Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Entrepreneurs have put almost £12,000 (£11,846.45) of their own money into their businesses on average, according to new research.
Worryingly, 2.6m business owners admit to having concerns about the future – a quarter even believe that their business will go under in the next five years.
These findings come from Business Rewired, a report by Xero looking at the greatest concerns for SME owners in the future. The most prominent worries are:
Receiving payments late54pc
Tax rates for small businesses44pc
Uncertainty of Brexit44pc
Value of the pound40pc
Maintaining or increasing levels of productivity31pc
Increasing cost of importing goods/materials30pc
Cyber attacks/cost of protection against them27pc
Rising cost of rent25pc
Attracting high calibre employees24pc
Cost of running a green/sustainable business23pc
Failure to meet demand23pc
Retaining staff21pc
Increasing cost of exporting products19pc
Inflexible employee contracts19pc
Cost of staff recruitment19pc
Staff going on annual leave17pc
Pressures like these have affected the mental health of more than a third of respondents, with small business owners working an extra nine hours per week on average on top of their standard working hours.
Optimism in the industry
Despite a dismal year for SMEs, experts believe that the emergence of AI will ease the strain on exhausted business owners.
Gerd Leonhard, business futurist and contributor to the report, says:
“Automation is reducing the need