As the economy tightens, SME owners are spending more time at work than at home. Research suggests that UK business owners are dedicated to the long term success of their business with 28% of owners planning at least 25 years commitment to their company, and 20% planning to work into their seventies.

Subsequently, the attention needed to successfully nurture a business can be immense, especially because SMEs often have limited resources to invest in their business’ long term potential. According to Lynda Purser, the director of the Institute of Business Consulting, the result of a reluctance to invest in research, product/service valuations, the right IT etc means SME owners can easily end up fire-fighting and focussing on the day to day running of the business. For this reason, those SME owners with long term plans are often found to gain competitive advantage from outsourcing, and attracting attention through carefully tailored business plans which include cash, capital and character.

With this level of commitment comes a personal sacrifice. Earlier research conducted on behalf of Barclays Local Business revealed that 20% of the 500 SME owners surveyed felt personally connected to their business. Additional research has shown that UK business owners work twice as long as the European Working Time Directive, with 18% working more than 70 hours per week. Consequently, personal/family life suffers from the drive for business success. This pressurised working practice is not likely to alleviate, given the current urgency to fight the economic downturn.

SMEs represent more that 90% of the overall UK business economy, so their survival is crucial to the UKs ability to wade through these difficult times. Amongst the many scrolls of advice is: Keep a time management diary so that owners can identify areas such as: which tasks could have been delegated; which aspects of the business would benefit from outsourcing; differentiate between urgent and important tasks; update business strategies to sustain a driven niche status; and invest in a long term IT solution that grows with your business, improves efficiency, and doesn’t need to be upgraded every few months to accommodate changes.

These efforts are designed to promote greater business efficiency and facilitate reinstating the work/life balance. Further advice suggests that SME owners could look to finding business partners for non-core activities. As owners fear ‘business bereavement’, their commitment to business operations can become perpetually sentimental. However, research has also revealed that those company owners who place a high value on the stability of their personal lives are more likely to apply this attitude in their work. This enables work negotiation rather than personal sacrifice.

Despite the struggle between personal and work like, small businesses still have confidence in their long term prospects despite the current economic climate.

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