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national captioning institute --www.ncap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc 7 national correspondent rebecca cooper.

>> happy new year. thanks for joining us for a look at business and finance in the washington region. rebecca cooper is off today. i am kris van cleave. booz allen hamilton holding rang the bell to open the bell for 2014. a year-long celebration will honor the country's 100 year anniversary. economists say there are hopeful economic signs for 2014. instruction and manufacturing numbers are taking up, raisin expectations of accelerated growth in the economy. we will talk about that later in the program. first, a new businesess in the district that fits nicelyith the beginning of the year. everyone is talking about getting into shape. atee d.c. opened its doors lalast year. indoor cycling classes for residents. all over the city, if y want

to come out. joining us tayre the founders of ride d.c., allison shuffield, rachel goldberg, and zach smith. nicely with a lot of new year'resolutions to get into shape. indoor cling has exploded recently. what isriving the enthusiasm around here? >> i think it is a fun exercise. it takes a lot of what people know. ey are used to sing it on the road. he bring it indoors to an environment that we can control through music, technology, really to maximize the fitness return you get in a class. are both inststructors. we have taught at several other studios in the region. we view ride d.c. as an opportunity to bring the good and leave the bad in an environment where we are taking a papassion of ours and puttinga strong business plan behind it,

offeringng this grea unique oduct to the 14th street community. >> what made you decide you were going to launch a business? there has been talk about the tough economy in 13. you decided to open this. >> really, what transpired was rachel a and i were both attendg another indoor cycycling studio within the district, and we saw some gaps and deficiencies we thought we cld improve upon. together,ing, coming we decided that we could do this, take the good and leave the bad. we have used this indoor tracking sysm befo and were familiar with it. d.c. and to be e here in building new studio focused metricshis, focused on and helpining customers and clients. >> what is the ride d.c. experience that is different than i would find if i went to a cycling class at the gym?

>> we have the first ever perfmae tracng s system in ththe area. if you go to an ioor cycling class at a gym, theris no tracking system. importa to., it is us that there is a relelationsh. we know client names, their stories, how they have improved in the past couple of weeks. that is important to us. with the tracking system, you can seeee the performance improving on the metrics. they are going fther, pushing harder. their resistance is higher. int makes us unique, addition to that environment of hospitality. lexiee tracking system basically lets the rider as well as everybody else know how a person is performing in the class >> exactly. there is a board so you can see who in the c class is putting ot the most energrgy. topr symbolol will pop to the of the scene. you can see, i am on bike 14.

so and so is obike 15, and we are sprinting, and i am beating ththem. >> if i am in cls, i am in the back. i do not necessarilyant my performance on display. is it intimidating people? does competition spu them to push harder? >> it is an opt in program to be on the leaderboard. if you are competitionon advers, it is something you do not have to participate in. what i think peoplple will find helpful is, everybody has a profile. everybody fills out information related to their gender, age, and weight. that goes wirelessly to our network, and they get a personalalized readout with metricand data after every class. even if you do not want to compete against your neighbor, you e still able to track, measure, and improve your performae over time. >> do you find the people who want to be tracked, the competition pushes them to do better? >> i do. i sat in on classes last night,

and ththere are several sgs with a sprirint clock. secondnd segment -- a0 segment, you have one girl say, i won that one. beat your personal best, even if it is for her to push yourself harder next time. or maybe the neighbor wants to beat it next time. whatever encourageyou to push further. >> were there challenges that surprised you going into it? >> i think it surprised all of us, some of f the challenges. we were really fortunate for the space that we came about to start ride d.c. everything was built out for us in the fitness studio. we were able to step in and start right off without too my hiccups. the were some fun things along the way, but there has been a great learning experience, and a passion for all three of us. >> how has it gone so far?

