By Megan Alley
Sun staff
Results from Thumbtack.com’s monthly Small Business Sentiment Survey show that Ohio’s small businesses are more optimistic than others nationally and within the Midwest.
“Ohio’s small businesses reported a slight improvement in July, bucking a national downward trend,” according to a press release from Thumbtack.com.
The monthly survey of independent local service businesses polled 10,000 small businesses nationwide, including 360 responses from Ohio.
The survey was designed with Bloomberg and is housed and integrated into the economic functions of the Bloomberg Professional service, according to a press release.
“It’s tough to know exactly what is causing any movement from month to month, but in general, regarding Ohio, I would say that an improving outlook for manufacturing, especially automobiles and extractive industries such as oil and gas mining, is finding its way down to the service professionals who we survey.” said Thumbtack’s Chief Economist Jon Lieber in an email.
“Ohio is unique in its traditional reliance on manufacturing as a job base, which has really struggled through the Great Recession and is just starting to get back on its feet,” he added.
Ohio’s small businesses rank in the top five nationally for their plans to hire, and the survey found that the biggest improvement for Ohio’s small businesses was around future financial conditions and profitability.
Hank Pryor, of Union Township, is the owner of Kingdome Productions, located at 3920 McMann Rd. Kingdome Productions designs and creates themed environments and dimensional solutions for zoos, museums and theme parks.
“I am very optimistic,” said Pryor. “I started my business in 2004 and caught some traction about four years ago. Since then, we’ve grown exponentially.”
Pryor expects his business to continue growing, and he plans to hire more employees in the near future.
“Over the next two or three years, we expect to double or triple our size, and I expect to add five to ten new employees,” he said.
A downturn reported by the survey was in expected capital expenditures, and small businesses in Ohio reported that their biggest concern was acquiring new customers.
“The sentiment of service professionals is worth watching in Ohio because they have a ground-level view of household spending,” said Lieber. “While many of the professionals we survey offer vital services like plumbing, many others are in categories that typically only do well when the economy is doing well and households have more to spend. As these folks show an uptick in sentiment, we’d expect that to be a sign that household consumption and consumer spending is also rising.”
Director of the Small Business Development Center John Melvin has been working with the Clermont Office of Economic Development and the Ohio Department of Development Services to survey small business owners about their needs and future planning.
“Many of the business owners we’ve been talking to are optimistic about growth and hiring,” Melvin said. “With the developments going on in Union Township, the retail and service sectors look to be very promising.”
He added, “I think there are exciting things happening in and around the Milford and Miami Township areas, and the manufacturing base seems to be doing well across the county.”
Karman Singleton, of Union Township, owns Fashion Up Boutique Consignment, located at 4325 Mt. Carmel Tobasco Rd. She started her business two years ago.
“Sales this summer have been good. I don’t see any decline,” Singleton said. “New customers come in every day, and existing costumers are coming back regularly.”
She added, “All is well. I’m very optimistic, and sales are going great.”
For more information about Thumbtack.com’s Small Business Sentiment Survey, visit www.thumbtack.com/oh/#/sentiment.