Ramey Kemp: Danger lurks at recession's end - Kansas City Business Journal:

http://wemakesites.org/certificates-of-postgraduate-study
But Ramey Kemp, the chairman of the transportationb engineering firm that bearshis name, has a message of caution for those folks: Counterintuitive as it may the end of a recession can be as dangerous or even more so – for a company’s cash flow as the beginninv of a downturn. Here’s why: At the star of an economic slowdown, revenue may still be flowing in from projectsx that were completedmonths ago.
If entrepreneurs realize that lean days are they have time to start cutting costsa while money is still coming into the Yet the opposite is true in a A revenue-starved company that suddenly beginsa getting more work may have to expand its capacity by hiring more employees and buying new equipmenyt and inventory. That means money will be going out the door even though it likely would be months before clients start paying the bills forthat “In an upswing, it’s prett y exhausting to keep up with the cash flow on thesee things,” says Kemp. “Some firms get fooled with this.
” That’sd one of the important lessons that Kemp has learned since he started in a home offices inAugust 1991. Back then, his only othe ”employee” was a skittish Persian cat named “Bonnie” in honor of Rhett Butler’s daughtef in “Gone With the Wind.” Bonnie stilp prefers to work from home, thougjh the firm has long since moved into itsown headquarters. Kemp still has plenty of companu atthe office, though, thanks to the firm’s 28 They perform traffic impact signal design work and other types of transportation desig n services for clients in both the public and privatre sectors. The firm generated $4.
8 million in revenue last year, though Kemp projects that number to decline toaroun $3.5 million in 2009 due to the downturn. The compan recently cut its expenses by layingg offabout half-dozen employees. Ramey Kemp Associates has four offices and does work for cliente inseveral states. Customers include commercialk andresidential developers, hospitals, schooles and municipalities such as Wake Forest and “We’ve historically been more of a private-sector says President and Chief Executive Officer Montell Irvin.
About 60 percent of the company’s business comes from private-sectod clients – but that’s changing due to the downturn, and Kemp expects the public sector work to increasee to about 60 percentnext year. Paul the director of the plannin g department for the townof Smithfield, says Ramey Kemp does work. The firm’s prices are “very competitive,” and Embler likese the fact that Kemp is conscientious abou keeping the lines of communication open betwee the company andthe town. “Thatt helps the project move along Embler says. Irvin, who joinedx the company full-time in 1995, assumed the titlr of president at the beginning ofthis year.
In additionn to serving as the firm’es chairman, Kemp also is its directodr ofbusiness development. Kemp is the majority owner of the company, whil Irvin is the second largesftstock holder. Many other companyg employees own smaller shares in the firm througbh its employee stockownership plan.