C-Suite Wednesday – Business Ownership is Driven by Opportunity, Not Necessity
November 9, 2022
Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor
C-Suite Wednesday – Business Ownership is Driven by Opportunity, Not Necessity
In a report released yesterday, the SBA Office of Advocacy discussed the reasons small business owners chose to run a business. “While making money is a large reason business owners work for themselves, personal reasons can be just as important.” The report states that the reasons have remained consistent with results from previous years.
These are the top reasons for small business ownership:
• In 2019, almost two-thirds of owners of small businesses with employees said they owned their business to be their own boss and to have greater income.
• 57% of owners wanted to have a better balance between work and their families.
• More than half of owners stated that they owned a business because it was the best avenue for their ideas to create goods and services and they could have flexible hours.
• Nearly half of owners cited that they wanted to start their own business.
• About a quarter of owners stated that helping their community or having a friend/family member as a role model led them to being business owners.
• For small business owners that are women, the top reason for owning a business was to have a better work and family balance. 59% of women stated that was why they own their own businesses.
• Most owner demographic categories felt that wanting to be their own boss and earning a greater income were important reasons to be a small business owner.
• 62.4% of educational services business owners and 59.6% of business owners in the information industry claimed they opened their businesses because it was the best avenue for their ideas.
• Finance and Insurance (74.3%), Construction (68.3%), Transportation and Warehousing (66.8%), Wholesale Trade (63.3%), Manufacturing (56.1%), and many other industries cited greater income as the top reason for small business ownership.
• Industries that cited wanting to be their own boss as the top reason for business ownership include Healthcare and Social Assistance (71.2%), Retail Trade (61.6%), Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing/Hunting (61.4%), Arts/Entertainment/Recreation (56.9%), along with other industries.
• Only 7.4% of business owners stated they could not find another job as a reason to own a business.