4 in 5 have sacrificed their personal life to make their company a success 

• Holidays, personal time and pay are forfeited to ensure the business keeps going
• Younger generation 21% more likely to make sacrifices than their older counterparts
• Top reason for starting a business centred around control, but research shows it is at the detriment of a personal life
• 38% regret starting their own business

SME owners in the UK are at breaking point, new research[i] from Opus Energy reveals.

Just over 3 in 4 (76%) SME owners are losing sleep over their business, with company finances and costs (35%), work/life balance (27%) and attracting customers (24%) the main reasons cited for the lack of shut eye.

The strains of running a business are also putting pressures on the home lives of SME owners, with four in five (79%) making personal sacrifices for the sake of their business over the past 12 months. Over a third state they have sacrificed personal time (36%), 31% have reduced their holidays and another 29% have gone without pay. In fact, 23% of SME owners said they worked even when on holiday, with a further 14% saying they don’t take any holidays at all.

Millennials were much more likely to make personal sacrifices for the sake of their business (94%) than their older counterparts (73% for both 45-54 and 55-64 year-olds), with females more likely than males (85% / 76% respectively). It is hardly surprising, therefore, that over 1 in 3 (38%) regret starting their business, with profitability, time and effort, and their investment being detrimental to time spent with family and friends as some of the reasons why.

Considering the top reasons for starting their own business centred around control, i.e. working for themselves (56%), controlling their future earnings (30%) or controlling their workload / time (29%), it seems SME owners attempt to gain, or regain, control over their working life is damaging the quality of their personal life.

Nikki Flanders, COO of Opus Energy commented: “Every business leader needs to make a significant investment to make their business successful, and this investment is amplified for small businesses. The time, money or simply emotional investment needed to start a business and make it profitable is often all-consuming. Considering the difficult trading conditions businesses of all sizes have experienced recently, it’s not surprising that SMEs have needed to make particularly hard sacrifices over the past 12 months. However, the fact that small business owners are jeopardising their wellbeing consistently is a worrying sign. We rely on them to drive the economy, so if they’re struggling, we all will.”

To address the worries that keep them awake at night, SME owners are working overtime, with a third (33%) working six days a week and a quarter (23%) working seven days a week; unsurprising considering the sacrifices they’re making. The younger generation (18-34yr olds) are more likely to work seven days a week than any other age group.

Nikki continued: “SMEs are the key to building our economy, we need to help each other through this turbulent time. We know that starting and running a small business requires energy, not only to power the lights and equipment, but energy to work late and go above and beyond. Appreciating that we are a small part in our customers’ lives – supplying energy and services – we want to do the best we can at getting it right. So, this week we are opening a pop-up juice bar called the Kinetic Café to give us the chance to get in touch with the needs of small businesses, and ultimately improve our service and support to ensure we do as much as possible to help them on their journey.”

The Kinetic Café by Opus Energy will be open on Thursday 23^rd and Friday 24^th August, in Aldgate, London, offering free juice to businesses and consumers in the area as well as providing a hub for business advice. For further information on Kinetic Café, click here.

[i]Research undertaken by Vitreous World in July 2018. Sample consists of 505 SME owners throughout the UK.