Defeating Gloom & Doom

Don't talk to Jim Freeman about dismal economic indicators. Yes, interest rates and inflation are on the rise. Yes, falling housing demand and prices are dragging GDP down to its lowest growth rate in three years.

Yes, energy and health-care costs continue to sap businesses.

And yes, the level of global competition is relentlessly moving upward.

Throw in a little uncertainty caused by the midterm elections, poor progress in Iraq, instability caused by North Korea's nuclear program and the woes of America's automotive industry and you've got a recipe for economic gloom and doom.

Despite all of that, Freeman's business, Attain Technologies in Denver, is growing more than 70 percent year-over-year. Since making the transition from a traditional box-pusher to services, Attain is growing at a phenomenal rate and shows no signs of slowing down.

"Technology remains more complicated than ever, especially with all the security and regulatory compliance issues," says Freeman, a principal at Attain. "You have one-third the people doing the same work, which means they need more help."

Attain isn't alone. Channel optimism is bucking conventional economic wisdom, according to the VARBusiness 2007 State of the Market survey. Eight out of 10 solution providers surveyed anticipate that revenue will increase by at least 5 percent in the coming year, and one-third expect growth of more than 15 percent.

The VARBusiness State of the Market is traditionally a health check of solution providers' businesses and their expectations for the coming year. VARBusiness changed the approach slightly this year, asking more questions about how solution providers are running their businesses and the economic factors that influence their revenue and operations.

As revealed by the survey of 477 solution providers, the best route to growth is understanding your market, setting business goals and ensuring a business structure that maximizes profit potential.

Despite the challenges facing VARs, management's tenacity and not settling for second-best are what separate the successful--like Freeman--from the naysayers.

"We're stubborn and patient," Freeman says. "We're just never satisfied. Even if we achieve our growth goal, we're not going to be satisfied."

NEXT: Riding the economic wave.