Frank Solis.

• Position: Brief Article

As a young boy in the 1960s, Frank Soils came about his spending money the hard way: shining shoes in south Texas. As a teen, he sorted out the rotten fruit at a local produce stand for local hog farmers to use in pig slop.

"One doesn't easily forget events like that," Solis says. "Looking back, they really taught me a lot about life, humility and hard work."

Still-vivid memories, these experiences would later serve him well. He'd need to cull from the values he learned to save the business that today bears his name, Solis Advertising and Public Relations.

Solis, 44, began his career in marketing as the National Program Manager for Special Markets at Coors Brewing Company in Golden. After more than a decade, he decided to leave the company when he realized "my name was never going to be on the can."

Instead, he put his name on the door of a small Denver office and went to work. A fear of failure pushed him to succeed.

"I was motivated by the idea of homelessness," Soils says. "Coors took care of me and I no longer had that corporate safety net."

Soon after venturing on his own, Solis landed his first big job -- a project for US West. Almost overnight, his fledgling agency began to flourish as word spread about its attention to detail and responsive client service. Quickly, it created a buzz in the advertising world -- particularly for its innovative work with niche markets.

But when one Fortune 500 client left the agency with a $300,000 bill and on the...