Blog with Rob: 2015 is looking up!

For business owners here on Long Island and across the country, things are finally starting to look up, capping a year in which total employment rose by 2.95 million.

The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International conducted a survey online from Dec. 8 to Dec. 17 (2014) of firms with less than $20 million in annual revenue.  Roughly half of 830 small-business owners and executives said they expect economic conditions to keep improving in the year ahead, up from 38% who felt that way at the end of last year. In addition, roughly 80% said they anticipate better sales in 2015, up from 77% who felt that way heading into 2014. (For the full survey results click here.)

Backing up those survey results is a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal/NBC News of 800 adults with half reporting that the past year brought important economic improvements, a post-recession high. More than four in 10 said they are satisfied with the state of the economy, the most upbeat reading in more than eight years (when 4 in 10 people saying they are satisfied with the economy is classified as a good result, that’s how you know times have been rough).

In addition, banks and other lenders are more aggressively trying to lend out the cash they have been sitting on as mortgage rates drop and become less profitable. The result? A much more competitive business lending market than business owners have seen in years.

So dust off your business plan and get it ready for 2015. It’s looking like a much better year!