I was set to tell you that small business confidence rose for the fourth straight month, but let’s face it: That’s good but not particularly exciting news.
What I would rather do is tell you why you, personally, should be confident about growing your business in 2012. That’s true whether you’re a small business enduring the struggles that owning a small business entails or if you’re a successful franchise breezing through the lean times. It’s because 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese calendar, and dragons are very confident. Some are even smug.
Allow me to outline a few good reasons why you should expect to be growing your business this year.
Why You Ought To Be Confident
As we make our way through the first month of January—it is flying by—here’s why I feel you’d be warranted to believe that growth is coming for your small business.
- Lenders are opening up their coffers. Our friends at Direct Capital are just one example of a company willing and able to lend. With independent lenders, small banks and investors showing an uptick in activity, you’re more likely to be able to get the financing you need this year.
- Consumer confidence is up. Confident consumers buy more and become great customers. With confidence trending upward throughout last year and starting off strong this year, that’s a strong peg to hang your hat on.
- Small business confidence is up. Why not join the crowd? By and large, small business confidence is up over a year ago and definitely up over a year before that. As we come out of the recession, more and more companies are going to be doing what they must do to expand their businesses and pull in more customers. In that kind of environment, you don’t want to be the one hanging back.
What You Should Do With That Confidence
Move ahead with the idea that you’re going to grow in 2012. As I mentioned, confident businesses are going to snap up customers and financing between now and December. Your job is to get what you need first.
That means you should go for financing from a trusted partner if you need new equipment, or just a little cash to get you going. You should aggressively market to customers new and old and offer sales to help them crack open their wallets. And you should strive to be excellent as always, because unlike in years past, you (probably) won’t be struggling just to make ends meet.
In essence, you should move ahead with—get ready for the 100th use of this word in this article—confidence. Make 2012 less the year the world ends and more the year your business begins to grow exponentially.
How will you proceed in 2012? We’d love to hear your answers.
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