Who else is having a slow July?

[roundcorners_IHB]

These are the dog days of summer… July and December are the slowest months in the year for our industry. Most people are on vacation or closed more days than usual. I’m really feeling the recession this year. The slow down really came at the end of June, and so far, I’m about 15% down year over year. What are any of you doing about the slow down? We are not taking a vacation anywhere this year, partly due to the new baby, but just cutting back overall. Just trying to conserve as much as I can while waiting for business to come. Oh, well, it’s been a while since I work from home all week…

 

[bltserv_IHB]

My business was dead from October to March. Just now starting to pick up again.

It may have something to do with the fact 2 of my local competitors went belly up as well.

One word of advice. Dont wait for business to come back. Make it come back.

 

[PANDA_IHB]

These are the dog days of summer… July and December are the slowest months in the year for our industry. Most people are on vacation or closed more days than usual. I’m really feeling the recession this year. The slow down really came at the end of June, and so far, I’m about 15% down year over year. What are any of you doing about the slow down? We are not taking a vacation anywhere this year, partly due to the new baby, but just cutting back overall. Just trying to conserve as much as I can while waiting for business to come. Oh, well, it’s been a while since I work from home all week…

RC, same here.. I noticed a slow down first in Jan '09 and pick up until early June. From mid to late June until now I am also down 15% from June '08. I called up my CPA today and he also told me that most of his clients are down this month and they are starting to get a little worried. My best advice is to pray to God that he will keep you alive because I don't think we have seen the worst yet. Though it is dark now, I know that the sun will eventually shine again so this is this is not the time to get complacent and discouraged, but to strive for excellence in your operations, marketing, and your financial controls. Recession is good in a way because it washes out all the fat and the weak players out of the industry just like it did in the .com and real estate. I've kept my business real lean keeping only the core guys and aggressively looking at new channels to open up. I am not cutting down on my marketing expenses, but watching every dollars very closely. I am also calling up my competitors to see what they are up to.

Best of luck.

 

[no_vaseline_IHB]

My best advice is to pray to God that he will keep you alive because I don't think we have seen the worst yet.

Bad idea. What happens if you fail? Either the answer was "no" or your God has forsaken you.

 

[PANDA_IHB]

My best advice is to pray to God that he will keep you alive because I don't think we have seen the worst yet.

Bad idea. What happens if you fail? Either the answer was "no" or your God has forsaken you.

If i fail, I will fail forward learning from the mistake and getting back on my feet trying it again, especially if i enjoy what i am doing. Why would i ever think that God has forsaken me?

 

[no_vaseline_IHB]

My best advice is to pray to God that he will keep you alive because I don't think we have seen the worst yet.

Bad idea. What happens if you fail? Either the answer was "no" or your God has forsaken you.

If i fail, I will fail forward learning from the mistake and getting back on my feet trying it again, especially if i enjoy what i am doing. Why would i ever think that God has forsaken me?

Because you prayed and asked for help. If you don't ask for help it's your fault. If you ask for help, and you fail, the answer was either "no" or God has forsaken you. If he said YES or had not forsaken you, you would of made it.

I'm being obtuse here (and trying to be a little funny) but I think the best path is to pray for salvation, and work like crazy in your business and hope you get lucky.

 

[stepping_up_IHB]

I sell software and Q2 was the worst I have EVER seen. Q1 wasn't exactly stellar and the only reason it wasn't dismal was because of Q4 stuff rolling over. So, '09 itself has not been great, so my income is down because I rely heavily on commssions. I actually found myself in kind of funk and feeling like I had no control over what was happening.

I realized that I had to make some changes.... it's bad and we are not falling off a cliff, but this is a time when the strongest will survive. I made a few changes.

1). Realize that I am resourceful and determine how I can be more resourceful and just do it.

2). Take better care of myself mentally and physically because I need to work harder and smarter

3). Don't get caught up in the news.... pay attention to what's important, but don't be obsessively reading all the doom and gloom

4). Spend less time on IHB. Frankly, there seems to be an attitude here that we are going to hell in a hand basket and a number of folks seem to actually cheerleaders for this outcome. It's the schadenfreude that is very unhealthy. This is not a positive emotion and if we do go to hell in a handbasket, it's going to hurt a whole lot more of us than the handful that may be in a financial position to get past the end of the world as we know it.

Since making these changes, my business has gotten tremendously better. I feel optimisitic. At the end of the long days, I'm tired, but not exhausted like I was before. I did more business today, the early part of Q3, than I did in all of Q2 and there is a lot more coming. No doubt, these are tough times, but the biggest thing I can say is that the best will survive as they always have.... don't get caught up in all the negative news and feel damned. We will come out of this and we will come out of this better and stronger than before.

And yes, spending has been cut way back. I was actually so happy about my next cc bill because it was going to be the lowest in as long as I can remember, but then I had to take the dog to the vet and there went $385 on it. The bright side, even with the vet bill, it's still one of the lower ones and it wasn't deny yourself everything. I got a new pair of running shoes on this bill and it was one of the best things I did.

 

[stepping_up_IHB]

My best advice is to pray to God that he will keep you alive because I don't think we have seen the worst yet.

Bad idea. What happens if you fail? Either the answer was "no" or your God has forsaken you.

If i fail, I will fail forward learning from the mistake and getting back on my feet trying it again, especially if i enjoy what i am doing. Why would i ever think that God has forsaken me?

Because you prayed and asked for help. If you don't ask for help it's your fault. If you ask for help, and you fail, the answer was either "no" or God has forsaken you. If he said YES or had not forsaken you, you would of made it.

I'm being obtuse here (and trying to be a little funny) but I think the best path is to pray for salvation, and work like crazy in your business and hope you get lucky.

