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Survey Says: Business Owners Expecting a Happy New Year
The vast majority of entrepreneurs expect the economy to hold steady or improve in 2011. Plus, some surprising new findings about Twitter use.
Posted 12/ 30 10 at 6:00 PM | Business Trends, Technology, Money, Advertising & Marketing, Sales, Leadership
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The New Year is upon us, but not everyone is celebrating. While small business owners see the future as bright, for the average consumer, the outlook is a bit cloudier. Here's a closer look at some of the latest small-business surveys.Business Owners Looking forward to 2011
Good news for the year ahead -- most small and midsized business owners are feeling optimistic. So says the Small to Midsized Business: Plans for 2011 survey conducted by my company, GrowBiz Media, in collaboration with Web-based survey company Zoomerang.
The direction of the nation's economy is one of the reasons for the sunny outlook for nearly three-fourths of the business owners we surveyed. Thirty percent predict it will improve in 2011, and 42 percent think it will hold steady. When it comes to their own businesses, entrepreneurs are even more optimistic -- 50 percent expect their 2011 revenues to hold steady, while 34 percent are anticipating sales increases.
From everything I've heard (and of course being a Pollyanna), I think 2011 is going to be a big turnaround year for many small businesses. I hope you're ready.
Consumers Conflicted
Consumers aren't feeling quite as optimistic as entrepreneurs, however. According to BIG Research's December Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey, just 27.3 percent of consumers surveyed are "confident" or "very confident" about the chances for a strong economy. That's a decline of more than two percentage points from the same time a year ago (29.9 percent).
Despite that uncertainty, consumers are spending differently. In December, the percentage who said they were "becoming more practical" in their purchases declined to 45.8 percent, down from 49.5 percent in December 2009. And 52.7 percent say they are focusing on "needs" instead of "wants" when shopping -- down from 57.5 percent last December.
These numbers just reinforce what I said several weeks back about "frugality fatigue." While we won't be returning to our free-spending ways anytime soon (if ever), Americans are eager to open their wallets once again.
Who's on Twitter?
Twitter users are still a small percentage of the overall population -- just 8 percent of Americans use the service, according to a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. But those 8 percent are desirable customers for many reasons.
First, Twitter users skew young (14 percent are 18 to 29). They're also more likely to be urban (11 percent of city dwellers use Twitter, compared to just 5 percent of rural residents). Finally, a healthy percentage of minorities (13 percent of African Americans and 18 percent of Hispanics) use Twitter, compared to just 5 percent of whites. If your target customers are in these demographic groups and your business isn't on Twitter, you better give the social network a second look.
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.
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
you guys should get jobs writing for pravda.i think you actually believe
your own bulldinky
As a business owner with 35 employees, I can tell you that myself and every other business owner I know, has been in survival mode since Obama took office and started in on his agenda to basically destroy the private sector and capitalism along with it. So, it's keep all expenses (and that means staff) at a bare minimum and save as much money as possible for repairing the damage done. Batten down the hatches, hunker down and wait until Hurricane Barry blows itself out. Now that the Republicans have taken back the house, Obama becomes very limited in what he can do. But like the aftermath of a disastrous storm, there is a long, hard road to cleaning up and restoring everything back to 100% again. And that is where I see this country now. At the start of a long, hard road of asessing the damage and begining to rebuild. One block at a time. The hard part is that there is no insurance for this kind of damage. So we will have to fix this country together. By ourselves. And if the politicians leave us alone for a while, we will do it. I think 2011 will be a good rebounding year. I just fear the press will give Obama all the credit and God forbid it gets him re-elected. That, for sure will be the end of this country. I hope America is not foolish enough to get suckered in by this Chicago grifter a second time.