
In
this section, we shall publish articles seen in the Press. We shall
ignore the more sensationalist articles, as well as those "skewed' in
their reporting.
We
shall try to give readers a acurate and more balanced view.
For
example, a colleague of ours tells us this story as at Feb
2009:
" I
set my business up with 2 staff in 2001. My gross turnover in 2001 and
2002 was around USD $900,000 each year. Between 2003-2008 we exploded
with growth, as we started dealing with China and India.amongst other
countries. We went from 2 employees in 2001 to 10
by 2008, with turnover going up to over USD 9 million a year.
So here is the thing. I was interviewed in January (2009) by
the --------- who asked how much my business was affected by
the financial crisis.
I
told them the above story, and that we were seeing a downturn
now, and that because of that we were letting go of 4 people, but
putting it in context, I said, we will still do around $5
million this year (2009) which is still double what we did in 2006,
when we were truly celebrating! Just a few short years ago we were
celebrating getting to the incredible figure (for us) of $2.5
million a year! The problem with us business owners ( and
shareholders) is that they want, (and have gotten used to) "year on
year growth," at high rates over the last few years.
This is what was reported
in the paper:
"More
indication of the global slump continuing as XXX
Company lets staff go, and sales plummet
by 50%"
"Reading
that, if you didnt know us, you would be thinking "they are in trouble
and this crisis is BAD, BAD BAD!"
But
think
about it. When I opened my business in in 2001, in my wildest dreams I
could only dream to be doing $5 million dollars a year . This
gives my
self and family an incredible lifestyle, and enables me to employ and
pay well a number of people.
So
whilst the headline was FACTUALLY correct, what ALSO is factually
correct is this:
"Business
good for XXX Company as turnover is still up by
over 50% on 2006 figures, and staffing levels remain high"
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When reading the news stories, check the dates and also we caution all readers
when scanning the actual papers to also seek the story behind the story!
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