Small Business Owners Say Their Companies Will Emerge Strong From Recession

November 9, 2009

Optimism results from strong focus on customers, employees and themselves.

Looking ahead 12 to 24 months, small business owners say their companies will emerge from the recession strong and well positioned for growth over the next two years—leading the United States to economic recovery, according to a new study, The Guardian Life Index: What Matters Most to America's Small Business Owners.

Even in the face of the significant challenges of the economic downturn, the fundamental optimism demonstrated by small business owners is the result of their passionate, confident focus on three core pillars of business success—their customers, their employees and their own self-dependence, according to the study, which was commissioned by The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute and fielded in May 2009. Based on a 21-point scale (from +10 to -10), it measured the positive and negative intensity of responses to a vast battery of issues, providing an in-depth understanding of what matters most to small business owners.

In the Guardian Life Index, customers are small business owners' number one concern. Exemplifying small business owners' deep commitment to customer satisfaction and loyalty are their very positive responses to: "Having customers who appreciate what I do" (5.8), "keeping the customers I have from leaving" (5.6) and "making my customers into friends" (3.9). Positive intensity numbers above three are highly significant, according to the researcher who designed the methodology and conducted the study, John Krubski.

Small business owners are similarly passionate about their employees. At an intensity level of 5.5, "my employees" ranks nearly as high as customers in importance. Other positive responses include: "Giving my employees reasons to feel good about being part of our team" (4.3) and "helping others to have income and opportunities" (3.9). At the opposite end of the scale are issues that matter least. Even slightly negative numbers indicate strong passions, according to Krubski. In the study, small business owners reacted very negatively to "cutting back on employee benefits" (-0.1), "reducing the number of employees" (-0.2) or "moving full-time employees to part-time schedules" (-0.9).

Finally, personal freedom is important to small business owners, as these positive intensity metrics underscore: "personal freedom" (5.3), "being able to make my own decisions" (4.9) and "doing something for a living that I love to do" (4.2).

Contrasting the metrics associated with customers, employees and self, small business owners' feelings about financial matters are about half as intense: "being able to add significantly to my retirement funds" (2.5), "making enough money to pay my family's personal expenses" (2.4) and "being able to pay myself as much as I should" (2.3).

Overall, 92 percent of small business owners expressed optimism about their enterprises, with 54 percent expecting to maintain business as usual and 38 percent confidently looking forward to expanding their businesses over the next 12 to 24 months.