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GetResponse

Struggling to get a better work-life balance?

You’re not alone. See what business owners told us about their daily challenges - and what they do to overcome them.

Get the full report

4,287

entrepreneurs took our global survey

  • Internet marketing30.9%
  • Other12.6%
  • Education10.1%
  • Agency6.1%
  • Health & beauty5.1%
  • Arts & entertainment4.5%
  • Financial services3.8%
  • Technology & high-tech3.4%
  • Health care3.3%
  • Retail3.1%
  • Automotive2.8%
  • Communications2.8%
  • Real estate2.3%
  • Restaurants & food2.0%
  • Not-92%for-profit1.9%
  • Travel1.7%
  • Sports1.6%
  • Publishing1.6%
  • Legal services0.6%

We focused on small and midsize businesses

57%had fewer than 5 employees

65%didn’t have a marketing team

smiling people

92% value work-life balance

sitting women

Why did they make the move?

  • 33% always wanted to run their own business
  • 32% wanted a better work-life balance
  • 19% wanted more control over their career

54%had a corporate job before starting their own business

standing man after leaving a corp

Running your own business is tough…

  • 25% work more than 40 hours a week
  • 69% answer business emails in their free time
  • 91% work weekends
  • 26% never stop thinking about their business
  • 16% haven’t taken a vacation for over 4 years

...yet61%
say they’ll never go back to the 9-5.
Why?

Because they now have a better work-life balance

  • 43% spend over 6 hours a week having fun with friends and family
  • 38% work 5 to 20 hours a week, enjoying more me time

So, what are their biggest challenges?

  1. Growing their business
  2. Finding time to get everything done
  3. Landing new leads
  4. Getting a work-life balance

SMBs have 99 problems.
But email marketing ain’t one!

51.9%

say GetResponse gives more free time

69.2%

say email marketing is the biggest time-saver

43.7%

say marketing automation also saves time

42.5%

say they profit more with tools like GetResponse

Sound familiar?

Read more about how others balance work and life while running a business.

Get the full report