Survey: Small business owners worried about election impact

ELECTION STRESS

Small business owners are concerned about the impact the election could have on their companies but hold mixed views of how supportive the candidates are on different issues, according to a survey by researchers at Pepperdine University.

In the survey done by the Graziadio School of Business and Management, more than three-quarters said they were concerned about the election effect, with about half of those considering themselves very concerned.

Between the two candidates, 66 percent of the more than 1,350 business owners surveyed said Republican Donald Trump was more supportive on tax issues. Sixty-four percent called Trump more supportive on regulatory issues. When asked about equal pay for male and female workers, 59 percent said Democrat Hillary Clinton was more supportive. Fifty-eight percent said Clinton was more supportive of family leave.

The survey covered randomly chosen companies in Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s database that had annual revenue of $5 million or less.

DISASTER PREP

When small businesses owners decide they need to create plans to help their companies survive a disaster, they may not know what should be their biggest priority — for example, buying insurance, protecting employees or creating backup systems for their data. They can get some guidance at an online seminar offered by the Small Business Administration. It will be held Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Learn more and register at http://bit.ly/2fUgvy7 .

FINDING CUSTOMERS

In surveys of business owners that ask what their biggest challenge is, many respond that it's finding customers. They can learn some tips on getting customers, keeping them and increasing sales to individual customers at an online seminar sponsored by SCORE, the organization that provides free counseling. The seminar will be held Thursday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. Eastern time. You can learn more and register at http://bit.ly/2fhlRzX.

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joyce-m-rosenberg .