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Small Business Not for the Faint of Heart

Small Business Not for the Faint of Heart

According to a recent survey of small business owners, running their company is more stressful than raising children and forces them to give up a lot of free time, exercise and other aspects of their personal lives. Despite this, small business owners remain optimistic about the national and local economies and feel confident in their future. With improvement anticipated in 2012, business debt restructuring or turnaround management services can put a business in a position to take advantage of the recovery.

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Source: Business News Daily, May 17 2012, by Ned Smith

Running a small business is hardly child’s play, a new survey shows. In fact, managing the ongoing success of their business creates more stress for small-business owners than any other aspect of their lives — even raising children.

Maintaining a small business causes the owners twice as much stress as maintaining a healthy relationship with a spouse or partner, nearly three times as much stress as raising children and more than four times as much as managing their own personal finances, according to a survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. small-business owners with between two and 99 employees that was sponsored by Bank of America.

In addition, small-business owners regularly forgo free time (57 percent), exercise (37 percent) and other important personal priorities in order to manage their business.

But small-business owners remain committed and optimistic about their future despite challenges and sacrifices, the survey found.

Small-business owners have more confidence in their local economy than the national economy. When asked about the next 12 months, 42 percent expect their local economic conditions to improve, compared with 35 percent who expect the national economy will improve.

These reservations about the state of the national economy, however, did not dampen optimism among small-business owners regarding their future business prospects. Nearly seven of 10 (69 percent) small- business owners view their local economy as very important to their business’ success. Moreover, reflective of the independent character that typifies most small-business owners, the majority of respondents (53 percent) said that their own decisions, rather than the overall health of the economy, are more likely to influence business outcomes. This sentiment was particularly strong among young small-business owners between ages 18 and 34 (66 percent).

Confidence was further evident in two key indicators of performance — hiring and revenue expectations. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of small-business owners expect to expand their work force in the next 12 months, while more than half (56 percent) plan to keep their staffing levels consistent year over year. Among those small businesses planning to hire, owners expect to increase the number of employees by 25 percent on average. Furthermore, 61 percent of all respondents forecast a revenue increase, and 32 percent project that revenues will remain the same.

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If your small business is facing challenges or experiencing hyper-growth, Business Capital can help. We provide business debt restructuring, turnaround management and commercial finance services that will allow your business to succeed and grow.