Entrepreneurs are happier

According to a survey of 11,000 MBA graduates, people who become entrepreneurs rate themselves happier than all other professionals and rate their work-life balance as better too.

A survey of 11,000 MBA grads has found entrepreneurs are generally happier than people in more conventional jobs.

The survey, which polled 30,000 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, also found that money does, in fact, buy happiness. However, having little money but working for oneself can deliver a similarly satisfactory result.

The Street takes a look at the Wharton questionnaire, which drew 11,000 responses from graduates of the school’s MBA program, 20 per cent of whom ended up starting their own business. Among the key findings, graduates who became entrepreneurs rated themselves happier than all other professionals and rated their work-life balance as better too.

All this despite the fact many barely scraped together a living – only 56 per cent who went into business for themselves made a profit.

“We were surprised that entrepreneurship was such a dominant factor,” The Street quotes Wharton management professor Ethan Mollick as saying. “Entrepreneurs are working really hard ... But there’s a sense that they have control over their own time, even if they’re putting in a huge number of hours.”

The survey also finds that entrepreneurship is increasingly become part of the career arc, with people switching back and forth between running their own business and working for others.

According to The Street, Mollick and fellow Wharton wonk Matthew Bidwell are now further crunching the numbers to find out if entrepreneurial experience – even if it’s a flop – contributes to overall career satisfaction.

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