When my fiancée and I bought a house in St Petersburg, Florida, in 2003, my business was strong. We had sales of between $4m and $6m, and we employed 22 people. We could easily afford our three-bedroom home. But in 2007, my business took a downturn. My company specialises in bio-hazardous waste removal: when a house is infested with nuisance wildlife – such as raccoons, possums or bats – a trapping company gets rid of the pests and we clean up the disease they leave behind. It can be anything from tuberculosis to anthrax. We relied on wildlife trappers to recommend us, but during the downturn people chose to save money and just live with raccoons in the attic.
2003年，我和未婚妻在佛罗里达州的圣彼得堡买了一套房子。当时我的生意很兴隆。我们雇了22个人，年销售额在400万到600万美元之间。我们很轻松就能供得起这套三居室的房子。但在2007年，我的业务开始滑坡。我的公司专事消除动物带来的病害：当有人家里有讨厌的野生动物——比如浣熊、负鼠或蝙蝠——出没时，在负责捕捉的公司除掉它们后，我们负责清除它们带来的结核、炭疽等疾病。我们依赖于野生动物捕捉公司的推荐。但在manbetx20客户端下载 衰退时期，人们为了省钱，宁可和阁楼上的浣熊们和平共处。