Half of all entrepreneurs launch their businesses between the ages of 25-39 years of age, just when they started their families. As a result, marriages, families, and friendships are too often casualties of small business ownership. Nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs start their business between the ages of 25 and 44 years of age.

According to recent research, 35 percent of new businesses fail within two years, and 54 percent shut down within four years. Within six years, 64 percent of new businesses will have folded. Studies also show that when a company creates at least one job in its early years, the probability of failure after six years plummets to 35 percent!

Small business researcher David Birch reports that over a recent 5-year period, the largest companies in the United States shed 2 million jobs; during that same period, small businesses created 10 million jobs.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) found that business owners rated the success of their companies quite high-and average of 7.3 out of 10.

A study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses found that 78 percent of Americans believe that small business exerts a positive influence on the country’s direction, a ranking exceeded only by science and technology.

Roughly, 75 percent of entrepreneurs on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans are first generation entrepreneurs.   According to research by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, self-employed business owners make up two-thirds of American millionaires. Self-employed people are four times more likely to be millionaires than people who work for others”, says Dnako. 

A study by the Gallup Organization found that 86 percent of small business owners would choose to own their companies if they had to do it all over again.