Posted on 01/23/2008 12:11:47 PM PST by StopDemocratsDotCom
Fellow Freepers, So I havent posted on this forum for MONTHS, but I am curious to discuss with other fellow Business owners if they are personally feeling the Economic Crunch first hand!. I am a 24 year old Republican business owner with a multimedia company in Los Angeles and a Production Studio in Hollywood so I am feeling from all sides. But as a Fiscal Conservative, I save 10 times more than I spend!. Discuss concerns, comments, stories!...
So the country wanted change in the congress..they got it, and look what happened! ha lol
Had to close my business due to home market,fuel costs,and less consumer spending.Are ex-business owners allowed to comment?
We have a family owned construction business. Do you think it is effecting my business?
We’ve been selling on E-Bay to supplement our Social Security and our business it way up. It is now making us a decent living. We have actually been up since Christmas. You can do this where you are for when times get a little rough and it’s fun too. We had a clothing business for years and closed that when we found we couldn’t get decent employees and now we don’t need any.
Well, how about you tell us how the Writer’s strike is affecting your company. It’s not easy for people outside Hollywood to fully understand the implications of that situation.
Here in north NJ, the foot traffic for retail stores is down significantly, about 10% year over year. Average purchase receipts are down too, if you account for inflation. Wholesale prices for retail restaurants and food stores is up considerably (over 15% in one year, unheard of in recent US history, my Italian born customers say they left Italy to escape that).
Everything that can be considered “consumer splurge” categories is hurting, coffee, cafes, kid’s entertainment, daycare centers, electronics, etc.
Stores catering to working class people in the construction and manual labor fields, check cashing and Hispanic food restuarants, liquor stores and bodegas are having a mixed bag, but the churn of closures is piking up.
Certain sectors are doing fine, NJ’s small niche manufacturers are having the best sales period in over a decade, they are drawing in skilled machinery operators as far as Michigan and the Carolinas now. NJ big pharma is chugging right along,.
Except for the stock portfolios, doing very well. Last year I made more in royalties than I did in my previous 10 years of publishing; new book coming out in Sept.; another new one shortly after that in a for-hire work. Built and moved into a new house worth about 30% more than the last one. But if the market had gone as it had last year, my retirement acct. would be a heckuva lot better off.
Hey LS, that’s great to hear, you have a title for the new book yet?
thats what im curious about
Better than ever. 7 days a week and still can’t catch up.
We haven’t laid any of our workers off, but we haven’t replaced any who have left for various reasons either.
We’ve scaled back payroll by 50%. We’re still making the same profit margin, but as far as contributing to the local economy via wages paid, then I’d have to say we aren’t doing as well as we have in the past.
Actually have been enjoying lots of growth, am already up 10% on annualized billings starting Feb 1st.
I am retired, but my daughter has 14 employees. She is looking at laying off 6-8 of them in preparation for a democrat in the White House.
Yes by golly, those that stayed at home from the 2006 election sure “sent a message”.
Just socking it away for the next price crash...
Well, I own a small mom and pop studio and I am seeing MAJOR implications. A lot of my friends who moved from out of state to work in the industry are hurting, these are some of the hardest working people I know who last year were working 12 hour days for weeks straight, who are NOT working, everyone is affected, caterers, writers, production assistants, etc. It is not good. It is so bad that one of my main competitors who constantly advertises on one of the sites I advertise on has stopped all of their ads.
By the way, not everyone in Hollywood is a left-wint wacko. There is a small group of us silent Reps who work in the industry. One of the biggest producers (Jerry Brukeheimher) who produced The Rock, The Amazing Race, and Pirates of the Caribeean is a GOPer and I have a good friend who is a celebrity chef who has a pic of Reagan hanging in his office lol.
Own a small, independent grocery store. YTD receipts are off 31%. Had to reduce payroll by 20% just to maintain status quo wrt GPM.
absolutely
Don’t feel we have a “harsh” economy at all.
Busy as I want to be.
We haven’t really felt a pinch, yet. Over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday, my husband had about 6 days of no work, but it was temporary. There’s one foreclosure on our street and the husband of a friend was laid off from work last week. I wouldn’t say that these two anecdotes necessarily prove there’s a recession coming or going, just my own personal experience.
A friend of ours is in special effects, and his work has been up and down for the past several weeks. He commutes from Arizona to L.A., so he has those living expenses as well. Not a good thing for his family here.
Wow! Man, I respect you for even trying that business. I really like mom & pop grocery stores, and I’ve seen 5 close here in the last year.
I think only the foreign language and micro niche ones are still open.
Sayin’ a Prayer for you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.