Gauging the Denver Economy – Wal-Martosaurus ate my mom and your next!

In 2008 when the financial crisis hit and Lehman Brothers went under, the entire financial world turned upside down. As a sign guy, I saw firsthand how small businesses were crippled, held hostage by banks, and were refused much needed loans and capital to stay alive. I became one of those businesses.

My sales, which were primarily funded by the sale of electric signs to small businesses, dropped by 78%. Back then, we ran with 15 employees, my phones rang constantly, and cost for most of my customers was not as important as getting their sign done on time and up on the wall in a hurry. In less than six months, I went from putting 20 to 25 signs a month up, to taking down as many signs from all the businesses that were closing. The home equity loans that were funding all these small businesses were gone and the new economies financial reality was really hitting home for everyone, me included.

If the Denver economy was a tree in 2007 to 2008, it was full of leaves. By the time 2009 to 2010 came around, the winter of discontent had taken root, and those leaves, just like electric signs, were falling to the ground in mass. It started with banks taking down signs for them came first. Then it was Franchise restaurants like Quiznos. Next came the mall stores and all the mom and pop restaurants. The one thing they all had in common was they had little or no access to capital. They died because all the stimulus money went down a hole, none of it helped small businesses. I was like the grave keeper in a cemetery of signs. Banks turned on their own customers, and it’s not over yet!

Here is the more important question, where are we today? One of the many lessons I have learned as I have become a more seasoned business man is to look closer at the details of any transaction. Experience is what allows us to bring together all the small details of any situation and move them into place so they create a coherent picture. A green enlisted soldier makes mistakes in war, not because he doesn’t have enough training, but because they miss the details a more experienced combat veteran has experienced. 

Why is this important? Well, right now in the Denver economy I see the immergence of what seems like a recovery. If I was a younger man, I would be hiring more salesman and workers, buying more equipment, but because I don’t see a lot of small business creation, Im following the Corporate Giants lead. I’m sitting on my cash. The big companies are spending, but not hiring.

Here is another point, banks still aren’t lending, actually they are closing down. Companies aren’t hiring, just spending money to get deductions for next year. The single most important factor is small business creation, and let me tell you, it’s not there. As a sign manufacturer I see it first!

Most of my business is in Boulder, a thriving community with lots of rich people. My Boulder customers are doing great and it’s a hundred times better than Denver, not because of the rich people, but for one reason. My small business partners don’t have to compete with Wal-Martosaurus. Wal-Mart is the Tyrannosaurus of the small business world. It devours the flesh of small businesses every where it goes. When Wal-Martosaurus moves into a town it starts with eating your mom and dad’s clothing shop, once it has feasted on all the little guys, it goes after mid size retailers and kills them.  It’s appetite is unstoppable once it’s entered your zip code. You can see all the dead bodies everywhere, just drive down Alameda, Sheridan, Wadsworth, or any other major street in Denver and you will see the ocean of FOR LEASE signs. We created a monster that cannot be stopped. But shit, who doesn’t like cheap huggies!

Big businesses play by a different set of rules, so a small business has to get lean like those little pesky dinosaurs you see running around T-Rex in the movies. Unfortunately, if Wal-Martosaurus is in your zip code, you are just going to have to get used to eating scraps or pray a metior hits the earth and kills him. The bad thing is it most likely will kill you too?