BP Profits While Coastal Business Still Struggle

"So we've had the results of the third quarter," says BP CEO Bob Dudley from a computer monitor.

Watching his announcement that BP had third quarter net profits of nearly five billion dollars profits is not easy for small business owner Phyllis Pearson.

"They are better than expected and do reflect all the hard work in terms of turning around the assets that we have," Dudley continues.

"Really and truly I don't know what to think," says Pearson. Her reaction is the result of months of frustration. "I'm glad that they're turning around and are going to have a whole lot of cash and all but that doesn't change my life. My struggle and the suffering I go through daily."

Her cleaning company, Paradise Services, contracts with condominium owners in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. The same condo owners that didn't show up in 2010 because of the oil spill. "Every year I was increasing in customers and revenue and everything was looking promising. Then the oil spill happened."

18 months after the disaster Dudley says his company has rebounded. "This month of October 2011 does represent the turning point for the company."

Phyllis Pearson is still waiting for her turning point. The word profit is not even in her vocabulary. "My turning point would be when I reach even a break even. I work so far upside down right now I can't break even."

Pearson says she used her savings and retirement to open the business five years ago. Shutting it down is not an option.