Downsizing your business for 09??

[John T 744]

I hate to say this but from what I am hearing and seeing along with reading 2009 is going to be a horrendous year. 2010 is not going to be no picnic either. Those are the two years that most say will be the worst this country has seen in many many years.

There will be many businesses closing down along along the way with some of them most likely being some Powerwashers that we all know from these bulletin boards.

As for myself I just sold off two of my trucks and I may sell off another one. There all paid for which is why I sold them because I am trying to store some cash away for the looming disaster that is staring us in the eyes. Sorry for the negative post but being a realist I try to plan as best as I can for the wellbeing of my family.

As for 09 I still plan on keeping my two guys as I have since around 02. The question I keep asking myself is do I spend a ton more advertising to keep these guys and myself busy with the risk of losing more money because of the terrible economy.

My guess is that many of the owner operated guys here(1 employee) will look at this as an opportune time to spend more money on there business to chase more work. What about the guys here that have employees. What are your plans for 2009. Do you guys who spend the larger amounts of money like I do on your business have the same concerns that I do??

Whats your thoughts??

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I was in the post office the other day, and was chatting with the postal clerk. Her husband has a construction company and 10 employees. Right now they are working two guys part time in shifts, it is all they can do. They also had to cancel their health insurance policy for everyone. Her job is carrying them.

I agree John, this is going to be a tough year on many. Trim expenses where you can.

Beth

Edited January 27, 2009 by Beth n Rod
forgot info

[Scott Stone 604]

We started stashing cash last March. We were hunchy, and played the hunch. So far we are down some, but are still doing decent. There is a significant possibility that we might even grow a bit this year, in spite of, or maybe because of the downturn in the economy, but we are still going to continue to stash cash. But then, I am pretty busy for February, and swamped in March. I do not know what is on the horizon for April though. I am hoping that what I am thinking is going to happen does.

[Colorado ProWash 21]

I'm going to try and not let the countries problem interfere with business. I'm going to get out there and try to sell as if nothing has changed. I will push my business harder and try to increase last year’s profits. I focus on some of the positives.

I've heard some buildings are getting washed because the real estate market has plummeted and by doing this it helps the building appraise higher or increases the chances of selling it.

Companies are going under. Customers are still in need of our service. They call and hear the number has been disconnected. It’s a perfect time for me to be advertising.

I'm adding other services to help keep busy. We will be focusing on Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning. As long as restaurants, fast food, churches, schools etc are still in business and cooking it's the law they clean there kitchen exhaust systems.

Property management companies will still have to keep there places clean if they want to keep there tenants happy and future renters wanting to lease there.

I just sold a deck job at full price. Customer hired a company last week and they never showed up to do the job and they won't answer the phone now. I gave him my proposal and said that it's more then he wanted to spend and I left. I didn't even offer to do it lower. He called me back this evening and said he want's to get the job scheduled. There still will be customers that would rather pay x amount of dollars and be rest assured the job will be done correctly and on schedule. He knew he could find that by using our company and I believe that's why he called me back.

Things are tough right now in our country. It's hit pretty close to rock bottom. Everyone is aware of this and we as a nation are in rebuild mode. This year may not be good but it will get better and I think it will start happening soon.. I think we will see this even this year. It will take a few years to fully recover.

Just my thoughts...

Edited January 28, 2009 by Colorado ProWash

[tunatussle 14]

Feel that advertising is chasing dollars right now, would be better spent going after past clients. Will not go into mass mailings but will send targeted postcards.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Feel that advertising is chasing dollars right now, would be better spent going after past clients. Will not go into mass mailings but will send targeted postcards.

We have gotten closer to customers as well. If you can I would invest in some new, not crazy but a little.

[James 625]

Going back to Window Washing> Things look very Bleak up here for 2009 in regards to Pressure Cleaning Maintenance.

[plainpainter 217]

Nearly all my advertizing dollars is going into guerrila marketing. I highly doubt any mailings will go over 0.1% response rate in '09 - unless the mailing houses and the post office are willing to drop their drawers - I won't be spending money there. I don't think the print media advertizing I used in the past will be as effective - I expect at least 30% drop in interest - yet the price is going up. My plan is to remain in that advertizing and try and catch a greater percentage of a shrinking market. I think my competition is so under funded from their past lowballing - that they will be gone entirely from the print advertizing. So I am betting on a better customer acquisition rate.

I will be looking to bring back on exterior painting - as I am already getting demands on it. But I will absolutely not be hiring Americans this time around - they can all go rot imo. They never brought profitability to my company in previous years - they just used my company for their pocketbook - no loyalty whatsoever, even when I paid them atrociously well. I will be using immigrant labor and will drive their salary further down from what they were even use to. This year is going to be a struggle - and I am going to put myself first this time. I've endured enough low income years - and I am going to use this economy to my benefit.

I am also looking forward to the demise of builders in general. They have had such a negative effect among subs for so long - they have driven down average incomes so far down and have gobbled up the marketplace. I will look forward to working as a sub againg directly for homeowers with all these builders out of the picture. I know a really really high end builder that pays his floor sanders $0.75 per square foot for sanding and 3 coats of poly - and his painters are paid even worse - but this is typical. I'll be glad when it ends.

[MudDuck 20]

Man someone shoot that black raven circling o'l Dan there....LOL...Dan add another half a pill on the wake up meds...Back off the coffee....LOL..(quick someone get the huggy jacket)

[Alexy 85]

Our country's failures in a microism.