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The
following informal survey of approximately 1,000
participants was conducted at a conference of women
entrepreneurs and small business owners in Tampa,
Florida.
Women
& Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century
was hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor, the
Small Business Administration, and the Center for
Entrepreneurial Excellence.
The
Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City-based
organization dedicated to advancing
entrepreneurship, sponsored the use of the audience
response system used to conduct the survey.
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The
following set of questions were asked by:
MARIANNE
HUDSON
KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY
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| How
long have you been in business? |
% |
| 1 |
I
am considering starting a business |
25 |
| 2 |
First
year of operation |
16 |
| 3 |
One
to five years |
19 |
| 4 |
More
than 5 years |
31 |
| 5 |
This
question does not apply to me |
9 |
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|
| Including
you - how many people do you currently employ? |
% |
| 1 |
Zero
- I maintain another job as my primary income source |
22 |
| 2 |
One |
24 |
| 3 |
Two
to five |
21 |
| 4 |
Six
to 25 |
12 |
| 5 |
More
than 25 |
7 |
| 6 |
This
question does not apply to me |
14 |
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|
| What
is the highest level of education you have
completed? |
% |
| 1 |
High
school or less |
6 |
| 2 |
Some
college |
18 |
| 3 |
2-year
college degree |
10 |
| 4 |
Bachelor's
degree |
25 |
| 5 |
Some
graduate school |
11 |
| 6 |
Master's
degree |
26 |
| 7 |
Doctorate
degree |
4 |
| 8 |
Other
graduate degree |
1 |
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|
| When
you began your business, what was your primary
reason for doing so? |
% |
| 1 |
Earn
a decent living |
9 |
| 2 |
Gain
independence from my previous job |
28 |
| 3 |
Become
more successful |
19 |
| 4 |
Build
a large business |
6 |
| 5 |
Build
a business that could be sold |
4 |
| 6 |
My
primary goal was different than these |
19 |
| 7 |
This
question does not apply to me |
15 |
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|
| Currently,
what is your primary business goal? |
% |
| 1 |
Earn
a decent living |
23 |
| 2 |
Grow
my business slowly |
14 |
| 3 |
Become
a major competitor in the industry |
31 |
| 4 |
Sell
my business |
3 |
| 5 |
Start
a new business |
12 |
| 6 |
My
primary goal is different than these |
8 |
| 7 |
This
question does not apply to me |
9 |
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|
| What
are your biggest challenges as an entrepreneur? |
% |
| 1 |
Cash
flow |
28 |
| 2 |
Current
economic conditions |
11 |
| 3 |
Finding
and keeping high quality employees |
6 |
| 4 |
Financing |
17 |
| 5 |
Managerial
duties |
4 |
| 6 |
Sales |
18 |
| 7 |
Other |
4 |
| 8 |
This
question does not apply to me |
12 |
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| What
was YOUR largest barrier when starting your
business? |
% |
| 1 |
Access
to financing/ capital |
32 |
| 2 |
Access
to markets |
9 |
| 3 |
Access
to networks |
7 |
| 4 |
Lack
of information/ support |
8 |
| 5 |
Self
esteem issues |
11 |
| 6 |
Time
- balancing business with personal life |
15 |
| 7 |
Other |
4 |
| 8 |
This
question does not apply to me |
13 |
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| In
your opinion, how big is the gap between men and
women entrepreneurs in terms of the barriers they
must address? |
% |
| 1 |
Very
wide |
26 |
| 2 |
Wide |
46 |
| 3 |
Narrow |
15 |
| 4 |
Barriers
for women are not greater than for men |
12 |
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| Which
of the following sources have you relied on MOST for
the capital necessary to run your business? |
% |
| 1 |
Angel
financing |
3 |
| 2 |
Bank
loan or line of credit |
8 |
| 3 |
Borrowed
money from family, friends, or colleagues |
6 |
| 4 |
Credit
card - personal or business |
12 |
| 5 |
Personal
savings or assets |
33 |
| 6 |
Reinvestment
