South: One in 10 New Year’s resolutions focus on starting own business, says Angels Den
With Christmas and the New Year approaching, research carried out by Angels Den, the UK’s largest angel network, has revealed that more than one in 10 Britons have ‘starting my own business’ on their New Year’s resolutions list for 2015.
The research, which looks into Britons’ New Year resolutions, and in particular their career goals and aspirations for 2015 and beyond, shows that the most common industries that Britons are looking to break into with their start-up ideas are food and drink, fashion and IT.
Researchers polled a total of 1,693 UK adults aged 18 and over. Participants were initially asked to reveal what they have decided to focus on as their New Year’s resolution(s) for next year, with the most common 10 answers revealed as follows:
1. Get fitter and healthier - 63%
2. Drink less alcohol - 57%
3. Lose weight - 34%
4. Get out of debt - 26%
5. Stop smoking - 22%
6. Find a new job/change career direction - 18%
7. Spend more time with friends/family - 14%
8. Start my own business - 11%
9. Travel more - 9%
10. Find love - 7%
Participants who stated that they were planning to start their own business in the New Year was asked how their plans were coming along. The vast majority, 78% admitted that their idea was still ‘just an idea’, while the remaining 22% had begun the process of setting up various aspects of their new business (website domain names/office locations/copyrights etc).
Furthermore, when asked what types of businesses they were planning to set up in the New Year, the top industries mentioned by the relevant respondents were:
1. Food/drink - 16%
2. Fashion - 13%
3. IT - 8%
4. Media - 5%
5. Construction - 5%
Bill Morrow, co-founder of Angels Den, commented: “I think it’s absolutely fantastic that as many as one in 10 of the people we polled during this research are planning on starting their own companies.
“With the various opportunities for securing financial investment now available to start-ups and entrepreneurs in the UK, there is really no reason why 2015 shouldn’t be the year that they finally take the leap. After all, if I hadn’t made the same decision back on NYE 2007, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today, as co-founder of the largest angel network in the UK and making people’s dreams come true every day.”
