How Small Business Owners Win in 2026

**Nicole Lapin** (0:02)
I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some Money Rehab.
Business owners, side hustlers, W2 employees who are thinking about making the entrepreneurial leap, this one's for you. Because between macroeconomic factors and new AI tools, there are a lot of new opportunities for founders. Yet, optimism in founders is down from last year. But you guys, we got this. Our partners at US. Bank put together an annual small business survey to understand the challenges facing businesses right now and ultimately help and build solutions. So to dig into what they learned this year, I'm talking to Shruti Patel, US. Bank's chief product officer for the business banking segment. We talk about small business growth strategy, what Gen Z entrepreneurs specifically should know about scaling, and the small payment method switch that could make a big difference to your bottom line. Shruti Patel, welcome to Money Rehab.

**Shruti Patel** (1:02)
Well, thank you for having me, Nicole.

**Nicole Lapin** (1:04)
I'm so excited. No, no, I'm so excited to talk to you because I have actually never talked to a chief product officer of a bank, and I have so many suggestions and so many ideas.

**Shruti Patel** (1:16)
Well, I'm glad I have my notepad because I'll be making a lot of points.

**Nicole Lapin** (1:20)
Well, I think it's so, so cool. So thank you for being open to taking my suggestions. I have many of them. As a business owner myself, I would love to see a cash flow chart or something. I would love to see something go over to taxes so I don't touch it. Anyway, I have many, many ideas. But I want to dig into the survey that you guys put out because so much of what you're doing is data-driven and we're all data nerds here. So what was the finding that you saw that businesses are really focused on now?

**Shruti Patel** (1:48)
So many insightful findings. I would say, this is our fourth year. We do an annual survey of small businesses across the country. And it's not really just US. Bank customers. Our intent is to really get close to the sentiment small businesses are feeling at the time of the survey is taken. Small businesses are feeling immense stressors and macro environment pressures right now. This comes as no surprise to anyone. Given the steady inflation we have been in the last few years, consumer spending and sentiment is evolving. The recent energy crisis continues to add pressure to small business operations. And so I would say, you know, the number of businesses who reported their business as successful still remained high, but we did see both the way they are reporting growth and optimism soften year over year.
But what is also good is the contrarian to all of that sentiment, which is almost all of the small businesses continue to remain super resilient. And, you know, it demonstrates the durability because they continue to invest in their businesses, whether it's hiring new staff, expanding their products and services. And so, you know, I would say entrepreneurship still very much remains the backbone of the economy. While they're feeling the pressures, the optimism to invest in, you know, their businesses remains very high.

**Nicole Lapin** (3:14)
I think you have to be optimistic to be an entrepreneur, or crazy, or both, or have had a traumatic childhood. I don't know. Like, here I am living it day to day. You have to be an irrational optimist to be an entrepreneur. And what I saw really interesting in the survey was that it went from 93% to 83%.
So while you said it was softening, like that's still pretty optimistic to me.

**Shruti Patel** (3:35)
Pretty optimistic. And, you know, I would say for a lot of these small businesses, it's not just business. It's very personal. The success of the business is what they're counting on, you know, to continue that livelihood. So I would say definitely a great finding for us.

**Nicole Lapin** (3:50)
Yeah, it's completely personal. I started this business with my life savings. You know, US. Bank helped us rebuild from the palisades. Fire every dollar that comes in and out of the business is so, so personal and stress is so high. So what did the survey show about stress levels? I'm assuming those are not softening.

**Shruti Patel** (4:08)
The stress levels are not softening, but we've also seen some of those stress levels show up year over year.
I think the small businesses have figured out a way to navigate under this immense pressure, whether that's inflation, rising cost. You know, last year we observed tariff uncertainty. This year, tariff uncertainty was replaced by the energy crisis. And so I do think that one of the reasons why you're seeing the resilience is because they're figuring out new ways, whether that's adopting AI, you know, adopting new digital tools to drive innovation. But they're determined on running their operations more effectively, more efficiently, with less capital, with rising cost. And I think that's where a lot of the resilience is really coming from.