As a small business owner, are you the glass half full type? Do you feel your enterprise is on the upswing?
Wave Accounting has taken a new temperature reading among North American entrepreneurs. Wave offers free (ad sponsored) accounting software to small business. Its new survey analyzes the attitudes of more than 250,000 clients with some interesting results.
Here’s what stood out for us:
- 86% of small business owners love what they’re doing
- 82% say the rewards far outweigh the challenges
- 56% say they would never go back to working for someone else
- The most common reason for going into business solo is “being the boss/decision-maker” (57%)
- But more than half underestimated just how hard it is to be their own boss
While most small business owners enjoy running their own business, here’s a look at some of their challenges:
- Two thirds of business owners struggle with the combination of time management and work/life balance
- Not enough down time
- 43% of Wave customers have to do administrative tasks (accounting, bookkeeping) outside traditional business hours
- 20% spend at least part of their weekend working on the same kind of tasks
- Almost half said their business did not earn enough for their families’ needs
So … if there are so many challenges, why are so many small business owners still optimistic?
- 80% of respondents see a bright future for their business
- Two thirds believe their business is in a growth phase. Just 8% say it’s in a decline.
- In the coming year, nearly three quarters plan to expand product offerings or launch new marketing campaigns
- Interestingly, 47% of US respondents see a bright future for their company. That’s compared to just 38% for Canucks.
These responses are very similar to what we see on the ground as a small business accounting service for many different companies across a wide range of industries.
While most entrepreneurs have the same optimism described in the survey, and truly enjoy being their own boss, often they aren’t able to recognize the risks and challenges in starting their own business.
There is something missing from the stats, though. At Silver+Goren we often warn about the high percentage of new business that fail, yet we haven’t heard from those owners. Those answers could be a very useful tool for new small business owners to learn about potential pitfalls and help develop effective business strategies to succeed.