Everyone, regardless of generation membership, has felt the strain of the recession, but Generation Y entrepreneurs are remaining more positive than business owners overall.
More than three-quarters (80 percent) of Gen Y entrepreneurs have significantly more positive outlook on business prospects versus Generation X and business owners overall (55 percent) and Baby Boomers (52 percent), according to the Fall 2009 American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor.
In a recent American Express Small Business OPEN Forum, Marcy Shinder, VP of Brand Strategy and Marketing for American Express OPEN, cited this statistic and told the story of Elliot Bisnow, the 24 year-old founder of Bisnow, an e-newsletter company expected to earn $2 to 3 million in revenue this year, to illustrate that the optimism does not necessarily come from ignorance or lack of experience.
Sure, in some cases Gen Y optimism can be attributed to naivety, but certainly not all.
The semi-annual survey of American small business owners by American Express explored some of the specific ways which Generation Y’s optimism (and thereby business practices) outshines that of their Boomer and Gen X business owner counterparts:
- Gen Y is most likely to hire (36%, vs. 25% of Gen X and 20% of Boomers)
- Gen Y is most likely to have capital investment plans (58%, vs. 41% of Gen X and 39% of Boomers)
- Gen Y is most willing to take a financial risk (67%, vs. 52% of Gen X and 47% of Boomers)
- Gen Y is least likely to have cash flow issues (53% versus 59% for Gen X and 64% of Baby Boomers)
- Gen Y is least stressed out by the economy (57% versus 72% of Gen X’ers and 71% of Boomers)
- Gen Y is most likely to implement employee-friendly policies to battle the recession. Gen Y will allow employees to maintain a flexible schedule (44%), Baby Boomers will institute a hiring freeze (41%) and Gen X entrepreneurs will institute a salary freeze (39%)
While it is easy to argue that Gen Y businesses are likely smaller and newer than Gen X or Boomer businesses, or a typical Gen Y entrepreneur does not have as much at risk (i.e. family to support, mortgage to pay, etc.), there is definitely some validity in the numbers.
Gen Y’s Boomer parents have often been criticized for being too involved and too affirming to their children, thus conditioning Millennials into thinking they are invincible and entitled to success. Maybe it’s time to start applauding them for raising a generation ready to grab the world by its tail and make things happen.
The overall percentage of entrepreneurial optimism went up 10 percent from the Spring 2009 American Experess OPEN Small Business Monitor.
Perhaps this number will continue to climb, not just as the economy continues to recover, but as more Millennials, like Bisnow, pursue the entrepreneurial path.
For more info: More successful Gen Y entrepreneurs were featured in the Gen Y Gives Thanks series. Read about Nick Armstrong, a Web strategist, Jason Evanish, co-founder of GreenhornConnect.com, Lauren Berger, founder and CEO of Intern Queen, Adam McFarland, owner of Pure Adapt, Inc. and Brian Linton, founder of the Sand Shack.
Comments
Great article! Makes me proud and hopeful.
Boomermon throwing in his two cents. Thanks for sharing some great stats. Two things popped for me: 1.) Gen Y tends to be more employee friendly & flexible, thus recognizes that 9 to 5 is old school and people want to have a life. 2.) Of course Gen Y will take more risk because they have less responsibilites, maybe by design, but all the new businesses embrace technology which means they can operate more effeciently at less costs (e.g., social media vs. classic marketing). The more I read your article also made me begin to wonder if I am actually a Gen Yer trapped in a Boomer body.
I am weary of anyone who makes conclusions on surveys where the difference between one group and another is smaller than the accepted error of a survey. Which in the case of this survey I believe was over 5%.
So depending on your spreadsheet and the time of day with a 5% error, all three groups are all the same or maybe that Gen-Y are more even more conservative. You post reminds me of the cliche "90% of all statistics can be made to say anything... 50% of the time"
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