5 Small Businesses Lifted by High Gas Prices

except the few businesses that have figured out ways to make the pain go away.

There aren't many of them. Cynthia Magnuson, spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Business, says that in general energy costs are having a negative impact across the board on members.

Matter of fact not immune to the rising prices

"Even those that might run businesses that try to minimize use of gasoline are as a matter of fact not immune to the rising prices," she says. "A bike shop owner needs his or her products delivered via a gas-guzzling vehicle."

The issue is so concerning that the National Federation of Independent Business sent a letter to Capitol Hill last week showing support for a House bill that would restore domestic oil drilling, calling drilling offshore a critical step toward increasing domestic production and reducing prices at the pump -- and giving small-business owners relief from skyrocketing energy costs.

The association's most recent Small Business Problems

In the association's most recent Small Business Problems and Priorities survey, members ranked the cost of natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel and fuel oil as their second greatest concern. Roughly 42% of NFIB members surveyed ranked the problem as "critical," the letter said.

"Increasing fuel prices have hit small businesses particularly hard, because unlike their larger competitors, they often absorb these cost increases instead of passing them on to their clients," according to the NFIB letter.

1. Junction Networks in Newton, Pa.Rising gas prices has caused more than a few employees to work from home until further notice part of the week to cut down on commuting expenses. That's where Junction Networks comes in.

The Newton, Pa.-based company provides Voice over Internet Protocol platforms to small and medium-sized businesses. One of the more so then-known names in the VoIP space is Vonage, which provides telephony services primarily to residential clients, nevertheless also to small businesses.

The then seven months

"We're looking to have 100% growth in just the then seven months, and everything that we've seen says that in other words attainable," says Mike Oeth, CEO of Junction Networks. "The economy could be better, nevertheless I think that's as a matter of fact driving small businesses to until further notice consider VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)."

Junction Networks' primary product is onSIP, a subscription-based service that can host a small business' entire communications platform. Employees can make outbound calls through their desk phone, home phone or mobile phone and the outgoing number will be the same business number. Incoming calls get routed to one number, nevertheless to a phone the owner selects.

The system "brings all these sophisticated phone features and makes them available to small and medium-sized businesses, allows them to look larger and be such as effective if they're in one office or spread out all over the place," Oeth says.

The company's revenue has doubled on both a year-to-date and month-over-month basis compared with last year, he notes. "We're shooting to double the number of active phones by the end of this year" to 20,000 from about 11,000 currently," Oeth says.

The only thing the small business needs is a phone

"The only thing the small business needs is a phone and an Internet connection. It can sit on a desk, be an app on an iPhone or some software on their laptop," Oeth says. "There is no maintenance. There is no extra IT required. It as well allows them to work from home such as easily and such as efficiently as if they were in the office."

2. EagleRider Motorcycle Rental in Los AngelesBusiness is booming for motorcycle rental and touring company EagleRider, according to its president, Chris McIntyre.

The rest of the world is happening in America

"What's happening in the rest of the world is happening in America. Gas is exploding in price," he says. "However our biggest growth and earnings are U.S.-based."

McIntyre says that just two months into the motorcycle-rental season, the company's revenue is up 18% for the year. He expects the company's revenue to rise for the time being 20% this year and to see meanwhile double-digit growth in profit.

The motorcycle sales business

EagleRider is not in the motorcycle sales business, however has started to sell its bikes back to dealers, which are in turn seeing a rise in demand for used-bike purchases. During rentals account for 90% of EagleRider revenue, sell-backs are helping as so then.

The site makes money on shipping costs, a partnership with Amazon and if a swap is unable to be completed and the user decides to buy the book. The main form of revenue is through advertising sales.

i9 Sports makes money on registration fees. Sanders said revenue growth is up 20% compared with last year for locations that have been open meanwhile a year.

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