When times are tough, people start shedding the household and personal extras they can live without.
Tree trimming? Wait till next year. Weekly manicures? Maybe not. Regular car washes? I'll do it myself. Window cleaning? Eh, they don't look so dirty, after all.
But what's good for a family's budget is not so good for the small businesses that provide those services.
Already slammed by rising costs and a credit crunch, any drop in customers is just another wallop.
The Center for Small Business at California State University, Sacramento, says calls since last year are up 20 percent from concerned small-business owners.
"They're trying to figure out how to survive before they get in a critical situation," said Dennis Tootelian, the center's director and a CSUS business professor.
He's hearing from a wide spectrum – restaurateurs, hardware and gift store owners, acupuncturists, massage therapists, beauticians, lawyers – almost any small-business owner providing personal or business services.
Tootelian, whose center pairs business owners with students who study the company under faculty supervision and then devise a business plan, says it's a good time for companies to take stock. With that in mind, we talked last week with small-business owners who share what they're doing to hang on in a bumpy economy.
Here are five small-business owners whose companies are weathering the downturn:
• Mary Livesay, S&J, Loomis
• Sandy Robinson, Sandy's Natural Nails, Sacramento
• Terry Stevens, General manager, Tree tech Services, south Sacramento
• Ed Solis, Manager, Harv's Metro Car Wash, Sacramento
• Jim Simpson, Owner, AAA Window Tint, North Highlands
To reach the CSUS Center for Small Business, call (916) 278-7278 or go to http://cbaweb.cba.csus.edu/csb/.
Have a personal finance question? The Bee's Claudia Buck can help you find answers. Reach her at (916) 321-1968 or via The Sacramento Bee; P.O. Box 15779; Sacramento, CA 95852.
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