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Small Business remains hopeful during slow season

Kai Ryssdal Jul 23, 2014
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Small Business remains hopeful during slow season

Kai Ryssdal Jul 23, 2014
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As the economy continues to grow and unemployment drops to 6.1 percent in the U.S., we check in with a small business owner to see how things are on the ground level.

Olalah Njenga is the CEO of YellowWood Group based in Raleigh, North Carolina and says her business is doing okay, but it gets a little slow during the summer.

“We had a little bit of a bump from June to July and I think that’s pretty indicative of what’s happening to the general morale of small businesses right now,” Njenga says. “I think that optimism is there. I’d like to say that we’ve hopeful but, you know, across the area of the business, hope doesn’t get employees paid.”

In terms of hiring, Njenga says it’s been difficult to hire the right person to join the core team at YellwWood Group:

“And I’m not alone,” she says. “There’s a lot of small businesses out there looking for that superstar person who is flexible and creative and only needs to be groomed against the values and the culture of the company, but they come in the door with a really nice set of skills.”

Njenga says she stays optimistic and is excited for what’s in store for the future of her business.

“We have things in the works right now that we are productizing one of our flagship services,” she says. “So we’re excited that we maybe able to take something that has traditionally been of service and translate it into a product. And it is launching this quarter.”

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