Maybe it’s the change in weather, but Massachusetts small business owners are optimistic about their business prospects in the year ahead, according to a recent survey released by TD Bank.
“Business owners are feeling better about business prospects overall, despite some lingering challenges,” Mark Crandall, TD Bank’s regional president of Southern New England, said in a statement. “Last year was a good year for many Massachusetts small businesses, and it’s encouraging many of them are projecting solid growth for 2015 as well.”
According to the Small Business Pulse Check, 82 percent of business owners met or exceeded their 2014 revenue goals. From a regional vantage, 83 percent of eastern Massachusetts business owners said they met or exceeded last year’s revenue goals, compared with 76 percent in western Massachusetts.
Nearly twice as many small business owners in eastern Massachusetts than in the western part of the state said they are being negatively impacted by the economy (32 percent vs. 17 percent), but despite this economic variability, 60 percent of all Massachusetts small business owners said they are expecting sales or revenue to increase this year.
The harsh winter got 2015 off to a rough start, however, with 43 percent of survey respondents saying that revenues took a hit from the weather and 35 percent saying that employee productivity was hampered by this past winter. Boston business owners, in particular, suffered: 45 percent reported a negative impact on revenue and 40 percent saw lower productivity this past winter.
However, 75 percent of those surveyed said they were optimistic about the year ahead and almost 30 percent said they thought 2015 might be their best year to date.
More than half (55 percent) of respondents said they have applied or are planning to apply for a loan or line of credit in the next 12 months. Of those business owners, 55 percent said they would dedicate the funds to working capital, followed by cash flow (39 percent) and office supplies/equipment (35 percent). In western Massachusetts, 59 percent of owners said they would pursue lines of credit.
The survey had a sample size of 250 businesses with $5 million or less in revenue, and it was conducted by Vision Critical.
