MEETING MINUTES
Friday, January 7, 2011
Volume 18; Issue 1

Members introduced themselves and announced leads.

Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is Nick Carr.  Please keep this member top of mind this week for referrals. 

Membership Report
Andy Jensen proposed a new member.  He is a window cleaner that Andy has known for over 10 years.  There were no objections to the initial application so Andy will invite him to visit the group.

John Dennett has a new member proposal.  He is John Hooper of FIAT Inc. His company installs and services AC units.

Steve Chilton has resigned from MABE.  The handyman category is now open.

Today's Program - Looking back at 2010  - Looking forward to 2011
How many look back favorably on 2010?

  • Our business is very seasonal.  2009 killed us.  We had a 30% increase from 2009 to 2010.  Because we borrowed so much to get through 2009 that 2010 was catch up.  2011 is looking even better.  People are letting go of money a little more.

  • 2010 was a year of extremes.  Our maintenance division had its best year ever.  Our construction division had its worst year ever.   We are trying to get to a more manageable balance.

  • It doesn't seem that the economy improved as much as businesses did.  I think people were scared in 2009.  I think people are starting to believe the world is not coming to an end.

  • We had a better year in 2010 than the previous 2 years.  A couple of months were not as good but overall we did better and expect 2011 to improve even more.

  • I agree that a lot of fear has subsided.  Those that didn't adapt in 2010 did not survive.

  • We added a couple of new products that helped us to grow.  2011 should do much better.

  • I go to a lot of small businesses and have seen how they have changed.  People that have gone from small to big buildings ended up working from their homes.  They readjusted, did different things and started to stabilize.  Some are going back into the buildings.

  • We are stable today and that feels good.  As long as we don't have any extremes, we will have some growth.

  • In 2010 we adopted 2 children.  That was a big life change.  Its been fantastic.  I have had to change my schedule because of the kids.  My 2010 was literally within $200 of my 2009 but I made it in a different and better way.

  • Late 2009, early 2010 I saw a lot of daycare centers clear out, low enrollment.  It was scary.  They are now saying that they are enrolling a lot of new kids.  People are going back to work.  Its promising.

Members broke up into small groups to continue today's discussion on 2011.