Continuing To Survive The Slowdown
One of the many hats I wear at DDA is that of comptroller. I use the title in its broadest definition because while I am involved in all things financial I have a lot of help from David, Toni, Laurence, Crystal and our Project Coordinators when it comes to all the aspects of finance/numbers/quoting and other accounting functions. My weekly top priorities are monitoring expenditures, AR/AP work and payroll.
Expenses, big and small can get out of hand very quickly. A good example of a financial run-away train is our US Post Office. Last week, word came down via the trades that come January, first class stamps will cost 50 cents. I cannot even begin to fathom the 7 billion dollar loss they face for this fiscal year. Does raising first class mail to 50 cents stop the bleeding? Also, mail volume has been greatly affected by email and the ease of electronic communication. Snail mail as it is now known is going to disappear. That of course means thousands of jobs lost in a few years. So no, raising postage does not help. Just makes the public look for alternatives.
I share this information because as a small business, we have had to make many sacrifices too. The difference is that we watch our pennies, don’t let our egos get in the way, and don’t spend money we do not have. Trust me, there are constant temptations, but the over riding responsibility David & I have as owners of a small business to get good work and keep our staff intact through this downturn.
Things are starting to change, Newsweek claimed in its latest issue, but unemployment is going to continue to rise for the next 18 months. Strikes me as an economic oxymoron! Meanwhile, we cannot afford to slack off. However, this I know. We will emerge stronger, more capable and more attractive as a vendor, and when companies start searching for website development, or professional content writers or videographers, or marketing and advertising medical specialists, DDA will come up for all those terms number #1 on Google.
Entry by: elizabeth