We all know that running a growing business is hard work, but this year we set out to find out just how much time entrepreneurs were putting in each week.
The most common response was 55 to 60 hours a week – well over the average working week, but not so crazy as to leave no room for work/life balance.
And while there is a certain group putting in very long hours – 10% of the 50 entrepreneurs we surveyed are working 75 hours or more – there is also healthy group (16%) who are working less than 45 hours.
Of course, it’s not the time you put in, but how you use that time!
Funding has been an issue for the SME sector for the best part of five years and there is no sense that the Smart50 are rushing back to their banks for fresh capital.
But there are a few companies with big expansion plans on their minds. Matthew and Richard Burgess of 360 Financial Services have their eyes on an IPO in the next five years, while Alliance Environmental Engineering founder Andrew Johnston is in discussions with a large multinational that wants to buy his business.
At astutepayroll.com, co-founder Nicholas Beames is talking to private equity firms about the next stage of his business.
“We are seeking $10 million for working capital over an investment horizon of three years. We are debt-free and cashflow positive so don’t need the funds and can continue to grow organically if we want to. However, if we find the right partner we will consider exponential growth instead.”
Business experts suggest that you should always start your business with an exit in mind, but the Smart50 hasn’t exactly taken this advice to heart.
A total of 22 have exit plans in some form – some very developed, some a work in progress, some rather sketchy – but the majority of businesses say they aren’t anywhere near thinking about the end.
When all your efforts are focused on growth, it can be hard to think about anything else. But circumstances can change quickly and an unprepared business is an exposed business.
Fast-growth SMEs love to shake up established business models and introducing a greater level of accountability and transparency to a sector is a prime way of doing that.
That’s a key theme from the digital marketing space, where entrepreneurs have broken into the search engine marketing and search engine optimisation industry after not finding the level of transparency they wanted.
Llew Jury of Reload Media sums up the way his sector is changing: “The industry is becoming more and more accountable, which means the less professional providers can no longer hide behind vague numbers. Digital marketing companies must now provide ROI transparency, reporting and metric results to attract business and market share. Everything is black and white.”
It wasn’t hard to pick the winner of the Smart50 export award – just four companies are generating any revenue from overseas, and just one – website marketplace Flippa – is generating more than 25% of its revenue from offshore.
The domestic focus is understandable given the state of the economy, but there are tentative signs that businesses are looking further afield, with the United States and Asia the key targets.
This article first appeared on September 13th, 2012.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
