What to do when your company closes its doors and leaves you without a job? It’s a situation one too many Bermudians have found themselves in recently in the tough economic times.But Sylvia Burgess found a way to turn it around; she started her own shipping and customs broking business, Sybur Logistix, right next door to her former employer, Rafur Services and Trucking.Ms Burgess said she had worked for Rafur, based at the airport, for almost nine years when she came into work one day and found out she was being laid off and the firm was folding as of the end of June.As air freight manager at Rafur, Ms Burgess knew the logistics of the customs broking and shipping business inside out.Rather than buy Rafur, the astute businesswoman chose to start her own business from the ground up, with no debt.She purchased office furnishings from Rafur and her business partner Lyndon Fubler helped her move into a sunnier office with a view of the runway, just a few doors down from Rafur at the airport near the freight shed.Mr Fubler helped her install cabinets and equipment and paint the office in a bright green colour scheme, and they were ready to open their doors in just under a month after Rafur closed.Ms Burgess had talked to Rafur owner Ouemonde Brangman about starting her own business and he had been very supportive, she said, but cautioned her to ride out the recession first.However, when Rafur closed, she said she was forced into putting her plan B into action quicker than anticipated and drew up a checklist of all she needed to do.She said she had enjoyed a good relationship with Mr Brangman, who lives abroad and is now a pastor at an AME church in Delaware. She said he always treated his staff well and she received full redundancy pay when she was let go.Rafur, which was down to three staff when it closed, once employed 16 staff and was instrumental in originally securing Cargojet, the plane which brings all the air freight to Bermuda, Ms Burgess noted. ASB is now the agent for Cargojet, but Ms Burgess said she managed to maintain a close working relationship with the company which benefits her customers.Ms Burgess credits Mr Brangman and other mentors for inspiring her to build her career in the shipping business, including Suzanna Hornburg Dutoya of Calypso.Before Rafur she worked at Fast Forward Freight, Gibbons Company in the shipping department and Calypso, where she worked for 16 years and “gained a real insight into logistics”.Sybur Logistix provides customs broking, delivery and import/export expertise to customers for shipping items globally. Ms Burgess is also certified in the shipping of dangerous goods, such as hazardous chemicals, tools and equipment, such as the fuel pump she once helped ship out of Bermuda for a US airline.Sybur Logistix also assists in Esso and Rubis shipments of fuel samples for testing whenever a tanker comes in.And she noted she has become a go-to broker for shipping live animals, having assisted in shipping in the white tiger for a local magic show and goats and chickens for other customers.She said she is known in the business for her logistics and routing expertise and rather than competing with the other broker/shippers, she plans to work with them.“There is enough work to go around and some are better suited to certain jobs,” she said. “We all work together in this business.”Her advice for anyone thinking of starting their own business: “Make it happen. I feared doing it for so long that I was eventually forced into. But now I am so happy I did it.”