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cudaspaz

cudaspaz

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How's work going lately?
Are things picking up, getting worse, steady, normal?

Funny but it seems that when you hear reports on the radio that the economy is terrible, the phone is dead, BUT if you hear reports on radio that the economy is getting better, the phone rings more.

I can't help to wonder if people are using TV and radio reports as their cue to spend money or if the economy really is picking up?

Maybe instead of advertising for our businesses...just run ads telling how wonderful the economy is getting.:D

Anyways, good luck to all you guys and gals that took the leap and risks involved to become independent and experience the hardest yet most rewarding of all freedoms.
 
I never watched the movie-- "wag the dog" but isn't that the premise of the movie.
working class families are so busy they do not have time to 'check & balance' the elected officials in this nation.
Lawrence
 
I have fewer customers, but an exponential increase in clients.

I have always catered to long term repeat business.

But hey I'm just a capitalist pig war monger neocon entrepreneur
wanna be industrialist.

:):)
 
Still holding steady here for more than 3 years thankfully ... but that could change at any second. How's it going for your shop Spaz?
 
CudaChick1968 said:
Still holding steady here for more than 3 years thankfully ... but that could change at any second. How's it going for your shop Spaz?
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It's always been peaks and valleys but the last three years have been pretty crappy for the most part.
People holding off on big stuff and just doing the bare minimum, lots of long time customers in financial trouble but things have picked up this past month fairly steady but not impressive.
Been building some custom Mopar center consoles on the side but not as many as I would like but they are extremely fun and rewarding.:D
 
Were pretty busy which is amazing because a $300 + detail for your car is not even close to a necessity. Im can say Im probably making more money then I ever have. To bad every bill I have has gone up leaving me with less then before. LOL
 
AdamR said:
Were pretty busy which is amazing because a $300 + detail for your car is not even close to a necessity. Im can say Im probably making more money then I ever have. To bad every bill I have has gone up leaving me with less then before. LOL
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Yeah I know, everything is going up, parts, gas, materials, taxes, insurance...holy crap, insurance is killing me.

I could be like some other guys and just say I'm insured but that's not gonna happen.
 
You are correct in your initial observation spaz. It does seem that when the news comes out and says that sales are down, sales will slow somewhat, and vice versa..

All in all, no complaints at this time though..

Grant
 
cudaspaz said:
How's work going lately?
Are things picking up, getting worse, steady, normal?

Funny but it seems that when you hear reports on the radio that the economy is terrible, the phone is dead, BUT if you hear reports on radio that the economy is getting better, the phone rings more.

I can't help to wonder if people are using TV and radio reports as their cue to spend money or if the economy really is picking up?

Maybe instead of advertising for our businesses...just run ads telling how wonderful the economy is getting.:D

Anyways, good luck to all you guys and gals that took the leap and risks involved to become independent and experience the hardest yet most rewarding of all freedoms.
Click to expand...

Food prices have gone up 17% combined (last year and so far this year) I have resisted a price increase for the last 2 years but that is going to come to an end. Hell, I'm even getting charged a fuel surcharge of $6.00 from one supplier! Good post Spaz.....
 
Been very slow here. Looked bad for a while and we were having trouble paying the bills but think things have picked up just enough to make ends meet. Still not doing very well though. Just hanging in there for now.

The economy going south was bad enough. Then last year some Asian country started buying up a lot of are hay supply. The Texas started buying it too due to the drought they are having there. Drove the price of hay through the roof. New hay is coming up and it looks like the price will start to drop. I hope it will any way.
 
Been very slow here. Looked bad for a while and we were having trouble paying the bills but think things have picked up just enough to make ends meet. Still not doing very well though. Just hanging in there for now.

The economy going south was bad enough. Then last year some Asian country started buying up a lot of are hay supply. Then Texas started buying it too due to the drought they are having there. Drove the price of hay through the roof. New hay is coming up and it looks like the price will start to drop. I hope it will any way.
 
cudaspaz said:
Yeah I know, everything is going up, parts, gas, materials, taxes, insurance...holy crap, insurance is killing me.

I could be like some other guys and just say I'm insured but that's not gonna happen.
Click to expand...

