Small Business Outlook 2009

On December 8, 2008, nearly 100 invited entrepreneurial leaders met in New York City for the "2nd Annual Small Business Leadership Summit: Outlook 2009", sponsored by Moran Media Group, a publisher of small business information, to discuss legislative, economic, market and business trends for 2009.

As reported in this piece on FoxBusiness.com, the overall sentiment was described as "pragmatic optimism" for the economy and for small businesses in 2009. If nothing else, the results may give us something to contemplate on New Year's Eve.

Here are some highlights of the survey results:

• 46 percent felt that the economy would be "somewhat better" by the end of 2009, with 8% said "significantly better." That's a combined 54% who have a positive outlook for the year. While it's not great, those who felt things would stay about the same or get worse were even at 23% each.
• Despite the positive outlook for the economy in general, 39% of participants believed small business revenues will grow, while 54% predicted negative growth for small business revenues.
• 57% believe that obtaining credit will get "somewhat easier", 21% said "no change" and 21% thought obtaining credit would be more difficult in the new year.
• As for jobs, 29% said staffing levels will be higher in 2009, while 36% said they will remain the same and 36% felt staffing levels will be lower in 2009 than in 2008.
• Half of participants indicated they thought prices would remain steady in the coming year.

What's your outlook for 2009?