anyones work / profession / business SUCK This summer?

spring started out really decent, actually the best its ever been for my business. i own a small tree removal service.  but lately, the calls just arent coming in. my brothers business is also slow, so is my friends HVAC business, he cant get people to pay up for the work he did for them.

i just dont get it. what happened to all the work? i use to work 5-6 days a week, its 4 now.

Told you so

economy is going into crapper

Sorry to hear that, bud.  

FWIW, This we are on track to double what our products did last year.  Christmas bonus time will be grand.  Maybe even M-16 grand.

I would love a four day week. I have been working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Salary so I don't even get paid for the extra hours.

alot of my friends are self employed like me.
as i said- my tree removal business and my brotheres tree business took a huge hit during the "heat wave" in MN last month, its pretty common when the weather is too crappy for people to be outside they often dont look at their trees and we dont get calls coming in... but the heat wave is over, we've had rain, people should be outside by now and thinking about having their trees trimmed / removed.  i bought a new $18,000 stump grinder this spring and i havent ground out any tree stumps in 3 weeks...

but my buddy's HVAC company is running strong, BUT no one is paying him! he told me a month ago people owed him over $61K, and hes just a small company with 2 employees.  

another friend owns a construction company building houses, and rumor has it he cant even write himself a paycheck some weeks...

my friends landscaping company is dying... he use to make me look like a bum when it came to bringing in business, and he didnt even advertise when i did...

is it the economy? sign of changing times?

You don't have standard 40 hour week in your poll.

I  haven't put in a 40 hour week in years. Why? Because I'm a management salary employee. I work 50+ every week. I even get called on my vacations.

That said. It's better than not working.

I haven't worked a 40 hour week lately cause I'm also trying to do some learning.  So I have about 32 hour weeks and spend three days a week learning.

Quoted: You don't have standard 40 hour week in your poll.

sorry, i suppose theres no way to edit that into the poll is there

Quoted: alot of my friends are self employed like me. as i said- my tree removal business and my brotheres tree business took a huge hit during the "heat wave" in MN last month, its pretty common when the weather is too crappy for people to be outside they often dont look at their trees and we dont get calls coming in... but the heat wave is over, we've had rain, people should be outside by now and thinking about having their trees trimmed / removed.  i bought a new $18,000 stump grinder this spring and i havent ground out any tree stumps in 3 weeks... but my buddy's HVAC company is running strong, BUT no one is paying him! he told me a month ago people owed him over $61K, and hes just a small company with 2 employees.   another friend owns a construction company building houses, and rumor has it he cant even write himself a paycheck some weeks... my friends landscaping company is dying... he use to make me look like a bum when it came to bringing in business, and he didnt even advertise when i did... is it the economy? sign of changing times?

I work in a hospital. We are in the usual summer slowdown due to dr's on vacation. But I still get a decent amount of overtime every pay period  due to call. Come fall dr's come back and we will be consistently busy again. Snowbirds coming and going every year. Kinda like the weather actually..

My next door neighbor has an excavating business. Just himself. There's over $60k out on the books owed to him. So I can understand the situation of  your buddy's with the HVAC business. People just are not paying. Dont have a service or project done if you dont have the means to pay.

The new house market here has gotten kind of flooded and is slowing down.  

I think the drought here this summer has killed the landscaping business. I cut the grass in a few areas for the first time in 2 months. Maybe with the drought we'll have a kickin winter.

small business sector has been doing bad since sometime in 1999.

Whatever some people say, look around small businesses around your town, I notice a lot of them have gone out of business...including my favorite restaurant

I work in corporate travel.  Summer is supposed to be our slow time.  We've been off the wall busy.  It's crazy.  And we're getting new accounts hand over fist.  

I hear and read people all the time saying they'll never fly/get on a plane again.  You wouldn't know it by the business we book!

Quoted: I would love a four day week. I have been working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Salary so I don't even get paid for the extra hours.

It's fun to add up the actual hours you work and realize that, if you were hourly, you'd be making less per hour than the night manager at the local McDonalds.