The Hartford says a recent survey shows that St. Louis small business owners are looking for significant growth this year.
According to The Hartford’s 2015 Small Business Success Study, 56 percent of St. Louis owners are looking to grow significantly, which includes a large increase in sales, revenue, the number of employees and the hours they work, compared with 33 percent of national owners. Fifty-five percent of small business owners nationally would rather maintain their business at its current size compared with only 39 percent of owners in St. Louis.
Although St. Louis small business owners are focused on growing their business, the study found that 77 percent of St. Louis owners say they are conservative in the overall level of risk they are taking with their business, which is consistent with their national peers.
Hiring, Feeling Successful
The focus on growth has carried over to hiring for St. Louis business owners — the study found that 54 percent of owners said they have hired in the past 12 months, significantly more than owners nationally (35 percent). About 60 percent of those who have hired recently have hired all they wanted to and 40 percent have not hired as much as they would have liked.
Of those who have not hired or not hired as much as they would have liked, 36 percent say it’s because they are taking on the additional responsibilities themselves, compared to 26 percent nationally. Thirty-two percent cite a lack of qualified talent, compared to 17 percent nationally.
The study also found that 83 percent of St. Louis owners say they feel successful about how their business is operating now, compared with 73 percent nationally. The top three things local owners say are important to their definition of success are: to do something I feel passionate about or enjoy (82 percent), to make enough money to have a comfortable lifestyle (72 percent) and to increase the profitability of the business (70 percent).
About the Survey
Braun Research and Ketchum Global Research & Analytics conducted a telephone survey among small business owners in St. Louis and across the United States for The Hartford’s Small Business Success Study.
A total of 2,003 interviews were completed nationally, as well as an oversample of 300 in the St. Louis, MO Designated Market Area (DMA) with owners of for-profit businesses with fewer than 100 full-time employees that have been in business for at least one year. One owner, co-owner, principle owner or sole owner per business was interviewed.
The interviews were conducted between July 7-16, 2015. The National margin of error is ± 2.1 percentage points, St. Louis margin of error is ± 5.7 percentage points.
Source: The Hartford
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