Why 'Budding' Entrepreneurs Are Forced Into The Shadows
Rabbi Set To Open D.C.'s Second Medical Marijuana Dispensary
Survey Says: Business Owners Still Troubled by Economy
Entrepreneurs continue to express doubts about hiring and the overall state of the economy.
Posted 8/ 16 10 at 3:30 PM | Business Trends, Money, Management, Leadership
Text Size:
A A A
Nearly every business owner I talk to these days seems to be feeling uncertainty -- a theme reflected in this week's surveys. Entrepreneurs are itching to power up their businesses the minute the economy bounces back, but no one knows when that will be. Here's a closer look at some of the latest small-business surveys.Small Businesses Hiring, Slowly
The good news on small-business hiring continues with the release of Intuit's Small Business Employment Index. In July, businesses with fewer than 20 employees continued to hire, though at a slightly slower pace. These companies created 40,000 new jobs in July -- down from June's revised estimate of 45,000 jobs. And things are starting to look up for employees: Both wages and hours worked increased, by 0.7 and 0.9 percent, respectively.
"It appears that small businesses... need additional help but are asking their existing people to work more hours rather than hiring more people," says Susan Woodward, the economist who helped develop the survey. On the surface, this hesitation to hire makes sense to me -- most entrepreneurs are not confident about the state of the economy. On the other hand, you have to examine whether you're holding back your business by playing the waiting game. Could you do and grow more if you had some additional help?
Entrepreneurs Uncertain About Recovery
Underscoring that lack of confidence I mentioned above, the latest Business Confidence Survey from Administaff shows 61 percent of owners of small and midsize businesses now believe the economy won't rebound until 2011 or later. Around 20 percent expect a turnaround this year, while another 20 percent are "unsure."
Economic concerns are rising: Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the economy was one of their biggest short-term concerns, up from 71 percent in April. While 65 percent said they are either meeting or exceeding their 2010 performance expectations, that was down from 72 percent in April, and 35 percent are doing worse than expected.
Echoing the Intuit survey, while 31 percent of businesses are hiring, 60 percent of businesses are maintaining current staffing levels. Just 9 percent were laying off employees.
Affluents Toss and Turn
Even affluent Americans aren't feeling great about their financial futures. According to the latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly, more than half (52 percent) of affluent individuals surveyed said financial worries are keeping them up at night. What specifically are they losing sleep over? Forty-two percent fear they can't maintain their family's standard of living; 40 percent worry about family health-care costs; 37 percent are concerned about their rate of savings and retirement investments; and 33 percent are worried over ongoing family expenses.
The fact that more than a few of these affluents are entrepreneurs explains the uncertainty that's also plaguing the business owners in the other surveys. And the recent gyrations of the stock market aren't helping.
At the risk of sounding like Jimmy Carter, we business owners have to snap out of this malaise we're in, or I fear we'll end up in a self-perpetuating cycle of doom and gloom. The economy can't really recover until consumers start spending, and they can't spend if they don't have jobs.
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Follow Rieva at Twitter.com/Rieva and visit SmallBizDaily.com to sign up for her free TrendCast reports.
Getty Images
- 'Marriage Penalty' Could Make Costly Return - CNNMoney
- Oil Rises on Optimism for Cliff Deal - FOXBusiness
- Dow 2012: The Studs and Duds - InvestorPlace
- Turning the Corner: Why 2012 Wasn't as Bad as You Think - The Motley Fool
- World’s Longest High-Speed Rail Line Unveiled In China - IBTimes
- FORGET THE DEFICIT: Here's The Real Reason Liberals Want To Hike Taxes On The Rich - Business Insider
- CEOs to Fire in 2013 - 24/7 Wall St.
