Focus.com Releases 2010 Fourth Quarter Business Index Report

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Focus.com, the leading free online business professional network, today released the comprehensive, nationwide Focus Index Report. The survey was issued to Focus.com members and business experts , and solicited their feedback on several issues over the past quarter and heading into 2011, ranging from hiring trends to sales forecast to business challenges, and much more.  

Among the key highlights include the rise of small business hiring, despite the challenge of economic uncertainty; business owners projecting increased sales and profitability in 2011 for the first time in a long time; large businesses having higher sales increases than small businesses; and the rise of the IT, finance and telecommunications industries.

Other notable findings from the Focus Index Report are:

• Hiring Trends
  • Hiring on the rise heading into the final Quarter of 2010; 38% of respondents said they are increasing their workforce, whereas 17% said they plan to reduce their workforce.
  • Real estate and construction industries expect to decrease their workforce.
  • The Top 3 industries expected to increase hiring over Q4 and into 2011 are:

1.  IT/software

2.  Finance and banking

3.  Telecommunications

• Biggest Challenges Facing Business Owners Today
  • The biggest challenge facing business owners today remains economic uncertainty, with 24% of business owners saying that it was the single biggest challenge they have faced over the past year.
  • Weak demand for products was the 2nd biggest challenge facing business owners, as 22% said it was the biggest obstacle they have had to overcome in 2010.
  • Breakdown of the report's top 5 biggest challenges facing business owners:
    1. Economic Uncertainty: 24%
    2. Weak demand: 22%
    3. Increased competition: 13%
    4. Government regulation/compliance: 8%
    5. Employee recruitment/retention: 7%

• Overall Business Sentiment
  • Overall business health is much stronger today than it was a year ago, with 12% more business owners reporting stronger sales this year than 12 months ago.
  • 54% of respondents projected a stronger business performance in 2011 than they have experienced in 2010.
  • 41% of business owners increased revenue in 2010 as compared to 12 months ago.
  • Only 20% reported decreased revenue since this time last year, while 39% said revenue had not changed.  
  • Large enterprise business owners reported greater sales increases over the past year than small and mid-sized business owners, with 51% of large business owners experiencing sales increases, while only 34% of small and mid-sized business owners said the same.
  • However, large businesses are also experiencing more layoffs than SMB's, with 26% saying they are reducing their head count, while only 14% of small biz owners said the same.

"With the release of our quarterly Focus Index Reports, our goal is to provide consistent updates on the state of the business community, and the current challenges business owners face as they recover from the recession," said Scott Albro, CEO of Focus.com. "By providing this comprehensive data, in addition to free business expertise and research through our site, Focus.com members can trust our network to help them achieve their business goals and deliver a level of reliable, informative business advice that is unavailable elsewhere today."

The Focus.com Index Report is released every quarter and solicits ongoing feedback from the fast-growing Focus.com network of business professionals and experts. The site has experienced record membership growth since its launch earlier this year, with more than 25,000 business and IT professionals joining in the last month alone. Focus.com was also named one of the "Top 10 Media Sites" of the year and the best overall business media site to launch in 2010 by Crain's BtoB Magazine.

For more information about Focus.com, including instructions on how to register as a member or a Focus business expert, please visit http://www.focus.com/.    

About Focus.com

Focus.com is the leading online business professional network that consists of two interconnected groups – a membership base of more than 850,000 business professionals and the highly-acclaimed Focus Expert Network, which features more than 5,000 of the most-recognized business and technology experts across every business category. Focus.com is ad-supported and entirely free to join. Within its engaged business community, members interact with each other and Focus experts to make more-informed business decisions.

To become a Focus expert, the Focus.com staff conducts an evaluation of the background and credentials of each candidate in their respective industry. In addition to free access to world-class business advice, Focus.com also offers real-time Q&A, industry research, relevant product and service information and personalized support. For more information, and to register to become a member or Focus expert, please visit http://www.focus.com/.

SOURCE Focus.com