As 2014 shifts into gear, a new survey has found many Australians plan to change jobs or start their own business this year.
Bookkeeping franchise First Class Accounts surveyed some 1,000 people and found over 30 per cent plan to change their career, and a third of those are keen to start their own business.
Would-be business owners and entrepreneurs are seeking more flexibility, and additional time with their families, as well as the potential to earn more and increase their decision-making powers.
The survey findings coincide with what some commentators are calling a trend in ‘entrepreneurship porn’.
Morra Aarons-Mels, founder of Women Online and The Mission List, believes the media is dishing up a skewed view of what life is truly like as a business owner.
“Breathless coverage abounds: sexy stories of the young and old who threw off the yoke and started their own businesses. It’s all goodbye cubicle – hello freedom, vitality, creativity,” Aarons-Mels wrote in the Harvard Business Review.
Herself a veteran business owner, Aarons-Mels said the relentless coverage of the latest young start-ups presents an ‘air-brushed reality’, and that running a business is a sure-fire way to achieve a better work/life balance.
“But the reality of starting and running a small business is different from the fantasy – and I should know, because I run one, and am married to a long-time entrepreneur. Starting a company doesn’t mean being freed from the grind; it means that the buck stops with you, always, even if it’s Sunday morning or Friday night,” she said.
