilton Head.
After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.