Small Biz Owners Express Hopefulness To Sage

Over the past few months, representatives from software and services firm Sage have visited with small business clients in four American cities, gauging their success and asking for their thoughts.  Now Sage has formed a sort of outlook on the current state of things for small businesses, and it’s not bad.

Jennifer Warawa, the senior director of partner programs at Sage, said in a statement, "[A]ttendees indicated that while the construction and real estate sectors have taken a serious beating over the past couple of years, the real estate market is slowly coming back, and non-profits are regaining some momentum.  While they are cautious, many small businesses are hoping that things will continue to improve in 2011."

That’s encouraging news.  We’ve of course seen more than a few signs that the economy is recovering (and the Dow is up 0.67 percent so far today if you’re interested in another positive tidbit), but word directly from small business owners has to carry extra weight.

There are just a few potential problems to watch out for as everyone waits for things to return to normal.  Warawa explained, "The top concerns voiced by our attendees were running their businesses on reduced staff, dealing with rising costs and regulatory issues, attracting and keeping new customers, waiting for consumers to start spending again, and finding ways to retain skilled employees."

The four cities Sage toured were Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and New York, by the way, and Sage claims to support 3.2 million small and mid-sized business customers.