Survey: More Microbusiness Owners Are Happy at Their Current Size

The country’s smallest businesses feel more optimistic about 2015, but many of them don’t really want to get any bigger.

According to the Sam’s Club/Gallup Microbusiness Tracker, nearly half of microbusiness owners (those with five employees or fewer) only want to keep their operations at the same size. The next biggest group was entrepreneurs who wanted their companies to grow two to five times larger.

Only 18 percent said they want their companies to become as large as possible.

About 35 percent of respondents said they expect their incomes to grow this year, compared to 29 percent a year prior. Sixty percent expect their sales and revenue to increase.

But the business owners who were most interested in growth were more likely to worry about their ability to find employees and customers and having enough cash on hand. About 62 percent of “high-growth” owners described customer acquisition as a major problem, compared to 33 percent of microbusiness operators who want to stay the same size.

About 18 percent of high-growth owners wanting their businesses to grow by five times or more said they planned to add employees, compared to 3 percent of “same size” business owners.

“There is a strong connection between microbusiness owners’ aspirations and their outlook for financial growth, with owners who want to grow being the most optimistic,” Gallup reported.

“But these owners are also more likely to be dissatisfied with their standard of living and their access to the human and financial capital needed to grow a business.”