Small businesses see conditions improving

COURTESY PHOTO Joe Du Bois, owner of Trek Bicycle Store in Estero and Naples since 2006, is planning to hire new employees and continue to order fresh inventory. Kathy Beller, owner of Beller's Salon in South Fort Myers, is keeping her chin up (and her hair perfect) in spite of a few final bangs and busts, coming from the economy in its recovery process. Besides hiring a new hair stylist recently, she kept her full staff available to do nails, massages, facials, Botox injections and permanent makeup.

"If you focus on the negative, you'll find more negative," she said. "I'm trying to keep everybody off the TVs so they don't see the bad news."

Small business owners across the nation are taking a more upbeat tack, says William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB's Index of Small Business Optimism rose 5.8 points to 86.8 (out of 100) in April, indicating that owners have more job openings, think now is a good time to expand, are selling out of inventory and expect the economy to improve in the next six months.

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Kathy Beller of Beller's Salon stays focused on the positive. Joe Du Bois and his wife, who have owned Trek Bicycle Store in Estero and Naples since 2006, are planning on hiring new employees and continue to order fresh inventory on a weekly basis.

"We could act in fear and say we're going to keep our payroll and expenses down as much as possible," Mr. Du Bois said. "But we have a conflict: if we don't have enough people, our customers don't have the level of service that's gotten us to where we are today. And that's something we won't stand for. Even though it's a quiet economy, we stand where we are, with a team of great people. And just having that positive energy — customers feed off that."

Dave and Linda Visger, franchise owners of Naples-based GarageTek, cut back on employees and relied on business basics, like customer service, to survive the last few years. But now they're growing again, by expanding their operation to become ShelfGenie franchisee owners as well. Both are storage and organization products. Ms. Visger says they fill a need, especially along Florida's west coast where there are few basements.

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Beller's Salon "Our phones have been ringing more," she said, even though tourist season is tapering off. "Our take on (the economy), surprising as it is, since May is usually not that exciting, we're definitely getting busier. We think that bodes well for our market cycle. We feel pretty bullish on both of the products we have."

Even though the economy hasn't fully recovered, at least according to economists, Ms. Visger feels that an optimistic attitude alone could get this huge capitalistic machine off the ground again.

"Stop using the 'r' word so much," she said. "People just need to get that out of their psyche and things will move on."

NFIB's chief economist Mr. Dunkelberg is concerned about what can happen if the "r" word is unwittingly placed in the wrong hands.

"If you go back to September 2007, the last month in the third quarter — that was a very strong quarter," he said. "In the 100 interviews we took in, one in four small business owners thought the economy would be better later.

"At the end of that quarter, that's when (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben) Bernanke said the 'r' word and he made the first cut in the federal funds rate. Then in the fourth quarter, there was a huge reduction in spending. The (Gross Domestic Product) went from 4.8 percent to - 0.5 percent in 90 days. Hiring plans, capital spending plans — they all went into the tank.

"Expectations are important. If you tell everybody that recession is coming, the natural thing to do is to cut back on everything."

Mr. and Ms. Du Bois' Trek Bicycle Stores weathered the downturn by focusing on ordering inventory for only core customers — recreational cyclists and road cyclists. They also take the news with a grain of salt.

"I stopped watching the news," Mr. Du Bois said. "Everything is doom and gloom and the media has blown it out of proportion. I'd rather feed myself with positive stuff. I really believe it's a big reason for our success."

The bicycle shop was picked this year as one of the 100 best shops in the nation by Boulder

Sports Research LLC, out of nearly 5,000 other retailers.

Salon owner Ms. Beller agrees that optimism is important. She was polishing the fingernails last Thursday of one of her long-time clients, Elise Missall.

"She's a survivor," said Ms. Missal, a former marketing manager at Edison Mall, where Ms. Beller once ran her shop. "She's been through some stuff."

Ms. Beller said, "If everybody got more positive about life, more positive changes will come around."

Economist Mr. Dunkelberg said we can all feel better knowing owners are taking a positive attitude, because they employ more than half the private sector workforce in the United States, as well as produce about half the private sector Gross Domestic Product.

"They may be small but they're big when you add 'em all up," he said.

Mr. Dunkelberg lives in Philadelphia and built a house in Cape Coral last year — on waterfront property he has owned for more than a decade. "I was just waiting for the housing bubble to burst so I could get a builder," he quipped.

Some news stories indicate big banks are recovering, foreclosures have slowed and homebuyers are taking advantage of lower housing prices, even if phrases like housing bust, credit crisis, economic downturn and The Great Recession are still flourishing in the news.