NEW YORK — Self-service laundries and laundry pickup/delivery services are considered “small businesses,” and it can be a benefit to pay attention to the trends that other small businesses are facing in the United States.
To paint a picture of the current economic landscape, The Small Business Expo — the nation’s largest business networking and educational event for business owners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs — recently released its “2021 State of Small Business Trends Report.” The report is a biannual survey of small-business owners who were asked about a number of issues and topics that affect their business and potential growth.
“There are 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S., according to the Small Business Administration,” says Small Business Expo CEO and founder Zachary Lezberg. “This means 99.9% of all businesses are, in fact, small businesses. Yet the struggles, concerns, and issues facing small business in America are rarely talked about. With access to over a million small-business owners, we wanted to take a pulse of how they are feeling post-COVID, determine their outlook on the future, and other key factors which impact doing business circa 2021.”
The pandemic has dominated the conversation when it comes to operating a business, and this topic was addressed in the report. When asked about post-pandemic recovery, 19% of respondents reported having seen their business return to pre-COVID-19 revenue, while 5% said they doubt their business will ever return to where they were before the pandemic struck. However, 68% of the small-business owners surveyed have an optimistic outlook for business over the next 12 months.
The report covers many different topics of interest to small-business owners. Some of these topics and findings include:
- Minimum Wage Increase: 32% “Strongly Agree,” 28% “Agree,” 12% “Disagree” and 14% “Strongly Disagree” with the proposed federal minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, while 7 in 10 respondents said the minimum wage increase, if passed, would not impact their future hiring plans.
- COVID-19 Business Start-ups: 25% of respondents started their business during the pandemic.
- Advertising Mediums of Choice: Facebook is the No. 1 advertising medium for small-business owners, favored by 21% of respondents. The report found that 19% of small-business owners don’t advertise at all, while 10% prefer Instagram, 9% use Google, and 7% prefer to exhibit at trade shows.
- Hiring Plans: Over the next 12 months, 42% of small-business owners surveyed plan 1-2 new hires; and 43% do not plan to hire at all.
- Biggest Stressor: As a small-business owner, 31% said their biggest source of stress is finding new customers; 24% reported cash flow issues; 19% listed keeping up with everything; and 7% said making payroll.
The ”2021 State of Small Business Report” can be downloaded HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].