Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A recent survey revealed that small business owners are making sacrifices at the expense of their families in order to ensure their businesses are getting off the ground and staying afloat.

Four hundred UK small business owners who took part in the survey by KashFlow, an accounting software company, and were asked: 'what is the greatest sacrifice you have made in order to ensure your company succeeds?' Thirty-two per cent said that they often forego family time.

The lack of family time may also coincide with the fact that the largest UK company classification is businesses with zero employees, with 3,262,715 (source: ONS). companies run single handed. Lack of finances may contribute to the fact that these companies are run alone, as 21 per cent of small business owners said they had increased their personal debt levels and were relying more on credit cards.
Barriers Finance, tax and VAT are big barriers for small businesses, not to mention administrative pressure and red tape: last year the number of individuals who went bankrupt or had an IVA was 26,072.

Eighteen per cent of small business owners said that they now have less disposable income and eight per cent that said they had not a holiday for years. Five per cent said that they had less of a social life since starting their businesses. These statistics are both linked to lack of funds and no spare time.

Duane Jackson, Managing Director of KashFlow said: “The research was commissioned to help us to gain a better understanding of the personal sacrifices small businesses are undertaking to ensure business success. The findings have provided a valuable insight into what measures can be taken in order to assist small businesses with their struggles.”

Sandra Patterson is a small business owner based in Scotland who runs Boxby.co.uk, a website courier company, she said: “Our family life is suffering at the moment. My husband's self employed business means that he's away for about half of the week, and I am working very hard to build up Boxby. So we're both currently very busy. I am very aware that each day I am continually trying to pinch a bit of extra time, and that each minute of that is time that I would otherwise be spending with our young girls."

Source: http://www.shout99.com/