Alaska; St. Thomas; Central America?
One of Rudisill's many ventures was a ballooning company in Arizona at the mouth of the Grand Canyon.
Who: Paul Rudisill, 53
Launched: A series of businesses
Paul Rudisill starts businesses the way some other people take vacations -- always looking for new ideas and exotic locales to explore.
"I just love to travel and use my creativity to open new business opportunities," he said.
It started in the early 1980s, when Rudisill was in his 20s. He started an air ambulance service outside Denver, then launched a paging service for business travelers. Next stop: Sitka, Alaska, where Rudisill started an emergency medical program -- and got in some good fishing time. When he got too cold up there, Rudisill sold everything he owned and hopped a plane to the U.S. Virgin Islands to launch a similar medical program on St. Thomas.
Rudisill next moved to the vineyards of Fresno, Calif., where he joined with a partner to start a hot air balloon company. After landing a couple of big contracts, Rudisill took his portion of the business to Page, Ariz., a town at the mouth of the Grand Canyon.
In the early '90s, Rudisill took a break from starting ventures, but stayed on the move, working in Dallas and New Zealand -- "a paradise that most people don't know about."
By 1997, Rudisill was back in Texas with his wife and new twin boys, starting a health-care consulting firm. Last year, Rudisill started working for an insurer as a business development executive in Fort Worth. But he still has that wanderlust: He hopes to head to Central America to work on health-care issues there.
"I cannot just sit around and let life pass me by," said Rudisill. "I use both business opportunities and locations to draw out in me a sense of adventure."
NEXT: Manchester, Vt.
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