Small Business Owners Poised to Switch to Growth Mode

The Fall 2013 American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor research suggests that business owners have abandoned their “wait and see” approach, with a third (32%) of entrepreneurs making growth a top priority.

More small business owners are making capital investments (54%, up from 49%) and hiring plans are up (35%, up from 29%) year-over-year. Entrepreneurs are also in a stronger position to increase investments as cash flow becomes less worrisome (52% reported a cash flow crunch, down from 59% six months ago).

Attitudes about the U.S. economy have also changed, with less worry potentially leading to more investment.

The survey found that fewer business owners believe the economy is in recession (25%, down from 36% last fall). When asked about their six-month outlook, more than half (56%) have a positive expectation about business prospects and more than four-in-ten (43%) believe their revenues will increase. Currently, nearly four-in-ten (38%, up from 27%) say revenues are greater than a year ago, and 16% say they have more employees than they did last year, compared to 8% in fall 2012.

“Small business owners appear poised to flip the switch to growth mode,” said Susan Sobbott, president, American Express OPEN. “Business owners are getting more targeted in their approach to building customer demand and an increasing number are using analytics to better understand their customers and social media to drive sales.”

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