In October, we launched the 2024 Small Business Success and Support survey, our fall survey of small business owners across the U.S. We heard from 681 small business owners in 44 states plus the District of Columbia. As usual for our network, responses came from very small businesses: Two-thirds of the businesses had only one or two full-time employees, and 87% had fewer than five full-time employees. Main Street America’s small business surveys stand apart from other national surveys this way. For example, 38% of respondents in the October 2024 quarterly report from the National Federation of Independent Businesses had up to five full-time and part-time employees, while 68% of respondents to our survey were as small. Over 40% were retailers, and 20% were food and beverage businesses. Professional service businesses (10%), arts and entertainment organizations (7%), and personal service businesses (6%) were also well represented. 

As is typical of our network, we heard from a mix of newly launched businesses and long-established community institutions, and from people of a variety of backgrounds. Thirty-six percent of the responding business owners represented enterprises launched in 2020 or more recently, and 38% had been in business for ten years or more. About 70% of respondents were women, 25% were men, and 2% were non-binary or gender nonconforming. Asked about other important parts of their identities, 7% of responding business owners indicated they were part of the LGBTQIA+ community, 5% were disabled persons, 4% were veterans, and 4% were immigrants. 

Small Business Use of Artificial Intelligence 

At Main Street America, we keep a keen eye on innovation and technology adoption, so in this survey, we tried to peek into the future and see how small business owners are adopting AI for their businesses. About two-thirds of respondents indicated they do not currently use AI for their businesses. Twenty-nine percent indicated they used ChatGPT. Google’s Gemini tool was the second most popular, with 7% of respondents saying they’d used it for their business. 

We dug further and asked what small business owners use artificial intelligence tools for. Over one-fifth indicated that they’d used AI to generate marketing ideas or content, 25% used AI to develop business-related communications, 9% used AI to help generate business plans or operational ideas, and 2% used AI to analyze financials such as costs or revenue.

Business strengths and rewarding experiences

When asked what they consider to be their business’s three greatest strengths, 61% celebrated building strong relationships with customers, 53% touted offering high quality and/​or unique products or services, and 42% noted providing exceptional customer service. A third or more emphasized having deep knowledge of their products and services (38%) and highlighted being an anchor in their community (33%). 

We also asked small business owners to share one of the most rewarding parts of their past year as a business owner. We heard responses related to their community connection and support, their customers’ appreciation and satisfaction, their growth and success, perseverance and resilience, their efforts to give back and have a social impact, and the awards and recognitions they received. 

Challenges and Diminishing Confidence 

Successes and rewarding experiences came amid a hard year and economic headwinds. We asked small business owners about the top three challenges they were currently facing. Fifty-seven percent pointed to increasing costs associated with inflation, labor shortages, and technology upgrades. One-third signaled that generating profit was a challenge and that attracting or retaining customers was difficult, and 26% pointed to the high cost of renting or maintaining their business location. Challenges keeping their businesses relevant and competitive (20%), facing online competition (19%), and struggling with employee hiring and retention (17%) were also often cited. 

Business owner confidence took a hit. We have consistently asked the same question of small business owners over our last five twice-annual surveys: ​“As you think about the next three months, how confident are you that your business will perform successfully?” The results from the current survey were our lowest — down from an average score of 7.7 (out of ten) in Fall 2023 to 7.2 in the current survey. Where 61% of respondents indicated a confidence level between 8 and 10 in Fall 2023, only 50% rated their confidence that high this year. 

We note that there are some disparities in business owner confidence hinging on their business sector. Owners of arts and entertainment businesses had the lowest average confidence score (6.6), whereas owners of fitness and outdoors (7.5), personal services (7.7), and professional services (8.8) were among the highest. Retail (6.9) and food and beverage businesses (7.1) had moderate confidence in this spectrum. 

Support received and the importance of Main Street relationships

We are always interested in understanding the types of support small business owners are getting from the Main Street network and the types of support that would be most valuable in the future. The survey results show that connections with local Main Street organizations matter. More than 60% of respondents indicated that they saw their relationship with their local Main Street organization as either important or very important to their business’s success. Only 8% said it was not important. 

About one in four respondents to the survey (24%) indicated they’d received business promotion support from the network, whether by appearing in a business directory or participating in business promotion events. Just under one-fifth (18%) of small business owners had received support with financial opportunities, including grant opportunities and loan assistance. Smaller proportions of business owners received support with business networking and learning (14%), business operations (9%), or their business location (8%). 

When considering prospects for future support, business owners expressed the greatest interest in financial opportunities (64%), business promotion (50%), business operations, including access to market data and assistance with e‑commerce or digital marketing (37%), business networking and learning (33%), and business location support (26%). Only 3% of respondents indicated that none of the listed types of support would be valuable to them or their businesses. 

Recent national reporting indicates a ​“silver tsunami” of retiring business owners may be approaching the U.S. Although 26% of our survey respondents came from the Boomer Generation (born 1946 – 1964) or the Silent Generation (1925−1945), only 1% of responding small business owners had received support related to business succession. Fifteen percent said they saw this type of support as potentially valuable in the future. When exploring interest in assistance with business succession by respondent age, we find that 21% of older respondents born between 1925 and 1964 were interested in business succession assistance, compared to 13% of respondents born in 1965 or later. 

Though we see clear evidence that the relationship between small business owners and local Main Street organizations is important to business success, we also find clear room for growth in support for small business owners from the Main Street network. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they had never received any support from the network, and 17% indicated that they didn’t have a relationship with a local Main Street organization at all. 

Conclusions

In the face of economic uncertainties, the small business owners responding to this survey still tout their strengths with pride. They strengthen and are strengthened by their communities, and many respondents reflected on the resilience they’d built in recent years. Still, rising costs, labor shortages, continuing challenges attracting and retaining customers, and difficulties finding affordable business spaces took their toll, reflected in the diminished business owner confidence in relation to our previous surveys over the past few years. 

There is room for growth and to boost partnerships between business owners and Main Street leaders. Main Street America aims to continue supporting entrepreneurs not only through grant programs and business promotion, but through focused attention to the entrepreneurial ecosystems that germinate new businesses and continued successes, and by delivering market insights and analysis of emerging business trends, like AI. State, county, and citywide Main Street coordinating programs, alongside Main Street leaders in our cities and towns, are eager to step up and assist. 

We will continue to engage these challenges and any other new difficulties that emerge for small business owners. Please follow our social media accounts and keep an eye on our email newsletters for additional small business resources, training, and outreach.