you have been open a few wee, really. so farhave you learned about running a business, now that you have people coming in? >> it has been quite an education. the way that we sort odivided ourd conquered responsibilities, i handle the operations. allison handles marketing. zac handles back-office accountingnd business needs. is noa full-time job for any of us. it h been interesting to find that balance, personally and professionally, to make this work. it has been rewarding opportunity, to be honest. this is something we genenuinely care about. i think using th passion for desire to make something work, and having a good teabuilt around that -- everythingng will fall into pla. and it has started to do so. , youwhen you were opened

tailored that. it is not a 24-hour gym. it is targeted for people before or after wor when you knknow your audience is going to be there. >> that has a lot to do with where we are located. felt, after looking at the different areas of town, that this is not going to be a place where we are going to see a lot of foot traffic and a lot of traffic overall during the y. his is not a place where you will see a lot of, i think, working professionals coming and going. this is a sidential section. weailored the class for before woras well asfter work. >> what do classes cost? >> $22 for a d drop-in model. as you buy morelaes, the price goeses down. you u can buy a package. we also have an unlimited .ackage >> tnks so much for coming in to be on "washington business repo."

us.se stay with when we come back, my abbajay has advice for performing a career review. and we look at opt

>> we have been watching stocks setting record after record in 2013. the dollar is doing well on n te currency markets. any of us are wondering, what is everybody so happy about, after we hear bad news about the economy as well. we would like to welcome our regular guest, your smoke, who reports on the economy for the associated best.

-- associated press. >> this i is the year that governme getoff our ba. if you look at 2013, the government with tax increase on payroll taxes and income taxes americansand ending cuts from the sequester, sububtracted about 1% from economic growth. this y year, economists say that drag will be about 0.5%, which frees up the economy to grow a little more quickly. also, the fed is tapering its stimulus. that play in hurting or helping? >> that does play in. it is critical to understand exactly what ben bernanke did. for thtter part of a year, the federal reserve hahas been bung $85 billion worth of bonds each month to keep interest rates low come in to encoure borrowing, spending, and investing. a lot ofof people knew he was

going have to pull back on those purchases, which h he dido $75 llion a montnth, a 10 billion dollar cut. everyby expected a flashy announcement, and bernanke took us by surprise, like the release of the beyoncé album. it was the tapering that was expected. people knew mething was coming. and he also said, we are going to be committed to keeping interest rates low for the foreseeable future. we are abandoning our previous idance. i was lilike the addition of the young say videos. stock market rejoiced. he found a way to give bad news and a little bit of sweetener. like the stock market sent -- >> the ock market set record after recordrd. should we think about pullback in the market, is because it has gotten as high as it has? >> there are two big schools of thought. people can make their own

decisionons. the stock market looked great. an idiot could emulate warren bubuffett this year. but wh happened is that corporate profits are at an all- time high as a share of the economy. the people who say there is not aubble, things look greaeat, say the prices are pretty fair relative tthe profit levels. you are betting that those profit levels are going to continue at that rate. if you think corporate profits can bebe maintained and canven accelerate, stocks look like a pretty good deal. e economists who look at tha say 10%0% to 15%. otothers say it rockets have too down to their normal levels in not benomomy, so would unusual for the stock market to lose 10%. those are the schools of thought. we w will get a better sense afr the first three months of 2014. >> consumer spending is a huge part of profits in this country. housing numbers have been

encouraging. construction starts have been encouraging. you have seen mortgages drop as market rates have gone up. but t apartment building has increased. how do we t the housing sector back to a point where is consistently heahy? >> term in this growth in n 201, particularly in the d.c. area. we know about condos getting built and going within days of being on the market. but we started to see prprice increases slow at the end of the year. we are coming to the n natural d of that robust growth cycle. a lot of ecoconomists see smallr price increases going forward in the hoing market. reasonsare a couple of for that. as interest rates have increased and prices increased, that hurts affordability. the best wayo deal witthat issue is to have greater supply. you are seeing that in termsf construction. that has improved, but is still not near the level where wgo, we are safe. when we get more than a million

housin starts each year on a steady basis, we are floating araround that area, and then we know we are in good d shape. attention too pay in 2014? >> looking into 2014, you have congressional elections. remember, you still have to do the debteilingng. that has to occur before congressional election season ramps up. look for that kind of deal in february. keep your prayers. our fingerseep crossed that there is a quiet debt ceiling deal this time. thanks for coming in. more ahead, including tips for a productive look at your career. up next, o friy pickcks fo the week. what's new at t.j.maxx?

