ATLANTA—Heading into the final days of 2017, many small business owners (SBOs) are looking happily at their end-of-year forecasts and their expectations that 2017 will easily surpass year-ago revenue totals. Many of these SBOs optimistically foresee a revenue gain of more than 10 percent for 2017, according to a recent survey.

Kabbage Inc., a financial services and data platform that works with small businesses, this month released survey data in which more than 67 percent of respondents indicated that they expect their small business to post higher revenues in 2017, and more than half of these owners anticipate a revenue increase of 10 percent or higher.

The survey included responses from 400 SBOs, according to Kabbage, which conducted the survey in partnership with Bredin, a small-business market research firm. Kabbage polled small business owners across industries, including retail, health care, food and beverage, and others.

“SBOs also prioritize building their businesses over personal financial gain,” Kabbage said in its announcement of the survey findings. When asked how they spend surplus cash, a greater number will invest it in their business (40 percent) rather than pay themselves (21 percent), save for retirement (17 percent) or set it aside for personal or family investments (14 percent).

Additionally, the survey asked about ways small businesses are working to improve productivity. The responses indicated that 36 percent of SBOs will seek ways to improve their skills in 2018, 32 percent will invest in new technologies and 28 percent intend to hire more employees.

“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy, and they deserve an enormous amount of gratitude,” Kabbage chief revenue officer Victoria Treyger said in the announcement. “They define hustle and motivation and go to great lengths to support themselves, their families and their communities.”