The number of small businesses nationwide seems to be growing all the time, and it seems that soon the rolls of new owners may soon include more minority and young entrepreneurs who have dreams of making it on their own.
In 2013, 51 percent of kids in Grades 5 through 8 said that they plan to start their own business at some point in their life, up slightly from the even 50 percent who felt the same way a year earlier, according to a new poll from Gallup. However, by the time those kids reach high school age, that number diminishes to just one in three, and that was down from 35 percent in 2012. Altogether, just 42 percent of kids in from fifth to 12th grade say they have these plans, but another 38 percent say they will be able to invent something that changes the world, showing just how much aspiration they have to succeed in this area. However, many of these students also say that they don't think they have enough opportunities to do so.
"American youth have an incredible amount of economic energy," the researchers wrote in discussing their findings. "They have the hope and desire to jump-start the U.S. economy. There are essentially 1.5 million students with the potential to build all-important small to medium-sized businesses. But according to the Gallup-Hope Index, less than half are learning about how to start and run their own business at their school. It is crucial to identify these students early and cultivate their entrepreneurial energy, if Americans expect to maintain the global advantage in entrepreneurship the U.S. has enjoyed."
Minorities on the cusp of a boom
Meanwhile, it seems that many minorities are far more motivated to start their own businesses than their Caucasian counterparts, the report said. In all, half of non-whites had plans to do this – up from 46 percent a year earlier – while just 37 percent of white people had similar plans, down two percentage points during that same period.
Aspiring entrepreneurs, and current ones as well, may do well to keep in mind that one of the best ways to ensure success is to keep costs as low as possible. This might include finding the most affordable small business insurance coverage, including general liability or errors and omissions insurance, to make sure a bottom line is as healthy as possible. Overspending in this regard can costs businesses thousands of dollars per year.
