Despite the recession, research suggests that most small business owners are satisfied with their vocation. Moving forward, what can entrepreneurs expect? Today’s emerging tech trends are laying the groundwork for tomorrow’s small business community.

Considerable research has highlighted the ups and downs of small businesses throughout the recession. However, according to Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s latest Survey of Small Business Success this year, one constant is that most owners are satisfied with their vocation. In fact, 61 percent are highly satisfied with being a business owner, while only 7 percent are dissatisfied.

This level has remained relatively high over past surveys despite the trials of the economy.

Successful business owners are generally more satisfied ones. To ensure they stay on top of their game moving forward, the following are three key tech trends that small-business owners should watch.

Tech Investments on the Rise
Technology today plays a critical role in entrepreneurs’ success. More than half of small businesses (56 percent) have Web sites, up from 46 percent a year ago, according to Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s 2011 Survey of Small Business Success.

The online channel is more important than a year ago as a way of generating leads for new customers, playing a primary role in this activity for 30 percent of businesses and a secondary role for another 16 percent.

In the fifth annual national Staples Small Business Survey, released early this year, three-fifths of respondents (60 percent) reported using some form of Internet-based technology to store documents in lieu of print or mail, for invoicing/billing and for Web-based meetings. As the number of employees increased, so did the incidence of Web-based tech being used (54 percent for 1-2 employees; 68 percent for 3-5 employees; and 72 percent for 6-20 employees). Virtually everyone who uses one of these technologies reports that it has had a positive impact on their business (95 percent).

Social Media Embraced
Social media is now used by almost a third of small businesses (31 percent), up from 24 percent a year ago and 12 percent two years ago, according to Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s 2011 Survey of Small Business Success. In Staples’ findings, more than one-third of respondents also said they have a presence on a social networking site. Among businesses that participate in social media (defined as Facebook, Twitter, blogging and podcasting), four out of five (80 percent) told Staples they increased their presence in 2010, with only 5 percent saying they decreased their presence.

“Despite the hype, the vast majority of small businesses haven’t used social media on a regular basis for business purposes,” Emergent Research’s Small Business Labs says. “This is changing as small business users become more comfortable with social media, its benefits become clearer and social media’s positive results become more obvious.”

Recent findings from Really Simple Systems suggest that as many as 62 percent of small firms are embracing social media networking as a means of conducting business.

The Network Solutions/University of Maryland study identified the following business benefits of using social media: staying engaged with customers; developing higher awareness of the company; and identifying and attracting new customers. When asked about their experiences to date with social media, 63 percent of small-business owners feel it has helped make their customers more loyal, but 56 percent feel it has taken up more time than they expected. Ultimately, 25 percent of entrepreneurs estimate that their investment in social media has made a profit while 15 percent estimate they have lost money; the remainder (46 percent) feel they broke even.

Virtual Office toward Work/Life Balance
In Staples’ survey of small-business owners, based on 300 U.S. small businesses having no more than 20 employees, four out of five (81 percent) reported personally using a cell phone, smartphone or PDA during their day-to-day business operations, and nearly all owners and managers using mobile devices work outside of normal business hours to answer business calls and/or read e-mail (98 percent). In fact, 60 percent admitted to spending more time holding their mobile devices than the hand of their significant other.

However, this increased dependency on technology, as well as the increasing popularity of the “virtual office,” actually enables small-business owners to achieve both increased productivity and a better work-life balance, according to Staples’ findings.

“Technology and mobile devices, in particular, can actually be good for family relationships, allowing Mom or Dad to stay plugged in with work while simultaneously attending events — ball games, school events — that were historically only possible for the non-working parent to attend,” Seth Meyers, a licensed clinical psychologist, relationship expert and author, said in an announcement of the findings. “Though the small business owner’s attention may be divided in such contexts, it allows for greater balance than life before such technology allowed.”

With the help of mobile communications, 50 percent of owners and managers are spending less time working at their desk, and 52 percent feel more comfortable taking a vacation because they can stay plugged-in. Moreover, 40 percent of significant others “don’t seem to mind” the attachment to mobile devices and support the small-business owner’s need to “work more to help make ends meet…even if that creeps in to relationship-time.”

Ultimately, small-business owners/managers worked fewer hours in 2010 than they did in 2009 and feel they may be able to take a vacation in 2011 without thinking about work.

Resources

The State of Small Business Report
Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland, Feb. 9, 2011

March 2011 Small Business Authority Index
Newtek Business Services, April 27, 2011

Small Business Optimism Index
by William Dunkelberg and Holly Wade
National Federation of Independent Business, April 2011

Increase in Hiring, But Decrease in Optimism
National Federation of Independent Business, April 12, 2011

Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, March 7, 2011

‘Jobless Entrepreneurship’ Tarnishes Steady Rate of U.S. Startup Activity…
Kauffman Foundation, March 7, 2011

Entrepreneurship and Economic Recovery
Kauffman Foundation, March 2009

…Survey Reveals “Phonemance” Overtakes Romance Among Small Business Owners
Staples, Jan. 3, 2011

Highlights: 5th Annual National Staples Small Business Survey
Staples (via SmallBizTrends.com), January 2011

62% of Small Companies Using Social Networking in Everyday Business
Really Simple Systems, April 13, 2011

Top 10 Small Business Trends for 2011
Small Business Labs, Jan. 4, 2011

Trade and the Economy: A Small Business Report
House Committee on Small Business Chairman Sam Graves, April 2011

2010 Year-End Economic Report
National Small Business Association

Small Business Taxation Survey
National Small Business Association

Top 5 Trends for Small Business as 2011 Starts
by Steve Strauss
USA Today, Jan 3, 2011