Is anyone flat f*&^%$ broke?

Chamber005

Chamber005

Carbonite Member
So I don't really frequent places that might entertain the economically destitute, so I'm wondering what the pulse is out there for people.

My best friend is a broke SOB, but he's always been a broke SOB. I think he likes to struggle (as god knows I've given him enough opprotunities to not be struggling). So I've never viewed him as an accurate representation of America's working class.

I know we're online so that engenders a certain wage bracket, but what's the pulse out there for everyone? Do you feel like things are ridunkulously bad out there, or is it just the media's attempt to dig up some grime and shove it out through the internet, television, etc?

Stocks have been up for a while, and that's usually the main indicator for economic improvement. Avatar is about to be the highest grossing film of all time in like a week. Do you guys feel things are getting back to normal-ish?
 
Last year was (financially) a moderately good year. This year is shaping up to potentially be a very good year.
 
Depends on what business you're in. Last year was GREAT for me. This year isn't going to be so good.

I think we're far from through this thing...stocks are over priced and there's another batch of bad mortgages coming down the pipe. People who refinanced their homes to save them are now finding themselves out of work and defaulting again.

I'm sure we'll come out of these crazy economic times, but it's going to take some time.
IMHO
 
My client base has completely dried up. This region has always been depressed, now it's pretty ridiculous. When preparing to move last summer (which got put on hold for a year), my girlfriend and I had a lot of trouble finding work. More than ever before. She's a licensed phlebotomist, and I have all sorts of work experience and a business degree. When I talked to people who were looking for employees, I was told some had to start pulling help wanting ads because they were so flooded with applications that they couldn't get through them all. It might be a little better now.
 
I'm surprised; I read a week or two ago that phlebotomists can just about write their own tickets now...
 
The stock market - like Washington DC and Hollywood* - is so divorced from reality as far as the average every day worker is concerned that it really has no meaning anymore.

Most of the folks I know who still have jobs are working longer hours for less money while the cost of living continues to rise. In the last three years more than half of my clients (small businesses) closed their doors. I see more "this storefront for rent" signs than ever before. Gasoline is almost $1.00 per gallon more than it was last year. I spend the same at CostCo and the supermarket as I did last year and bring home less. My wife and I can't afford to go out to dinner any more.

We ain't broke, but we're getting there.
 
Here in the far upper midwest it's still not at all pretty. Although it appears we have finally stopped the free fall, there is no sign of "recovery" beginning here yet.

My day job is in the car business, and I have not talked to any of my clients or contacts who have claimed a good or great 2009. I am seeing "anticipatory" signs of increased interest in the wholesale end of the marketplace, but retail has been flat for everyone I know. C4C was a flash in the pan and ultimately will hurt more than help as it removed desirable potential inventory from the supply chain entirely.

The video biz for me has been a focus of promo work for local bands. That business went over the cliff in 2009 as bands saw their work diminish with the economy. My contacts with these bands was through their booking agent, and the agent's site has a schedule page that lists all booked gigs by day. During the fall and holidays, it appeared as though the band biz was turning a corner. Now that we are into January, it is falling right back off again. I am anticipating 2010 to be "ok" for the most popular of these bands, and another very slow year for the rest of them.

Now the brighter side.

I attended my first "bridal show" ever in my life, a couple of weeks ago. I have been giving serious consideration to getting into wedding videos, and felt that would be a good place to get some kind of idea on the wedding industry. I have participated in threads on other boards, discussing the pros and cons of exhibiting at these, so I had a rough idea of what to anticipate.

This is supposed to be "the biggie" for the area and is the first one of the year. When I pulled into the parking lot for the venue, to say the least, I was SHOCKED. I had to walk about two blocks from the back of the lot to the entrance for the show. There were scores of people heading in both directions, from and to the show. Once inside I felt the isles were quite full, and many booths were busy talking with people.

Honestly, had there been HALF the people in attendance instead of what were there, in my mind not having ever seen one before, I would have called it a huge success. The level of attendence I saw was astounding IMO.

So to summarize what I have seen:

Cars - DEAD
Selling Booze in bars when bands are playing - Down from where it needs to be
Weddings - Full steam ahead !!!!
 
Cassius said:
My client base has completely dried up.
Click to expand...

I think puredrifting touched upon this in another recent thread. Something along the lines of it's only gonna get worse. The influx of "everyone's doing it", with inexpensive cameras & desktop editing....I've lost a few gigs to, "my friends nephew can do it for $200." Not worth pursuing. Money is tight with everyone and I have been reflecting on how good it was a few years ago, and how now companies & private entities would never pay the same rates.

I'm salaried, so I'm happy to stay put where I am now. But it's barely enough to live comfortably. unclebob, I probably live down the road from the Costco you speak of, and brother, you ain't kidding.

But on the plus side, yeah, people are still getting married. :grin:
 
The only thing that's broke around here are the hinges on my cash vault... bitches.

I just had an escalator installed... into my pool.

All your client base belong to us.
 
My wife had been out of work for almost two years. Our contract work has actually picked up over the past 18 months, but it still isn't enough to pay all of our bills.

So yeah, we're broke. But so what? All other things being equal, I'd rather have more money than less. But all other things are rarely equal. :grin:
 
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My girlfriend and I have been pretty fortunate in the past year. She's a sales representative for a leasing company and I'm a cinematographer/editor for a local high school. I thought my high school gig would only last for a few months, but after several members quit, I was hired full time.

Several friends of mine have lost their jobs and it's always sad to hear. :(
 
I had a good paying job as a network support engineer. The entire Knoxville office shut down due to the economic meltdown. I have been unemployed since late July. But I chose to make a different career path. One that makes more use of the film school I went to. So I just thought of it as an ol' kick in the rear saying "Hey! It's time! Get up and do what you always wanted to do already!"
 
Fortunately, my software business has been doing very well for the past year and a half. I've had down times before, but as I am a consultant, the down times are usually opposite the economy. I get more work when the times are hard, because companies do not hire employees.

But I have to keep evolving to remain viable. When the dot-com bubble burst, I knew a few people who had a trouble because they did not evolve their skillset quickly enough to adapt.

Now it looks like it's onto mobile...
 
I'm with you Mark...started out as a Director house years ago...then Flash....now everyone wants iPhone apps. I'm sure Droid is next!
 
From my eyes things seem pretty bad. I have a few friends who have been out of full time work for the better part of a year.

Another friend of mine just got told he would be laid off with 1000 other city employees.

A couple of other folks I know who work retail on the Mag mile say it's pretty bad.

So yeah, times are still tough from where I sit.
 
Times are tough for a lot of us here. We are doing okay. But my wife losing her job was not good for us. I have two babies and I would go back to stripping to put food on the table.
 
It's been pretty good for me actually. One of the benefits of being on the ass end of the industry is that when times are tough, and clients are looking to save money, they go to freelancers like me who have very little overhead.
 
Batutta said:
It's been pretty good for me actually. One of the benefits of being on the ass end of the industry is that when times are tough, and clients are looking to save money, they go to freelancers like me who have very little overhead.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
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