Small Business Economic Trend Report

The latest web site recommended by the James J. Hill Reference Library in the weekly email I get from them is the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trend Report. If you do business with small businesses, this might be worth a quick look once a month

Here’s what Hill has to say about it:

How small business owners view the economy affects all sorts of operational decisions. Will they go ahead with that PR initiative? Hire that new employee? Outsource some aspect of their business?

The NFIB Small Business Economic Trend report can provide insight into the mindset of your entrepreneurial peers and/or potential B2B customers. This monthly report looks at small business optimism levels, earnings, sales, inventories, employment, and much more. It then compares current numbers to historical data to provide a relative snapshot of small business thinking.

Currently, that thinking is a little dark. Optimism is flagging, inflation fears are rampant, and expected earnings are down. That’s this month. Check back next month, and the month after, for what will hopefully be a heroic and speedy turnaround.

It’s a 23 page report with lots of cool tables and charts but it looks as if most of the info can be digested by reading the few pages of commentary at the front.