Small Business Owners are Optimistic About the Economy - True or False?

It's impossible to miss all the news reports about the sluggish state of the economy.  The reports are on every tv station, newspaper, radio station and most internet sites.  It's a reverberating drumbeat.  Small business owners are holding off on hiring new employees and investing in capital improvements to expand their businesses.  As a result, the economy has stalled.  Business owners are anxiously awaiting the results of the upcoming election.  We're hearing a lot of hype about business owners being pessimistic about the economy, but is this reality?

A good barometer for monitoring optimism is the "Business Books Best Seller List for Small Business and Entrepreneurship" on Amazon.com.  By reviewing the titles, you can get a sense of the areas that business owners are focused on for growing their business and their outlook. 

Here is the top 10 from the list as of this morning:


1. Align Expand and Succeed by Christine Kloser and Lynne Klippel
2. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins
3. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
4. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
5. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
6. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
7. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard
8. Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen, and Kenneth H. Blanchard
9. Do More Faster by Brad Feld and David Cohen
10. Rework - wireless version



I have not read all of these books.  However, I am currently reading the E-Myth Revisited and have found it to be an excellent read.  The titles of these books suggest the following topics: realigning corporate and operations strategy, improving employee morale, as well as putting in place TQM, efficiency and productivity measures.  Do those topics sound like areas inwhich a passive and pessimistic business owner would focus? In my opinion, they sound like areas for growing and expanding the business.


So, I was truthful about small business owners being optimistic about the economy.  The business owners reading the books on this list are taking steps to move their businesses forward and position their organizations for future growth opportunities.  What is your firm doing to effectively compete in this new economy?  What books have you found helpful in learning new ways of doing business?  By the way, this is a good reading list of business books.


I would love to hear your feedback and ideas on how companies can move forward in this economy.  Please feel free to comment here or send me an email at chrissann@completebusinessstrategies.com.  If you would like to discuss these concepts in further detail or brainstorm challenges you are facing in the business, please give me a call at 513-443-2365.