Survey says! Well, it won’t say anything until you tell the Texas Small Business Needs Assessment Poll about you and your business. 
The poll focuses on small-business needs in Texas to help identify emerging issues in the small-business community. It is a partnership effort between the Texas Small Business Development Center Network and the Community Development Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Eleven key questions relate to firm size, performance, strategy, financing and employee skill levels that should help focus on areas of strengths, which can be compared to those areas that need improvement. 
The poll has been taken annually since 2013, always in the last three months of the year. Last year’s poll drew 1,580 completed responses, up from the 1,403 in 2014. 
Changes between the two years showed the number of women- and minority-owned businesses increased by 2 percent but also that sales increases dropped. However, there was also an increase in the number of businesses that added employees. 
Some common problems noted by a majority of business included:
• credit card swipe fees, which have become a huge financial burden; 
• the affect of the fall in the oil and gas industry; 
• the need for financial support from banking institutions to help take businesses to the next level, mainly growing staff to service a growing clientele; 
• tax relief from state and local governments.
Have your voice heard in the 2016 survey. Take the poll by clicking here.