Business owners confident

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Small business owners are confident in their business, however they’re less certain about the national economy than they were last year. Revenues are good, and they want to hire and expand, according to newly-released results of the 2016 U.S. Bank Small Business Annual Survey.

“Business owners are still in a cautious mode, second-guessing future decisions,” said Ross Carey, executive vice president and head of business banking at U.S. Bank. “Business is good, though they wonder if another shoe will drop in the economy. A little more time and some clarity around who will be leading our country a year from now will go a long way in boosting their confidence.”

U.S. Bank has been surveying small business owners for seven years. From 2013 to 2015, the number of small business owners who felt the economy was recovering or expanding increased significantly year over year. This year, confidence dipped, returning to 2014 levels.

Nearly one in three small business owners believe the national economy is in recession in 2016, up from only one in five who said last year that conditions felt like a recession. They’re still positive though. A majority (57 percent) of owners say the economy is in recovery or expansion, however even that number is down from a high of 67 percent last year. Outlook for 2017 has dipped as well. A majority (54 percent) see recovery or expansion on the horizon, a number that shrunk from 67 percent in 2015. One in four say the economy will be in recession in 2017.

Nearly 75 percent of small business owners classify the health of their business as “strong.” Revenues are at or above the previous year for more businesses in 2016 (34 percent) than in 2015 (24 percent) and nearly half expect revenue growth in 2017. Approximately one in four owners has plans to hire, which is the same as last year, though an improvement over 2014. About 38 percent say they’re ready for capital expenditures, up significantly over 2015.

More than three in four small business owners have integrated a mobile solution into their overall business strategy, and even more are using social media to make connections, find talent, or market their business. Business owners are significantly more likely to access their bank and make payments with a mobile device than they were a year ago. More than three in four say banks offering the most up-to-date technology are more trustworthy. However, at the end of the day, the human touch is still important to them – 89 percent say they will do at least some of their banking in a physical branch in five years.

“Customers want to be able to access the bank through multiple channels when it’s most convenient for them. However, they also tell us nothing replaces the human touch – that banker down the street to talk to or bounce ideas off of from time to time,” Carey said.

Staff report

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