How's business??

[Craig Hogarth]

I am absolutely dead. Had a few sales last week, barely $100.00. I've been able to stay somewhat consistent with a couple wholesale accounts and my b2b stuff, but that's been gone for over a month. One of my wholesale customers has gone out of business and rest of my regular business customers aren't adding any new hires until things pick up. It's amazing how those name tags and plates really add up.

I'm just wondering how everyone else is doing compared to a couple months or a year ago.

On the bright side, I've had more time to work on my website and internet marketing

[Bruce Volden]

I too am pretty much "dead", but I like it!! I moved a year ago to a much more rural setting 35 miles from the "big city" (Sioux Falls). Have lots to do on the farm and then this winter will concentrate on other ventures. I have been able to keep my regular customers though even when they could go more locally so it provides enough to pay the small overhead I need

Bruce

[Barbara Buhse]

Its been pretty quiet here. Much of our real money comes from Paul making big stuff and me doing the engraving for it. We have a few steady, but even this past holiday season was nothing compared to 2006.

BTW, Bruce... did I ask you this once before... but are you near Mitchell SD?

[Nancy Laird]

I hate to be the one to brag, but....

I've picked up two new customers in the last three weeks - one of them is the management of three different businesses (two golf clubs and a restaurant) for name tags and, knowing how the turnover is in those businesses, it will provide some repeat business.

Two of my long-time customers are still going strong, and my customer who makes dog-related novelties is also sending me lots of business.

Thus far in 2008, I'm about $2K ahead of last year.

Nancy

[Stephen Beckham]

Honestly - I'm not sure... Running through the pros and cons - I'm half of my last years total gross after four months! Yea!

Well, not really - 2/3 of that came in a two week period and the rest has been dryer than Atlanta last fall...

Got a lot of prospects coming in - but they are either lots of little/low profit type jobs or peoples eyes bigger than their wallets. I love the question "Why are those gold plated oscar looking trophies so expensive?"

I do have some hits coming out of the big city down to little ole me. Apparently - my overhead being lower and prices being lower - they seem to be migrating to a better deal on the purchase even though it's costing a bit more in gas to get here...

Bottom line - I still feel blessed and will keep chuggin' along...

[Sean Bullock]

For those of you who wish to grow your business and reduce the amount of downtime I would suggest joining as many networking organizations as possible. Your local Chamber of Commerce is an excellent place to gain new contacts. Not to mention the sole reason for their existance is to help you grow your business. In fact, my contact with the chamber today told me that he is there to help my business be a success. You also might try to contact the Small Business Administration (SBA). This is a free service to help small businesses grow. Lots of great advice and years of experience from the volunteers.

Business Networking International (BNI) is also money well spent. This is an international organization of networks who prefer to do business with other members. Realtors, insurance, promotional products, unique gifts, book scrappers, auto repair, etc. These are the types of people you will find with BNI. Think of all the awards and plaques, signage, rubber stamps and promotional items you can supply for these people.

There is really no excuse for being slow. It is as simple as this: the more you network the more money you make.

One more thing. As mentioned above, these idle times are an excellent opportunity to develop your website, which is absolutely vital to growing your business. There is no excuse for not having one. You can build one yourself for free and it is no more difficult than learning Word or Excel. I mean simple. And in a matter of a few hours you can have your own website. Within a week you can have a professional looking website that YOU have complete control over. Change it any time you like. There is no code to learn. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have free website software available.

This is how I made mine and it has exponentially increased my business.

Well, maybe I shouldn't have told you that. It means more competition for me.

Okay, forget everything I have told you. It is better to be sedentary anyway.

Relax.

No pressure.

[Craig Hogarth]

Our chamber has always been good to us. We're looking to join another one in another county. But every chamber is different. We checked out one in the south part of our county and we saw no benefit of joining. The businesses in that area are notoriously unfriendly towards other businesses.

I have a different view of BNI (and LeTip) than you do Sean. It may be different across different regions, but the ones in my area expect a lot of referrals/business from you before they start to give back. My wife spoke with one group that's all women (unsure of name, but not soroptomist or venture) and she'll most likely be joining.

One thing my wife just got busy with is merchantcircle.com It's sorta like a facebook for businesses. I haven't really looked at it personally, but I've seen her email and she's been talking a lot with businesses she's met there.

The downtime is great for getting caught up in other areas of the business, but it's not paying the bills

[Frank Corker]

Actually even on this side of the globe things are quiet. I think everyone is feeling the pinch one way or the other. If things continue the way they are I might have to go back into prostitution but I don't know how much I'd be worth these days.

[Luke Phillips]

Actually even on this side of the globe things are quiet. I think everyone is feeling the pinch one way or the other. If things continue the way they are I might have to go back into prostitution but I don't know how much I'd be worth these days.

Hmmmm - how much will you pay me?

[Frank Corker]

I think it's going to have to be an awful lot!

[Joe Pelonio]

Overall on the retail side it is down, I too have had regular customers go under in the last few months. Thankfully some of my wholesale customers have kept me busy, along with the customers preparing for events as summer approaches. The biggest drop is in new home construction related work. I have also noticed more customers being budget minded, looking for lower cost alternatives. Just last Friday I did add a new wholesale customer with good traffic, and placed a display on their counter. One name badge job so far.

[Mike Null]

Other than a slow March mine has been very strong. Just added a new client last week for plaques. Order was about $800 but have a good chance to pick up branches in three other cities as a result.

I was recently asked to bid on annual academic awards for a Catholic girls school--about 150 awards, low end variety. I was awarded that business and will be ordering materials today.

I recently bid on a 5000 t-shirt order but client (national charity) decided to stay with one from their national whse. I was lower in price but I guess they got cold feet. (I worked a better deal with my screen printer and called my shirt supplier for better prices and decided to work on a $ .41 per shirt net. I had the business but the exec. dir. changed her mind at the last minute. All I had to do was rent a truck for delivery.) If you think that's too cheap my net would have been $2000 after renting the truck.

There is no question people are shopping for low price though.

[Wil Lambert]

We have been slow this year. The engraving side has been the slowest but the contract modeling keeps us a float.

Wil

[Scott Shepherd]

I have a different view of BNI (and LeTip) than you do Sean. It may be different across different regions, but the ones in my area expect a lot of referrals/business from you before they start to give back.

That's the concept behind it, hence the motto "Giver's Gain". You have to give to get. It's a mentality you have to embrace. If everyone says they won't give referrals until they get them, then you're in a standoff. Someone HAS to give first. The more you give, the more you get. You really have to change the thought process from what's in it for me to how you can help others. The numbers support their claims. Where else can you spend $400 and get $20,000-$30,000 worth of work a year? No place I've found.

[Mark Winlund]

Dead, dead, dead in the water. Massive layoffs here. Hewlett Packard has a plant here; a year ago they had 6000 employees.... today, 2000 employees. They are about to lay off half of those! Even the state supported university here is in trouble. We deal with the mid level people... mostly clerical. Two thirds of them are gone, with the remaining people doing 3 times the work that they used to. Retirement awards are now pieces of paper rather than plaques.

The local chamber of commerce is more interested in getting your membership fee than doing anything else. ...their activities don't amount to much.... mostly sponsoring golf outings. Our city is known nationally for trying to keep out businesses that do not fit the agenda. No factories allowed. Or Wal-mart. Or shopping malls. Road funds are spent on bicycle paths. The city council is packed with retired professors from the university.

Not a pretty sight! Hard times are here, and getting worse.

Mark