Late last month, the third annual Chicagoland Small Business Outlook Survey—a collaboration between the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Loyola Quinlan School of Business—was released, highlighting collected information on small businesses, what they need to succeed and their outlook for the future.The survey shows that 77 percent of small business owners in the Chicago metro area plan to grow their businesses, despite a national decreased confidence in the economy. But even with growth on the horizon, taxes and rising healthcare costs remain areas of concern for many small business owners: 79 percent being most concerned with rising taxes and 82 percent being concerned with rising healthcare costs.
“While business owners are worried about the financial states of Chicago and Illinois, they are optimistic about the chance to expand and in their ability to run successful businesses,” said assistant marketing professor Alexander Krasnikov, Ph.D., who oversaw the survey implementation by a Quinlan graduate marketing class.
Other key takeaways from the 2017 Chicagoland Small Business Outlook Survey include:
- Business confidence in the economy (both local and national) decreased by an average of 13 percentage points over last year.
- 85 percent of business owners’ additional concerns include state and local economic conditions, 64 percent express concern for regulatory requirements, and another 64 percent cited concerns with access to capital.
- Only 29 percent of those surveyed believe Chicago’s economy will improve in 2017, and 17 percent think that Illinois’ economy will improve.
- Business owners indicated their needs for expansion included marketing assistance (59 percent), business planning (48 percent) and technology advancements (45 percent).
Results for the 2017 survey were announced on January 26th at the Schreiber Center, the new home for the Quinlan School of Business. Melissa Ballate, Quinlan alumna and president of branding and strategy firm Blue Daring, presented the study findings to the more than 100 entrepreneurs in attendance.