You might say Jeffrey S. Dobbs fell into this industry. He was working as an assistant to the maintenance person at a large hotel complex in Ohio when his boss fell off a ladder and was injured. Dobbs was only in his early twenties and was both going to school and working full time. He was tapped to take over for the ailing veteran.

It gets better: The boss's son-in-law was a manager at Olympus looking for a handy, hard-working person to bring on as a technician in training.

"My dad told me if you are working hard, then someone is watching," Dobbs said. "Keep your nose to the grindstone, keep working and watch your work habits."

Even in a less heralded industry, his diligence soon translated to a career path for Dobbs. He became an expert endoscope repairer and was hired away from the OEM by a third party company. He gained coast-to-coast experience in hospitals and by his reckoning repaired tens of millions of dollars worth of endoscopes.

"Through attrition, companies were bought and sold; I ended up in Texas. After 15 years I wanted to open my own business," he said. Dobbs Medical Sales, Inc. is five years old and "showing wonderful growth with a lot in the pipeline and doing well," Dobbs said.

Dobbs is also proud of his philanthropic work. Last year alone he donated about $200,000 in equipment to overseas relief. And his company helps set up surgical clinics in Guatemala for treatment of kids with cleft palates.

"The old cliche is right: The more we give the more we get," Dobbs said of the rewards of charitable work.

In addition to being DOTmed Certified, the company is FDA and Texas health department certified.

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