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check it out... and let us make a maxxinista out of you. t.j.maxx >> time now for what you suld know and who you should know. our must-read this week is "blueprint to a billion," because of its analysis of companies that grew to a billion dollars in annual revenue, and how some got there more quickly than others. and the entrepreneur to watatchs the owner of firehook bakery and coffee hse, among the largest regional privately owned retail bakeries. the entrepreneur bought it and grew it to 10 neighborhood stores. it takes a special knack to do

well in the retailil sector,r, d firehook h has done it. it is a great place to go for a cup of coffee and d a brownie. read more every friday on n our facebo page. coming up after the break, stay with us.s. we are goi to talk aut doing some career analysis.

>> 2014 is here. a lott of people take stock atat the new year, thinking about ththeir career, their life. is their career getting them the direction ththey want to go? if not, why not? mary abbajay is with us from careerstone group. you have some suggesons for how you set those goal >> the new year is a great time to take stock of your career. we do it at home. ,e make personal resolutions like clean our house. it is the perfect time to take stock of youour career, where yu want to go, and how you get there. i have five simple steps to help you do that. like start with step one. >> assess where you are. take stock of where yo career is. what are you doing? what are you happy with? what are you enjoying doing? what do you n not enjoy doing? are you where you want to be? take an honest assessment. you have e skills you need?

take s stock of where you are ad what you like about it. think of where you want to go and want to be in the next year. >> you have to be honest with yourself about, this is what i am doing. this is what i want to be doing. it is as simple a making two lists. on one side, everything i love about myareer. on the other side, things i do not love or that do not matter. yoyou would be surprised what yu fi out with self reflection. >> van, figure out where you want to go. years fromout, five now, w whereo i want to see my career? maybe it is where you are, but maybe it is different. what do you want more of? what do you wantess ? what people do you want to worok wiwith? what skills do you want tose? what work-life balance do you want? get a clear vision of what career you want to have. >> how important is it to sett specific goals instead of a banner goals was to mark i wt

a promion. >> i want to be king of the world! means nothing unless you write your goals down. write down specific goals tt will help get you to your future. there have been a lot of studies on goal setting and the importance of it. would you u believe that only rd percenent -- 3% of people actuay write down goals? those 3% outperform the other 97% by 300%. the act of writing down your goals is important. what they have to be specific, a actionable, realistic, and timely. once you have the goal, you talk about setting an action an. how do you figure out, i have written down my three or four to gettinghe year, thosthings achieved? it seems this is the important on >> they get more imporortant evy time. with this, i like toto do something called backward

action. to be say my goal is president of the united states. what is the goal that happens right before that? abi was the governor. what helps get me there? you think about the dferent actions and milestones you have to do toto get to that goal. you have to write them down. do you want to be president? i have to raise money. i know i need supporters. i need a publicity machine. you know what you need to dodo. write down the tactics and strategies to get there. art of that, by e way, is writing down the things you do nowant to do, and making sure you do them. >> that is a good point. accecept the reality that, i am going to do these three things i do not enjoy or am not good at in order to get to my goal. >> a lot of people miss that goal and do not understand what actions lead you to getting her goal. >> should you seekek out the

things you do not like an attack goes first? >> i have a client that has whiteboard. sub goals,s, strategies. he hashree things on his whiteboard that he knows he needs to do every day, that he hates doing. he has to do them every day to he move e toward his goal. really attacking those things you do not want t to do. >> a lot o of structure. >> it is one whiteboard! it takes a couple hours to create. it helps all year long. >> the fth one heree is, you have your goal.. you have your action plan. it is all about the execution. >> this is where most pele fall down. it is those little steps you tatake every day. u have to align your actions with y your goals. it is the little steps you take every daday. let us say one of your professional goals is to become another writer. every day, you never write anything.

arehave to think about, your everyday choices aligned with the actions you need to meet your goal? either reassess your actions or rereassess your goals. >> mary abbajay of careetone. things for joining us. we are out of time. inc. you for joining us. we will be back here next week. wjla.com, twitter, and facebook. rebecca cooper is back next ek.