Businesswomen react to FileMaker survey results
"Women small business owners instinctively know that technology solutions that help them become more efficient or access data more productively can provide a competitive edge," said Ginny Wilmerding, entrepreneur and author of "Smart Women & Small Business" "Among the main reasons women are in business for themselves to begin with are flexibility and independence. Using the right technology is a prime example of ways that women can "work smarter" and maintain control of their businesses and lives."
"The key to being a successful entrepreneur is to take advantage of all of today's technological opportunities in order to stay in the game," says Marilynne Eichinger, president, Museum Tour Catalog, a successful retail catalog company marketing quality, entertaining educational products for children, parents and educators based in Milwaukie, Oregon. Research firm IDC projects that by 2009, 97 percent of U.S. companies will be small businesses. Many recent studies indicate than more than half of new businesses are started by women.
Major Survey Findings
The survey of women small business owners uncovered trends in technology, entrepreneurial issues and work and family, including:
Technology Important to Success, But Many Entrepreneurs Still Use Paper Files
- 83 percent agree or strongly agree that "technology is an important factor in my business' success."
- About half (51 percent) of women-owned businesses use database software to organize and manage important business information.
- 70 percent say they "know enough about how technology can help improve my business."
Want to Be Own Boss
Women entrepreneurs start their businesses to give them more control over their career.
- 61 percent said the primary reason they started their own business was "independence/to be my own boss."
- 13 percent said they started their own business because they "needed more convenient hours because of my family."
- Only eight percent said that "making more money" was the primary reason for starting their own business.
More Time, Less Money
Running a small business has had some unexpected results for women entrepreneurs.
- Nearly 4 out of 10 women entrepreneurs (39.3 percent) said "the business takes more of my time than I expected."
- 43 percent said they have "made less money than I thought I would."
- 36 percent (35.8) said their business "requires more capital" than expected.
- 35 percent said that running their own business "is more stressful than I expected."
Women entrepreneurs embrace technology
- 82 percent of women business owners said their two leading sources of information about new technologies are websites (68 percent) and publications (55 percent). Only 15 percent cited a technology consultant.
- 77 percent say "most business software is easy enough for small businesses to use."
