Jeffrey Clare, Clare Design & Photography

In January, I celebrated my 25th year in Charlotte (38+ years overall in service to the building industry). The past three years have been the best, consecutively, I've had to date. What change to that trend 2009 will present remains to be seen, but since I usually reserve January for marketing to new firms, the sluggish start to this year has allowed me to reach out to more companies than ever. You don't go into business and stay there without optimism; we've weathered downturns before and we will again this time.