Don't want to complain, but...

[Scott Shepherd]

Sorry, I agree with Gary.

So the factories all shut down around you. Now what? Sit and wait for the phone to ring? Wait by the door for the golden goose to walk in? This is business. YOU have to make it work. No business in your area? What's your website look like? Do you sell products over the internet? How do you broaden your market outside of your area? That's your JOB to figure it out. No work around you, do some research and find out where the work is and go after it. People order things from all over the world. Demand for everything has not stopped. It's out there, you have to find it. With no web presence, no decent rankings in search engines, no marketing, just what do you expect to happen? Thinking you can sit in one place and not try to expand outside of a economically depressed city/town/state isn't going to get you far.

If you can't figure all that out and execute it, then you'll probably be one of the hot dog salesmen that throws in the town and goes home.

How many of you that are slow are advertising in the "Friends of the Creek"? None? If people don't know who you are of what you can do, outside of your little town, how do you think they'll give you business?

I'm with Gary.

[Viktor Voroncov]

Ron, here is stickers we have placed on all our products Unfortunately they brought me and my peoples only moral satisfaction. Most of customers buy cheaper products.
But problem is more wider. We must be more active in politics, elections and affect economic decisions made by our governments. Situation with bank's management bonuses is offensive (abusive) for most SMC peoples.

[Jim Coffee]

Some people call the past event a recession. I prefer to think of the past event as 'life', or as a 'correction'. Personally I don't want things to return as they were. I think a 'correction' was due.

My business continues to grow. In the past twelve months I have more active customers (placing marginally smaller orders) than in the 12 months preceding.

If we are employees we hope that management can plot a safe course into the future. If we are business owners (as I believe most of us are) then it is our role to plot a safe course into the future. As business owners we should never assume that tomorrow is going to be the same as yesterday. Change is inevitable. We need to expect change. We can always hope that change is in our favor...but we cannot expect that it will be in our favor.

Have you read any of Thomas L. Friedman's books. I highly recommend his books. He is a Globalist. He gives strong hints about where we are headed.

In my case I have paid attention to several key things as I have moved my business into the future:
~Marketing (very important and essential).
~An Internet presence.
~My products are very focused.
~My products are more 'essential' than 'non-essential'.
~My client base is diversified in terms of business and geography.
~I try to understand and respect my clients.
~I try to understand and respect potential clients.
~We really enjoy what we do. If we did not love what we do it would be too difficult.

My bottom line here...Do what you love. Work hard and smart. Expect change. Understand that the world is 'flattening' very quickly.

[Belinda Barfield]

Liesl,

This is somewhat related to your original point, and I understand your frustration. I'll try to keep this short.

Yesterday I received a call from a lady who wanted to buy granite "remnants" for kitchen countertops. She asked for a specific color and I explained to her that I didn't have anything in that particular color. She then responded that she was looking for "only" 20 square feet of countertop . . . that isn't a remant. I tried to be helpful, and polite, but she then launched into a long rant about how she couldn't find anyone to sell her granite for a reasonable price. Reasonable? Define reasonable. At that point I explained to her that we no longer fabricate countertops for the residential setting and work primarily with the yachting and aviation industry. Her response? "Oh, well if you do business with company Blank then you can afford to give me remnants." I politely suggested she call someone else.

In this economy I realize that we can't always afford to alienate customers. However, if you are spending more time defending your price than you spend producing your product, maybe it's time to rethink your client base. Just my 0.02 and not worth much.

[Mike Null]

Just a reminder to all. We have very hard rules about the topics of politics and religion on the Creek.

We are bordering on making this a political discussion in which case it will be removed.

[Doug Carpenter]

Welcome to self employment. You have to kick and scratch for every penny.

I have often wondered how people would like negotiating for their paycheck every friday.

One thing I have learned in 2o years of owning my own business. There is a fine line between self employed and unemployed.

Hang in there. I know it gets tiring fighting over price. Once in a while I just tell someone to take thier business somewhere else. It makes me feel better and sometimes you even get to hear that they learned their lesson.

[Lee DeRaud]

Just a reminder to all. We have very hard rules about the topics of politics and religion on the Creek.

There is a significant percentage of humanity for whom religion and economics are more or less the same thing, and an even larger percentage for whom politics and economics are more or less the same thing.

Given that, I've always wondered why discussions of economics are allowed here.

[Doug Carpenter]

Just a reminder to all. We have very hard rules about the topics of politics and religion on the Creek.

We are bordering on making this a political discussion in which case it will be removed.

I don't understand why what is being discussed here is too much economics.

Certainly as business owners the ecomomy plays a roll in our daily lives. What is so offensive about calling it like we see it?

