I�m glad 2011 is here. 2010 was hard on a lot of us. A lot of our clients had to cut back or eliminate security completely.

They just couldn�t afford it. Those clients who weren�t up front with us stuck many of us with payroll costs and didn�t follow up with the revenue to pay those costs. Those who did pay were forced to pay much later than they had been. We were all put in a bind.

I remember a building not far from my office. The newspapers had reported that the parent company was closing that store and several others and possibly filing for bankruptcy. So I thought if they don�t have enough money to keep those stores open where are they going to get the money to pay me? Well I didn�t go after that opportunity. Sure enough, someone else did and a security officer was on site protecting the property. That lasted for about six weeks.

Then the security officer was gone. No one replaced him and the property was overtaken by vandals. I suspect the company the security officer worked for didn�t get paid yet they had to pay out payroll for that officer. Many of our members have related stories like this to me over the past year. In my recent phone calls, I have heard a more positive tone. I am hearing that things are turning around and that clients are adding hours again and new clients are appearing. Texas was among the last to be effected by the recession and appears to be among the first to escape it.

Use this opportunity to work together with your fellow members. If one of your clients has work in a different city from yours, send that work to a fellow member. And don�t forget about our friends at TALI, TBFAA, and TLA. If your clients need private investigation work and you don�t do that, call Kelly Riddle, president of TALI (who is also a member of ASSIST) and by working together the client is a happy client. The same goes for TBFAA and TLA.

One of the most satisfying accomplishments of my presidency is the way ASSIST, TALI, TBFAA and TLA have all come together. We can use this to help us all out of the recession of 2010.

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