By Rieva Lesonsky

If you’re on the fence about whether to start your own business, some data from a new study might help convince you to make the move. I think it always helps to hear from real people about decisions you’re considering. And recently, The Hartford surveyed some 2,000 real entrepreneur in its Small Business Success Study.

The study focused on small business owners’ outlook in today’s challenging economy. Despite the many hurdles they face, the entrepreneurs who were polled were very optimistic. In spite of the current economic environment, 51 percent projected that they will be “very successful” in the next two years.

Sure, being a small business owner isn’t perfect. There are plenty of challenges—those cited by companies in the Hartford survey included the economy (which had affected 57 percent of businesses), difficulty obtaining financing, government regulations, rising costs and difficulty finding customers. Given all these hurdles, why were entrepreneurs so optimistic?

Well, maybe it’s because they don’t define success based on profits. Yes, money does matter: 79 percent said achieving a comfortable lifestyle for themselves was an important measure of success. And 77 percent said increasing the profitability of the business year over year was very important. But just 18 percent said this is the most important factor in defining success.

In contrast, 82 percent said what’s most important is doing something they feel passionate about. By that measure, these entrepreneurs are highly successful. Ninety percent said they loved being business owners.

Perhaps that’s why not every business owner surveyed had dreams of being the next Google. Although 52 percent said they consider themselves growth-oriented, 48 percent said they were “maintenance-oriented,” meaning they want to maintain their business at its current size. And whatever size their business reaches, 81 percent want to remain closely involved in daily operations.

What should you take from this survey? If you’re on the fence about entrepeneurship, I suggest you give it a try. There’s no way to know how you’ll feel until you take the plunge. And as the entrepreneurs in this study prove, if you love it, you’ll really love it.

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