80% of small business owners feel prepared for recession: survey

A new survey says 80% of small business owners feel they are well prepared in the event the U.S. economy falls into a recession.

The data, collected by online small business lender, Kabbage, shows a vast majority of entrepreneurs are actively taking steps to increase cash flow and reduce costs as they strengthen their operations in case of a downturn.

“A number of the respondents went through the recession in 2008 and 2009,” Kabbage Chief Revenue Officer Laura Goldberg told Yahoo Finance. “They were probably much slower to recover than the rest of the market and they really understood what happened there and what they could’ve done differently.”

“Some [entrepreneurs] just know where they can get capital if they needed it or what they could do in the event of a slowdown… Small businesses have so many more options to access capital or working capital and other needs than they did 10 to 15 years ago and they are becoming more familiar with those options. They understand what they need to do.”

Man cooking some food in a mobile food truck parked under a tree. Man chopping vegetable on his food truck.

Despite many economists warning of an imminent recession, confidence among small business owners has never been higher. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, small business optimism touched “historically high” levels in May, with the closely watched NFIB Index hitting 105.0, rising 1.5 points from the previous month.

“The grit and resilience of small business owners is admirable. Despite the growing fears of economists and Wall Street, entrepreneurs are ready to rise to the challenge,” Goldberg said.

Kabbage, which polled more than 500 small businesses in the U.S. across different industries, said 33% of the businesses said they are growing their customer base, securing more contracts or expanding sales, while 21% are launching new products or services in an effort to increase revenue and 13% are pursuing business partnerships to sell to a wider customer base to increase cash flow.

“The data demonstrates how every small business is unique and how market shifts impact them individually,” said Goldberg. “The constant among them is their confidence to build their business and pursue their passion despite any hurdle.”

Nick Rose is a producer for Yahoo Finance.

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