Nine-in-ten small businesses surveyed are optimistic that their company will achieve its goals this year, according to American Express’ fourth Amex Trendex: Small Business Edition. "At the mid-point of 2024, we asked small businesses to look back on the goals they set for the year, and we found that they’re satisfied with their progress and successes over the first half,” said Gina Taylor Cotter, executive vice president and general manager of small business products at American Express. “Younger and digitally-native business owners are feeling particularly energized by the possibilities and resources available to them, and they’re thinking creatively about new ways to grow their businesses.”

While 83 percent of small business owners surveyed said that the past few years have required them to think more creatively than ever before, 87 percent of owners said that each year they feel more confident in their skills as business owners. The Trendex survey found that many are testing new approaches to reach new customers and meet their needs. When asked what new actions small businesses have taken in the past 12 months for their business, 57 percent said that they created a social media profile for their business, and nearly one third (32 percent) who created one did so for the first time. One third (33 percent) of owners said that they have collaborated with another company or brand in the past year.

Across all respondents, 92 percent said that they feel confident in their ability to prepare their company for the future, and small businesses agree that their financial tools are an equally valuable part of their business: 83 percent said the financial tools they use to run their businesses are just as important as those they use to make or sell their product or service.

When asked how they would spend an extra $15,000 or $100,000 on their business, respectively, respondents were most likely to cite the same investments regardless of funding amount. More specifically, they cited marketing and advertising (33 percent and 35 percent), tech updates like IT and software (30 percent and 34 percent) and new products or services (29 percent and 33 percent).

Across generations, respondents are expressing differences in what they hope to achieve with their businesses. Asked what their long-term business goals were, Millennial/Gen Z respondents cited growing their employee base, 9 percent more than Gen X/Baby Boomers (38 percent vs. 29 percent). Expanding into new sectors was also a goal cited more often by Millennial/Gen Z respondents (32 percent vs. 22 percent), and those younger cohorts were more than twice as interested in scaling their businesses to new locations (31 percent vs. 16 percent) over the long-term. Most respondents across generations agree that business longevity is a top long-term goal, with 55 percent of Gen Z/Millennials and 54 percent of Gen X/Baby Boomers citing it.

The survey found that 92 percent of Millennials and Gen Z respondents feel confident in their ability to build or grow their businesses, with over half (52 percent) feeling very confident. Eighty-seven percent of Gen X and Baby Boomers said that they feel confident in their ability to build or grow their businesses.


Small businesses agree that having a healthy cash flow is essential before making business investments. This is especially true for younger business owners: nearly one-third (32 percent) of Millennials and Gen Z owners said that they always or often turn down potential business or growth opportunities because they’re unsure if their cash flow can support it, double that of Gen X and Baby Boomer respondents (16 percent).

Generational attitudes continue to differ regarding how small business owners are adopting technology for their businesses: 70 percent of Millennials and Gen Z business owners consider themselves to be early adopters of technology, nearly double that of Gen X and Baby Boomers (36 percent), and 60 percent of Millennials and Gen Z said that they run a digitally native business, compared with 36 percent of Gen X and Baby Boomers.

When asked about artificial intelligence (AI), nearly six-in-ten (59 percent) of all Millennial and Gen Z respondents said that their business is currently using AI, compared with 34 percent of Gen X and Baby Boomers. Millennials and Gen Z business owners were more likely to use AI for automating routine tasks and cash flow analytics, while Gen X and Baby Boomers were more likely to use it for chatbots and virtual assistants, fraud protection, and workforce management.

Across all respondents, the most common use cases for AI were analyzing customer data (39 percent), chatbots and virtual assistants (39 percent) and content creation (33 percent). Armed with AI, small businesses are more likely to feel a competitive edge: 48 percent of businesses using AI feel that their company is more prepared than their competitors when it comes to keeping up with trends and changing customer preferences, compared with 32 percent of businesses who don’t use AI.

When respondents who do not use AI for their businesses were asked why, 30 percent said that it wouldn’t be helpful for their business, 28 percent said that it’s because they don’t trust it and 26 percent said that they don’t understand it enough.