of business earnings |
11 |
| 7 |
Venture
capital |
1 |
| 8 |
Other |
8 |
| 9 |
This
question does not apply to me |
18 |
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| Which
of the following helped you become a better business
owner? |
% |
| 1 |
Consulting/
business counseling |
5 |
| 2 |
Formal
training (college/university) |
9 |
| 3 |
Internet
resources |
5 |
| 4 |
Mentors |
16 |
| 5 |
Peer
networks |
16 |
| 6 |
Role
model(s) |
9 |
| 7 |
Informal
training (seminars/workshops) |
17 |
| 8 |
Other |
10 |
| 9 |
This
question does not apply to me |
13 |
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| Where
do you go to get assistance with your business? |
% |
| 1 |
Chamber
of Commerce |
3 |
| 2 |
Consultant |
4 |
| 3 |
Entrepreneur
Support Org/ Women's Business Center |
14 |
| 4 |
Family,
friends and peers |
20 |
| 5 |
Figure
it out myself |
32 |
| 6 |
Mentor |
6 |
| 7 |
Trade
Association |
5 |
| 8 |
Other |
3 |
| 9 |
This
question does not apply to me. |
12 |
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| What
concept should be the key driver for the focus on
women's entrepreneurship? |
% |
| 1 |
Better
opportunities for women of the future |
19 |
| 2 |
Ensure
better economic growth for the US |
22 |
| 3 |
Parity
of opportunity and performance with men |
16 |
| 4 |
Self-sufficiency
for more women |
41 |
| 5 |
Other |
1 |
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| Which
of these would make the biggest difference for women
in entrepreneurship? |
% |
| 1 |
Eliminate
infrastructure barriers to capital access, social
networks, etc |
25.7 |
| 2 |
Enhance
the skills and capacity of support organizations |
7.6 |
| 3 |
Entrepreneurship
classes for college women |
5.8 |
| 4 |
Inspire
girls toward business and entrepreneurship |
18 |
| 5 |
Inspire
girls toward science, technical majors and
entrepreneurship |
8.6 |
| 6 |
Mentoring
program for women entrepreneurs |
22.6 |
| 7 |
Promote
strong role models |
10.1 |
| 8 |
Other |
1.5 |
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The
following set of questions were asked by:
KELLYANNE
CONWAY
THE POLLING COMPANY
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| Which
of the following best describes the main reason you
decided to attend this conference? |
% |
| 1 |
To
learn about public policy issues |
3 |
| 2 |
To
learn how the government can assist my business |
19 |
| 3 |
To
gather information from experts that will help my
business |
45 |
| 4 |
To
network with other women entrepreneurs like myself |
17 |
| 5 |
To
meet women leaders in business and government |
16 |
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| Which
of the following issues most concerns you as a
business owner? |
% |
| 1 |
High
taxes / Tax burden |
11 |
| 2 |
Cost
of health care for me and my employees |
29 |
| 3 |
Over-regulation
by government |
6 |
| 4 |
Hiring
quality employees |
8 |
| 5 |
Access
to capital |
36 |
| 6 |
Obtaining
insurance |
6 |
| 7 |
Liability
Issues |
4 |
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| Please
mark which of the following items you consider MOST
important to offer employees. |
% |
| 1 |
Healthcare
coverage for your employees |
24 |
| 2 |
Competitive
salaries and bonuses |
32 |
| 3 |
Competitive
benefits package including retirement plan, vacation
time, sick leave, disability benefits OR life
insurance. |
20 |
| 4 |
Flex-time
or teleworking from home |
9 |
| 5 |
Earned
time off for working more hours than hired to work |
2 |
| 6 |
Skills
training/continuing education |
10 |
| 7 |
Opportunities
for promotion |
2 |
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| Which
of the following statements best reflects your
company's position on providing healthcare for your
employees? |
% |
| 1 |
I
provide healthcare to my employees at great expense
to my business |
29 |
| 2 |
I
provide healthcare to my employees at reasonable
cost to my business |
8 |
| 3 |
I
would like to provide healthcare to my employees but
cannot afford to |
56 |
| 4 |
I
would prefer not to provide healthcare to my
employees |
7 |
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| How
