NFIB releases small business confidence report

According to recent figures from the National Federation of Independent Business, small business optimism rose by 1.8 points for the second month running.

Reports of positive earnings trends were 6 points better in December, thanks in part to the retail boon of the holiday season. The number of small businesses reporting fell by one point to the second-highest reading in 39 months.

NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg noted that much of last month's gain was generated by subsiding concerns about business conditions over the first half of 2012. However, small businesses are not out of the woods yet.

"Make no mistake: The economic winter is still here," Dunkelberg warned. "Similar gains in the early part of 2011 quickly faded, and the index is still well below where it should be at this point in the recovery ... There is still a lot of work to be done."

The recently released Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index indicates that small business lending rose by 18 percent between November 2010 and November 2011, Reuters reports. Although small business financing is likely to be easier to come by this year, entrepreneurs may still need to be resourceful and think out of the box in order to secure loans with a good rate, according to Fox Business.