Figuratively Speaking: Survey: 1 in 3 Americans have opened businesses

Percentage of Americans who say they have started at least one small business, according to a survey by FindLaw.com: 30

Percentage who have thought about starting their own business at some point in their lives: 31

Improving the economy

Percentage of Americans who said small business leaders and entrepreneurs will lead the U.S. to a better future, according to a We Media/Zogby survey: 63

Percentage who said the same of science and technology leaders: 52

Following the rules

Percentage of small-business owners that at one point have had to search for an old or deleted e-mail for compliance purposes, according to a survey by eMediaUSA on behalf of GFI Software: 47

Percentage who say it typically takes less than an hour to find an e-mail from 15 months ago or longer: 29

Percentage that do not feel they are sufficiently informed about compliance and e-mail archiving issues: 40

Worth the risk?

Percentage of small-business owners who agree with the statement, "Even in these turbulent economic times, the rewards and opportunities of running my own business outweigh the risks and challenges," according to the American Express Open Economic Pulse: 80

Facing fraud

Percentage of those small- and medium- business owners who have the capacity to process debit/credit transactions that agree they could be underestimating the degree to which fraudsters are targeting their business, according to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Visa: 41

Percentage who said that data thieves and hackers are not interested in a business of their size: 40 (10 percent "strongly"/30 percent "somewhat")

Percentage who disagree with this premise: 59

Entrepreneurial optimism

Percentage of small-business owners who believe that 2009 will be as good or better than 2008, according to a survey commissioned by Microsoft Office Live Small Business and Elance: 60

Despite the economy, the percentage of business owners who state that they are happier running their own business than working for someone else: 86

Online sales costs

Percentage of small businesses that sell goods online that report they have seen their annual shipping costs increase, according to an Endicia survey: 84

Percentage of these companies that have incurred a fuel surcharge from their shipping carrier: 40

Estimated percentage of shipping costs for ground service of private carriers that is accounted for by fuel surcharges: 8.25

Estimated percentage of shipping costs for air service of private carriers that is accounted for by fuel surcharges: 28.5

Working for oneself

Number of times faster that proprietorship employment grew than wage-and-salary employment between 2001 and 2006, according to research by Laurence E. Goss and Salem State College's Enterprise Center: 7

Number of sole proprietors in the U.S. in 2006: 20,768,555

Meeting the economy

Percentage of professionals who believe their employers are rising to the occasion when it comes to responding to the downturn in the economy, according to a survey by Robert Half International: 69

Percentage of respondents who said their companies are doing only some things or nothing right: 30

Percentage who feel their employers will emerge from the recession stronger than before: 55

Idle Thought

"Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love."

-David McCullough[[In-content Ad]]John MacIntyre is a Nova Scotia-based author and former city magazine editor. His Figuratively Speaking column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.