New U.S. Bank report reveals small business owners are feeling successful and fulfilled, but pursuing their dream means sacrifice in their personal lives
September 26 2023 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Digital solutions and strong community
connections can help ease the burden
- Nearly 9 in 10 small business owners define their business as
successful.
- Driven by purpose and serving others, their definition of
success goes beyond the financials to include making their
customers’ lives better (90%), supporting their dependents (91%),
and doing something they love (91%).
- With greater freedom comes greater responsibility and
sacrifice. Although 88% of small business owners feel fulfilled by
their work, 83% feel stressed by their workload and not having
enough time, and 1 in 2 small business owners have lost touch with
close friends/family (52%) or have been a worse romantic partner
(51%).
- Digital solutions can help; 82% of small business owners say
that investing in digital solutions would reduce stress in their
day-to-day life.
- Despite facing challenges and stressors, 87% of small business
owners feel optimistic about the future of their business, and most
have proactive strategies for managing stress.
Most U.S. small business owners feel successful, driven by
purpose and fulfilled by their work, but more than half are
sacrificing time and relationships with loved ones for the sake of
their business according to a new U.S. Bank survey, The Small
Business Owner Perspective 2023: Independence, Purpose and
Sacrifice. The study explores the personal experiences of small
business owners and the factors behind their unique resilience and
shines a spotlight on the complexities they are facing today.
The new data is from a proprietary U.S. Bank survey of 1,000
U.S. small business owners and 300 California small business
owners. The survey was conducted from July 11, 2023 – July 29,
2023.
While 83% of small business owners said the business of running
a business is making them feel stressed and short on time, the
report also found that implementing new digital tools and the power
of community can help ease stress, build resilience and drive
success long term.
“Small business owners are incredibly resilient, but we
recognize how much sacrifice and hard work it takes to pursue their
dream,” said Tim Welsh, Vice Chair, Consumer and Business Banking
at U.S. Bank. “With our study, we wanted to understand more deeply
the challenges small business owners are facing and gain insight on
where we can provide more support.”
“The survey findings underscore that small business owners are
deeply committed to their customers, communities and families,”
said Shruti Patel, Chief Product Officer for the Business Banking
Segment. “Taking on a tremendous number of responsibilities comes
with the territory, and many are feeling short on time and in need
of simple solutions that make running their business easier.
Financial institutions can help meet this need with seamless
banking, payments and software solutions that save small business
owners time, money and effort – so they can focus on their purpose
and have more time at the end of the day for their families.”
Key findings from the survey:
- For small business owners, success goes far beyond the
financials. They are driven by purpose and serving others.
- Nearly 9 in 10 (86%) small business owners define their
business as successful and the majority feel personally fulfilled
by their work (88%).
- How they define success goes beyond just the financials (93%) –
it's also customer-focused (having loyal customers, 91%, making
customers’ lives better, 90%), family-focused (supporting their
dependents, 91%), and about personal fulfilment (doing something
they love, 90%).
- Money doesn’t make the top 5 reasons why small business owners
became business owners in the first place.
- Small business owners were motivated to be their own bosses
(95%), make customers happy (94%), make their passions a part of
their work (93%), they had an idea they wanted to pursue (93%), and
they have a deep curiosity and desire to learn (93%).
- 87% of small business owners decided to start their own
business to contribute to their community.
- 98% of small business owners say that autonomy and control are
a large part of why they became a business owner. And it has paid
off, as 90% of small business owners have greater independence and
autonomy because of their business.
- With greater freedom comes greater responsibility and
sacrifice, and small business owners feel short on time and
resources.
- Small business owners wear many hats to ensure everything runs
smoothly. They identified their top stressors as obtaining enough
funding to support their business (80%), supply chain issues (78%),
needing to upskill their workforce (74%), staffing shortages (77%),
and competitors in the marketplace (79%).
- Although 88% of small business owners feel personally fulfilled
by their work, 83% feel stressed by their workload and not having
enough time to do everything they need to do.
- Putting so much time into their business means sacrifice in
their personal life, with more than 70% having worked at least one
weekend every month and more than 40% reporting missing a family
gathering or event at least once every month.
- 1 in 2 small business owners have lost touch with close
friends/family (52%) or have been a worse romantic partner
(51%).
- Small business owners are keenly aware of this trade-off with 6
in 10 believing it is impossible to have a good work-life balance
as a small business owner.
- Digital solutions and community connections can help small
business owners find more time and success.
- 82% of small business owners believe that simplifying digital
solutions would reduce stress in their day-to-day, and 42% say
digital solutions free up time, allowing them to focus on more
strategic responsibilities.
- Although small business owners are interested in integrating
digital solutions for their businesses, 61% report being
overwhelmed by all the solutions that exist and find it difficult
to determine the best one for their business.
- Small business owners see “conversation with their network” as
a top driver of their success and resilience, as well as connecting
with their customers via digital channels.
- Small business owners saw support from their family and friends
(78%) and listening to their employees and addressing their
feedback (76%) as the top two aides driving the success of their
business.
- Small business owners' next top solutions were: promoting their
business on social media (76%), improving or building their website
(73%), and using digital tools to improve customer experience
(72%).
- How small business owners are staying optimistic, happy and
resilient
- Despite facing challenges and stressors, 87% of small business
owners are optimistic about the future of their business.
- When thinking about their business, small business owners say
they feel happy (54%), grateful (53%), excited (49%) and joyful
(40%).
- The top skills that small business owners credit for their
success are their work ethic (52%), leadership (48%), confidence
(45%), adaptability (41%), and organization and time management
(39%).
- Small business owners are relieving work-related stress by
reminding themselves of their purpose, as well as being proactive
in their strategies and work habits. Their top responses to stress
are to try to make every day at their job fun or meaningful (81%),
remind themselves of why they started their business to begin with
(78%), regularly evaluate their business strategy (73%), establish
boundaries with work (71%), and hire additional support or staff to
relieve the workload (50%).
Read the full report here
Methodology
U.S. Bank conducted a 15-minute survey among 1,000 U.S. small
business owners (SBOs) and 300 California small business owners in
partnership with Edelman Dxl. SBOs were required to have an annual
revenue of $25 million or less and at least two employees, and
minimums of 100 respondents were surveyed in U.S. regions and
California (Greater Bay Area and Southern California) to assure a
minimum viable sample for statistical analysis. Fielding for this
study was conducted from July 11, 2023-July 29, 2023, and the
margin of error is ±3.1% for the U.S. SBOs and ±2.5% for CA
SBOs.
About U.S. Bank
U.S. Bancorp, with approximately 77,000 employees and $681
billion in assets as of June 30, 2023, is the parent company of
U.S. Bank National Association. The Minneapolis-based company
serves millions of customers locally, nationally and globally
through a diversified mix of businesses: Consumer and Business
Banking; Payment Services; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and
Wealth Management and Investment Services. Union Bank, consisting
primarily of retail banking branches on the West Coast, joined U.S.
Bancorp in 2022. U.S. Bancorp has been recognized for its approach
to digital innovation, social responsibility, and customer service,
including being named one of the 2023 World’s Most Ethical
Companies and Fortune’s most admired superregional bank. To learn
more, please visit the U.S. Bancorp website at usbank.com and click
on “About Us.”
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230925215371/en/
Anna Christensen, U.S. Bank Public Affairs & Communications
anna.christensen@usbank.com
Rick Rothacker, U.S. Bank Public Affairs & Communications
richard.rothacker@usbank.com
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