Younger would-be chief executives are increasingly seeking profits — and freedom from the 9-to-5 — by pivoting from corporate jobs into often unglamorous small-business niches.
Nicole Rizzo and her husband, David Rizzo (2nd frame), are among the growing ranks of “corporate refugees" turning to sometimes surprising jobs. The couple purchased Die Cleaning Equipment, an aluminum business in Phoenix, from Steve and Kristin Smith (fourth frame), enabling the Smiths to retire and travel in their Airstream.
“When Nicole Rizzo saw the “For Sale” listing for Die Cleaning Equipment, the first detail she liked was that it was run by a married couple. Ms. Rizzo, then 43, was searching for a company to run alongside her own husband. But her husband, David, was puzzled by the name. Was it something involving janitors?
Die Cleaning Equipment, as it turned out, employed welders. The company in Phoenix made machines that cleaned other machines — specifically, aluminum extruders, which force the metal into shapes useful for everything from bumpers to stethoscopes to gun parts. Steve Smith oversaw the shop, where a small team assembled vats and pumps out of stainless steel. His wife, Kristin, handled the finances.
The Smiths had carved out their niche-within-a-niche from scratch, with Ms. Smith initially moonlighting as a church secretary to keep food on the table. But as the couple approached their 70s, they dreamed of a new relationship with aluminum, involving months long trips in an Airstream trailer.
