[Hidden-tech] survey of entrepreneurs

Jeanne Yocum jeanne at yourghostwriter.com
Fri Apr 14 14:59:29 EDT 2006


Hi, all,

Thought some of you might find these new survey results interesting.  This
came to me from MediaPost.com

Jeanne Yocum

Yahoo's second annual survey of entrepreneurial aspirations finds that
two-thirds of American adults (66 percent) say they've considered starting
their own businesses, compared to 72 percent last year. The survey was
commissioned by Yahoo Small Business and conducted by Harris Interactive.

Baby boomer-aged survey respondents indicated a significant increase in
entrepreneurial aspirations. For example, when asked, "At what age do you
think it would be too late to start your own business?," 70 percent of
respondents who were 45 to 54, and 72 percent of those 55 and older
answered, "I will never be too old to start my own business." The Yahoo
survey finds this a substantial increase compared to last year's survey,
when 54 percent of those aged 45 to 54 chose the "never too old" response,
and 58 percent of those aged 55 and above chose the same response. Across
all age groups, respondents choosing "never too old" increased to 60 percent
this year, versus 47 percent in the 2005 survey.

Among the survey's other key findings:
*    55 percent of respondents chose "own my own business" as the kind of
work they would prefer to do late in life. Other choices included: volunteer
work/public service (42 percent); consulting (29 percent); teaching (20
percent); and running for political office, retail/customer service,
corporate officer, and sales (less than 15 percent).
*    75 percent of U.S. adults who go online said that the Internet has made
it easier to start a small business.
*    92 percent of U.S. adults who go online said it was important for a new
small business to have an Internet presence.

"The vast majority of people, regardless of age, have entrepreneurial
aspirations, and they recognize the power of the Internet in making it
easier for them to act on those aspirations and launch small businesses,"
said Rich Riley, vice president of small business services at Yahoo, in a
statement. 

The survey found that nearly one-third (31 percent) of those polled said
that doing work that they really love was the main reason for launching a
business. The second most popular reason, selected by 22 percent of
respondents, was "to be my own boss." Less than one-fifth (17 percent) said
they decided to start a business "to make more money."

Yahoo is releasing the survey of more than 2,100 U.S. adults in conjunction
with National Small Business Week April 9-15. The study was conducted four
weeks ago. However, one point that was not addressed is why the percentage
of adults wanting to start their own business declined from 72 percent last
year to 66 percent. What are the reasons for the slight decline? We're not
sure. 


Tobi Elkin is Executive Editor, MediaPost.
Comments? Questions? Email us!


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