65% fear their business will fail

October 28th, 2009, 6:00 am · 14 Comments · posted by Jan Norman, small-business columnist

Almost two out of every three small-business owners are concerned their companies will fail by 2011, according to an online survey by Toluna Research on behalf of Angrisani Turnarounds LLC.

Tell us whether you think your business or employer are shaky:

How concerned are you that your business/employer will fail?

The latest data for Orange County show that more than 10,000 individuals and businesses have filed for bankruptcy protection in the first 9 months of 2009, 65.7% more than the same period in 2008.

Nationwide, bankruptcy filings for U.S. small businesses soared 81% in June from a year earlier, according to Equifax, the credit reporting agency.

“Small businesses are failing at an unprecedented rate and, according to our survey data, two-thirds of small-business owners are concerned or extremely concerned about business survival through the next two years,” says Al Angrisani, CEO of Angrisani Turnarounds, which works with troubled companies.

“Because the 6 million businesses with (fewer than) 100 people employ 70% of the American workforce, any recovery that leaves them out cannot be sustained,” he adds.

Other findings from Angrisani survey:

54% say rising employee expenses, such as health insurance and higher minimum wage, are the biggest risk to their businesses
52% are “not at all likely” to hire new employees in the next two months, while 20.4% are likely to hire
80% have received no benefit from the federal economic stimulus package.

Other surveys aren’t quite so negative. The October Small Business Watch by Discover credit card says 44% of small-business owners surveyed think the economy is getting worse and 35% think it’s getting better. And National Federation of Independent Business found 40% of its survey respondents have experienced profit declines vs. 14% with profit growth.

“There is absolutely no reason for huge numbers of small businesses to fail next year,” Angrisani says. “Entrepreneurial governors in several states have shown they can create atmospheres where measures like lower taxes and small-business training grants support, rather than undermine, small businesses.”

Other business stories….

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never ending fight for freedom says:

October 28, 2009 at 7:48 am

Any surveys of employees @ major (or minor) newspapers asking the same ? Proley more like 90%

ocobserver says:

October 28, 2009 at 8:14 am

Gee, more “green shoots”, eh? hah.

I wonder of those eggheaded economist hacks from CSF and Chapman ever look at these surveys prior to making their touchy-feely forecasts?

It would be nice for the ivory tower folks to connect with reality every so often. They should pull their noses out of the textbooks and talk with the common man.

Economists are nothing more than glorified bean counters.

Here says:

October 28, 2009 at 8:33 am

Maybe people are finally seeing how badly it sucks to have a business in California.

X-DEM says:

October 28, 2009 at 9:16 am

Commercial business is taking a hit with all the empty store fronts at local strip malls and office parks. The business climate is worsening and with many companies moving out of California just to survive (the high costs of doing business in California, not only taxes but regulations and more regulations not even counting the personal income tax) and either taking their employees (taxpayers) with them or leaving those who remain, unemployed.

If the self serving California politicians had brains, they would know that the “golden eggs” are leaving the Golden State, and remaining behind are those “entitled nonworking people” who don’t pay taxes.

Dave says:

October 28, 2009 at 10:08 am

The ‘golden eggs’ are indeed leaving.

Having lived my entire life in California, it is time to move on. I can’t afford the cost of doing business or the cost of living in this state. I am moving my family and my businesses out of state. While we will miss the coast and all there is to do, we will have more money at the end of day to come back and visit if we want to…

Solutions... says:

October 28, 2009 at 10:33 am

Everyday I read about how companies are failing or have a fear of failing. It would be nice to see an article on solutions being offered that can help businesses. Maybe just once a month… Would not want to destory all the doom and gloom reporting…

osamaobama says:

October 28, 2009 at 10:38 am

good job obama. maybe you can go play another round of golf and get another peace prize for doing absolutely nothing but reaming the taxpayer. this obama guy couldn’t lead a pee wee baseball team. this guy has to go however its done get this chicago chump and his cohorts outta there.

struggling commoner says:

