I had to read this three times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

According to Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses data, 75% of small business owners are optimistic about the future. Seventy-five percent. Three out of four. In this economy. In 2025.

I spend most of my time writing about layoffs and corporate greed and everything going wrong. So when I see a number like that, I have to stop and actually think about it.

Maybe things aren’t as bad as the doom scrolling makes it seem?

The good news: 75% optimistic. 72% actively planning growth. 64% reporting profitability. Small businesses aren’t just surviving – many are actually thriving.

The Guidant Financial small business trends report backs this up. 64% of business owners say they’re profitable right now. More than half – 51% – are planning to expand operations this year. A quarter of them are actively hiring.

My neighbor runs a little furniture restoration business out of his garage. Started it five years ago when he got laid off from an office job. I asked him about this optimism stuff and he just laughed. “Yeah man, business is good. People want quality stuff that lasts. They’re tired of disposable garbage from Amazon.”

That tracks with what I’m seeing. People are shopping local more. Supporting small businesses intentionally. The “shop small” movement isn’t just a bumper sticker anymore – it’s actually changing behavior.

New business filings are still strong too. Census Bureau data shows 457,000 new business applications in June alone. That’s a 2.2% increase from the year before. People are still betting on themselves. Still starting things. Still believing they can make it work.

My take: The corporate giants are laying off thousands while small businesses are hiring. Maybe that’s the economy telling us something about where the real value is.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all sunshine. 27% of small business owners say inflation is eating into their margins. Rising costs are real. Finding good workers is hard. The tariff situation is a mess for anyone importing materials.

But here’s what I love about small business owners. They adapt. They figure it out. They don’t have twelve layers of management debating whether to pivot – they just pivot. My brother-in-law’s auto shop started offering EV maintenance when he saw the market shifting. Nobody told him to. He just did it.

The Small Business Administration identified some trends that are helping: e-commerce tools that used to cost thousands are now cheap or free. AI is helping with marketing and customer service. Social media lets tiny businesses compete with big ones for attention.

Technology that was supposed to kill small business is actually helping it survive.

What’s working: Local focus. Quality over quantity. Personal relationships with customers. Adapting quickly. Using technology smartly. The opposite of everything big corporations do.

Look, I’m not saying everything is perfect. The economy is weird right now. Interest rates are high. Uncertainty is everywhere. But when I see three out of four small business owners feeling good about their future, it makes me think maybe we’re more resilient than we give ourselves credit for.

The big companies are cutting jobs and “restructuring.” The small ones are growing. Maybe that’s where the real American dream lives now – not in the corporate headquarters, but in the garages and storefronts and home offices where people are building something for themselves.

75% optimistic. I’ll take it.