Most company owners see success as being able to provide themselves and their family with a decent standard of living rather than making millions, according to research by YouGov.

Other half (57%) of those questioned by the survey, commissioned for Panasonic, said giving their family a comfortable life constituted success, with 49% saying still being in business in 10 years‘ time would be an achievement and 35% citing ’having a great idea and making it happen‘ as a successful outcome.

People often think of the start-up phase as most critical, only to discover that growing the business raises a whole different set of challenges they are not always prepared for

The research also claimed that entrepreneurs found it harder to grow a company than they did starting up, with 41% saying expanding was harder compared to 10% who thought the opposite.

“It‘s a common misconception, but people often think of the start-up phase as most critical, only to discover that growing the business raises a whole different set of challenges they are not always prepared for,” said Gerry George, professor of etrepreneurship at the London Business School, who helped develop and interpret the research.

“Resource constraints and personnel issues, like hard work and building the right team, can be major roadblocks to break-through growth,” he added. “To get from start-up to the next, more stable phase, UK small businesses need to channel their determination and leverage scarce resources, whether they ultimately want to be a large corporate or just have the satisfaction seeing their ideas come to life.”

The greatest challenges to business growth were identified as lack of money for investment (51%), excessive legislation (47%), and lack of time to dedicate to growth (46%).

But when asked the main factors holding them back from expanding, the most common answer was ’looking for a better work/life balance rather than burnout‘ (39%), followed by excessive legislation (34%) and the cost of growth (29%).

The vast majority (89%) of business owners surveyed saw independence to make their own decisions a key benefit of running a business. This was followed by flexibility and work/life balance (72%) and the satisfaction of having made it (70%).