A survey released recently by TD Bank found that despite ongoing market and macroeconomic volatility, an impressive 90% of Washington, D.C., metro small business owners anticipate meeting or exceeding their business goals this year.
This is as much as 11 percentage points higher than in other East Coast metro areas surveyed such as New York City, Philadelphia and Miami/Fort Lauderdale. This optimism stems from 2022 results, when 87% of respondents in the DMV met or exceeded their revenue goals.
Along with their bullish outlook, 81% of business owners anticipate that their revenue/sales and/or number of employees will increase in the next 12 months. When asked to rank their top three priorities for 2023, entrepreneurs cited attracting new customers, expanding products or services, and creating a business succession plan.
Understanding that these activities will need financing, 52% of businesses will seek credit in the next 12 months, the survey reported.
While local business sentiment is positive, the survey reported concerns. The top three challenges are increasing costs of supplies/materials/equipment, local/regional economic uncertainty, and rising rates/inflation.
“Following lessons from the pandemic, enterprises are looking to ensure they have sufficient cash on hand and access to credit to operate now and in the future,” said Terry Kenny, commercial market president of D.C., Maryland and Virginia, TD Bank.
The survey was conducted by Big Village among a sample of 250 entrepreneurs in the Washington region with fewer than one hundred employees and revenue of $250,000 to less than $10 million from Jan. 31-Feb. 20.