Are things picking up again?

Over the past week I've had a number of conversations with friends and clients about business where they work and live. Call it a random sample. The only non-random aspect about this little informal survey is that they all know me. None of them know each other, so unless I'm the common thread that somehow guides the way economic conditions affect their businesses...

You get the idea.

Here are my findings:
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1. Phoenix - a buddy of mine is a landscape contractor who has been thinking about shutting down his business since demand went to near zero about 6 months ago. He's had to let people go and cut back hours on nearly everyone else. His own take home pay has been zero for 3 months. Just as suddenly as business died late last year, he's seen business picking up again in the past couple of weeks. The phones started ringing and he's winning contracts again. His clients have money to spend. He's a long way from hiring everyone back, but prospects are again looking up.
2. Minneapolis - a cousin operates commercial rental properties across the twin cities. He's been in this business for decades. His situation has been rather unique and interesting to me in that his business stayed relatively strong until a couple of months ago. Some tenants have been slow to pay, but that's part of the business. But business had been relatively strong, then ... nothing. His inventory of space suddenly stopped turning. His downturn seems to have lasted only about 2 months, however. In the past week he's written contracts for 3 new tenants. He's nearing his historic occupancy record.
3. East coast - a client of mine sells high technology manufacturing goods on the east coast. He mentioned to me that a large defense contractor in his area had slowed orders to a trickle in recent months. This month the trickle turned into a flow. His order rate is now 400% of what it had been the previous month. He's quick to point out his business isn't what it used to be, but he's optimistic once again.

So the question I have is this? Does a small sample of 3 establish a trend? Let's hope so. I could use a vacation.

How's your business?

Source: http://www.myinvestmentblog.com/are-things-picking-again

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