Gloat - sorry if it offends

[Stephen Beckham]

Boy do I feel better - I was expecting the worse and figured people would tell me to be quiet and enjoy my blessings behind closed doors. Shame on me. I'm glad to hear there are other things picking up. Maybe it was bugging me because others needed to hear it. We are getting enough bad news all over the media - glad I could get us up on a positive note for a change.

Take care and check your prices. I started etching knives for $5 now versus $10. The word is out and people have brought them along with guns in for etching. Some said they would have never done it at $10, but $5 is just too much a bargin. The word got to a local knife maker and I've got a dozen of his hand-made knives to brand before he sells them for big bucks. He's so happy with the $5 charge, he keeps overpaying me in tips... Don't go cheap, go economical. AND don't let someone use the CHEAP word in your store. Keep your heads up... We've still got something people want, our job is to make them feel like it's affordable for the return of investment.

[Paul Perkinson]

Once again Rodney's words are sage. Sorry, I don't know how to pull his quote in down here except the old-fashioned way: "yes, if you already have a captive audience and client base , it might be wise to add to your production facilities and capture market share if the business is out there and your opposition is folding like flies."

We've been adding new capabilities rather steadily as some of our competition closes their doors. Work is up this year beyond all hopes and expectations. We have had weeks where at least one of us was working all around the clock and as many as 8 of us at one time working one project or another to get them out on time. Hey - it's a family business and some people work while they're hanging around waiting on food ;-)

For what it's worth... we are now servicing some customers that we approached over 5 years ago originally and it has taken this long to get their business. I'm sure part of it is due to some of our competition melting away, but some of these customers have told us that until a place has been in business for at least x number of years (seems to be around 2 or 3 usually) they can't afford to take a chance on them. This business climate may change that some (for the better), but if you can hang in there...

As has been posted several times recently by others... look for things people NEED. Prior to this year signage made up about 10% of our business. This year it is about 85% and we are just beginning to learn the ropes.

Many congratulations to everyone else doing well during these tougher times. I would love to take credit, but in our case it is more Divine Intervention than anything else.

[Ramon Carrizosa]

We have had the best start to a new year than in the last 15 years. Our primary business is: product design, prototyping and cnc machining.