Study: There’s Never Been a Better Time for Entrepreneurship

Small Business Priorities Signal Growth

We also surveyed entrepreneurs and asked them to rank a list of potential business goals on a scale of one to five, with one being least important to their overall business strategy. Overwhelmingly, respondents ranked growing revenues and increasing profits as the highest priorities, while cutting expenses was a distant fifth in importance.

Given participants’ optimistic economic outlook, small businesses clearly favor customer and revenue growth strategies versus cutting headcount or other expenses. Doing so requires making investments back into their businesses, and small business owners are clearly ready to do just that.

Small Business Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Small business owners also understand the importance of implementing cost-effective marketing tools to help achieve their business goals. Social media, SEO and email marketing were all ranked equally important, notably over tools like direct mail, coupons/daily deals and traditional print advertising. Fifty-five percent (55%) of respondents cited Schedulicity’s online marketing tools as one of their top three priorities for achieving their marketing goals this year.

Hiring will also increase. Survey results point to an expected uptick in hiring, with more than 40 percent (40%) of responding business owners indicating that they will hire an average of 2.5 new employees this year. For many participants, this means bolstering staffing numbers by almost 70 percent.

On the surface, we can identify various factors driving this SMB confidence: increased consumer spending, improved access to credit for businesses and incentives such as the tax cuts recently proposed by President Obama. Thanks to Uncle Sam, millennials are being armed with valuable resources and support to jump feet-first into their own company.

On a more holistic level, the employment landscape has changed so dramatically in the past decade that it just makes more sense for many young people to branch out on their own. Technology has removed many barriers to self-employment, and young entrepreneurs typically possess enough spark and passion to carry their business ventures to fruition.

You can’t understand the blood, sweat and tears that go into building a company until you’ve actually built one, and from where I’m standing, there’s never been a better time to take that leap.

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Photo Credit: Pull&Bear

[frame_left src=”https://yfsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/JerryNettuno.jpg”]Jerry Nettuno[/frame_left]

Jerry Nettuno is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Schedulicity, a web-based scheduling and calendar management tool for small businesses. Nettuno is an experienced entrepreneur; and earlier in his professional career he was named the youngest Vice President in history at First Investors Corporation, managing 12 offices. An interest in music led Jerry to become an accomplished musician. Jerry is a two-time State Fiddle Champion, has received Song of the Year honors, and was selected as a Grammy Voter – all while garnering recognition through his collaboration with many acclaimed musicians.