Small Business Owners Sing the Summertime Blues
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. CREDIT: Blues guitar player image via Shutterstock |
It's summertime and the living is easy — unless you're a small business owner. Nearly half of all small business owners say they won't have time to take a vacation this year, a new survey shows. And even those who manage to get away will still keep their noses to the grindstone, thanks to their mobile devices.
The findings come from the latest Manta SMB Wellness Index, a quarterly index that highlights key insights on small business topics and examines new small business activity. Manta is an online small business community that takes the pulse of more than 1,200 small business owners.
It's not just the vacation-deprived who are putting in longer hours, either, the survey showed. Almost 60 percent of small business owners said they're working more this year than they did last year and one-third reported working more than 50 hours per week.
[The Key to a Stress-Free Vacation? No Email]
Help isn't on the way anytime soon. A majority (70 percent) of small business owners say they're not planning on hiring any new employees during the summer months — a significant drop from last year, when 57 percent of owners said they planned to hire.
While summer vacation isn't a reality for many small business owners, those that can get away say they will still be working, thanks to their mobile device. Seven in 10 small business owners will be checking email/work documents from their mobile device while on vacation; however, 60 percent say they can enjoy their vacation more because of their mobile device and business applications.
And they don't have to be mobile to use their mobile devices, the survey found. One in four small business owners say they access apps on their mobile device for business two to three times every day even when they're in the office. And nearly 68 percent of owners say they use their mobile device while they're at work in front of their computer.
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.We're also on Facebook & Google+.