For small businesses resources come in the form of time, money, and manpower. According to our latest Local Pulse Report™, these continue to be the biggest hindrances to business growth. During the latest wave of research, we interviewed 3,500 business owners and all three were topics of discussion. Thirty percent of business owners stated that the ability to obtain proper financing continues to be a huge problem. They noted that things have improved over the past couple of years but the ability to get financing to help with cash flows is not at the optimal level. Many noted that this has prevented them from being able to purchase much-needed equipment, expand to new locations, and hire additional staff.

This really compounds itself because another 30% of businesses stated not having enough employees to do the work has prevented them from getting new business. They are overcapacity with the current staff and those that do have the capital to hire additional help can’t find qualified individuals. This lack of resources has many business owners feeling like they just don’t have enough time in the day to manage their businesses properly (20%). With historically low unemployment numbers, many business owners stated they are looking at other ways to be more efficient with the current staff.

The use of technology has been the answer for some. Forty percent of businesses stated they were going to look at spending what funds they have available on new technology. They hope it will allow them to become more operationally efficient and free up staff to focus on more revenue-generating activities.

As for the others, it will be business as usual. They stated they were going to continue to slog along with the hopes that things will improve in the future.