Aspiring Business Owners See Clear Skies Ahead
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
November 6, 2024 – Now 75% of aspiring business owners surveyed either agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time to start a business,” showing optimism about conditions now and ahead, the highest percentage in more than three years. In the October 2024 survey, 90.7% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months.”
Of this month’s respondents, 54.7% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months. Further, 64% of entrepreneurs surveyed say they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago.”
The highest percentage in more than three years, 75% say “now is a good time” for their startups.
Additional highlights:
- Future business conditions: Reversing a pandemic-induced multi-year downtrend in sentiment about future business conditions, 90.7% of respondents (92.7% in September) see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better in three months– with 48.0% seeing conditions “about the same” as now, which they view as good. This month only 9.3% see conditions getting worse or much worse..
- Access to funding: Two thirds (66.7%) of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding, and those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months stood at 20% of respondents. But “political changes” ranked third among concerns for October for the sixth month in a row, up from ranking fifth in April.
- Demographics: Of the survey respondents, 45.3% are currently employed full-time, down from the record 61.7% in June. Another 16% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants were 21.3%, followed by part-timers at 17.3%. This month less than 1% of the aspiring entrepreneurs in the survey were on active military duty. The Gen-X cohort was at 48.6% of respondents, down from the record 63.9% seen in June. Millennials and Baby Boomers tied at 25.7% of respondents, with Gen-Z less than one percent.
Full-time workers and current business owners comprised 61.3% of respondents in October.
Download a copy of the latest FranchiseInsights.com Small Business Startup Sentiment report here. See excerpts from prior SSI™ surveys and subscribe to receive the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ monthly report when it is released.
The Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ is based on a monthly survey of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses or franchises for sale on the Franchise Ventures lead generation platform.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Wednesday, November 6th, 2024.