Small Business Trends: Entrepreneurs Reflect Preferences and Habits, Part 1

As more and more entrepreneurs are quitting their full-time “day job,” in order to pursue their dream and launch or further develop their own small businesses, you might be happy to know that the idea of owning small businesses conjures up good thoughts. In fact, small business optimism is growing, according to the OPEN from American Express® Small Business Monitor, a semi-annual survey of small business owners. In this series, we’ll review the results of this survey, beginning with the following:

• Only three in ten (30%) business owners say the downturn in the housing market has had a negative affect on their business, and 36% report plans to hire full and/or part-time staff in the next six months. The number of respondents who reported they would not be hiring over the next six months (29%) hit a six-year low.
• Business owners are optimistic and clearly see the glass as "half-full". According to the survey, 87% of business owners identify with this positive outlook. This optimism is reflected through their view on the economy and how it relates to their business.
• The percentage of small business owners planning to make capital investments over the next six months remains on par with last spring (60% vs. 64%). Business owners will likely invest most heavily in the area of technology (45%). More are planning to make their next purchase in mid-priced equipment such as desktops, laptops, printers than a year ago (57% vs. 47%). One-in-five (20%) plan on making more substantial investments in major technology infrastructure such as software, servers or telephone systems. In addition to technology, other investment areas include office equipment (22%), office furnishings (15%), manufacturing/production equipment (14%) and real estate (13%).
• Over the next six months, one out of three (36%) businesses report plans to hire full and/or part-time staff, on par with 39% reported last spring. Among those, seven out of ten say they need to hire to handle their growing business or to help increase business volume (both 72%). Two out of five will hire because they need seasonal help (42%), and about one-in-three say they will hire because they have a new business venture (35%), or have finally found the right candidate for the position (30%).
• Less than three-in-ten (28%) business owners report they need to raise salaries to find the qualified employees they need although substantially more men than women business owners believe they need to pay more to recruit talent (33% men vs. 21% women). Women and men also diverge on whether an increase in the minimum wage would hurt the small business community. Overall half of business owners (49%) do not agree that an increase in minimum wage would hurt the small business community. Women especially disagree that it would impact small business negatively (55%) whereas only 37% of men disagree with the idea.

In the next part of this series, we’ll see the interesting results of the survey when it comes to entrepreneurs and managing personal time.