The small business juggling act

As a business owner do you ever feel like you have a lot of tasks all up in the air at the same time? If you do, well you’re not alone—we asked 1,000 small business decision makers which circus act best describes their personal experience of running a small business and 57 percent identified most strongly with the juggler.

Not the lion tamer, controlling a powerful living animal, nor the acrobat moving swiftly and dynamically between new opportunities, but the circus' most masterful multi-tasker. We found that a fascinating insight into the minds of small business owners, and we think it hints at the daily extra hassles they are needlessly put through each and every working day (accessing finance from a bank, for example).

In fact, we thought the research painted such a vivid picture that we wanted to bring it life via our very own small business juggling act. Click the video below to see what happens when we turn up at Manchester Piccadilly Station with a juggler, four undercover performers and a load of juggling balls:

Speaking about the research our CEO, Christoph Rieche, said: “I can absolutely resonate with this feeling; there are so many balls we as business owners need to keep in the air. If you drop one you risk that all of them come crashing down, it’s really stressful but also a lot of fun at the same time.”

“Access to credit to manage cash-flow gaps or to seize growth opportunities is just one of these balls and it’s iwoca’s mission to make it an easy one to keep in the air.”

The YouGov study also found that affinity with the juggling analogy was strongest in the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, where 63 percent in each region compared themselves to jugglers. It was revealed that bookkeeping was the task most small businesses considered the biggest hassle, chosen by over a quarter (27 percent) of all decision-makers. Meanwhile, 42 percent of respondents believe central government adds to the hassle for small businesses.

If you'd like to learn more on the mentality of small business ownership, why not have a read of our article: Exploring the personality of small business owners with Dr Gorkan Ahmetoglu