2024 Nevada Small Business Challenges Survey highlights funding, marketing and inflation as key issues for Nevada business owners

RENO — The results of the 2024 Nevada Small Business Challenges Survey are in, shedding light on the pressing issues faced by both established and new businesses across the state. 

With 889 respondents, this year’s survey provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges Nevada’s small businesses face as they navigate a rapidly evolving economic landscape. Since the survey was first distributed to businesses throughout the Silver State in 2022, the Nevada Small Business Development Center is now able to distinguish data trends and understand the shifting landscape of emerging and sustained challenges.

“The Nevada Small Business Challenges Survey provides current information on what existing and new Nevada small businesses are experiencing. The large number of responses collected lends credibility to the results, and allows us to extrapolate current trends across all Nevada businesses over the last 3 years,” said Winnie Dowling, Nevada SBDC State Director. “Overall, businesses continue to face some of the same challenges as in 2024: finding new customers, managing business growth, securing funding, and handling cash flow. Adapting to inflation is still major challenge, though less critical than in 2023, except for rural Nevada business owners where inflation remains a primary challenge.”

Key Findings from the Survey

Existing Businesses:

Challenge	2022	2023	2024
Finding New Customers	34.54%	44.18%	47.36%
Adapting to Inflation	47.53%	44.18%	35.03%
Managing Business Growth	37.04%	28.96%	30.53%
Securing Funding	N/A	25.97%	25.44%
Handling Cash Flow	N/A	29.55%	24.66%

Source: Nevada SBDC Small Business Challenges Survey 2024, 2023, 2022
 

New Businesses:

Challenge	2022	2023	2024
Funding my Business	67.18%	70.90%	70.19%
Understanding Gov. Regulations	N/A	28.36%	27.88%
Developing Marketing Strategy	41.03%	34.33%	27.40%
Navigating City, County, StateLicensing	23.59%	23.8%	22.60%
Determining Business Viability	25.64%	24.63%	22.12%

Source: Nevada SBDC Small Business Challenges Survey 2024, 2023, 2022

Supporting Nevada’s Small Business Ecosystem

The survey’s findings emphasize the ongoing need for targeted support and resources for Nevada’s small businesses, which represent over 99% of all businesses in the state. As small businesses continue to face familiar hurdles—such as attracting new customers, managing growth, and securing funding—the 2024 data highlights emerging issues like the need for financial literacy, navigating government regulations, and adapting to economic pressures like inflation.

Anyone may request a copy of the confidential data to do their own analysis. Data may be analyzed by a variety of questions, for example: by industry, community, referring partner, minority status, and whether a startup or existing business owner. The goal of this survey is to help organizations and communities to better understand and support our small businesses.

About the Nevada Small Business Challenges Survey
The survey, conducted annually, provides critical insights into the challenges faced by small businesses across the state. Data from the 2024 survey is available for further analysis by any interested parties. For more information or to request access to the confidential data, please contact Brad Scribner at bscribner@unr.edu.To access the full results of the 2024 Small Business Challenges Survey, please visit https://nevadasbdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024NevadaSmallBusinessChallengesSurvey.pdf