interested are you in receiving more information on
how to obtain government contracts? |
% |
| 1 |
Very
interested |
67 |
| 2 |
Somewhat
interested |
18 |
| 3 |
Not
at all interested |
15 |
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| Which
of the following would you MOST like the government
to focus on in the next year? |
% |
| 1 |
Increasing
accessibility to affordable health insurance |
52 |
| 2 |
Expanding
retirement options for self-employed small business
owners. |
11 |
| 3 |
Access
to capital issues |
21 |
| 4 |
Providing
more access to government contracts |
10 |
| 5 |
Providing
training skills for business ownership |
5 |
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| And
which of the following best describes your plans to
fund your retirement: |
% |
| 1 |
Woman
1: I
plan to sell my business, and use the money to
retire. |
15 |
| 2 |
Woman
2: I
plan to invest into Individual Retirement Accounts
and 401K plans and use that money to retire. |
41 |
| 3 |
Woman
3: I
plan to use money from my savings, or low risk
Certificate of Deposits or CD's. |
5 |
| 4 |
Woman
4: I
plan to use the money from my company retirement
plan. |
6 |
| 5 |
Woman
5: I
plan to use money from my spouse's Retirement
Account to retire. |
2 |
| 6 |
Woman
6: I
have not yet made specific plans to fund my
retirement. |
31 |
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| Thinking
about your small business for a moment, are most of
your money and assets invested in your small
business, or not? |
% |
| 1 |
Yes,
most of my money and assets are invested in my small
business |
59 |
| 2 |
No,
most of my money and assets are not invested in my
small business. |
41 |
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| If
you were no longer able to run your business, which
of the following would you be most likely to do? |
% |
| 1 |
Sell
the company to the highest bidder |
27 |
| 2 |
Turn
over the company to a trusted friend or relative |
23 |
| 3 |
Pass
down the company to a child/heir |
21 |
| 4 |
Close
the company |
29 |
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| And
which of the following best describes your feelings
regarding passing down you business to a child or
heir: |
% |
| 1 |
WOMAN
1: I would like to pass down my business to a child
or heir, but will not because I do not want them to
incur estate taxes. |
41 |
| 2 |
WOMAN
2: I would like to pass down my business to a child
or heir, regardless of the taxes they may have to
pay on such an inheritance. |
59 |
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| Which
of the following taxes do you consider the most
burdensome for your small business? |
% |
| 1 |
Sales
tax |
12 |
| 2 |
Use
tax |
4 |
| 3 |
Discretionary
sales surtax |
1 |
| 4 |
Unemployment
tax |
9 |
| 5 |
Corporate
income tax |
21 |
| 6 |
Intangible
personal property tax |
6 |
| 7 |
Federal
income tax |
41 |
| 8 |
Estate
tax |
2 |
| 9 |
Property
tax |
4 |
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| Is
your business a... |
% |
| 1 |
Sole
proprietorship |
36 |
| 2 |
Partnership |
6 |
| 3 |
Corporation,
regular type |
13 |
| 4 |
Corporation,
s-type |
44 |
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| Is
your business facility... |
% |
| 1 |
Home-based |
56 |
| 2 |
Rent
outside facility |
36 |
| 3 |
Own
outside facility |
8 |
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| Please
tell me which of the following categories most
accurately describes the gross revenue generated by
your company in the last fiscal year: |
% |
| 1 |
Less
than $25,000 |
40 |
| 2 |
$25,000
to just under $50,000 |
12 |
| 3 |
$50,000
to just under $75,000 |
8 |
| 4 |
$75,000
to just under $100,000 |
7 |
| 5 |
$100,000
to just under $250,000 |
10 |
| 6 |
$250,000
to just under $500,000 |
4 |
| 7 |
$500,000
to just under $1,000,000 |
4 |
| 8 |
$1,000,000
or more |
15 |
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| Is
the income generated by your business your sole
source of income, or a secondary source of income
for you and your household? |
% |
| 1 |
Sole
source of income |
57 |
| 2 |
Secondary
source of income |
43 |
