North Carolina Businesses Uniting Against “Perfect Storm” Recession

North Carolina businesses are coming together under the banner of Say-No-To-Recession.com to help consumers see that they are bullish on business in general, are concentrating on their customer’s needs, and are committed to help them get more value for their money. By focusing on a positive message, these businesses want to help turn the attention back on positive aspects of business. End Quote

"You know, this should have been my worst year ever, " states Diane Michael a NC travel agent with Travel Leaders

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) October 22, 2008 - Whenever you use the phrase, "Perfect Storm," many people have only one picture come into mind; a rain-soaked George Clooney and Mark Wahlburg staring out the window of their small fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, while it’s giving everything it’s got to go straight up what appears to be a 100 foot crushing wave. That one movie scene has come to characterize anyone battling against insurmountable odds when it appears that everything is against you.

Well, for a group of businesses in North Carolina, they have decided that even with all the economic issues that have come together to be a "Perfect Storm" for a Recession this election year, they are STILL going to go up against the wave.

"You know, this should have been my worst year ever, " states Diane Michael a travel agent based in High Point, NC with Travel Leaders, formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel, "But instead, my average travel sale has doubled!"

Diane credits networking with other businesses in the local area, but she also credits joining the Say-No-To-Recession.com Campaign. "Say-No-To-Recession.com has allowed me to get out in front of the public and show that I am still here and want to help them with planning their travel," and it appears to be working.

Since September when the Say-No-To-Recession.com campaign began, Diane has received more interest in her and the company’s website than she could have imagined, even with the Stock Market diving to under 9000.

"This campaign has been more successful than we could have imagined. The traffic we are seeing to the website just from the billboards around the area has been increasing daily!," says Ron Pierce, an Internet Marketer with Trinity Solutions, Inc an I.T. company located in Greensboro, NC. "Normally, it would take a website months or possibly years to generate the amount of daily traffic we are seeing. Each day people come to Say-No-To-Recession.com and on average spend at least 4 minutes on the site and look at over 7 different pages listing various businesses, often clicking the links to the member’s websites."

Ron also says, “The feedback we are hearing is that people are contacting the members of the campaign to learn more about it and want to use their company's services."

Kostas Menegakis with Landscapes-R-US, who doesn't have a website yet, says that a new client came to the campaign’s website after seeing one of the billboards and just called him up. "She asked if I do landscaping and would I mind meeting with her. After talking with her, it appeared that she was looking to use a company whose attitude is positive, which I admit is kind of hard to be right now."

Kostas is right. Not since the years of the Great Depression has the U.S. seen such a culmination of factors come against its economy. With gas prices reaching highs of $4.00 / gallon and the largest bank collapse on record, and Washington Mutual failing from the sub-prime mortgage debacle, the next President and Congress is going to inherit a scenario that makes some economists shake their heads in disbelief. Still, these companies aren't giving up; they are fighting on.

“Originally, our goal was to just get a small handful of businesses together and just help each other, but it quickly became much more than that," Mac Bond, one of the original architects of the idea said. Mac, who is a local CPA in Clemmons, NC went on to elaborate. "We decided that we needed to get others to join us and to advertise to the community our beliefs. What started out as a single billboard very quickly became five. Now we are getting questions left and right from people in the community wanting to know how they can join us and new businesses are coming on board daily."

Mac mentioned that the cost of this campaign has been distributed evenly among the members so that each is only paying $250, or possibly less if they are a member of a BNI group or Chamber or Merchants Association.

"We aren't in this to make a profit. We are in this to say to our neighbors that even in the midst of what appears to be very hard times, we aren’t leaving. We aren't participating in the 'Doom and Gloom,' but are focusing on treating people right and doing business right."

And from talking with Mac, it doesn't appear that this campaign is going to stay in NC. The group already has been contacted in other states about what they are doing and they are making plans to discuss the campaign with such personalities as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, and national media such as NPR.

"It's taking on a life of its own. People are looking for positive ideas and businesses with those ideas. We couldn't stop it if we wanted to," announces Mac from behind his office desk.

"And as long as businesses keep coming on board like they are doing and signing up through the website, we will help them spread the word as well. It can only help, even if it seems like a small drop in a large bucket. But, hey, even small drops make ripples."

Still, this group of business owners in NC have more than a bucket to wage war against. They have a 100 foot wave and no one is sure if they are going to survive it. Well, no one except maybe them. Their website says at the bottom, "Failure is NOT an option," and they all appear to be committed to that.

So if heart counts for anything, maybe this group does have what it takes to get over that giant wave. Only time will tell, but for the sake of the rest of the businesses in the US, everyone is urging them on.

Say-No-To-Recession.com is a campaign inspired by North Carolina businesses to spearhead the return of the positive belief in the Free Market system. Comprised of various types of businesses of all sizes, this group is striving to show consumers that the fundamentals of business in America are still sound and that the US Economy can recover and become strong once again.

If you would like more information about this campaign or to schedule an interview with any of the people mentioned in this press release, please contact Barbara Helton @ 336-766-6811 or e-mail her at Barbara ( @ ) fmacbondcpa dot com or
visit the website at http://www.Say-No-To-Recession.com .

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Visit F. Mac Bond, Cpa / Ron Pierce Website

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