The past 4 years have been marked by a uniquely difficult set of circumstances for small business owners — a once-in-a-generation pandemic, supply chain issues, high (though somewhat declining) inflation, and rising labor costs, to call a few setbacks.
In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election Entrepreneur desired to know what small business owners thought about topics ranging from the economy to hiring to emphasize and sleep habits. So, in partnership with Talker’s ResearchWe surveyed 500 small business owners to get the answers. Check out the full results below, but first, some excellent news: Half (51%) of small business owners say their business is doing higher than it was in 2023, and 84% are optimistic that 2025 can be a higher yr for their business than 2024.
What Small Business Owners Are Thinking About Right Now
Small business owners across the country are generally optimistic about the prospects for their businesses, with business owners in the Northeast (56%) and Midwest (54%) most optimistic.
Two in five (43%) small business owners consider inflation will improve. Millennial small business owners are the most optimistic, with 49% saying they think things will improve.
Almost half (48%) of respondents consider the economy will strengthen in the next 12 months.
- Men were more prone to consider the economy would develop into “significantly stronger” in the next 12 months (21% vs. 13%).
- Democrats were much more prone to consider this, with 63% saying the trend would get stronger, compared with 49% of Republicans and 39% of independents.
What Business Owners Think About Artificial Intelligence
The majority (74%) of small business owners are optimistic about AI, with 28% believing AI helps them be more efficient, 27% believing AI will create latest business opportunities, and 19% believing AI saves them money.
- 46% of baby boomer small business owners say AI is not vital to their business.
- 84% of millennial business owners consider AI helps their business in some way.
- 60% of small business owners say changes in AI, social media, and search algorithms have not had a significant impact on their business.
What Small Business Owners Think About Hiring
While about half (47%) of respondents are not currently recruiting latest employees, small business owners who are attempting to attract latest talent are doing so by increasing wages (28%), offering distant work options (19%) and offering reduced-hours work (16%).
About 20% of millennial business owners provide their clients with additional skilled development opportunities, in comparison with Generation X (12%) and baby boomers (3%).
The majority of small business owners (71%) consider the cost of products will increase over the next 12 months, while 63% consider labor costs will increase.
What challenges do small business owners face?
Owners of firms that saw their results deteriorate in comparison with last yr consider that they are going to survive for 11.9 months.
- 20% consider they’ll sustain the business at its current level for lower than three months.
- 40% consider they are going to last lower than a yr.
Some of the biggest threats small business owners report include inflation (53%), rising operating costs (43%) — including housing costs, taxes, etc. — and economic uncertainty (41%).
More than half of respondents (51%) said that they had cut non-essential spending in response to inflation in the past yr.
- 38% said that they had raised prices.
- 26% say they have adapted to lower profitability.
- Male owners (17%) were twice as likely as female owners (7%) to answer inflation by renegotiating contracts with suppliers.
- When it involves experiencing money shortages, it appears to be either one way or the other – 47% of respondents have experienced a money shortage this yr, while the same number (47%) said it has not been a problem this yr.
- Owners in the North East (44%) were least prone to be cash-strapped.
Of those that experienced a money shortage, almost half (46%) dipped into their personal savings, while 30% said they stopped paying themselves money. Others turned to friends, family or investors for money (23%) and took out a line of credit (17%). Almost twice as many male homeowners (14%) got a bank loan as female homeowners (8%).
Most respondents (70%) say they fear the United States will enter a recession in the next two years. Business owners’ concerns about an impending recession increase with age, including millennials (27%), Gen X (30%) and baby boomers (38%).
How Stress Affects Small Business Owners
As many as 61% of small business owners admit that they feel stressed about the current condition of their company.
- Male homeowners were barely less stressed overall (57%), compared with 64% of female homeowners.
- Democrats (52%), Republicans (67%) and Independents (61%) were the least stressed.
- Younger businesses were more prone to report stress – this was reported by 72% of companies operating for lower than a yr, in comparison with 64% of companies operating for 1 to five years, 58% of companies operating for 6 to 10 years and 55% of companies operating for 10 years or longer.
Of the respondents who say they feel stressed, 56% admit that it causes them to sleep less and 38% admit that they have difficulty concentrating.
- Sleep has hit younger generations the hardest: 61% of millennials, 52% of Gen X and 50% of baby boomers said they were getting less sleep.
- Millennials were probably to report losing focus (43%) and said stress causes them to spend extra money than they’ll afford (41%).
- Generation Z was probably to cite stress as a reason for mental health problems (34%).
The average stressed small business owner loses seven hours of sleep per week.
- 20% of stressed small business owners admit they lose three to 4 hours of sleep per week.
- Millennial homeowners lose the most sleep (7.5 hours).
- Stressed male owners lose barely more sleep per week than stressed female owners (7.3 hours versus 6.9).
What small business owners think about the election
Most small business owners (81%) are closely following election news, with 45% saying they monitor it every day.
- More baby boomers (95%) than millennials and Generation X (80%) are closely following the election.
Two in five (40%) respondents consider that the policies of the next US president could improve the situation for their businesses, and expect this to occur, while 39% do not consider that any helpful policies can be introduced.
- Democrats (15%) and Republicans (15%) also said government policies wouldn’t significantly improve the situation for their businesses, while independents were barely more pessimistic at 29%.