Lessons to keep your business alive through 2009
When the current period of recession ends, probably sometime next year, there will be two kinds of companies left. Those who survived and those who didn’t. Having weathered a terrible recession in the publishing industry in 2001 and a total washout of the real estate market in my home state of Colorado a couple of Read More →
That
Just in time for the holidays, the cute little gingerbread-style house across from the Santa Barbara News-Press building on Anacapa Street is going to be torn apart. Maybe that’s a little more Hansel and Gretel than it is holiday cheer, but you get my drift. The small Victorian-era cottage, listed as “Myers Carpenter Gothic Cottage” Read More →
Survival skills top chambers
Facing the prospect of tougher renewals and tougher times recruiting new members, tri-county chambers of commerce are trying to help more than 10,000 businesses weather the recession. That’s the result of an informal survey of Chamber leaders conducted by the Business Times in early December. The presidents acknowledged the severity of the economic downturn, but Read More →
J&P gets top SBA award
In the worst environment for the construction industry since the Great Depression, Jeff Ploutz and his Santa Maria-based J&P Construction are posting a record year. Thanks to repeat contracts from federal agencies and commercial customers, Ploutz has kept a workforce of about 43 busy this year and he’s expecting the future to be just as Read More →
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Online news start-ups in the Tri-Counties are looking for donations from loyal readers as well as community support to keep them operating through the next year. With signs pointing to a weak start to 2009, it could be an important survival strategy for small online publications that are trying to build brand loyalty on shoestring Read More →
Growth slow, steady for credit unions
While the banking industry has been making headlines amid talk of failures and $700 billion bailouts, credit unions quietly have been going about their business. In the Tri-Counties, as in California and many other states, credit unions tend to have less exposure to the housing market than some banks and fewer problems with securitization of Read More →
