Following
plans by the DTI to make starting up
a business easier and cheaper, a
large survey has found that 84% of
self employed people believe that
the government does not do enough to
support small businesses.
Despite there being over 3.6 million
small businesses, employing almost
half the private sector staff in the
UK; small business owners feel let
down by the amount of information
and support they receive, and
angered by the burden (and costs) of
red tape and legislation.
The survey by Panasonic Business
Systems shows that 41% of small
business owners felt that the
biggest advantage of running their
own business was the flexibility it
allowed them; while 40% said that
they felt more reward for their
skills and hard work than when
working for another company.
However, a quarter of those surveyed
found that they ended up working
noticeably longer hours; the same
amount complained of feeling like
they were always on duty, even when
they were on holiday. 23% found the
many financial pressures to be a
significant drawback to running
their own business.
Positively, despite the drawbacks;
80% of small business owners felt
that their quality of life had
improved since starting up on their
own. The majority also felt that
running a small business had more
positives than negatives.
Most of those questioned highlighted
the importance of having the
appropriate technology in place
before starting up, and pointed to
it as an area that most small
business owners have to learn more
about during the running of their
firm.
Don't forget that BizHelp24 has over
400 free articles on a wide range of
small business issues.
A range of articles on starting a
small business are available from
our Business Start Up portal here.
Learn more about how IT can benefit
your business with our free articles
available from our Internet and
Technology portal here.
