Mike Iven logged hundreds of flight hours as a helicopter tour pilot, but his lifelong dream of flying was dashed suddenly when he woke up one morning six years ago with a serious ailment.

Unable to fly because of a collapsed lung, the native of Germany wanted to remain in Hawai'i but needed to find another way to make a living. Rather than flying helicopters, he decided to start fixing them.

So with a tool box in hand, and not much else, Iven set out to start a new career. He formed MGI Helicopters LLC, a maintenance and service business that specializes in Robinson helicopters.

Iven used the relationships that he built with companies along Lagoon Drive and garnered enough business in the beginning to survive. He also worked nights as a customer service agent for Air Canada "for the health insurance."

The long hours paid off as business grew steadily. Iven estimated that his company generated about $100,000 in revenue that first year and now does about $1 million worth of business yearly.

He's also added three full-time employees, and this allows him to focus on the business rather than spending his time as a grease monkey.

"I was very lucky," said Iven, 35. "There was one company that had three airplanes and three helicopters, and overnight I started to take care of their six ships. That, basically, right off the bat was enough to keep me busy."

Iven also didn't have to worry about startup capital because the company allowed him to use its facility to work on the aircraft.

But Iven isn't the type of person to be satisfied with just running a one-dimensional business. He later bought 50 percent of Cessna Service Center Hawai'i, which he is in the process of selling, and he also assembles and sells helicopters.

He recently obtained a Small Business Administration loan to become the North American distributor of Helimover, a hand-operated helicopter tug. Iven also has resumed flying and makes it a point to pilot at least one helicopter tour each week.

And if it seems as though he doesn't have enough on his plate, Iven also has become a real estate agent and wears that hat on Sundays.

"I love aviation, but I'm in business because I like business," Iven said. "The interaction with customers, we're deeply involved in all of the customers' operations. I like the human interaction."

Iven said he's very careful when he's piloting a helicopter, but he's willing to take chances in his business. When he immigrated 10 years ago, he had just $2,000 in his pockets and a head full of dreams.

He took a job as a flight instructor in San Francisco and later received an offer to fly tours for Rainbow Pacific Helicopters in Hawai'i. Life was good until Iven suffered a pneumothorax, a spontaneous collapse of the lung.

"Since I wanted to stay in Hawai'i, and I liked to be independent, I immediately made that choice," he said of starting MGI. "Coming to America was already crazy, but I always figured when you're young and healthy, there's always a way to make it."

Although he earned degrees in aviation maintenance, and marketing and business in Germany, Iven said, running a business in this country was foreign to him. He said he had to learn "everything from scratch."

"I didn't know the banking system. We don't have credit scores in Germany," Iven said. "I'm always fascinated by small business and how people literally put everything on the line. You have to have good nerves, because when the cash flow starts drying up, you always have to have 'Plan B.' "

As it turned out, Iven didn't have to resort to a backup plan. He read books, did research on the Internet, and met with experts to help him grow his business. He also wrote his own operations manual for new employees so he doesn't have to "reinvent the wheel."

Surprisingly, Iven said, there isn't much competition here in his line of business, and he's always had work. But that doesn't mean he can relax.

"You always have to keep your schedule full, because you always have to know what's going to happen tomorrow and the next day," Iven said.

Iven estimated that 35 percent of his business is helicopter maintenance, while helicopter parts and sales account for another 30 percent. The rest of his revenue comes from airplane maintenance and Helimover sales, he said.

"We sell about 20 to 30 (Helimovers) a year, but it's a $5,000 machine, and for a small business, that could be 10 to 15 percent of our revenue. That, sometimes for a small business, is what brings you into profitability," he said.

Iven said he eventually sees himself selling the aircraft maintenance business and focusing on real estate. His wife, Simona Giuggioli, also is in real estate.

"It doesn't feel like a job," Iven said. "You just interact with people, and suddenly the phones start ringing. It's amazing how it suddenly goes on autopilot."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.