New survey finds a number of Canadian small businesses hiring, making money in 2024

First at Five: the cost of doing business Things are looking good for small businesses this year compared to other years, but rising costs continue to worry many.

A new survey done by Canadian insurance company Zensurance found that more than half of the 1,000 small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed Canadians it polled reported making more money so far in 2024 than in the first half of 2023.

"60 per cent saying their revenues have improved over the last twelve months, and 20 per cent of that saying they've reached new records, 70 per cent are really confident about the future, and a third are planning to hire in the next six months,” said Danish Yusuf, Zensurance’s founder and CEO.

Some Maritime small businesses seem to fit the bill for the trends the survey describes.

Mike Wadden's physiotherapy clinic on Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton has been open for less than 10 months, but has already built a pretty good clientele.

"We opened our doors in October of last year, and we've had a lot of support from the community,” Wadden said.

Right now, Wadden is hiring - and he's heard from a number of other small business owners in the Sydney area who are doing the same.

"I mean, for a long time people were moving away,” Wadden said. “We have more people coming back now, more businesses are opening. I think there's more competition too."

However, a senior policy analyst in Nova Scotia for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the survey results don’t reflect what he has heard.

"We do have some different data, from our members directly, particularly when we look at revenue,” said Duncan Robertson. "So, when we look at our domestic demand we're hearing that is an issue for a lot of our members."

Robertson says local small and medium enterprises have also been dealing with higher costs.

"Particularly the cost of doing business, which we have heard has been on the rise,” he said. “Taxes, fuel, insurance costs, wages as well."

Meanwhile, there were other positive predictions from the Zensurance study.

Nearly 24 per cent of those polled said they are opening a second workplace or office and more than 30 per cent plan to introduce a new service or sell new products.

"I think it paints a good picture,” Yusuf said. “But there are those clouds on the surface as well around inflation and certain hiring challenges - so I'd say I'd be cautiously optimistic based on these results."