Your future and goals

Given recent economic events, you could be forgiven for thinking small businesses would be less than optimistic about the future. But our survey unearthed a rather different picture.

In fact, 62% of small business owners feel confident about the future of their business right now. Those feeling such confidence are more likely to attribute this to internal factors like a successful strategy.

A healthy 42% of those feeling confident also feel better about their business than they did six months ago.

Of those who feel positive about the future, 80% base their feelings on a successful business strategy while 51% think their business's financial situation will see them through.

Nearly half also mentioned the wider economic climate as a reason for confidence, indicating that some small business owners are more hopeful about the economy as a whole.

We asked small business owners about their plans for expansion, for cost-cutting and their thoughts on debt. An interesting picture of the realities of running a small business emerged as a result.

Much like Wave 1, 53% of small business owners plan to expand their business, although few opted for the most extreme answer, which may indicate only small scale expansion.

The most popular single answer was to stay the same or consolidate, which was given by 36% of small business owners.

As we can see from the chart above, the outlook is a little more positive in Wave 2. More businesses are looking to expand, with fewer looking to downsize.

For those respondents who do feel less secure, the wider economic climate was the number one reason for this. The main reason cited for this feeling was a decrease in customers and finding it harder to make a profit.

Those less confident about their business are also likely to have seen an increase in competition over the past year.

While economic factors are a huge consideration, the importance of a successful business strategy is not far behind.

It would seem that confidence in the viability of your business can have almost as much impact on your future ambitions as those beyond control, like the vagaries of the economic climate. A positive outlook can take a business a long way.

We have listened carefully to the concerns of all business owners who took part in the survey. As a direct result of what you told us, we have put together an online resource centre which focuses on Hot Topics providing advice and support from us and industry experts, along with some useful tools to help you with your business.