Reply #46: mine is another 'small business' story... [View All]

[jbm]

I started a small business ten years ago and spent the first three years working in the company all day..and then waiting tables at night so I could use whatever profits the business made to pay off it's debts and grow. It took five years before I felt comfortable enough to actually draw a living wage from the business and devote all my time to it. We had two great years...and then they appointed Bush. We muddled through his first year ok,but by the end of 2002 I had cut out whatever unneccessary expenses we had and all that was left to cut was my salary(I've so-far been able to protect the jobs of my two faithful employees,BUT the only reason I was able to do that was because I gave up my salary entirely for a few months and went back to waiting tables part-time to cover my personal expenses).

To be honest,things are actually looking better right now,but only because the local newspaper did a human interest story on my little company and the publicity resulted in several new accounts. Our clients are factories,and when they have lots of employees we do well,but when they lay-off we suffer. The new accounts helped,but the last few years were so bad that I haven't been able to keep our equipment current and I worry that besides losing business to layoffs and shut-downs,I may now start losing business because of outdated equipment.

A few months ago I got a thing in the mail from the SBA with a big speil about how they had new programs designed to help small businesses that had been struggling through the tough economic times. I spent hours filling out the forms and few weeks later received a one paragraph response that thanked me for applying but I didn't meet the criteria. I have no clue what that 'criteria' may have been.

Anyway,if things stay the same and I'm able to keep nursing the equipment along we'll muddle through,but one more round of layoffs will leave me with no choice but to declare bankruptcy.