In mid-2012 the National Small Business Association (NSBA) released a survey of small business owners’ ability to find reasonable, affordable capital. This survey is really about small business as 71% of the respondents had between 0-19 full-time personnel. Have small business owners really had to struggle to find capital? Well, regarding the survey’s question, “Have you needed funds for your business and been unable to find anyone to lend to you in the last four years?”, 43% responded “YES”. With the lack of capital, the majority (53%) of respondents indicated the primary impact is that they are unable to grow their businesses or expand operations. So how have business owners been moving their businesses forward? Aside from the traditional methods such as revolving lines of credit from a bank and credit cards, there has been a new method of acquiring capital; “crowdfunding”. Per the article, Congress recently passed legislation that would allow businesses to raise up to $1 million in a 12 month time-frame over the Internet from individual investors. What did small business owners think of this source of capital? 19% reported they would be more likely to seek outside investors, which includes “crowdfunding”. The Internet really is more than just data; it’s opportunity!
The entire survey can be found here (PDF format).
As a business owner, what are your primary hurdles for growth in the coming year?