This month's NFIB survey of small business owners shows a slight improvement in their overall optimism. Granted, the index is still very near its all time low, but small business owners see some hope for their businesses over the longer term.
"The gain in the Index clearly signals that the worst is likely over, but so far there has been no 'surge' in sentiment as many components still remain at historically low levels," said William Dunkelberg, NFIB's chief economist. "The small business sector has taken a real beating over the last year, but owners are seeing some upward movement in both sales and earnings."
The anecdotal evidence I can add to this from my own interactions with small business owners is that since they have "made it through the worst and survived", they see hope for the future.
Let's hope their optimism and that voiced by Dunkelberg is correct.
One thing that should give us pause when we read surveys like this is that entrepreneurs are by their very nature an optimistic lot.
My father always told me, "When you look at an entrepreneur's forecast, double the costs and triple the time and you will probably be closer to the truth."
And remember how we can spot a budding young entrepreneur -- he is the one who on Christmas morning can be found digging in a pile of manure in his back yard exclaiming, I just know there is a pony in here if I just dig deep enough."
When I try to interpret surveys like this the entrepreneur in me is ready to assume that we are on the road to recovery. But, the realist in me knows that we won't see any real improvement anytime soon unless we wake up and reverse course on a myriad of policies enacted over the past several decades that have expanded role of government, weakened the free enterprise system, and led to a steady increase in the tax burden. These are all policies that have been proven to stifle entrepreneurial activity.
I fear that the situation facing small business owners is only getting worse. Hear is how Sam Graves (R-MO) of the House Small Business Committee put it:
Sadly, only the entrepreneur in me thinks that might happen. But I'll keep digging, looking for that pony.....
"The gain in the Index clearly signals that the worst is likely over, but so far there has been no 'surge' in sentiment as many components still remain at historically low levels," said William Dunkelberg, NFIB's chief economist. "The small business sector has taken a real beating over the last year, but owners are seeing some upward movement in both sales and earnings."
The anecdotal evidence I can add to this from my own interactions with small business owners is that since they have "made it through the worst and survived", they see hope for the future.
Let's hope their optimism and that voiced by Dunkelberg is correct.
One thing that should give us pause when we read surveys like this is that entrepreneurs are by their very nature an optimistic lot.
My father always told me, "When you look at an entrepreneur's forecast, double the costs and triple the time and you will probably be closer to the truth."
And remember how we can spot a budding young entrepreneur -- he is the one who on Christmas morning can be found digging in a pile of manure in his back yard exclaiming, I just know there is a pony in here if I just dig deep enough."
When I try to interpret surveys like this the entrepreneur in me is ready to assume that we are on the road to recovery. But, the realist in me knows that we won't see any real improvement anytime soon unless we wake up and reverse course on a myriad of policies enacted over the past several decades that have expanded role of government, weakened the free enterprise system, and led to a steady increase in the tax burden. These are all policies that have been proven to stifle entrepreneurial activity.
I fear that the situation facing small business owners is only getting worse. Hear is how Sam Graves (R-MO) of the House Small Business Committee put it:
"It is abundantly clear that the Obama Administration has no understanding of small business owners or what they need. Last week the SBA fell short of the mandatory allocation of government contracts to small businesses, and only 1% of the "economic stimulus" package was provided to small companies. This Administration continues to push record spending and proposes paying for it on the backs of small businesses. Congress should focus on helping our job creators, not treating them as enemies."If we want to turn this budding optimism among entrepreneurs to work for us to start our economic recovery, we need to turn them lose -- and quickly.
Sadly, only the entrepreneur in me thinks that might happen. But I'll keep digging, looking for that pony.....
I knew the pony would return. I agree we'll be digging for a while longer, the herd isn't going to be turned loose anytime soon
Thanks for sharing your Wisdom, looking forward to those pony's!