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What recession?
As indicated in
the above chart, 43.4% of the survey respondents reported that their
sales were substantially higher during the first 8 months of 2010 versus
the same period in 2009.
Another 34%
reported that sales during this period were higher than last year.
13.2% said sales
were about the same from January through August in 2010 compared to 2009
(although one of the owners who rated their business in this category
did say that their revenues were $20,000 higher year-to-date but
considered this increase too small to categorize any higher).
Only 9.5%
reported a sales volume lower than during the same period of 2009. Based
on similar surveys conducted in years past, this number seems consistant
over the years and does not appear to reflect a change during the
current economy.
Here are some
comments made by survey participants:
Mississippi:
"Our cleaning business has grown significantly
this year as opposed to last year. Cleaning homes in Mississippi has
been a lucrative business to be a part of. The need for a clean home
environment is top on our clients' lists."
Florida:
"We are 100% over last
year."
Ontario, Canada:
"We've grown 50% from 2009 and at $50,000 per month average
sales now, we are fully on track to make our fiscal 2010 sales plan
with only 2 months to go."
Colorado:
"To me, it's substantial. It has increased 55%
from last years sales."
Rhode Island:
"Our sales revenue has more than doubled compared to this time
last year. I believe this can be contributed to moving the company
from a home-based business to leased office space. Our employees now
take their job more seriously and we have greatly reduced employee
turnover and increased service quality because of it.
We have grown from 6 employees to 16+ and projected revenue this
year will be well over $420K up from about $200K last year."
Illinois:
"Our business has achieved 468% growth over the first 8 months of
2009."
Minnesota:
"I've recently had a huge influx of business to the point where I've
had to hire 2 people."
Ohio:
"Growing at 30% this year."
Colorado:
"Our
business has grown 13/% compared to same months last year."
And although
this owner was not in operation in 2009, he did report the following:
Arkansas:
"Although we were
not in business in 2009, and began operations in February 2010, we
are experiencing significant growth month over month. We are
averaging 15 new repetitive customers per month, net of
cancellations."
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