Small Business Ownership Fun, But Long Hours
According to a new poll, one of the biggest ways for Canadians to find satisfaction in their work is to open a small business.
The Ipsos Reid Study, which polled 900 Canadian small business owners on behalf of HP Canada with the results reviewed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), found that 63 percent of the responders said they are motivated to continue with their small business because they find the work enjoyable, and 59 said they stick with it because of the independence the job brings.
But on the flip side, many found the work more challenging than they originally intended. 42 percent said they put in more than 53 hours of work a week, and 44 percent said the work was more demanding than they expected.
The small business owners reported a number of specific challenges, from finding new customers and markets (59 percent) to dealing with finances (47 percent) to handling government regulations and paperwork (42 percent).
91 percent of those surveyed also said they believe it would be a rewarding experience to run their own business, and 89 percent said they think it would be rewarding to work in a small business.
In other findings, the small business owners found that technology was helping them maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Photo by MSDesigns.
Gabriel on October 25th, 2007 1:50 am
Many longs hours for sure, but also many, many lonely hours. It s importnt to balance the hours working and the hours being “human”, going out, talkint to “real people”, stop using the PC and Laptop, and breath…. walk… enjoy nature
Michael on October 25th, 2007 3:27 am
Definitely a challenge growing and maintaining a business but also has the edge of having freedom to pick the projects that you enjoy and willing to work on. Learning how to juggle a few things at a time from managing customers, your team, etc is a great experience.
Jeff @ nightshift on October 29th, 2007 1:34 am
I see you guys were up late reading blogs and posting comments – that about sums up being a micro/small business owner – working all day and all night. And when 7 am rolls around, I swear that tonight, I will totally get to bed earlier…
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