Why Small Business Founders Will Need To Work Harder And Longer In Upcoming Months

Business LoungeNovember 19, 2022

On average, businesses are known to work for up to 51 hours a week, but this has increased by 3 hours per week since the 3rd quarter of 2022.

For businessmen and employees, the number of days off in a year has also been reduced. According to a poll from the Enterprise Nation’s Small Business Barometer, the yearly holiday quota has decreased from 21 days off to 20. For the future, growth expectations have seemingly slightly settled.

In a study, over 36% of the businesses claimed to believe that they will likely grow in the run-up to the 2022 holidays, that is Christmas.

Gustavo Fring/Pexels | Small business owners are expecting to work harder and longer hours because of the drop in sales

The Statistical Data of Small Businesses

Different pictures were recorded by some sectors and areas, with almost 50% of the businesses located in the West Midlands claiming that they expect to grow. Next in line was London with 39% and Scotland followed with 38%. On the other hand, most businesses located on the East England side were to say that they would shrink, they were 45%.

78% of firms claimed to have been highly impacted by the cost of doing business because of failing sales and rising costs. This has gone up 3%. In the last quarter, the number of businesses going through a fall in sales increased by 4%, becoming an average of 41% to 49% of the businesses of North West, however, claimed sales had fallen, and this was notably the worst hit in the UK. drinks, food, fashion, and general retail got hit the hardest by the sales dropping; it was reported that all the sales had fallen more than 50%.

Lukas/Pexels | The sales in the UK have had their worst fall yet

The majority of these salesmen say that they are still hesitant to increase their prices; 61% of them mentioned having swallowed the additional costs. Increasing employment was completely out of the question for 31% of these people, up 6 percent since June.

What’s the Solution?

Emma Jones CBE, the founder of Enterprise Nation, talked about the fact that the previous Barometer was completely in control and doing its utmost to not pass on the cost to the customers. And while she seems to be seeing this for a second time, she has observed that this time around, in order to achieve their goal, they have to be working a lot harder and getting less free time.

Pixabay/Pexels | Small business owners should reach out for help when needed

As we move towards a microeconomic environment that is far more challenging than the last few decades, small businesses need attentive support as well as guidance. They should also consider asking for help from the local leader of their town or a mentor, says Emma.