<p>The economy has gotten better for some people that i have noticed. While a lot of people have lost long term positions in their fields there are so many that have made their own niche. I have heard so many stories about people starting up new businesses. Doing things that they never even considered before. Sometimes all you need to get a new business going is to just do something that you have done for ages and just never considered that it could be a living.</p>
<p>It is easier to get started now because a lot of the new businesses that people are going into involve having a website instead of a brick and mortar shop or place of business. There are tons of people creating their own niche web stores, which in turn is building the market for jobs that involve graphics, website building, and SEO stuff.</p>
<p>I know a bar and restaurant manager that started hos own company doing business services, because every time he started up at a new place he had to put SOP’s in place and he had the knowledge to help other people create their own operating procedures to get started. Two teachers traded out their jobs to turn their Ebay store, which was more of a hobby, into an actual thrift store. Sometimes you have to create your own opportunity.</p>
<p>dstark, we have what seems to be a good niche. Unlike many firms, we weathered the financial crisis pretty well. We grew revenues and profits 2008 over 7, 2009 over 8, 2010 over 9, 2011 over 10. That has required a fair bit of work on my part bringing in clients but also with our people (and me) delivering the goods for our clients. The good news is that 2012 looks pretty remarkable as our old clients mostly stay with us and we’ve been adding clients at a faster rate than before.</p>
<p>Friends are under contract on a home that i think is 50k overpriced, and the buyers asked for all kinds of trivial givebacks, and friends said NO…deal looks to close in 2 weeks…house is actually 75k under zillow,though Zillow is usually way off in this area…my house recently appraised by bank for refi at 200k more…i told bank if they could find someone to pay that,i’d sell. ;)</p>
<p>The firm I am with had its best year in 2008 and every year after that the firm has done worse than the year before…2009 worse than 2008…2010 worse than 2009…etc…</p>
<p>Want to trade? ;)</p>
<p>I read your posts and…well…does somebody high up in your firm have a book coming out shortly?</p>
<p>Qdogpa…maybe things are better than you think?</p>
<p>BCEagle91, it will be interesting to see how Aapl’s option volatility changes after earnings…</p>
<p>My company has done quite well since 2010 and had record profits this past year. It will be interesting to see what they report tomorrow as it will be a good reading on the tech sector for everything from computers to smartphones etc. At the beginning of this quarter, they said they expect a slowdown during the second half of the year and have been tightening their belts particularly in regards to business travel.</p>
<p>With all the examples of better times, has that translated to higher income for you people? Fwiw, we have been fortunate not to see any income decrease over the last 5 years, minimal increases 4 out of 5 years, and 1 year of redline…</p>
<p>Well, our family has finished paying tuition for S and we HOPE to finish paying for D next month. Add to that, S received a job and is self-supporting, so our FAMILY has been doing better this year than at any time previously. Since otherwise nonprofit funding has been tough to get, have not been drawing much of a salary this year, to conserve funds, but H fortunately has not had to have a pay cut (tho no bonus). Overall, our family has weathered the tough economy well and we are grateful.</p>
<p>“are you better off now than you were three years ago” - typically an election question. The thing is that we can answer yes to that for the last 7 elections.</p>
<p>Son is working now so that has cut expenses and no more tuition payments for him (his employer reimburses). Daughter is looking for a job this summer - I’m not optimistic as it is tougher than unemployment numbers would make it out to be.</p>
<p>dstark, no books that I know of. I think I’ll be non-contrarian and stick with the firm on the upward trend.</p>
<p>qdogba, for our consultants, compensation is very performance based, so as revenue goes up, the consultants who are associated with higher revenue get higher pay. For the administrative folks, they get raises and we try to make sure that we are at market or somewhat better, but the jobs may not be exactly comparable to others so that salary.com or glassdoor don’t really help much.</p>
<p>Even though we’re a mom-and-pop structural engineering firm, we’ve done OK - actually very well. There have been a few times when worked slow down for a month or two, but then it’s come back with a roar. It’s funny - it always seems to be a different client who fills in the gap, and I’ll think, “If it weren’t for ‘X’ company, we’d be hurting right now.” So I hope our good luck continues.</p>
<p>There’s a huge new premium outlet mall that’s going to open in our town in two months. I just read that the planning board is considering proposals for four restaurants and a dry cleaner in the general area. I am hoping that some of our near-deserted strip malls will get filled up with tenants from more people coming here to shop.</p>
<p>The downside is increased traffic but I have flexible working hours so I can deal with that.</p>
<p>For some reason, MA payroll numbers from the BLS were quite a bit lower than they should have been. Analysis indicates that this is just a MA issue.</p>
<p>“MassBenchmarks estimates that the number of payroll jobs (on a seasonally adjusted basis) for September 2011 is 3,241,600, or 36,600 more than the official payroll job count of 3,205,000 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),” the journal says.</p>
<p>The Boston Globe spoke with a BLS division chief, who admitted that the MassBenchmarks calculation is “probably right.”</p>
<p>Next year, officials told the Globe, the BLS “will adjust its 2011 estimates again using the same additional data on which [MassBenchmarks] based its analysis.”</p>