US entrepreneurs optimistic about the future

Despite a weakened economic market US small business owners are optimistic about the future, according to a new survey.

A study of 200 US-based entrepreneurs showed that 46% of them felt that they could make more as entrepreneurs than the traditional corporate world.

Although a growing number of US corporations are cutting back on spending and hiring, almost 7 out of 10 entrepreneurs surveyed would consider expanding or taking on new staff in the current economic climate.

‘Overall, their outlook is very optimistic,’ said Ed Donnelly, USA president of Hiscox, which commissioned the research.

‘Today's landscape is ever changing, entrepreneurs are often exposed to higher and more complex levels of risk,’ added Donnelly. ‘But it doesn't require a maverick, risk-seeking personality to be a successful business owner; it needs dedication, perseverance and ambition.’

“Overall, their outlook is very optimistic.

Ed Donnelly, USA president of Hiscox

The findings also suggested that small business owners are adept at managing risk.

Nearly half of the respondents gave themselves fixed financial targets and measured their success according to their ability to meet these targets.

More than half of those surveyed said that they had decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship within the last year, even in the current market conditions.

Only 1% of small business owners cited cash flow and the downward economy as their biggest fears.

When compared with their counterparts in the UK, US small business owners felt much less restricted by government red tape. Sixty eight percent said that government bureaucracy was not a major barrier to setting up a small business, compared with 46% in the UK.