Survival strategies: Locals find ways to cope with recession

Economists say the worst of the recession is over.

But many people still are in survival mode, trying to find work, put food on the table, save a struggling business or switch careers because an industry has dried up.  

What’s working for locals? Getting creative, keeping a positive attitude and not giving up, expert say.

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Blake Allen’s livelihood for 15 years was buying, renovating and re-selling Victorian homes in Colorado Springs. But as the housing market crumbled, Allen decided to get a new profession and turned to his hobby — music. The Woodland Park resident in January launched a CD trading Web site, www.MusicBoomerang.com.

The concept is simple: members list for free what CDs they have to trade and create a want list of albums they desire. The system matches their “wants” with other members’ “haves.” The cost: $1 per CD plus shipping.

Financing has been tough. Armed with a solid business plan and an initial loyal following of 50 members, Allen took his idea to the bank. And another. And another.

“The banks laughed at a start-up dot-com,” he said.

Allen scraped together $150,000 to build the site and keep it going. Growth has been steady but slow, he said. The site now has about 900 members who have about 116,000 CDs for trade and 159,000 CDs on the want list.

His goal is to make enough money to support his family — but to do that Allen has forged what he believes are innovative strategies to expand.

Allen makes his presence known as the site owner. He converses with members in a live chat room, fields questions, considers members’ input and trades some of his own collection of 4,000 CDs.

Forming an online community based around the common interest of music has helped Allen build relationships with members — so much so, he this month opened up investment opportunities to members, who responded with about $40,000 in commitments.

He’s also recruited volunteers to help with marketing and legal issues, and has talked about venture capital possibilities with the Colorado Spring Technology Incubator, which helps entrepreneurs and innovators.
And he’s trying contests and giveaways. Last month, members sold $2,600 worth of CDs during a “gift chain” blitz.

“Members are committed, and it’s one of the rare businesses in which the customers and the site goals are on parallel paths — members want more members to do trading, which is my goal. Everybody wants it to succeed. I hope it does.”

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Frank and Merlyn Nocon are doing everything they can to hang on to their dream. The couple opened Nocon’s Gelatoria, an Italian ice cream shop in the Union Town Center, at Union Boulevard and Research Parkway, nearly two years ago, after Frank retired from 28 years of military service.

They had been stationed in Italy and came to love the low-fat, low-calorie alternative to American-style ice cream.

The couple obtained a small business loan, and the first year was great, Merlyn Nocon said. The center drew enough traffic to hire 14 employees.

Business worsened last year and this year has been “really bad,” she said.

“People are afraid to spend money.  They tell us it’s not our product — they just can’t afford it.”

To stay afloat, the Nocons laid off all their employees in July.

“We couldn’t afford to pay them. We invested all our savings, and it’s gone,” Merlyn Nocon said.

Mobile carts Frank Nocon takes to events has helped, she said, as has grassroots marketing. The Nocons pass out business cards at other businesses and offer gift certificates on online shopping networks.

They also have asked their landlord and suppliers to cut them some slack during the down time, and are paying only the minimum required on credit card balances.

“We’re scared,” Merlyn Nocon admits. “We haven’t taken a paycheck since we opened, and people keep asking us if we’re going to stay open. We just work and pray that things will pick up.”

There is hope: a Department of Motor Vehicles office is scheduled to open in the shopping center in a few months, bringing hundreds of potential customers.

“We love what we do. It’s very rewarding to see people leave with a smile on their face. We’ll have to see what the economy brings,” Merlyn Nocon said.

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In an attempt to support his family, corporate business analyst and project manager Al Roark has become a jack-of-all-trades. He used to earn more than $100,000 a year, working for companies such as Oracle and MCI. But he got laid off from his full-time job a year ago.

Since then, Roark said he’s done “every menial job anybody has offered me,” from painting and roofing houses to driving to Denver for computer contract work. He’s earning less than half of what he used to.

A month ago, his wife was laid off from Memorial Health System’s insurance department.

“We went from having a really nice bank account to having very little in there. We used to be able to buy Christmas presents for our extended family and sponsor families that were less fortunate. We’re no longer able to do that. It’s down to one to two presents for my daughter, and that will be our Christmas this year,” Roark said.

He still volunteers as a victim’s advocate in the sheriff’s office and is holding on to an upbeat outlook.

“We know that eventually everything will work out. I’ve been able to get some short-term contracts to pay our bills, and we had money in savings — which means we’re better off than some people.”