- DailyFinance Market Minute - DailyFinance
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
The tone of Rieva's report here is like small business owners are in a mental funk and unemployment is caused by their "malaise" which they need to snap out of. But there is no imagined recovery of the economy, even for years to come. Every bank is insolvent, having no reserves to meet cash requirements of their customers save for the bailout money. The Federal government collects $2.4 trillion and spends $3.9 trillion, the difference being made up by racking up more debt and/or printing more money. Increased taxes on the wealthy will only doom the consumer economy as they purchase 40% of the goods. There will predictably be people who are permanently unemployed. The bailout has fizzled. There will be no anticipated recovery. What lies ahead is a day of reckoning. Banked money may be worth-less. There is no way the FDIC can guarantee everybody's banked money. Government has few options now. Raise taxes, which removes capital from the economy, print more money which breeds hyper-inflation, deafault on its promises (Medicare, Social Security), and finally, officially devalue the dollar. For most small businesses, they need to re-think. Pawn shops, guns and ammo vendors, seed purveyors, gold and silver vendors, are growing businesses. Repair businesses (shoes, auto, plumbing) will survive over selling what is new. Small business has big adjustments to make if it is to survive. Fundamental to survival is whether paper money will continue to a valued medium of exchange. At the least, bartering and precious metal coins may become a higher-valued medium of exchange alongwide devalued paper money. The best laid business plans will be overwhelmed by decisions in government.
The economy won't recover until the members of Congress who voted for Gramm Leach and destroyed the world's financial system are rotting in their graves and we can turn the government around. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please don't vote, you aren't qualified.
Perhaps you can be kind enough to condescend to our level and tell us what will happen, oh great one.
Once the current crop of Congressmen and Senators (Right and Left) is either in prison for sunbversion or dead and buried we may get people in who are not beholding to the banks, repeal Gramm Leach and put Glass Steagall rules back in place so that banks begin to act like banks and less like casinos. Bob, this didn't just happen, it was done to us by the very people who profess to want to fix it and won't. They allowed the banks to gamble and then had Fannie and Freddie force them into putting money where it should not have gone. The derivatives they came up with crashed and here we are.
Once the current crop of Congressmen and Senators (Right and Left) is either in prison for Subversion or dead and buried we may get people in who are not beholding to the banks, repeal Gramm Leach and put Glass Steagall rules back in place so that banks begin to act like banks and less like casinos. Bob, this didn't just happen, it was done to us by the very people who profess to want to fix it and won't. They allowed the banks to gamble and then had Fannie and Freddie force them into putting money where it should not have gone. The derivatives they came up with crashed and here we are.
Bob,
I'm not being condescending. We need people to vote who do a little more that glue themselves to either Left or Right wing media outlets and continue to vote the way their parents did. This twop party system is killing us. We have the Capitalist Party and the Neo Socialist Party and they are both owned by special interests. They care about survival and screw the country.
The economy won't improve until the members of Congress who voted for Gramm Leach are rotting in their graves and we can finally turn the country around. If you don't know what I'm talking about please don't vote in elections, you aren't qualified.
The economy will begin to pickup after the November elections when OB and his band of theives are castrated....
As long as the "Media" keep up their "reports of nothing but fear" then no, it will take much longer to recover.
What a mess they have gotten us in. They just dont understand what it takes to make a business run. Lower taxes and get the heck out of the way.
The problem is the anti-business government policies. Just look at who Obama wants to appoint next: Elizabeth Warren, who is eager to take on those businesses that are "ripping off" our citizens. What business would want to risk expanding when they don't know when the next set of regulations is going to descend from Washington to make it even more difficult to run the business? (And why should we pay bureaucrats to protect citizens who should be protecting themselves?)
The economy will recover when imam barak hussein obama leaves Washington and takes all of his academician(sp?) cabinet with him. None of his advisors have ever held a real job, hammered a nail or had to make payroll... They are all a bunch of patty cake priviledged college pukes who'll never know the struggles we face everyday as simple Americans,,,,, or nowadays I suppose we should call ourselves "loyal subjects to queen obama." I'm sick of it,,,
You can call me a naive 65 y/o; but the underlying issue for recovery is the retoration of business ethics and "morality" which can only be accomplished by establishment of prudent and reasonable government regulations (siple but direct) coupled with effective oversight and enforcement. Ive been involved in more than my share of exploitative corporate practices tht "bent" the standards and regulations during my years in sales, construction and project managment. It is the nature of businesses to "push the limits" of laws andregualtions to maximize profits. The problem is that we, asa society, have permanently comproised our ethics and standards to the oint of undermining the integrity and stability of our business enterprises ... and our coproate leaders have no personal responsibility or liabilities for their breeches of these standards. We have legitimatized corporate fraudulent exploitation of the American people. If this isn't changed, then "recovery" is gong to be a long and difficult procedure with disappointing results.
