A new survey has found that women business owners have a favorable outlook for business this year.

Despite the economic climate, 81 percent of the women surveyed were optimistic about their overall business performance for the year ahead, according to research by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Web.com. They were also optimistic about the broader economic outlook (74 percent) in 2013.

The study was based on more than 550 surveys of women business owners. Among some other interesting findings for women:

  • The biggest challenge women cited was gaining new customers with 73 percent planning to invest more in marketing this year, specifically in social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
  • Some 85% of women business owners predict that more women will start businesses in 2013.
  • In listing key personality traits for women entrepreneurs, the top ranked qualities are: a) passion for the business idea, b) vision to succeed long-term after the business is launched, c) risk-taking attitude and willingness to fail before you succeed.
  • In order to finance their business’ capital needs, women are turning to credit cards (45%), using their business earnings (39%) and tapping into private sources (personal savings, family, friends) (36%). In the past year, they were less likely to seek a new loan or line of credit because they did not want to accrue more debt.
  • Women business-owers value LinkedIn more than Facebook and Twitter.

See the infographic for more:

NAWBO, The Story Exchange, Survey, Women Entrepreneurs

Check out our resources for starting up your own business and see this infographic on social media trends.

If you’re a woman who has started a business share your story and it will appear on our site. We will use it to find candidates for our 2013 filming season and blog posts.