Im pretty sure Im the only Detail shop in CT that has insurance. All it takes is a slip and Im repainting some guys Ferrari or Porsche. No thanks. LOL
 
I started at the first of the year helping my friend run the office at his transmission shop. At first, it was balls out wide open. Then it dropped off slap dead. Then it started trickling in. About 3 weeks ago we busted wide open again. Now we're trickling again. I ain't been keepin up with what the media has said so I don't know if there's a correlation there or not. As many mindless idiots as there are, there probably is.
 
StrokerScamp said:
I started at the first of the year helping my friend run the office at his transmission shop. At first, it was balls out wide open. Then it dropped off slap dead. Then it started trickling in. About 3 weeks ago we busted wide open again. Now we're trickling again. I ain't been keepin up with what the media has said so I don't know if there's a correlation there or not. As many mindless idiots as there are, there probably is.
Click to expand...

Which shop, Rob?
 
We are doing ok.My wife comes to me with the good news bad news thing.She says that for Jan-feb.Our sales are up 22%.Bad news food costs are up 24%.The big ? that I discuss with other self employed people is the cost of health insurance.We can provide for our employees working 3o or more hours per week.But can barely afford our own.Kevin.
 
My business has been steady (average to a bit slow). I'm lucky that I have a nice mix of auto, truck, and ag shops. When one isn't busy the other ones are. I have a few rv,motorcycle,and manufacturing customers too. I have been selling more big ticket items lately too, tool storage, scan tools, etc. Mac does a great job with monthly promotions. The 11 piece long reach pliers for $99 have been the hot seller lately and since we purchased DeWalt that has been popular too. Hope everyone's small business is at least holding steady. It can be a roller coaster ride for sure. tmm
 
Ups and downs.......

Picking up more business from the little guys, the big guys are willing to pay the big companies more....... (Because it takes too many brain cells to call me instead of Carlile)

All my runs have been short, and short don;'t pay great.
 
My company just came off a great 2011.
We are a Volvo heavy equipment dealer, sales & service.
2012 has started off slow.
The contractors that I talk to are holding back until there is a good infurstruction bill passed.
Most of my customers rely on government monies to operate.
Also, it seems to slow up on an election year.
 
More people have been calling me to have websites built and revamped. My own website has been doing very well. Several new sponsors this year, and ad revenue is holding steady.
 
I own a sign shop, we are busy!, seems like sometimes we need 12 hour days. Alot of our regular customers are busy also. And new one come in every day. We need to take all that we can get to save up for the slower months in the winter. I hate laying off good people and not being able to get them back. I know not all are busy and I am truly blessed that I do what I love and make a living at it...
 
My business is pretty much steady. Having a contract with a Big Box store really helps me in getting customers. I do not need to advertise. I do have a Facebook page for my business and a web page. I get a lot of side business from word of mouth and also run an ad on Craigslist which I get a few calls from. It is a nice thing to just have jobs come over the computer and accept them, but I have taken on a lot of territory in North Carolina from I-95 at Virginia line south to the I-40 Split in Benson North Carolina from Benson East on I-40 to the coastal areas north on the Coast to Chesapeake VA. My truck just went over 269,600 miles. I sometimes feel like I drive the equivalent of a long haul trucker.
 
dustermaniac said:
My business is pretty much steady. Having a contract with a Big Box store really helps me in getting customers. I do not need to advertise. I do have a Facebook page for my business and a web page. I get a lot of side business from word of mouth and also run an ad on Craigslist which I get a few calls from.
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We dont do any advertising either. Google and Facebook is it. We're trying an addwords campaign right now but we dont seem to be getting any more hits from it. We already rank really high on google and our reviews kill any other shop in the state.
 
I opened for business in Dec. 2006. Started with nothing, picked up steadily until the economic bubble & the mortgage crisis burst in 2008 then it flopped back to where I was in the 1st year. My customer base has alway kept growing, I retain an above average amount of my clients. That is to say most of my people are very loyal to me and give my name out quite often. However what I find is the amount people can spend drops when there is bad news or talk of lay-offs. My customer base is still growing but now where I used to see my regular customers 3,4 & 5 times a year, now I may only see them 2x a year. They are much more willing to strech out their services longer than they used to. It really is a roller coaster ride, but the high points are getting shorter & the lows are getting longer! My fear is we are being lied to about how bad the economy really is & that it will all come out next year & only get worse!

Good luck to us all. God Bless us all because we need faith in him now more than ever!
 
You know if everyone would stop worry about what "they" say about the economy we would all be fine. LOL
 
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