Small firms 'put happiness before cash'

By Will Smale
Business reporter, BBC News

Money is not the main motivator

"If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to risk everything," smiles Edward Belgeonne.

"You have to be prepared to bet your house every time."

Mr Belgeonne, founder of Guildford-based mobile technology group Destiny, is talking about what drives him to keep starting up new companies instead of joining the corporate world.

A veteran of four start-ups in the telecoms sector, three of which were sold on for multi-million pound sums, he insists it is not about the money.

"Don't get me wrong, it is very pleasing to create wealth for my family, shareholders and staff," the 44-year-old serial entrepreneur says.

"But that isn't why I start up new companies.

"It is about being in control of your own destiny, hence the name of my latest venture.

"It is about being your own boss, and the buzz of creating something of value from scratch."

Work/life balance

Mr Belgeonne, who recently won a national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, does not seem to be alone in saying that being in control of his destiny is the main reason why he chooses to start up his own companies.

It was about being able to do what I am passionate about, only better Matt Connolly, Enable Interactive

Almost two thirds, or 63%, of founders of small businesses say being their own boss was a core reason for setting up their company, according to The Age of the Entrepreneur Report, published by Kingston University and phone group T-Mobile.

It was followed by being able to have a better work/life balance (46% of respondents), and either dissatisfaction or boredom in working for their previous employer (37%).

Making money came in fourth at 36%.

Matt Connolly, 30, co-founder of Enable Interactive, a Bristol-based digital marketing agency, agrees that making a pot-load of cash was far from his first concern when starting up the business in 2003.

"It was about being able to do what I am passionate about, only better," he says.

"I didn't think I could do as good a job with my previous employer."

'Steady state'

Making millions is also far from the top aim of most small firms after they are up and running, the report points out.

Now I definitely want to be a millionaire Julie White, Truly Madly Baby

Instead, the simple enjoyment of working life is deemed to be the most important criteria of success (66%), with just 4% of respondents saying that pocketing £1m or more is their main aim.

For the report's author, Kingston University's Professor Robert Blackburn, this finding indicates that the government should be wary of putting small businesses "on a pedestal" as the future growth-engine of the UK economy.

"The reality is that the bulk of small firms are 'steady state', and by this, I mean they are happy to carry out as they are, but they are risk-adverse to growing," he says.

"Instead most small business people just want a steady life, they aren't interested in going for giant growth and job creation."

Professor Blackburn says the statistics bear this out. While small businesses represent 97% of the UK's 4.5 million companies, 71% of small firms are one-man bands.

'Way to succeed'

Yet while the great majority of small businessmen and women appear happy to stay in their comfort zone, there will always be others with giant ambitions.

"I started the business out of passion," says Julie White, who founded baby equipment business Truly Madly Baby in 2005.

"I'd just had my baby boy and wanted to sell baby products," she says.

"I didn't want to stagnate after motherhood, and setting up by own business also gave me the opportunity to have a better work/life balance.

"But now I definitely want to be a millionaire, I want Truly Madly Baby to become a national brand."

To achieve this will take both hard work and the guts to take a risk. Mr Belgeonne's advice is to go for it.

"If you believe in something enough, you'll always find a way to succeed," says Mr Belgeonne, who founded Destiny in 2003.

"Failure doesn't come into it."