ALLYAH PAULA A.

POSTOR

BS ENTREP 4-2

ENTREP 4111 – SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTING

SUMMARY
According to the study by Elizabeth Brown (2004) what success factors are important to
small business owners? As most small business owners (SBOs) work on a full-time basis within
their businesses, logically most business decisions must be taken by the owners, either
individually or with a partner. The motivation for people to go into small business ownership is
varied and includes financial as well as non-financial factors like personal satisfaction,
independence, and flexibility. 
Typically, financial criteria are seen as the most accepted measure of business success.
Even though many small business owners are driven to start a business based on personal factors,
or lifestyle. The non-financial goal could lead to different measurements of success, particularly
in the commercial sector in small businesses. To know the significance of these two aspects of
success, this study surveyed 290 Western Australian small business owner-managers.
Respondents ranked the significance of lifestyle-related items and financial indicators, which
they utilized to assess their company's success. The results indicate that both financial and non-
financial lifestyle criteria are important utilized to determine company success, the latter being
more significant. Because the business and the owner are so intrinsically linked, personal success
frequently corresponds to business success. Personal satisfaction and achievement, career pride,
and a flexible lifestyle are often more valuable than wealth creation. Personal factors such as age
and, corporate characteristics influence perceptions of these factors are important.
Since the business and the owner are so inextricably linked, personal success frequently
corresponds to business success. Accepting the constantly changing nature of work and the
workplace, as well as the unpredictability of paid employment, an increasing number of people
may choose the uncertainty of self-employment. There will always be those small business
owners that are driven by financial rewards and have ambitions to grow and become important
players, and these SBOs should be encouraged to accomplish so. However, the findings of this
study also imply that while limited to the property and business services sectors and including
many home-based businesses, reveal that financially motivated owners are in the minority and
that most small business owners are pleased to stay small.

COMMENTS ON FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The existence of these success factors can be considered a key to the creation of a
successful business model and its development. Many entrepreneurs, both beginners and already
involved in business, often wonder what small businesses’ success depends on. Summarizing all
the above points of view on the important factors of business success expressed by business
owners are considering lifestyle factors, financial factors, and social responsibility factors. Based
on the article, businesses are only viable if they are financially stable; thus, it was expected that a
reasonable proportion of respondents would place a high priority on financial factors. This was
backed up by statements from some of the interviewees which I also agreed with because making
money was the key criterion for measuring business success. However, the most significant
factors were personal fulfillment, pride, and a flexible lifestyle consideration of other business
owners. In its conclusion, business and its owner have a strong entwined nature. The way owners
take care of themselves is like the way it handles the business they establish. We can’t argue that
a business and its owner will not be separated due to the opportunities they will grab. More
importantly, small businesses do make a major contribution to overall economic and societal
well-being due to their power of creating for others. Most SBOs appear to derive more
satisfaction by being the decision maker rather than the recipient of decisions made by others.
That is why the ability to employ successful strategies can be taken as a fundamental success
factor that should be considered by all persons who work in the sphere of business or tries to
acquire a competitive advantage to stimulate the development of their product as well as their
services.