# Is business slow or what/



## kelly1

or is it jus me. Don't recall it being this slow before. Know the economy is really bad but dang. Use to have 10 -15 calls a week. Now lucky to get 5. Buddy of mine moved to Iowa 2 weeks ago doing the same business carpet cleaning because he was struggling down here. He said it was booming in Iowa. He was going non stop since he got there. Wonder if it is just this area. Just my 2 cents.


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## bluffman2

car buisiness sucks right now...:banghead


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## Voodoo Lounge

Boat business sucks!!


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## dailysaw

what ever it is someone needs to fix it:letsdrink


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## flynurse

the emergency business is still booming!!! people still like to hurt themselves and each other. hope things pick up for everyone.


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## lobsterman

vendor delivery business stinks also.


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## nextstep

the land surveying business really sucks right now and has for almost 3 years. went from 4 crews to 1 and a half:doh those sub prime mortgage brokers ought to be forced to play russian roulette with the tort lawyers and be televised for our entertainment.:letsdrink


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## Framerguy

nextstep hit on part of the problem in this particular area of the country, easy lending, speculative building, preselling of condos that weren't even built yet, and buyers who didn't have the money to invest, investing in property that wasn't worth the price that was being asked. Now it has come full circle and is biting many innocent bystanders in the butt jobwise, me included.

The only guy I know who is really making a killing right now is a local real estate auctioneer who is holding record breaking land auctions every weekend!! He can'tkeep covered all the property owners who want to get out from under a mortgage and don't want to wait a year or two for a real estate company to try to move their condo, new beach home, or other type of investment or spec. property. His auctions run into the multi-millions _every_ weekend and are attended by those people who still DO have enough liquid assets to be able to buy up much of the property that others have speculated on or have bought on credit and now can't make the payments or pay the taxes and maintenance and just want out at whatever cost to them! 

The building boom in the last 4 years in the Walton/Okaloosa county areawas absolutely amazing to watch as one huge condo after another went up, sometimes 2 or 3 adjacent to each other!! They presold condos and beach homes and took the money and financed all this construction and now the owners are suffering as they sit on new condos that they really can't afford to keep in this sluggish economy and can't sell because of the flat real estate market. So they go to the auctioneer and take whatever they can get for their "dream getaway place" just to avoid having to pay mortgage, taxes, and overhead to keep the property for however many years it takes for a real estate agency to find a buyer. The auction is absolute and, at the end of the day, they leave with their property sold and maybe a little cash in their pockets if they are lucky and they don't have to look at many tens of thousands of dollarsin additional investment in that property before it is eventually sold through conventional avenues!

Yeah, things are bad here on the coast but they are pretty bad all over too. We just seem to have a concentration of circumstances that have come back to haunt those who thought they would cash in on the huge building boom and now can't afford the situation they got themselves into. You will find that, when real estate goes flat and land and buildings don't move on the economy, most everything else is affected by that slowdown. It always has and probably always will beon of theleading indicators of the general state of the economy.


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## gameaholic

We will probablymake about a third what we usually make in a year. I know some guys that have lost everything.It is amazing how many houses sit vacant both new and old houses. I guess the economy has forced alot of people to leave our area for somewhere they can afford to live. Housing and property "values" pushed the cost of rental property here in Okaloosa county through the roof. Houses in Crestview that were selling in the $40's a few years ago went for $115-125. These were the old cinder block homes right around 1000sqft, with flat roofs,they were then tring to rent them for $950-$1000. There are about 6 of these sitting vacant on the street our son lives on, and there is only about 15 homes on this street. I would love to sell our house and move back to te south end so I would be closer to work. I spend about $600 a month in fuel, and now the wife works in Destin too, she spends about $240. We could make a house payment with what we are spending for fuel.


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## Breeze Fabricators

Welding fab. work sucks too!!


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## kelly1

I fill the pain as well. Trust me the last 2 weeks have been tough. What really piss's me off is the money we bailed AIG out with.I as a small business owner would have loved to had part of that. Hope the government will bail me out ifI file bankruptcy.


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## CoFlafisherman

I agree it's slow, I too am trying to find business. After reading all of your comments, I am interested to know what you as business owners are doing to find that business. How are you getting people to do business with you? I am just curious, perhaps I could get one good idea from some of you other business owners that could help me.

CoFla


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## P-cola_Native

The PEO business (employee leasing) is tanking right now. Everyone is failling to meet payroll andbouncing checks. I hope it turns around soon.

At least people are still buying mullet and crabs. That's all I'm relying on right now.


