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FALL LITERATURE SHOWCASE 2015 2 FALL LITERATURE SHOWCASE 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com Small Business Success And Optimism Rev Up, Focus On Growth Stalls, The Hartford's Study Finds O ver the past few years, fewer small business owners are focused on growing their business, yet more of them are feeling successful about how their business is operating and say they are optimistic about the economy strength- ening this year, according to The Hartford's 2015 Small Business Success Study. "At The Hartford, we are actively engaged in helping small busi- nesses grow and succeed. Through our community partnership efforts, we provide education, resources and microloans to small busi- nesses, as well as an employee-led program to patronize and support local businesses, which we call Hart Mobs." According to the fifth annual study, only 33% of small business owners say their primary goal is to grow their business significantly, which means a large increase in sales, revenue and staff. This is down from 41% in 2012. Fifty-five% of owners say they are looking to main- tain their business at its current size, which has been largely consistent over the past few years. Even though more than half of owners have a maintenance mind- set, 73% feel successful about how their business is operating now, up from 69% in 2011. And, the number of small business owners who are optimistic that the national economy will improve this year has increased from 33% in 2012 to 52% in 2015. RISK TAKING REMAINS CONSERVATIVE Despite their feelings of success and optimism, the majority of small business owners (72%) continue to say that the number of risks they take stayed the same over the past six months. Only about one-fifth of business owners (17%) say the risks they are taking have increased, similar to levels in previous years. Most owners (79%) consider themselves conservative with their approach to risk taking, which is fairly consistent with the results from the past three years. Although small business owners continue to be conservative with their risk taking, there has been a steady decline in owners identifying macroeconomic factors as a risk to their business. When showed a list of risks ranging from taxes to slow economic growth, small business owners uniformly felt that these represented less of a risk to their business compared to three years ago. Major Risks to Their Business 2015 2012 Slow economic growth ...................... 48% .................. 67% Healthcare costs ................................. 39% .................. 53% Taxes .................................................... 37% .................. 59% Uncertainty about federal regs. ........ 31% .................. 56% CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNERS Based on an analysis of data over the past few years, The Hartford's study found that owners who take more risks and feel optimistic about the national economy tend to be more inclined to say their business is extremely or very successful. In addition, the highly suc- cessful business owners are not as conservative as those who feel slightly or not at all successful. The analysis also found that owners who feel their business is operating highly successfully are relying on better qualified talent, bet- ter guidance from other professionals, and even bank loans, whereas owners who feel less successful seem to be taking on the load and stress of running a small business more on their own. In the 2015 study, one-quarter (27%) of owners who feel extremely/very successful about how their business is operating right now rate their overall level of risk as "risky" rather than "conserva- tive," compared to just 14% of those who feel they are slightly/not at all successful. Those who feel their business is operating less successfully and have not hired or not hired as much as they would have liked this past year are more likely to say this is because they are taking on additional responsibilities themselves compared to those who feel highly suc- cessful (38% vs. 21%). Highly successful owners who have not hired/not hired as much as they would have liked in the past year are less likely to say the reason for not hiring is that their business is not growing, compared to those who feel less successful and have not hired (20% vs. 59%). UPGRADING PAYMENT TECHNOLOGY – CHIP EMBEDDED CREDIT/DEBIT CARDS This year's study asked small business owners about current issues that might impact their business. On the topic of upgrading their payment technology to chip embedded credit/debit cards, half (50%) of all small business owners are unaware of the Oct. 1 deadline when some credit card issuers may shift the liability for certain fraudulent charges to businesses that do not accept chip-embedded cards. Thirty- three% of owners are aware of the change and 12% are not sure.