Reputation
Read customer reviews across Google, Facebook, and Yelp, in one place.
Staff Report
South Carolina small business owners ranked first in the United States in optimism about their businesses in 2018, according to a new survey.
Womply, a technology and data service that caters to small businesses, surveyed 4,700 owners in the U.S. to gauge optimism and hiring intent.
South Carolina topped the optimism chart with 95% of respondents being optimistic about their company’s prospects for 2018. Georgia finished second (92%), followed by Texas (91%), Washington (90%) and Ohio (86%). The national average was 68%.
Growth may follow that optimism, as 12% of businesses nationwide planned open a new location, compared to 6% in 2017, and 42% planned to hire new employees, compared to 40% in 2017. Thirty-four percent planned to increase wages, the same as in 2017.
Eighteen percent of S.C. business owners planned to hire employees in the next year, 14th-highest in the country.
Nationally, 35% of business owners rated themselves very satisfied with their company performance, a 5% increase from 2017. More businesses owners were also strongly optimistic about current business prospects, with 42% giving that response, up from 35% in 2017.
In a survey oddity, Nebraska finished first in new hiring intent at 28% but ranked 50th in business optimism.
“It’s a weird anomaly,” said Brad Plothow, Womply vice president of communications. “Last year, Indiana was the same way, only in reverse. Sometimes there are outside factors that can affect how a state will do business.”
We no longer support .
Please try using a different browser.