Is the economy recovering?
While I believe Signet Painting is a microcosm of the business
universe; for the sake of a preface or disclaimer, my view of the economy is
skewed by my industry segment (residential construction) and my geographic
location. In other words, not everyone may agree with the following.
Let’s just dig right in. Have you ever had a serious bout of stomach flu? You rode the waves of nausea; up and down and up
and down like giant swells on a vast sea. You were the dingy boat. You paid
homage to the stool, and knelt there in utter disbelief that your body could
experience so many awful sensations at the same time. You wondered if it would
ever end. When it did, you crawled back to bed and something miraculous
happened – you felt better. Maybe this is over, you said. Maybe it was just
something I ate.
This momentary sense of well-being was like the crest at the
top of the wave. The view was clear. The day might turn out bright, after all. And
just when you thought things were better, you slid down the nausea slope, completely
incapable of halting the descent, and found yourself, once again, in the abyss.
Oh, please no, not this again!
I think you get the picture. At Signet Painting we see waves of new business come
in the door and we rejoice. And then, nothing. Business volume runs a course of phases – up and
down and up and down.
So what does this mean? Well, last month, two large Twin Cities
corporations announced lay-offs (General Mills and Medtronic – who added to
their already planned number). Do you think these laid off people are going to have their homes painted in the near future?
Therefore, we have inconsistent waves. One week is slow and then, bam! - we hear news that a general contractor client is going to have us busy in the fall after selling several remodeling jobs. Is the economy weak? Is it nauseated? Will it recover?
I would love to hear my readers comments as well ~
The economy in Philly is much improved. We are lucky to have a diverse economy.
ReplyDeleteI still wouldn't want to be relying on the new home building or commercial market. We do residential repaints and average job size is below $5,000. People generally don't need financing to hire us.
Our business is growing and this year we expect to achieve volume levels of 2007 with less overhead and less direct labor- that means more profit.
It helped that we had a mild winter.
All in all I am really upbeat.
All the best,
Kevin Nolan
Here in sunny Kansas City we are fortunate to have a very diverse economy, so we're able to weather the storm better than some other areas. Crestwood Painting is a residential painting company that does no work for other contractors and very little commercial work. Last year we had a very nice increase and this year looks to be up from that.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest factor in the growth we've seen is marketing. Our competitors are still waiting for the phone to ring like it did in the 90's and early 00's - some have gone out of business, quite a few are struggling. We have made sure to be front of mind with consistent and pervasive branding. It's paying off.