DOUG HUSEBY has more than 15 startups under his belt, and at age 65 he?s hard at work rolling out his most ambitious project yet.

Best-known as the founder and CEO of Becker Furniture World, Huseby painstakingly grew the store from 500 square feet to 300,000 square feet and current sales of more than $45 million. He started out with no-name brands, competed with giant furniture businesses and invented new ways to grow.

In 2006 ? faced with the housing slowdown and rising gas prices ? Huseby had to figure out how to differentiate his store from other big-box furniture stores and justify driving to the shop in Becker. 

Huseby took a risk and invested millions of dollars to expand his store into a ?home center,? offering everything for the home under one roof, including paint, siding, lighting, home electronics and appliances. His gamble paid off: First-quarter 2008 sales were up 19 percent. He?s now in talks to expand the concept into the Twin Cities and perhaps nationally.

Huseby?s latest passion is health and wellness and he launched several wellness companies, including Common Sense Wellness. He wants to change the corporate health system by systemizing health care into ?wellness care,? using medical doctors, homeopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists and new technology. 

As with furniture, he?s going against the grain and offering it all under one roof. He installed a small wellness center at Becker Furniture to help employees combat colds and flu, diagnose body imbalances and help with back pain. By using his protocol, he says he saved $100,000 in health care costs in one year. 

Huseby opened the Common Sense Wellness nonprofit center in Wayzata to continue testing his procedures and launched Common Sense Health Products to create nutritional and healthy-living products. Huseby?s mission is to get health care/wellness initiatives into other companies. Challenges exist, including raising capital, hiring the right people and legal issues. Huseby, however, says every startup has ?muck.?

?Right now, I just say, ?Bring it on,? ? he says. ?Just give every damn problem, and I?ll solve it.?

Doug Huseby?s entrepreneurial spirit dates back to age 7, while growing up in Duluth. While other kids picked onions and lettuce and bunched them for farmers, he tilled his own garden, grew his own vegetables, hired a neighbor boy to work for him and sold his produce to supermarkets.

?I didn?t like working for someone else ? even back then,? Huseby says with a smile.

Huseby credits his father as his mentor. ?He could sell anything and he taught me selling techniques,? Huseby says.