Female business owners are more likely to use the Internet for work than their male counterparts (90 percent compared to 84 percent), and women who run their own companies are slightly more optimistic about the short-term economy than men who run their own companies (66 percent compared to 59 percent).

Those are just two of the findings from the semi-annual American Express Small Business Monitor survey, which queried 626 small-business owners across the country to come up with its findings, as reported by The New York Times.

"Entrepreneurs are a bellwether for many of the country's most important industries because they are so closely connected to purchasing decisions," Susan Sobbott, president of Open from American Express, said in a press release promoting the study. "Business owners continue to grow in their optimism, a good sign for the small business sector and the economy in general."

Other highlights from the study include:

 •  65 percent of women and 73 percent of men say they make sacrifices in their personal life in order to run a business.

  • 85 percent of women say being an entrepreneur contributes to a "happy relationship" with their significant other, compared to 77 percent of male small-business owners.

--Mary Westbrook
mwestbrook@safnow.org

 

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