That is what I am told all the time. Oh you are just one business in one city, in one industry. This doesn't mean every one else is going through the same experience.
Except they are. Let's see, I just got off the phone with my supplier, a company
with over 300 employees and 30 million gross revenue. My sales rep told me it was
the worst year ever, and this business has been around for over 100 years.
Located in a different State, different region. Right down the street from a
giant Whirlpool Plant that now lays idle, closed due to layoffs.
They started in the sail making business, and now make anything from luggage to
military tents, to specialty products of all kinds. A very solid company, run
by a German family, and still family owned.
But they are hurting, and they do not know what the future holds. He shared the
sad news of large layoffs and early retirements.
I am in the party rental sector. Usually winter is always a slow time.
After New Years it is dead until spring. But in years past I did well enough
to just cut hours and get prepared for the spring and summer/fall season.
But now, well the last 3 years really. This year has been worse than
ever, and I am now about one third the size my company was in 2000.
That's right, I have shrunk. It seemed like this trend started around the
start of the Iraq war. And it just continued to trend down, down, down.
If we hadn't worked so hard to pay off all our debts in the good times,
while we were growing, I would be seriously fucked. And I still am not
sure if the company will make it through these turbulent times.
Too make matters worse, I was recently burglarized and now I will have to invest
in expensive video equipment, alarm etc. People are becoming desperate, and
you have to fight hard to protect your property.
Now I am located in Alabama, and I don't think we have been hit harder
than any other region of the country. My supplier agreed with all my
lamentations on the party business. All regions of the country were
hit, even in D.C. I would of thought party renters would of had a pretty
good year with the Inauguration and all, but one month isn't enough
to carry the year.
It was whole sectors of clients have fallen to the waste side. Businesses
like Car Dealerships, Steel Mills, Construction Companies, Advertising
Companies, Non Profits, and parties in general. Times are tough. Beyond
tough, un-predictable, it is a time I have never seen.
With one gig in February, I had no choice but to lay off the entire
staff until the spring. I just made it through 2009, and that is with
help from past earnings. Now for the first quarter of 2010 will be
a test. I will hold my breath and move forward, planning some changes.
You have to adapt to survive, I am converting a portion of the warehouse
into a theater/banquet hall. I probably should save my money, but I
have always wanted to have a community theater, and you have to dream.
And sometimes you take chances, and see what happens.
Hopefully it will help generate more income, and help the business survive.
Of course I want to do more than survive, I want to fly. I want my
employee's to have a steady paycheck, I don't want to have a long layoff
like this again. So I roll the dice, I invest in the future, even if
it looks, well I don't know how it looks.
Twenty-ten is here. Ready or not, I am going to do what I can, fuck all
the other shit. Plow through the bullshit, fuck the talkers, give me
real change, even if I have to do it myself.