October 28, 2009 at 10:43 am

the stupid govmt. tries to bail out the national economy by giving huge amts. of money to the few gigantic companies and their ceo’s that have been ripping off America, while neglecting the small businesses and their owners that represent the greatest percentage of the business economy. so far, every common person i know, none of them has benefited from any bail out. everyone is struggling. the govmt., economist, obama, etc., they are all ignoring the every day person, the common folk. meanwhile, obama and his buddies are having a wonderful time playing golf and drinking beer. it must be nice to make a living off of taxing the masses, and enjoying a luxury life that only burdens the common folks more and more. i’m living homeless in a van while living off of food stamps and part time work. i’ve been trying to find a good, full time, better paying job for several years now. stuck with lowing paying, 6 hrs. a day, 2-3 times a week jobs that nobody can live on, unless they sleep in their car and don’t have to pay rent. can anyone relate to that? this is reality… many of us are struggling every day…

gdb says:

October 28, 2009 at 10:49 am

so everybody constantly moans about taxes and spending. kinda funny how none of that is on that survey, huh. the major factors are giving employees a competitive wage and benefits. so what is the factor behind a move? finding a place where they can pay less and give fewer benefits. like health insurance rates are going to go lower in alabama. just move to china and screw everybody. file that under greed works, baby. and if we elect more republicans, business owners can move their businesses overseas, lobby for more subsidies to do it and pocket all the profits for themselves. just can’t wait for cheney/palin 2012. they will make america right again.

Debbie says:

October 28, 2009 at 11:27 am

So if 54% say rising employee expenses such as health insurance and wages are the biggest risk to their business what they “want” is to offer no benefits and low wages. That is ok but that means you will not draw top candidates. People cannot live on minimum wage so that means you will hire the poor or illegal immigrants.

52% are not going to hire in the next two months. That’s two more months that people out of work will not be interacting with your business as well.

80% state they received no benefit from the federal economic stimulus. Does that mean they did not get a check directly from the federal government? Perhaps the benefit is not a hard benefit but a soft unrealized benefit. For those who jobs were saved by the federal stimulus they kept making purchases, maybe from your business.

People go into business to make money. They want the best worker for no benefits and little pay. All the while wanting lots of business. That is a dream….not reality. Ask Henry Ford who paid his workers a decent wage. When asked why Ford replied, so they can afford to buy my automobile. Thus keeping himself in business.

OC Tax Payer says:

October 28, 2009 at 1:06 pm

My wife’s Employer gave one last chance for Orange, or the County or the State to change their hateful attitude towards businesses and be willing to talk with them about staying in Kalifornia
Not one of them returned his e-mail’s or phone messages
They dont care!
We are leaving for Colorado in 60 days!
Bye Bye Bad Orange, OC and Kalifornia!
Please choke on all the Illegals and welfare trash that you will be supporting after all the tax payers are gone!

DG says:

That ford quote is a pretty good one. Of course that was back when Americans wanted to buy American cars. I do believe we have completely lost site of the fact that everyone needs a wage they can actually live on. Eventually we will all pay the price. The government is trying hard to kick the can down the road a little further, but eventually our whole system is going to crash from all this unchecked greed.

Zombie says:

November 2, 2009 at 5:56 am

No articles in the paper about how California is going to help small business or create jobs. Nope,just higher taxes and trying to save overpaid Union jobs and overpaid pensions thats whats important. The Federal stimulus for new infrastructure is great for the Union as all those jobs will be union and they only estimate another 2600 jobs to be created. BFD. The common taxpayer gets reamed by doubling their car registration tags and kills auto sales with a 1% higher sales tax and higher income tax from the state for employees and business. No surprise their projections are wrong and they are 3.5 billion in the hole again. California is circling the drain and the legislature and the Governor are just puppets and letting the whole thing go to the crapper. I predict years and years of more job loss, mass foreclosures, high crime rates, millions of bankruptcies, home values continue to plummet and empty strip malls everywhere along with homeless camps everywhere. Good going California hurt the poor, a meat grinder set of laws to send everyone to jail for stupid offenses, and go green to create more job losses you will destroy everything in your greed and ignorance and inept inability to govern. My back is against the wall like most Californians trying to get by but eventually i will loose it all if this continues and all i can do is burn through all my retirement max the CC’s and file BK and kiss it goodbye and leave California for good bye though no fault of my own as i tried but California did not…

Leslie Bianco says:

November 3, 2009 at 9:51 am

This article was quoted in today’s Morning Briefing, a subcription email prayer service for biz professionals: http://www.companyofprayer.com/daily-prayers/when-all-seems-futile-remind-us-lord-that-we-have-you-2009-11-03/#comment-7732

Thanks for your inspiration.

Orange County Register