It’s inspiring to reflect on how the state of business has evolved over the years. There has been a generational shift in how people are approaching their career paths. For many, working for one company until retirement is becoming less popular as more and more people are choosing to become their own boss.
At GoDaddy, our mission is to empower everyday entrepreneurs by offering them the tools and guidance to start and grow their online presence and turn their side hustle into their only hustle. In an effort to better serve our customers, we recently conducted a survey to better understand how entrepreneurship is viewed by different generations.
We surveyed 3,000 Americans (including 1,000 millennials, 1,000 Gen Xers and 1,000 baby boomers).
The result? Entrepreneurship is on the rise in America and millennials are leading the pack.
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Entrepreneurship, a natural path for millennials
Nearly one in three millennials (30 percent) reported having a small business or a side hustle, with almost one in five (19 percent) saying it’s their main source of income.
While the road to entrepreneurship is not easy, millennials appear to be up for the challenge.
Forty seven percent of millennials believe all Americans have the means to start their own business, and 84 percent revealed that they are more satisfied as an entrepreneur than when they worked for someone else.
However, older generations are approaching entrepreneurship more cautiously. Seventy four percent of baby boomers report that they’re uninterested in starting a small business. Additionally, less than 12 percent of Gen Xers have sought out a community of other entrepreneurs.
While older generations generally view going into business for themselves as too risky, millennials are more likely to take the leap of faith.
In fact, 56 percent reported that entrepreneurship has always been a long-term goal, compared to 43 percent of Gen Xers and 21 percent of baby boomers.
This has proved especially true when faced with an unstable economy. As many as 38 percent of millennials attribute growing up during the Great Recession to making them more resourceful and primed for entrepreneurship, acting as the catalyst that sparked their entrepreneurial ventures.
Related: How to Build a Recruitment Strategy That Attracts Millennials
Technology’s role
It’s safe to say that entrepreneurship and technology go hand and hand. With the rise of various tech tools, including our newly launched Websites + Marketing platform, it has become easier than ever to get online and market your own business.
Millennials have grown up with technology as a constant tool at their fingertips and view it as essential to running any business today. Fifty percent percent of millennials believe that growing up with the internet has prepared them to become entrepreneurs. Further, 66 percent of millennials believe that they are able to handle the marketing and social media aspects of growing a business, compared to 28 percent of baby boomers.
The entrepreneur lifestyle
For many millennials, becoming an entrepreneur isn’t just a career choice, it’s a lifestyle.
A lot of these individuals began their businesses from their passions with the most popular sectors being art, music and entertainment (13 percent), followed by food and beverage (12 percent) and retail (10 percent).
While there are a number of factors that influence a person’s choice to become self-employed (such as the state of the economy), 24 percent of millennials revealed that they come from a family of entrepreneurs or small business owners, compared to only 12 percent of baby boomers.
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Looking ahead
So, what does this all mean for millennials in 2020?
We’ll likely continue to see a rise in millennial entrepreneurship as more seek to turn their passions into their main source of income.
The constant evolution of technology offers entrepreneurs every opportunity to create, sustain and grow their business, and millennials are taking advantage of all entrepreneurship has to offer; both the challenges and the benefits.
