Jeb Barrett of Marion Environmental works to contain a spill of diesel fuel Wednesday after a truck wreck on McWilliams Road on Tuesday in southern Bledsoe County.A plummeting stock market and hair-raising job losses in 2007, 2008 and 2009 led many business owners to decide that the best course of action was to wait it out.
But a few in the Chattanooga area bucked that trend by hiring new workers, buying new machines and opening new offices.
The reasons vary for why each owner took the leap, but many are in niche markets unaffected by the market turmoil or were spurred on by regulations that make their business model more necessary than previously.
Ellen Gallant, who runs a company that cleans up everything from light asbestos to Superfund sites, opened two offices during the downturn — one in Ackworth, Ga., in 2007 and another in Dalton, Ga., two years later.
“Our sales were up 10 percent from 2009 to 2010,” said Gallant, president of Chattanooga-based Marion Environmental. “Over the last six years, we’ve probably doubled in size.”