Small Business News

60%+ of Small Business Owners Report High Job Satisfaction

Running a small business is not an easy job by any means. With owners bearing the brunt of responsibilities ranging from quality control to managing employees and much more, entrepreneurs often deal with a lot of stress. Despite that, a recent survey from Finimpact finds that the vast majority of business owners are happy and highly satisfied with their positions.

When small business owners were asked how they’d rank their job satisfaction, the top answer was “high,” with 57% of respondents saying as much. Additionally another 7% rated it “extremely high” while 36% said “moderate.” If you’re doing the math, then you can probably figure that means fewer than 1% said either “low” or “extremely low.”

Notably, although satisfaction runs high among entrepreneurs, that’s not the main reason the majority said they choose to become business owners. Instead 50% said that freedom was the most attractive part of business success. Not surprising “money” was the second most popular answer at 21% followed by daily job satisfaction and prestige, both at 14%.

While business owners are satisfied overall, they’re not without some concerns. Top among them in Finimpact’s study was financial access, which 35% stated was their largest difficulty. That’s somewhat surprising considering that small business loan approval rates at big banks continue to rise and online alternatives have also grown in popularity. Speaking of those options, 71% of respondents said banks were the best source of funding while 21% said online lenders were. Unfortunately only 7% of owners said obtaining funding was easy while nearly half (49%) said the loan process was hard or very hard.

Turning elsewhere, one interesting finding was that small business owners were fairly split on whether educational qualifications were helpful for achieving business success. Although 42% asserted that they were, 35% said they were either not necessary or not helpful. Meanwhile another 21% stated that educational qualifications helped only a little.

Overall, while owning a small business can be stressful at times, it’s good to know that most entrepreneurs are satisfied with their decision to open their own operations. Additionally, with more than half of respondents saying that they’re on track to reach their financial targets sooner than anticipated, it seems success and satisfaction go hand-in-hand. At the same time, the sentiment surrounding loans is a bit concerning — especially with the economy’s uncertain future. Nevertheless it seems as though small business is still booming and entrepeneurs are feeling great about it.