Learning more about the respondents in the Small Business Energy Report
This survey, brought to you by Constellation in conjunction with Small Business Trends, is the only one of its kind to focus exclusively on America's 30 million small businesses and their energy attitudes and practices.
The overarching goal is to help small businesses increase profitability and grow their business by making environmental sustainability, energy usage and recycling a competitive advantage.
The survey was conducted online October 9 - November 2, 2018, with a total of 370 respondents. Future surveys will track certain responses to reflect changes in attitude and broad sentiment.
1. What type of small business do you operate?
The survey respondents mostly come from traditional Main Street businesses that represent a variety of industries. Retail/ecommerce, professional services and consumer services are the top three responses.
Interestingly, 20% of respondents selected “other” and specified a variety of artistic or artisanal occupations like songwriting, or unique businesses that included everything from selling pallets to tomato farming.
2. How many business locations do you have?
While most respondents operate their businesses from a single location, nearly 40% have more than two business locations. Just over a quarter of our respondents operate out of 2-10 locations and nearly 10% have more than 11 locations.
3. Do you operate your business from home?
About two-thirds of respondents operate their business from home. The remainder of respondents have at least one location.
This number is roughly in line with small business firmographics from the SBA. According to the SBA, more than 80% of small businesses in the United States are single-person businesses, meaning that they have no employees.
The SBA calls them nonemployer businesses and such businesses are often operated out of the owner’s home.
Want to know more? See the Small Business Survey Results!
Want to see the respondents answers for how they use energy? Visit our SMB survey results page for a breakdown of business strategies and energy usage.
