Thanks to everyone who participated in the YES!Circle survey this spring. Kudos and laurels (and the YES!Circle Outreach Guru Appreciation Award) go to John Burnham of Real Measures, Inc. for this tremendous effort. We can't thank John enough for all the time, energy and enthusiasm John devoted to this project!

YES!Circle Entrepreneur Survey
Summary of Results

Who participated in the survey?

78 entrepreneurs participated in the survey. 58% own or work for a business that is less than three years old. 25% have a written business plan that is current and 57% are either intend to develop a written business plan, are in the process of developing a written business plan or have a written business plan that is out of date. Exactly half of participants work for a home-based business without other employees, while 7% have or work for a business that is based outside the home with more than 20 employees. 56% work only for their own business. 79% of participants are the owners of their business.

What are the primary business challenges facing entrepreneurs?

The three business challenges that stand out are primarily marketing and sales related:

• Getting business leads
• Increasing brand awareness
• Closing sales

The next tier of business challenges are focused primarily on taking the business to the next level and include:

• Developing sales projections
• Developing a business plan
• Increasing efficiency
• Increasing capacity
• Acquiring capital

What personal skills do entrepreneurs think they need help in developing?

Ratings of skill development needs were much more evenly distributed than were business challenges. However, marketing again surfaced as the primary area of need, followed by networking, financial management/accounting, time management and business planning and foresight.

Survey conducted by Real Measures, Inc. in March and April of 2003. For more information, contact John Burnham, (703) 371-5210, johnb@realmeasures.com, www.realmeasures.com.

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