The last several years have been slowly improving as far as small business owners are concerned, as their local economies improve along with most of the rest of the country. That, in turn, has led many to feel better about their chances for financial success in each of the last few years, and that trend is only likely to continue picking up pace going forward.
Over the course of last year, more than 3 in every 4 small businesses nationwide grew at least a little bit, and that number could grow even more in 2015, according to a new survey from Kabbage. In all, 95 percent of owners think that their companies will indeed continue revenue growth in some way this year, and half say that this could improve 20 percent on an annual basis. At the start of last year, 76 percent of entrepreneurs polled felt their companies would see more revenue in 2014.
“Small businesses employ 57 percent of the U.S. workforce, so the fact that the majority of them are planning for such a robust 2015 is a strong positive signal for the overall economy,” said Rob Frohwein, Co-Founder and CEO of Kabbage. “We are proud to be the financial backbone behind tens of thousands of businesses as they invest to drive growth in 2015 through hiring, capital investment, new facilities, and marketing and product expansion.”
How will companies improve results?
When it comes to how they’re actually going to grow revenues, it seems many companies have similar ideas, the report said. In all, 70 percent plan to offer a new product or service, while 52 percent say they’re going to invest in a little more marketing. In fact, more than 50 percent say that they haven’t been using social media marketing to this point, but will do so in 2015.
Meanwhile, only 48 percent of businesses say they’re worried about the access they have to capital, the report said. Nonetheless, 53 percent say they think their top concern is cash flow management.
Owners who want to best position their companies for financial success over the coming year might want to consider the benefits of cutting their costs, including those for small business insurance. If they can find more affordable errors and omissions insurance, for instance, they might be able to trim thousands of dollars from their annual budgets.
