Why Entrepreneurs are Happier!

There are many struggles that can come with being an entrepreneur: constant pressure, long hours, financial insecurity, the never ending need to find new clients or retain the ones you have, or perhaps lack of insurance to name just a few.  If you are in the process of starting your own business, you are probably familiar with some if not all of these.  But don’t despair!  Studies show that starting your own business is likely to make you a happier person!

In a study of 2,000 business owners and employees by Axa Business Insurance, it was found that though business owners spent almost twice as much time as employees thinking about work when they were away from the office, they are also three times more likely to report satisfaction with their jobs. And In a paper titled “Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach”, Alex Coad and Martin Binder noted: “In our analysis we found that individuals moving from regular employment into self-employment … experience a positive and significant increase in life satisfaction, that actually increases from the first year of self-employment to the second.”

One factor contributing to this happiness? Entrepreneurs are more likely than other workers to report that they learned or did something new in the past day.  “The same intellectual curiosity and energy needed to start and run a business may also drive entrepreneurs to seek out and take advantage of opportunities to learn or do something interesting or exciting on a regular basis,” said Dan Witters, Sangeeta Agrawal and Alyssa Brown of Gallup, which conducted the research. “Entrepreneurs also have creative and strategic control of their business and manage their own schedule to execute on their business plan. Thus, they may have more flexibility to pursue interesting and exciting learning opportunities and activities than other workers.”

What do you think?  Despite the additional worry and stress, do you ever regret your decision to strike out on your own and make a go of it?  Do you find that on balance you are more satisfied than you were as an employee?  If you work at home, do you miss an office environment?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

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