Entrepreneurship Info and Facts

I thought it would be fun to compile some random entrepreneurship facts and entrepreneurship info that are sure to entertain at your next business function and to provide further info for the budding entrepreneur, or just to make you sound really smart, so here goes:

1) Immigrants are more likely than locals to become entrepreneurs. Source: Entrepreneurship Remains Strong in 2008 with Increasing Business Startups. I know that it certainly contributed to me becoming an entrepreneur when I moved to Germany and founded Monkeys, Mountains and Maultaschen - a travel blog that explores Europe and beyond for outdoor adventures, off-beat locations, local cuisine and monkeys!

2) More than two-thirds of small businesses are started in the owners home so have a place in the basement for your office, or the kitchen table can also work in a crunch. Source: What's Behind Small-Biz Rates?

3) 40 is the average and median age of small business owners when they started their small business. Source: OnStartups

4)But, entrepreneurs are getting older, over the past decade , people aged 55-64 were the most likely to open a new business, showing that it never is too late to learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Source: Old and in the Fray: The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom.

5) If you are looking to make income, entrepreneurship may not be for you. Over the business' lifespan, only 39% of new businesses are profitable, 30% break even, and 30% lose money, with 1% falling in the "unable to determine" category . Source: What's Behind Small-Biz Rates?

6) Entrepreneurs are an educated group, over 95% hold bachelor’s degrees, while 47% hold more advanced degrees. Source: OnStartups.

7) We all know that restaurants are prone to high failure rates but what you might not know is that franchising a restaurant does not reduce your risk as much as you would expect, 59% of new restaurants closed those three years while 57% of franchised restaurants closed in the same time period. Source: Focus on Success, Not Failure.

8) Only 45% of new businesses are alive five years after they opened. This figure falls to 30% ten years after they opened. Source: Small Business Trends.

9) .32% of the adult American population is an entrepreneur . Source: Entrepreneurship Remains Strong in 2008 with Increasing Business Startups.

10) New businesses in the education and health sector have the highest success rate while the Information industry has the lowest success rate. Source: Small Business Trends.

11) 75% of entrepreneurs indicated the desire to build wealth as an important motivation in becoming an entrepreneur, hmmm, see #5. Source: OnStartups.

12) Less than 5% of entrepreneurs said the inability to find traditional employment was an important factor in starting a business. Interesting considering our current economy. Source: OnStartups.

13)Estonia has the highest entrepreneurship rate in the European Union. Source: European Commission: Enterprise and Industry.

14) On average, entrepreneurs take home $30,000 to $40,000 annually. Many entrepreneurs make between $15,000 and $20,000, which translates to way below minimum wage when you look at the hours they put in. Source: Are Entrepreneurs Happier than Wage Slaves?

15) Only 21% of new businesses initially employ someone besides the owner, hope you like taking out the garbage, putting stamps on envelopes, etc. Source: What's Behind Small-Biz Failure Rates?

16) Atlanta has the highest entrepreneurship activity in the U.S. while Philadelphia has the lowest. Source: Entrepreneurship Remains Strong in 2008 with Increasing Business Startups.

17) 45 % of Europeans would like to become their own boss whereas 61 % of Americans have the entrepreneurial urge. Source: European Commission: Enterprise and Industry.

18) One would assume that being your own boss would make you happier right? Not necessarily, entrepreneurs ,as a group,are not necessarily happier or unhappier than employees. "There have been a series of surveys done over the past 20 years, with mixed results based on the sampling size and who is being talked to. " Besides there are a lot of very happy employees in the world. Source: Are Entrepreneurs Happier than Wage Slaves?

Do you have your own random entrepreneurship fact or entrepreneurship info to share? Please do so below.