The Number One Reason Most Entrepreneurs Start Businesses

Nothing beats the freedom of being the boss ? at least when it comes to the entrepreneurial efforts of small business owners.?

New research from Cox Business has found that more than half of small business owners start their own business in order to be their own boss. The researchers found that people were also motivated by the idea of creating something from the ground up. Overall, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they had started their own business for one of those reasons.

Money, on the other hand, is not a motivating factor for many small business owners: Just 8 percent of respondents said that was their main motivation for starting their own business.

[Are You Ready to Start a Business? 20 Questions to Ask Yourself]

Small business owners are also very dedicated to building those businesses, the research revealed. Forty-three percent of business owners said they have never considered closing their business, even as new technologies create challenges they may not have anticipated when starting their businesses.

Despite those challenges, small business owners are looking at the rise of new technologies as more of an opportunity than a detriment for their businesses. More than half of the business owners in the Cox Business Small Business Week survey said that new technologies like apps, mobile marketing and others were helpful to their businesses.

Additionally, 37 percent of business owners said they were happy with the way they have incorporated technology into their businesses. Just 32 percent of respondents said they are having trouble keeping up with new technologies. Those responses speak to the idea of "digital Darwinism" which refers to companies trying to keep up with constant technology changes. ??

Business owners still rely on email for daily communication. Forty percent of respondents said email is the most important communication tool for their business: Small business owners chose email over cell phones?and social media for their daily communication needs.

Social media was not only less important to small businesses' daily communication, but also to other aspects of running a business. In fact, just 33 percent of small business owners said they utilize social media in their marketing efforts.

Even though technology was not a huge emphasis for many of the small business owners surveyed, they rated a tech superstar as their entrepreneurial idol: Twenty-one percent of business owners said Steve Jobs was the entrepreneur they most want to emulate. Jobs was followed by Ben Franklin and Walt Disney.

The research was based on 605 responses from small business owners and managers at Cox Business.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow David Mielach on Twitter @D_M89.?Follow us?@bndarticles,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published?on BusinessNewsDaily.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/number-one-reason-most-entrepreneurs-start-businesses-104304691.html

barry sanders jimmie johnson juan pablo montoya crash chardon high school shooting mark martin cleveland news daytona race