1.
Surveying
future
lets
owner
take
advantage
in
better
times
Author(s):
JENNIFER
HELDT
POWELL
/
SMALL
BUSINESS
MATTERS
Date:
January
1,
2012
Back
when
the
sky
was
falling
and
business
dropped
off
the
cliff,
the
land
surveying
company
Harry
R.
Feldman
Inc.
spent
big
bucks
on
new
3-­‐D
laser
surveying
equipment,
a
move
that
seemed
counterintuitive.
Like
many
small
businesses
at
the
time,
the
company
was
cutting
back
to
cope
with
the
dramatic
decline
in
business.
However,
low
interest
rates
made
the
equipment
relatively
affordable
and
the
company
was
looking
ahead.
Instead
of
just
fearfully
retrenching
in
a
down
economy,
Feldman
was
among
those
companies
that
made
a
strategic
mix
of
investment
and
cuts
that
have
started
to
pay
off.
In
2011,
business
at
the
Boston
firm
grew
43
percent
over
the
previous
year.
“We
hope
this
year
was
an
indicator
of
a
new
trend
that
will
put
people
back
to
work
and
lower
our
unemployment,”
said
owner
Michael
Feldman.
Feldman
echoed
the
general
sense
of
optimism
expressed
by
many
small
business
owners
who
are
looking
back
at
2011’s
trials
and
ahead
at
the
better
year
they
expect
to
come.
Undoubtedly,
times
are
still
tough.
There
is
enough
uncertainty
with
both
the
national
and
global
economy
to
warrant
a
strong
dose
of
caution
going
into
2012.
But
there
is
a
general
sense
that
things
are
looking
up.
It
may
be,
as
with
Harry
R.
Feldman,
that
measures
taken
during
the
recession
are
allowing
them
to
take
advantage
of
new
opportunities.
It
may
also
be
a
bit
of
recession
fatigue
—
small
business
owners
becoming
just
plain
fed
up
with
feeling
under
the
gun
all
the
time
and
putting
more
stock
in
signs
of
improvement.
“In
the
spring,
things
started
to
get
better,
then
they
got
slammed
with
bad
news,”
said
Beth
Goldstein,
head
of
Marketing
Edge
Consulting
Group
and
an
adjunct
professor
at
Boston
University.
“But
by
the
end
of
the
summer
and
into
the
fall,
small
business
owners
were
feeling
like
they
had
to
move
forward.”
As
a
result,
many
are
investing,
expanding
and
moving
into
new
lines
of
service.
“The
economy
is
better
now
than
it
was
a
year
ago,”
said
Jason
Maxwell,
president
of
MassPay.
“People
are
more
optimistic
than
they
were
a
year
ago.
And
Maxwell
should
know.

2. MassPay
handles
the
payroll
for
numerous
companies
and
saw
more
of
its
clients
handing
out
raises
and
bonuses
in
recent
months.
Restaurants
continued
to
struggle
with
weak
consumer
spending
in
2011,
but
on
the
flip
side
several
construction
companies
that
had
shut
down
because
they
couldn’t
find
work
in
the
heart
of
the
recession
had
steady
jobs
in
2011,
Maxwell
said.
Manufacturing
also
picked
up,
which
is
often
an
early
sign
of
improvement.
The
upside
for
some
of
the
downturn
is
that
they’ve
been
able
to
hire
good
workers.
That
certainly
happened
at
Harry
R.
Feldman,
which
was
able
to
pick
up
some
talent
from
other
firms
that
cut
back
or
shut
down.
Another
plus
is
that
interest
rates
have
stayed
low,
helping
companies
that
can
get
loans
or
that
rely
on
an
open
line
of
credit
for
ongoing
expenses.
There
are
however,
ongoing
concerns
about
the
uncertainty
in
the
markets
and
what’s
happening
in
Washington.
“We’ve
inched
forward,
but
there
are
some
serious
problems
in
our
economy,”
said
Edward
Shapiro,
an
attorney
who
specializes
in
small
businesses
and
startups.
“I
think
we’ve
stopped
the
bleeding,
but
we
need
to
engage
in
major
physical
therapy
before
we
get
healthy
again.”
jpowell@excellentwriters.com