[Kim Vellore]

from an another point of view from a regular full time employee

Basic everyday prices have gone up, electricity, gas, water, garbage even postage. Pay has gone down either by pay cuts, furlough, and no raise.
I have got 2 traffic tickets in the past 2 months and none in 10 years. The law I broke 36mph in 30 mph zone in a downhill, and did not stop full 2 seconds before making a right turn on red. The second ticket cost $494 or $533 if I go to a class. The cops are being innovative in ticketing to fill their budget gap, you got to love them.
Now if I have to pay a little more for customizing a gift for a friend using a laser I'll find innovative ways to save that $$. At my work we used to get plaques for awards, now just a mention and a pat on the back.
I could go on and on, this is just the tip. I think I will call this a recession, it is not just in my mind.

Kim

[Rodne Gold]

My take is that things are going to get harder for the remainder of this year , as I have said before , those that managed to weather the last year or 2 are barely hanging on and do not have disposable income to "waste".
In terms of this business , it is rare to see someone with ONLY a laser who is jobbing , making decent money. I offer multiple services and use multiple machines to make items and this seems the way to go , however there is a highish capital cost involved as well as a learning curve.

[David Fairfield]

If we want free trade and an abundance of cheaply made imported material goods, the American middle-class quality of life has to equalize with the "middle classes" in China and India... which, IMO, means most Americans are going to have a lower quality of life. Whatever... if math is too hard for Americans to learn, then Indians will learn, and they will get paid to do math... Americans are forced to compete with pennies-an-hour labor, and wonder why life is starting to suck. Sorry to be a pessimist. I hope I am wrong.

Dave

[Jim Beachler]

I agree with some of the above posts. I strongly believe that the MOST important part of my job is Marketing / Sales. If I don't do them, then no matter how could I am with a laser, I won't have anything to do.

I spend more time doing marketing and sales than any other job in my shop.


Last year we shipped 33% more product than the previous year. and we are up so far this year. I am in a very nichey product line, personalized wooden items for children and babies. It is not a product that is a have to have but rather a want to have. I have been able to do this by not settling with the current vendors and products that I had. I am continually seeking new customers by trade shows, web site, wholesale web site, drop ship companies, craft shows, art shows, cold calls and even wearing a jacket with company name and web site on it. I am also continually creating new products for my customers to buy.

At a marketing class (yes I still take classes to keep fresh), I learned a great line. Marketing is like pushing a car up a grade. If you stop pushing, it will roll back over you and you have to start from the bottom all over again. Moral - Never Stop Marketing.

[Martin Boekers]

Rodne is right on with his thoughts. The survivors are the ones who adapt.

This year will be the best year I have had at the shop I manage. (A Very Good Year!!) Did it come at a cost ? Yes!

I have always worked hard and many hours throughout my career, but this is the hardest and most inovativley challenged I have ever worked.

The days of getting a week or so to finish small projects are out the window.

Typically I finish jobs now in less than 48 hrs. many the same day and a few while they wait. This keeps me ahead of the local competition. (look how the photo industry changed in the last 20 years. It used to take weeks or months to get snapshots done. Now it's less than an hour). Some day this may happen with our industry also, look at the pet shops that are installing Epilog lasers for a customer serviced nametag. I can see this happening a Walmart down the road. Someday they may have a selection of awards and gifts that you buy, go up to a kiosk or even email it in, the plate gets engraved then you pop it on a plaque. Scary isn't it!

I have found vendors that provide larger discounts and have a warehouse within a days shipping. I run a tight ship with inventory control, to make sure I have products available that my clients buy, yes it does cost a bit to have extra stock. On the other hand though, I buy larger quantities so I save with discounts and have less shipping costs.

I have developed systems and heavily rely on email for job initiations to increase productivity and efficiency.

Email orders are great for clients as it saves them an extra trip which in turn saves them $$$.

Diverisify, diversify, diversify! I started doing signage products about 2 years ago, now that is about 15% of the business. I plan to get a CNC machine next quarter so I anticipate more signage work down the pike.

ASI, How many of us sell ad specialty products? Not many I think, why not? It doesn't cost much to join and have access to software and 10s of thousand of distributors.

Recently there was a post about what to charge to engrave glasses, on quantities it's hard to compete with ASI so why not bid the job to an ASI dist and get paid for doing the paperwork?

The laser may bring in a client to your shop, but find out what other things they actively purchase and see if you can provide them with it.

There are ways to give you the best chance of growing the business or even surviving for that matter. It does take work, much work and a bit of thinking outside of the box.

Marty

[Mike Null]

Just to add emphasis to Steve Sheperd's comment about Friends of the Creek you can read about it here.

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=137709

[Dave Johnson29]

See my little rant here...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost...40&postcount=8