Survey: Small Business Owners Upbeat on Trump

A new survey of small business owners shows more than half believe Donald Trump’s administration will have a positive impact on their business, while only 9% think he will have a negative impact.

The State of Small Business Report, conducted by Wasp Barcode Technologies, surveyed 1,100 small business owners and senior executives about their views on the economy, growth, hiring, marketing practices and information technology.

Other findings were, 23% of small businesses do not use social media at all, a four percent increase from 2016. Overall, using social media to grow business decreased across the board from 2016.

Businesses with between 11 to 100 employees increased outsourcing for tax preparation and website-related duties. For businesses with 11 to 50 employees, tax preparation outsourcing increased from 47% to 58% and website management changed from 27% to 38%. For 51 to 100 employees, tax preparation outsourcing increased from 31% to 43%, website management, from 19% to 31%.

The top three challenges reported by small businesses remained steady: Hiring new employees (50%), increasing profits (46%) and employee healthcare (44%).

Half of small businesses do not believe they receive enough support from the government.

While the order of the top three fiscal challenges stayed the same from 2016, the concern for each challenge dropped slightly for 2017. Growing revenue concerns fell from 43% to 39%, cash flow worries fell from 36% to 34% and funding fears fell from 19% to 15%.

Only small businesses with between 5 to 10 employees expect more of a challenge in increasing their profits (50%) than hiring new employees (48%).

Wasp Barcode Technologies is a provider of small business productivity systems such as inventory control, time and attendance, point of sale, and the supporting mobile computers, barcode scanners and barcode printers used to automate operations. The company is based in Plano, Texas.

About the 2017 State of Small Business Report

The 2017 State of Small Business Report research is based on a random online sample of 1,127 U.S. small business owners and executives with companies with five to 499 employees. The anonymous survey was conducted via the internet from November 10th to November 18th, 2016. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 at the 95% level of confidence. Sikora Associates, LLC provided statistical analysis.

Read the full report at: http://www.waspbarcode.com/small-business-report