Panda is religious, but everything in his post says that he is taking control of the situation to the best of his abiliites. He is not leaving it all up to God. I'm taking contol and hoping there is a little luck... Panda is taking control and believing that God is on his side. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

 

[IrvineRenter_IHB]

No matter how bad you think your industries are doing, I assure you mine is doing worse. Revenues and volume at the homebuilders is down 90%-95%. Unemployment at the homebuilders is running at about 90%, and it does not look like it will pick up any time soon. Unemployment in the related professional fields of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and others is running at about 50%. There is no way to measure how bad it is for realtors and mortgage brokers, but even with the "boom" we are experiencing now, transaction volumes are down 40% from a few years ago.

In short, real estate really sucks right now.

 

[usctrojanman29_IHB]

No matter how bad you think your industries are doing, I assure you mine is doing worse. Revenues and volume at the homebuilders is down 90%-95%. Unemployment at the homebuilders is running at about 90%, and it does not look like it will pick up any time soon. Unemployment in the related professional fields of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and others is running at about 50%. There is no way to measure how bad it is for realtors and mortgage brokers, but even with the "boom" we are experiencing now, transaction volumes are down 40% from a few years ago.

In short, real estate really sucks right now.

True, but I got lucky with a decent commercial real estate consulting gig that might go for a year and am fortunate to be working with some great buyers on the realtor side.

 

[IrvineRenter_IHB]

No matter how bad you think your industries are doing, I assure you mine is doing worse. Revenues and volume at the homebuilders is down 90%-95%. Unemployment at the homebuilders is running at about 90%, and it does not look like it will pick up any time soon. Unemployment in the related professional fields of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and others is running at about 50%. There is no way to measure how bad it is for realtors and mortgage brokers, but even with the "boom" we are experiencing now, transaction volumes are down 40% from a few years ago.

In short, real estate really sucks right now.

True, but I got lucky with a decent commercial real estate consulting gig that might go for a year and am fortunate to be working with some great buyers on the realtor side.

I am thankful every day that I still have a job.

 

[caycifish_IHB]

I am thankful my contract is with the federal government, and it will last for years. Very, very thankful.

 

[roundcorners_IHB]

IR, I thought that when housing is bad, your industry should be good...

 

[roundcorners_IHB]

I think this is a good time to spend some quality time one-on-one with my top tier clients. I am always too busy rushing here and there... but now, since some are basically sitting around too, it'll be good to really get to know them. It doesn't help this year that our new baby is just so high maintenance. I got to go over to the parent section; again... The day sleep is just so sporadic; it's automatically given that the years you get married and have a kid, your business will be down at least 10%! Can anyone else confirm this?

BTW it's July and still been pretty much a wash this year... We haven't dipped into savings yet, but haven't been able to save either... Darn Taxes... and Darn Medical Bills!!!

 

[bltserv_IHB]

My small corporation ate through a large amount of savings this year.

But we survived while our competition that had huge debts folded operations.

We downsized on headcount and sublet part of the building out.

This is our 7th year as a corporation and last year was by far worst I have ever seen.

Not just slow sales. But every deal was like an abortion. Everthing that could go wrong did.

And good customers not paying receivables. Thats another thing. We stopped giving terms on almost everything we sell including labor. Now if we dont have your credit card on file. You dont do business with us. No more floating others like the old days. Everbody is too hand to mouth.

 

[GoIllini_IHB]

And good customers not paying receivables. Thats another thing.

I hear you on that... I wrapped up a 6-month project for a client in mid-June. Yesterday they tell me they are short of money, and my last invoice is not going to be paid. They didn't say they would pay late, they just plain out said that they were not going to pay. I busted my butt keeping their project on track, and then, as soon as they get the final design approval they need (my job), BOOM! What they don't seem to realize is that there is always something that crops up during construction -- something that needs clarification -- and I'm fully capable of being patient and playing hardball.

 

[roundcorners_IHB]

good point on recievables... I can almost stop selling and focus on collecting for the next two months; and still make the same amount of money... lots of customers just making partial payments... always a fine line for those of us that have to keep going back to the well for water!

 

[oc investor2_IHB]

I work in the steady eddy world of fast moving goods ( AKA consumer packaged goods). I work for the largest player ($6B+) in a very reccesion resistant category. My portion of the business was fine until the last 45 days. We were enjoying a gradual increase in our run rates thu Q1 and early Q2, but starting in May things began to flatten out. Lately they are starting to decline.

Everyone is starting to hit the panic button. Travel - cut. Marketing - cut. HR- Hiring freeze. Time to hold on tight and focus on getting to my number in case the lay-off scythes come out in Q4.

 

[awgee_IHB]

I work in the steady eddy world of fast moving goods ( AKA consumer packaged goods). I work for the largest player ($6B+) in a very reccesion resitant category. My portion of the business was fine until the last 45 days. We were enjoying a gradual increase in our run rates thu Q1 and early Q2, but starting in May things began to flatten out. Lately they are starting to decline.

Everyone is starting to hit the panic button. Travel - cut. Marketing - cut. HR- Hiring freeze. Time to hold on tight and focus on getting to my number in case the lay-off scythes come out in Q4.

Howdy and welcome. Thanks for posting.

 

[macinthebox_IHB]

Started noticing a significant slowdown the last week of June, and that continued into July. Probably will be down 20% sequentially in July, which is not the norm. We do have a couple of in-house projects we are working on to tap into new markets, so we are just concentrating on that instead of worrying about things outside of our control. Certainly need to monitor the different metrics closely. This year has been fine for us so far, even though we hear a number of our competitors are down by quite a bit.