The strongest confidence was found in Alberta and British Columbia, where 80% of companies looked forward to growth. Confidence levels were 77% in Ontario and Alberta and 73% in the Atlantic provinces.

"Small means strong for many Canadian business owners," said Barb Anderson, group marketing manager of Intuit Canada, which makes QuickBooks accounting software for small businesses. "It's unsurprising that in a small business country like Canada, the majority feel confident about their prospects."

In spite of this confidence, 80% of small business owners feel that they have made personal financial trade-offs to keep their business running, a survey by Mortgage Intelligence Inc. has found.

This includes taking fewer vacations than they would have liked, postponing real estate purchases, having less retirement savings than planned and not having extended medical or dental coverage.

The survey found some interesting differences between male and female entrepreneurs. Women were more worried about their personal finances. Forty eight per cent of women who were self-employed said they had less retirement savings than they would like and 20% did not have any retirement savings, compared to 7% of men. Self employed women were less likely to own a home.

The goals and challenges for small business owners, a Scotiabank study found, are both important and consistent amongst small business owners.

Survey respondents indicated that their top six goals were:

• increasing revenues, 88%,
• generating double digit growth, 69%
• improving administrative practices, 59%
• improving cash flow management, 57%
• expanding product and service selection, 52%
• managing risk better, 52%

Scotiabank recommends that businesses use planning, comprehensive services and good advice to meet these challenges.

"Starting a small business can be both exciting and overwhelming," said Kyle McNamara, Scotiabank Head of Small Business Banking. "To achieve the goals and overcome the challenges start-up owners identify as critical, a great strategy is to create a formal written business plan and to seek out sound advice."