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UK SMEs confident of achieving 2020 aims despite Brexit uncertainty

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The vast majority of small business owners say they’re confident of achieving their company goals in 2020 according to a new study. 

The research, carried out by Vistaprint, quizzed 500 SME bosses on their primary goals for next year and their optimism for being able to achieve them. 

And despite the ongoing Brexit uncertainty, the General Election and rising costs, 86% of respondents said they were confident of achieving their 2020 business goals. 

The study found that UK business owners are more likely than not to feel ‘confident’, ‘prepared’ and ‘optimistic’ about the future, with just one in five saying they felt apprehensive. 

Of the primary goals for SMEs in 2020, the most popular were:

  1. Substantially increasing revenue and growth
  2. Reaching a new customer base
  3. Surviving the year
  4. Generating return customers
  5. Breaking even
  6. Introducing new products/services
  7. Increasing social media presence
  8. Building or updating website
  9. Expanding marketing/advertising efforts
  10. Selling the business

However, despite the optimism, a quarter of firms expect a struggle in the year ahead, with half saying they’re concerned on how political changes will affect their business and 38% saying they may struggle due to bills and expenses rising. 

Customer strategy and insights director at Vistaprint, Simon Baier, commented on the findings that: “While political changes and economic barriers are very real challenges facing Britain’s small businesses, our research shows that these factors haven’t dampened the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit.”

Read more: Exporting SMEs grow twice as fast as non-exporters

“It’s encouraging to see small business owners’ confidence and optimism going into 2020.

“The better they do, the more chance they have of generating jobs for local people, giving an economic boost to their community and continuing to provide significant value to customers.”

Perhaps the most pleasing statistic of the study, however, is that 90% of SME owners said they were pleased they took the initiative to start their own firm. 

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