And the younger generations, who have been reared and educated in this flawed environment don't really know any better, not really. The fiber of American society and business enterprises has been changed for the worse. The question is whether it can be salavaged to "save our nation and our people as a whole", rather than evolving into a two class, oligarchic society.
this economy is going to get better you can see this by the farm prices the farmers are haveing a good year in cotton in wheat in corn so you can expect our economy to turn around by next spring or sooner .
I have been in (small) business for 30 years profitable and successful. As of early 2008 I had three offices in two states with 64 employees about half full time with benefits. During the economic crisis I had to downsize to 1 office and a second very small office I now have 7 part time employees (some only work 2-4 hrs per week) I lost a commercial Bldg in AZ (customers stopped paying and could not keep up the mortage and especially the property tax payments which were almost as much as the mortgage payment).
I am still struggling to hold on to what busines I still have, back to working 7 days per week filling in the gaps of the employees I can no longer afford.
The Federal Govement in general is so far removed from real life, and as one earlier post stated, most have NEVER held a REAL job (no goverment jobs do not count) and NEVER owned a business.
Small businesses like mine all across the country are the backbone of the economy. It is not big corp business.
Hopefully I can hand on till the lunatic liberal moslem obama is out of office and the country can come back to center again. Only then will the ecomony start turning around.
A Plan to Save the Country:
I read Rieva Lesonsky’s above article with much interest.
In regard to the ideas expressed, as a graduate of the Wharton School I have developed an economic recovery plan which would bring about immediate spending with a tsunami like effect in those areas of the economy where such is needed, quickly bringing about full employment and a self-sustaining economic recovery, with the short term ultimate cost to the government close to zero. That plan can be found at: EconomicPlanforAmerica.com. You will note that towards the end of my description of the plan tax credits are provided to businesses which participate in it, further reinforcing the self-sustaining nature of the plan.
Essentially, the plan calls for a six month government funded debit card program forcing spending for certain consumer goods and services, thus quickly creating mass employment and, as a consequence, reviving the economy. Though the plan would cost approximately $200 billion, as explained in the plan, its ultimate short term cost to the government would be zero or, perhaps, even bring about a profit.
I believe that this plan would be enormously popular in that the public would perceive it as a bailout of the people (which it is) rather than a bailout of banks or large corporations.
Although not its principal purpose, the plan would also have an immediate, positive and substantial effect upon beleaguered state budgets by way of the collection of funds through presently assessed sales taxes. Revenue collected in this manner in some of the nation’s more populous states could be upwards of more than a billion dollars.
I urge that the plan be reviewed and judged upon its merits.
Stanley A. Harmon
New York, NY
ONE word ---- IMPEACH......
Rieva said, "...we business owners have to snap out of this malaise we're in, or I fear we'll end up in a self-perpetuating cycle of doom and gloom. The economy can't really recover until consumers start spending, and they can't spend if they don't have jobs." That indicates a complete misunderstanding of both the problem and the solution. The national government and its central bank and their actions and policies are the direct cause of our present troubles. There are too many laws, regulations, subsidies, grants, mandates, taxes, fees, prohibitions, bailouts, stimulous packages, etc. The economy is far to warped to function effectively. The political class is served, no one else. Business people snapping out of their malaise (one that is totally rational and justified) will solve nothing.
Obama hatred of America is proven through his actions and non-actions. I believe he wants to destroy America. The economy is the number one target just like it was for Osama Bin Laden on 9/11. His did not finish us off, but the steps Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the congress who side with these two are for the Communist and the Islamist Terroist who have the same objective as to destroy America, so does Obama, Pelosi and Congress. Impeach the Enemy who have taken over our country. Investigate those who fund them and sieze their assets.
Obama's hatred of America is proven through his actions and non-actions.
I believe he wants to destroy America. The economy is the number one
target just like it was for Osama Bin Laden on 9/11. His did not
finish us off, but the steps Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the
congress who side with these two are for the Communist and the
Islamist Terrorist who have the same objective as to destroy America,
so does Obama, Pelosi and Congress. Impeach the Enemy who have taken
over our country. Investigate those who fund them and sieze their
assets.