Small business confidence reaches year high

According to the latest Vistage CEO Confidence Index, small business confidence reached a year high in the first three months of 2012. The index spiked at 105.1 - a significant increase from 98.8 in the fourth quarter of last year and the even lower third-quarter finding of 83.5 - reflecting the fact that small business owners are continuing to slowly grow their companies in anticipation of economic gains and higher sales.

The widespread optimism could also be seen in respondents' hiring plans, as 57 percent of all small enterprises planned net increases in employment for the quarter, aiming to gradually increase hiring throughout the year.

"While CEOs plan to increase hiring, they have adapted their companies to be productive with fewer employees and do not expect employment to return to pre-recession levels anytime soon," said Rafael Pastor, chairman of the board and CEO of Vistage International, in a statement.

A separate survey conducted by office technology company Brother International found that compared to last year, entrepreneurs are less inclined to stockpile cash rather than invest in business growth. Brother polled 500 U.S. small business owners of companies with fewer than 100 workers and found that less than half (44 percent) are hoarding funds, compared to last year's figure of 54 percent.

"This year's survey was interesting because we saw several examples of cautious optimism despite the economic concerns that are still prevalent today," commented John Wandishin, vice president of marketing for the Business Machine Group.

With the forecast looking brighter, there is likely to be an uptick in small business marketing efforts as entrepreneurs look to ramp up sales and expand their customer base.