A new study by Gallup found that over half of Americans are interested in becoming their own boss. The Shopify-Gallup Entrepreneurship study, released Thursday, discovered that 62 percent of the surveyed adults would prefer to be their own boss, while 35 percent prefer working for someone else.
The study found that 52 percent said they would be willing to accept at least a fair amount of financial risk to do so. Just less than 15 percent of that chunk said they were willing to take a “great deal” of financial risk and 38 percent said they would take a “fair amount.”
When you just look at people who are seriously considering starting a business, the portion of those willing to take financial risks increases to 70 percent.
Gallup also took a look at why aspiring entrepreneurs or existing business owners look to start their own gig and found that 57 percent of surveyed business owners and 60 percent of aspiring entrepreneurs listed being their own boss as the top motivation. The second-highest reason was an “opportunity to earn more money”.
A “more flexible work schedule,” was chosen by 42 percent of surveyed business owners and 45 percent of aspiring entrepreneurs. They also found that schedule flexibility was more important for women than men, with 52 percent of surveyed women compared to 38 percent of men.
At the bottom at 10 percent was a friend or family member encouraging them to go into the business with them.
Gallup found that while many aspiring business owners are willing to take financial risks, finance-related matters are the primary barrier for achieving that goal. Sixty percent of aspiring entrepreneurs cited a lack of funding, and 50 percent picked personal financial risks as the biggest challenges to starting a business.
A third of hopeful business owners pointed the need to learn more about starting or managing a business (which is what our company is all about).
The Shopify/Gallup Entrepreneurship study was conducted May 1-14 and surveyed more than 45,000 members of Gallup’s probability-based online panel to examine the interest in business ownership, the motivations behind that choice and the obstacles to achieving that goal.