Fifty-eight percent of small business owners expect growth in 2015. That’s based on the CAN Capital Small Business Health Index (PDF) completed recently with the help of Survey Monkey.

CAN Capitol Inc. offers small to medium sized businesses a technology platform evaluating small business risk in order to assist these businesses in gaining access to capital.

On its website, the company claims to have provided access to more than 139,000 small business fundings and to have worked with the nation’s top banks and others in securing those funds.

The survey also shows that small business owners are taking positive steps to grow their businesses based on their current optimism.

Steps Toward Growth in 2015

“Thirty-eight percent [of business owners] said they plan to expand and/or try new forms of advertising/marketing activities…up from 31 percent last quarter,” Chief Marketing Officer James Mendelsohn told Small Business Trends in an email interview recently.

The survey also found that 41 percent of these businesses clearly understood the important impact online and mobile business reviews will have on the future if their businesses as well.

To further prepare for growth in 2015, the survey found that 35 percent of small business owners intend to buy additional equipment or make additional investment in inventory over the next year. CAN Capital says this is a 10 percent increase over the previous quarter.

Challenges to Growth in 2015

However, the survey also reveals some of the concerns small business owners have when planning for growth.

Thirty-five percent of business owners said offering competitive pricing while competing with larger businesses was their greatest challenge, while about 21 percent sited the ability to offer competitive benefits to employees.

In fact, according to the survey, 34 percent of business owners responding identified rising employment costs as the biggest threat to the future growth of their companies.

Specifics sited included the Affordable Care Act, minimum wage increases and new overtime change laws.

Funding for Growth in 2015

While looking forward to growth, almost half the small business owners responding to the survey said it would take outside investment to do so.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they would need some kind of external cash to run their businesses in 2015.

Sixty-one percent of small business owners admitted getting the needed capital is another challenge.

While 34 percent said the easiest option for getting this capital is in the form of a bank loan, 27 percent said they would be more likely to get the money from friends and family.

It’s easy to see that small business owners believe 2015 will be a time for growth after some lean years. The question is how small entrepreneurs will deal with the challenges of increasing costs and access to capital in order to make that future a reality.

Courtesy: Small Biz Trends