hows the economy in 2011 for you (i havent asked in 6 months)

[huggytree]

like every winter/early spring in construction...it seems very slow...March is decent-jan/feb was horrible

when i compare my hours and quickbooks for 2011 im exactly the same..quick books says im up 2 percent(wow)

new home work is up 40 percent this year, but homeowner calls are down 40 percent...i dont know what this really means, but it means something

my outlook for 2011 is good...feels like it will be the same as 2010 or better...tons of bidding and im winning almost all of them in March (i didnt win any in Jan/Feb)

[cbscreative]

I got hit with spring fever on steroids, so I'm plenty busy.

[Harold Mansfield]

The phone rings pretty steady. It would probably ring a little more if I put a little more effort into it, but I can't complain with the jobs I'm getting for the amount of work I put in to get them.
UE is still 13% where I live, but I don't see it because I don't technically work here.
I started in 2009 when it was really bad and I still made it through. At this point my retirement plan is still heavily based on prayer and lottery tickets, but I never expected this to make me wealthy, merely a stepping stone to pay the bills while I investigate other income opportunities.

All in all I can't complain.

[huggytree]

a friend of mine started a plumbing company last year when he got laid off...ive been helping him startup even though he's my competition

he is trying for the lowend-cheap market and is really struggling...im giving as much business advice w/o telling details of how i get customers.....i cant have him just copy me and steal my customers....i doubt he would anyways, but i wont risk my family's income on it.........i give him the jobs i dont want/cant do to help him

its almost impossible to startup a construction type business now.....his business is not improving

[huggytree]

im not seeing as many houses for sale anymore and dont know any businesses that went under recently....seems to getting better

[Harold Mansfield]

I think right now, if you didn't loose your house, you are staying with what you have. It is a buyers market, especially where I live.
I'm looking at condo lofts on the strip that started at $350k, now bank owned and short sales for $140K+. That's a killer deal on one of the most expensive streets in the world.

I don't see any new home starts. Too much existing inventory with no rise in demand. Nor do I see any new construction anywhere.

[greenoak]

up and down but better than the last 2 yrs... sunny and swamped today.... tons of buyers...so im very hopeful for a record year...

[Capitalist]

In addition to the Internet Marketing stuff I talk about so often, my wife and I also own a dance studio. We've noticed a slight uptick in enrollment in the last quarter, and attrition is low.

We've been hoarding cash to weather this storm, and we've begun to spend it again. As we operate mostly at night, our storefront on the town square isn't used during the day. Last week, we bought a bunch of imported accessories - purses, bags, sunglasses, etc. That's done *very* well, and we intend to put our one employee on full-time and work a boutique accessories store out of the front of the studio during the day.

Things are improving, slowly. Whether it continues or not will depend on what fuel prices do between now and Labor Day.

[CloptonCapital]

I'm doing much better but that is becaused I committed to doing something new and greater in the long term after being laid off in 2009

[billbenson]

I had three weeks in a row that were lousy. But all of Q1 is usually lousy so I can't really complain. Last week was great. I put in some really long hours trying to get some cash back in the bank.