You can call him a creature of habit, a Steady Eddie, or slightly mundane. It doesn't matter. Joe Appleby, owner of 30-year-old Appleby Cleaning and Restoration, is convinced the calm and redundant way he runs his business is why it's still around.

Toward the end of 2008, when the economy soured, Appleby saw a decline in business and was forced to lay off employees for the first time. But he knows it could have been worse if he had built the business carelessly. From The Contra Costa Times.