Washington businessmen eye revenue jump in 2013

NEW YORK

Bank of America today released the fall 2012 Small Business Owner Report, a semi-annual study exploring the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners across the country. The survey, which includes an oversampling of small business owners across the Greater Washington market, found that the majority of Greater Washington's small business owners are planning on sustaining or growing their business over the next 12 months. Specifically, nearly one-third (32 percent) plan on hiring more employees, while 59 percent expect their staffing needs will remain consistent.

In addition, almost twothirds (63 percent) of the Washington small business owners surveyed anticipate that revenue will increase in 2013, while only 6 percent expect revenue to decline.

However, this optimism is tempered by their views on the economy, with only 50 percent of Greater Washington small business owners confident that their local economy will improve over the next 12 months. Respondents were even less confident in the national (39 percent) and global economies (27 percent) improving in that same period.

More than half (54 percent) reported that the majority of their customers come from the local community, compared to 32 percent who indicated that their customers come primarily from outside the local community but within the U.S. Only 4 percent indicated that the majority of their customers come from outside the U.S.

The economic backbone of Greater Washington isn't rooted in national government organizations; it's powered by the region's small business community, which is doing business every day with the public and private sector across the Mid-Atlantic," said Raj Kochhar, Small Business Banker region executive for the Mid-Atlantic at Bank of America. "Bank of America remains fully committed to supporting small business owners with their financial needs so that both their business and our community can grow.

Greater Washington small business owners see little to no benefit from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Ninety-two percent say that Black Friday has either a minor or no impact on their business's bottom line, and 74 percent believe Cyber Monday is overhyped and has no significance to their bottom line. Sixty-five percent of respondents believe they have enough access to capital to run their business effectively, and only 12 percent said that they applied for a business loan over past year.