Eighty-three percent of business owners expect their business sales to increase over the next year, according to a new Q4 survey from financial services firm Quickbridge Funding.

The survey data assessed small business owners’ expectations for business growth and the U.S. economy in 2019.

Highlights from the survey include:

• 83% of respondents are confident in an increase in sales, with 15% predicting they’ll remain flat and 2% expecting a downward turn
• 49% of respondents expect no impact from the new tax laws, with 35% predicting their tax burden will be reduced and 16% expecting their taxes to increase
• 33% of respondents believe that securing capital will be their biggest challenge, with growth, increasing profits and hiring employees averaging 20% each
• 54% of respondents think online lenders make it fairly easy to secure funding when compared to traditional lenders, with 22% stating very easy and 24% difficult
• 28% of respondents plan to use funding for expansion, with equipment acquisition and consolidating/paying off bills each coming in at approximately 21%

In response to the small business optimism indicated in the survey, QuickBridge has published its white paper, “5 Essential Tips for Small Businesses Heading into a New Year,” for free online. The paper offers advice on how small business owners can use end-of-year planning to anticipate future challenges and opportunities.

“We’re pleased to see small business owners optimistic about the future. We surpassed our 2018 growth projections and hope for repeated success in 2019,” said Ben Gold, QuickBridge president. “We are very supportive of our client’s expansion efforts and encourage business owners to download our white paper for ways to strategically plan and prepare for the new year.”