The Wheelers, owners of Wheeler's Las Vegas RV store, recently purchased 10 acres to expand their sales and service operations to 30 acres at 13175 Las Vegas Blvd. South. The owners also are hiring new employees and creating new positions to keep pace with their annual sales, which average $80 million, Marlene Wheeler said.

The couple also plans to increase RV inventory by several acres, which is a $10 million to $20 million investment, she said.

"We have to expand," Andy Wheeler said. "We're blowing apart (and) we try to stay ahead of the curve. I don't see any letdown at all."

The Wheelers are among several small business owners nationally who are optimistic about the economy and their companies' success.

The National Federation of Independent Business, an advocacy and lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., recently reported that its monthly optimism index rose to a near 18-year high of 105.9 last month from 103 in June. The index reached 106.9 in December, which is the highest point since NFIB started tracking the numbers in 1986.

"Most of the members in Nevada track with what the index says and that's good news," said Randy Robison, NFIB Nevada director.

He said the NFIB does not track optimism at a state level, but he bases his conclusion on anecdotes.

The survey said the number of small business owners who thought now was a good time to increase equipment or make building and land improvements rose 4 percentage points to 25 percent from June to July.

About 15 percent of the 1,221 NFIB members who were surveyed said they plan to increase the number of employees and 37 net percent said they expect the economy to improve, while more than 40 percent said they expect the economy to remain the same.

The net percent represents the seasonally adjusted difference between the percent of people who think the economy will improve and the percent who think the economy will get worse, NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said.

Although the percent of people who think the economy is improving is not a majority figure, it is considered to be a high percentage compared with past surveys during good times, he said.

The survey reported 35 net percent of the small businesses expected an increase in their sales adjusted for inflation, compared with 26 net percent in June.

Anna Siefert, operations manager of the Nevada Microenterprise Initiative, said small business owners in Nevada are doing well because of the rapid population growth and hotel and casino expansion.

"More hotel building means more independent services and products that they're going to need to buy," Siefert said. "That's good for small business."

Salena Martin, owner of For Keeps Scrapbooking and a client of Siefert's, said she has been adding inventory and she is considering opening a second store.

"We've been growing and growing and it's growing faster than I can keep up with it," Martin said.

She hired two new employees in June to help her keep pace with her strong sales.

"You couldn't tell me that the economy is not doing well," Martin said. "With my store being for hobbies, when times are tough and things are tight the first thing you do is cut out your hobbies. My sales just go and go up."

Michelle Swafford covers health care and small business for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at by e-mail at swafford@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-2326.