The Mixed Emotions That Come with Running a Business

Results from the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey (conducted in April) were released and indicate that optimism among small business owners is at its lowest in five years.

Yet confidence appears to be high based on the Discover Small Business Watch Poll.

The former took into account the future expectations of small business owners for financial situation, cash flow, revenues, capital allocation, job hiring, and credit availability.

 "The decline in both the present situation and future expectations components doesn’t bode well for a swift recovery in small business conditions," says Dr. Scott Anderson, Wells Fargo senior economist. "However, as consumers begin to receive — and spend — their economic stimulus checks, this should soon begin easing the blow to small businesses in the third quarter of this year."

The respondents of this survey did generally report to feel satisfied in being a small business owner, with the majority feeling "successful".

Respondents to the Discover survey report the lowest amount of financial issues in six months, and appear to be more confident than in recent months.

 "Cash flow is such a key indicator, that whenever business owners tell us cash issues have improved, we expect to see a rise in confidence," said Ryan Scully, director of Discover’s business credit card. "Together with improved confidence in economic conditions for their own businesses, cash flow issues will be a good barometer of whether this rise in economic confidence is a trend, or just another blip in what has been a downward pattern for almost a full year." 

Some interesting takeaways from this survey include:

- 28% of owners say that economic conditions for their business are getting better, an increase over 24 percent in April.

– 71% of small business owners think the U.S. economy is getting worse, a decrease from 76 percent in April.

– 39% say they have experienced cash flow issues over the last 90 days, a decrease from 44 percent in April and 47 percent in March.

You can get more details about the Index Survey and the Discover survey here and here respectively.

What is your outlook for the future? Are you satisfied? Do you feel "successful"? Tell us what you think.