The verdict is in! Micro entrepreneurs and small to mid-size business owners are a resilient lot. Despite being the hardest hit, a French survey of over 300 respondents found almost two-thirds of SMB and startup leaders as motivated as ever to drive past the COVID19 devastation of their business.
La Maison des Entrepreneur, an entrepreneurs’ hub and network in France just published its survey of SMBs, startups and micro entrepreneurs with some telling insights.
The flash survey, ran between 15 and 19 April in the midst of the COVID19 lockdown, received 312 responses from French entrepreneurs. Here is the breakdown of who they are, with annual revenues ranging from less than half a million to over 100 million euros:
- Slightly more than 18% employ over 100 employees
- 38% employ between 10 to 100 employees
- 34% employ less than 10 employees
- About 10% are self-employed
Losing Huge and Working More, But Still Motivated
It was no surprise to find more than 63% of SMB owners and entrepreneurs reporting a drastic revenue decline of over 50%. Among them, 13% reportedly experienced 90% or more in losses, in the period leading up to and during the pandemic lockdown.
Their five topmost worries were about staff morale (40%), getting new business (39%), maintaining a daily cash flow (35%), losing customers (31%) and their company’s ability to survive (27%).
Working at home, with or without temporary closure, makes very little difference for these bosses. In fact, 70% of them reported working more than usual, and quite a portion working round the clock.
Yet, what’s amazing is 62% remain positively motivated to drive past their company’s crisis, with half of that even excited about new possibilities. The most telling is that none of the survey respondents were entirely pessimistic about their chance to recover despite knowing it will be a rather steep hill back up.
Resilient and Also Pragmatic, Expecting to Embrace Deep Changes
If anything, they expect deep changes in the near future and are convinced they will make and embrace them. For these entrepreneurs, COVID19 has brought about profound and long-lasting implications, but not necessarily all bad, just different.
Among these changes, 64% cited new ways of working e.g. remote work (no surprise there); 55% alluded to new business opportunities; and over 45% said a re-adjustment of company strategy was needed. For 41%, the changes will be about reinforcing digitalization while for 34%, they are about giving new meaning and purpose to their business.
These insightful findings speak to their hardiness and courage as entrepreneurs and small business owners. It reminds me once again why I find such energy working with startup and small business leaders in the first place; and why I got busy creating a couple of new services to support SMB growth comeback for post-COVID lockdown.
From experience, almost all the long-lasting changes mentioned are connected: the new ways of working, new business opportunities, readjustment of company strategy and reinforcing digitalization. They all boil down to one strategy for a strong recovery from COVID and beyond — to become a digitally savvy business!
A digitally savvy business strategy requires a mindset shift and a culture change to doing business. But these leaders’ resilience and perseverance have proven that they are up to it. They just need the right strategic mindset and to get going — I wrote about it here.
In solidarity with such efforts during these challenging times, I’ve designed four on-demand service offers to partner in innovative ways for re-building a business recovery. Learn about them here.
Originally published at https://www.ellagora.com on April 29, 2020.
