Office Depot’s second annual Women’s Small Business Survey, which polled 1,000 women small business owners, found that 70% of women enjoyed being their own boss above all, a 4% increase from last year. Among respondents, 73% also reported that their work-life balance had actually improved since opening their business.
This benefit is not without challenges. Almost a quarter of women small business owners said they experience concerns with fatigue (23%) and one in six reported feeling stressed out every day. The logistics of running a business were also draining, with 13% saying they struggle to find employees, and would benefit from having marketing materials (35%), networking tools or platforms (34%) and access to office supplies (25%).
The fear of not having enough funding went down for respondents since last year, but is still a concern at 42%. One in five have invested more than $5,000 of their own capital in at-home equipment and tools, including laptops (36%), printers (35%) and software (24%).
Still, women entrepreneurs are resilient and have high expectations for success in the new year, including growing profit (59%), gaining more clients (53%) and expanding their business (28%).
