19 Mar 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States…Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN
Banks may collapse and homeowners may foreclose on mortgages, but Seventh-day Adventist small business owner Richard Stevenson says he's doing more praying than panicking these days.
“I've been through tougher times than this,” the seemingly unflappable veteran machinist says of his 25-year career at northern Alabama-based Machine Technology, Inc., where he and six employees manufacture spare parts for the government.
Forced to resort to a few layoffs and adapt to shrinking contracts over the past few months, Stevenson admits the global recession is affecting his business. But he says the small size of his company, the predictability of economic ups and downs and his faith are enough to convince him that even when he doesn't maintain ideal profit margins, he'll make enough to live by.
There's a similarly hopeful attitude among many other Adventist business owners. Calling it “cautious optimism” might be a stretch — many worry the full effects of the recession haven't yet trickled down to them. But some report they're actually benefiting as larger companies shutter.
As automotive repair shops in the Sacramento, California area close, Steve Sattelmayer reports business is “stable” at the shop his father opened in 1961. Banks tightening up on credit has had an unexpected steadying influence on Sattelmayer's business. “People are fixing the cars they have, because they can't get loans to buy news ones.”
Making due with less often also means fewer employees. Like many other small business owners, when employees leave, instead of hiring, Sattelmayer and his staff clock more hours to “make things happen.”
Even with cutbacks, many Adventist business owners are struggling as the economy veers off track, but their faith remains unswerving, they say.
Even many traditionally stable businesses in the medical field aren't immune to financial ill. Kyong Duk Jeon, who owns a dental clinic in Korea, has seen a 40 percent decrease in business. “Patients only come in for emergency treatments,” he says. Korean pharmacist Sun Ji Kim reports a similarly sharp reduction in sales of over-the-counter medications. Both business owners have prescribed overhead cutbacks and hiring freezes.
“I listen to the news and I don't see things getting better,” says café owner Scott Alvord. “I'm worried, but I know the Lord is ultimately in control.” Scott and his wife Karen own A Dash of Panache, a café and tea parlor they opened in downtown Roseville, California in 2005. “We're still not profitable,” Alvord says, adding that the couple's home equity is now fully funding their business. “Our once deep pockets are just about empty.”
Because most restaurants often fetch half of their revenue on Friday night and Saturday — hours during which Adventists choose not to conduct business — Alvord says being an Adventist restaurant owner is difficult, recession or not.
Hoping to keep a lunch crowd, he flatlined café price increases two years ago. When four similar tea parlors in the area closed last year, the Alvords got some residual business, but “people in general are just going out less these days,” he says, adding that a lot of restaurants in the area are either jockeying over a dwindling customer base or closing.
To make ends meet, he maintains a second business developing Web sites and custom software. “That's what I'm doing probably between midnight and three in the morning,” he says.
Florida-based former investment banker Devon Hines also steers two businesses to stay adrift. Hines launched Pulse Service Solutions in 2001, but says companies are hardly clamoring for consulting services given the current economic climate. “They're not asking, 'How can I make my product look better?' or 'How can I expand?' They're thinking only in terms of survival.”
Offering recession-relevant services such as streamlining and optimizing resources has helped him adapt to rattled business owners' needs, but Hines says he's more optimistic about the future of his second business, Dah Music Linx, which couples musicians and artists with event planners and concertgoers.
People are more likely to tune into their spiritual side during tough times, Hines has observed. That means even the most frugal customers will “spend $10 to go to an inspirational concert once in a while,” Hines says. “It's almost a remedy to depression and stress about the economy.”
However, Jacob John, who owns a music studio in India, says demand for albums by record stores has plummeted because fewer people are purchasing music. But even with business at “a standstill,” John says he believes God “never fails,” a thought he finds faith-strengthening.
Seasoned mortgage broker Danielle Tyler-Pires agrees that a strong spiritual core can tether a business during financial turmoil. “I have clients who will come in just to ask me to pray for them,” she says. These consults aren't confined to the offices of Lighthouse Financial, Inc., the mortgage firm she owns in southern California. Tyler-Pires spent last Christmas Eve in her living room with a client. “We spent four hours praying and trying to figure out what they could let go of.”
Tyler-Pires' emphasis on building relationships with her clients has boosted referrals, but a swelling client base alone doesn't equal profit, she says. Low overhead does help keep costs manageable, but Tyler-Pires is still worried about her business. “How do I cope? Every day I have to be more dependent on the Lord.”
Audrey Balderstone, president of Adventist-laymen's Services and Industries (ASI) in the United Kingdom, says a “sharp downturn” in her landscape and gardening company, while troubling, is also an opportunity to trust in God. “He's never let us down before,” she says.
In Jamaica, regional ASI vice president Marston Thomas says the recession is burdening Adventist-run businesses, with some experiencing a 50 percent downturn in recent months.
Recently, some 200 local Adventist business owners attended seminars organized by ASI in East Jamaica, where local bankers and business people provided tips on weathering the economic storm, Thomas said. As a follow-up, he's organized a group who will research recession-proof jobs for church members considering launching businesses.
“With God's help we are hoping [these measures] will see us through.”