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## konz

Yes it sucks.......I had the "defyining my role in the company" talk with my boss yesterday. Good new is I still have a job with the same pay......we let go of many people in another office and I was one of the few lucky ones. Thank God!


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## kelly1

TCAT summed it up good for methe other day. " Get after it" ..When you are use to business coming to you, now you have to get after it. Advertising cost are astronomical especially the phone book whichI stay out of all of them now. Not a goodROI in my business but may be good for yours. Had a business card size ad in several phonebooks from pcola to fwb. May have received 6 calls the whole year from the phone books. I mail out brochures target doctors mainly any medical or medical related facilities. Postcards for residential.I work with mom & popcompetitors on big jobs. Nothing better than wordof mouth.....As we know the market sucks, but I still target realtors and for just apenny per email I get business from them even ifI clean their homes and not theones they are selling . " Check Out This Website!!!!http://www.mountainbytes.com/.Get listed on Google Maps. It is free.....


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## CoFlafisherman

All I can say is Brandsformation! Anyone who owns a business should read the book by Chuck Mefford, Brandsformation. If you want a copy I can email it in a PDF, just let me know. I believe it will change your minds about "word of mouth". I also feel it will change the minds of those who feel their budget is too small to advertise. I have heard that too much around here. So many people are jumping on "the economy sucks" band wagon and it's almost irritating.Yes it sucks, but it's sucked before. The most important time to advertise is during the slow, sluggish times. When times are good,they're good because people are spending money and advertising is not as high of a priority. When times are bad, businesses need to remind people they are still there. In regards to the Yellow Pages, why wait for someone to need your service or products and hope they find you in the Yellow Pages, why not drive home your message into people's minds so when they do need your service or products, they are looking specifically for you in the Yellow Pages because they have heard your name so much it is branded intheir mind.

Example - If I owned a plumbing service, call it Steve's Plumbing, I would advertise as much as possible so when people did need a plumber they automatically think of Steve's plumbing and go to the phone book looking specifically for Steve's plumbing, by-passing all other plumbers. If you use the phone book, add something to the mix so they use it to only look for your business. You could even advertise that your number is on page 59, or 68, etc.of the phone book so they know exactly where to go when they do need your products or services.

Also, hasn't anyone heard of the internet? Why not spend $3600 for 1 year and get 600 commercials each month on 3 different radio stations (200 commercials a month per station) through their streaming radio. Over 12,000 people a day are listening to streaming radio. I know for a fact that the number of people listening to streaming radio increased by 23% from August to September, and is wide open for advertising. Like Kelly1 said, go after the business, do not wait for business to come to you. 

I love this city and I want all of your businesses to succeed, I am all for the little guy and will spend my money to reflect that. Life is full of ups and downs, right now life is down, so the best thing a business can do is prepare for the up and be the first one people think of when it does go up.


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## badazzchef

I would love to cater any event that you guys would like to put on to show of your business. We have done dinners for 2 lately on yachts being sold as a gift from the broker. We have done small office luncheons for businesses that are struggling that the topic was how to promote business. My point is...there is a way to build business you just got to sell yourself everyday!


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## tyler0421

The moving business is staying steady.It's about the same as last year. Definatly could be better though!


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## Slamtastic

Yes folks, we all are hurting. Some of us even before now. Me not as bad yeat. I'm okay with my house and can still make the boat payment. Just can't fish as often as iI like.Seems no one whats to talk about what got us in this mess. Gread at its finest. See guys, those of us who did'nt fall for the JUNK MAIL ADVERTISEMENTS and phone calls about the TOO GOOD TOO BE TRUE morg. deals are not as bad off. The call I remember the most was that I could get 125% of the equity in my home. Anybody remember the saving and loan bail out??? If we don't talk about what got us into this mess it will happen again. I can assure you that some of the same fat cats that were involved in the saving and loan stuff is right in the middle of this mess. If you don't think many of our congressman(both dem and rep)don't have a financial interest in this, I can give you a real good deal on preconstruction condos in Galveston..............


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## Brant Peacher

Fishing business is down as well. Folks just cant afford to fish as much or do the same type of fishing as they could in previous years. Im sure it will pick up in the future though.


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## Leonitis

Hospitals are always bussy. Look there


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## Blue Magic

The used auto parts business is at least paying the bills, my other business (excavating, and clearing) is completely dead and I'm about to file chapter 7 on it.


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## kelly1

Foreclosures have been keeping me busy sinceI made this post. Wish it could have been under different circumstances.....


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