Business Opportunities - Owner Characteristics

As reported in Homebased Business: The Hidden Economy, small business owners are likely to be male, whether in a home-based business (about 64%) or not based at home (70%); in addition, home-based business owners are slightly more likely than owners of businesses TABLE 9.7 Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003not based at home to be married, with rates of 76% for home-based business owners and 72.2% for those not based at home. Home-based business owners were typically in their mid-forties at the time of the survey.

TABLE 9.7
Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003
	Number of sole proprietorships	Receipts (in thousands)
All sole proprietorships	17,575,643	969,347,038
Professional, scientific & technical services
Legal services	324,484	27,649,186
Office of certified public accountants	51,079	3,063,764
Other accounting services	339,095	6,405,006
Architectural services	68,163	4,639,593
Engineering services	95,922	4,831,303
Drafting, building inspection and geophysical surveying	41,901	1,012,580
Surveying and mapping (except geophysical) services	15,034	647,042
Testing laboratories	3,080	72,843
Specialized design services	159,875	5,025,333
Computer systems design services	234,926	7,143,506
Management, scientific and technical consulting	589,950	24,001,543
Scientific research and development services	33,161	564,199
Advertising and related services	92,443	4,830,733
Market research and public opinion polling	26,212	1,057,364
Other professional and technical services	368,420	15,978,294
Administrative and support services	1,433,426	36,117,451
Waste management and remediation services	22,442	1,164,421
Educational services	326,443	4,155,635
Health care and social assistance
Physicians (except mental health specialists)	178,871	25,989,675
Physicians (mental health specialists)	24,409	1,978,299
Dentists	95,536	25,366,750
Chiropractors	28,950	3,756,135
Optometrists	16,006	2,603,483
Mental health practitioners and social therapists	143,813	5,715,529
Podiatrists	7,650	650,945
Outpatient care centers and other health practitioners	99,270	2,278,126
Medical and diagnostic laboratories	18,425	1,404,384
Home health care services	114,427	1,645,182
Other services (including ambulance services, blood banks)	30,651	689,575
Hospital services	6,176	03,583
Nursing and residential care facilities	54,217	2,400,695
Social assistance	95,996	1,246,162
Child day care services	606,038	6,931,928
Information
Publishing industries	61,348	1,927,882
Motion picture and sound recording	61,930	1,972,154
Broadcasting and telecommunications	36,118	1,382,339
Information services and data processing services	77,150	1,705,519
Wholesale trade
Durable goods, (including machinery, wood, metals, etc.)	190,524	22,381,553
Nondurable goods, (including food, fiber, chemicals, etc.)	169,511	20,658,107
Retail trade
Motor vehicle and parts dealers	126,034	33,371,057
Furniture and home furnishing stores	55,594	6,384,327
Electronic and appliance stores	32,785	5,257,972
Building materials and garden supplies	50,939	7,795,929
Food and beverage stores	108,624	31,684,545
Health and personal care stores	118,048	7,360,867
Gasoline stations	33,439	23,984,904
Clothing and accessories stores	103,923	11,915,848
Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores	150,948	8,777,446
General merchandise stores	31,094	4,580,787
Miscellaneous store retailers	422,688	23,018,888
Nonstore retailers	1,075,154	21,042,740

TABLE 9.7 Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003 (CONTINUED)

TABLE 9.7
Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003 (CONTINUED)
	Number of sole proprietorships	Receipts (in thousands)
Accommodation and food services
Hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast inns	32,116	3,396,910
Recreational vehicle parks and recreational camps	15,791	688,232
Rooming and boarding houses	13,391	764,503
Food services and drinking places	253,853	31,443,622
Construction
Land subdivision and land development	20,349	2,938,922
Residential building construction	357,136	37,960,287
Nonresidential building construction	84,325	7,519,397
Heavy construction	58,229	4,690,800
Special trade contractors	1,763,890	101,115,961
Manufacturing
Food manufacturing	30,876	3,021,165
Textile and textile product mills	6,095	136,218
Apparel	27,077	1,908,086
Leather and allied products	1,652	105,449
Wood products	40,680	2,729,519
Paper products	4,567	180,312
Printing and related support activities	42,951	3,364,033
Petroleum and coal products	899	9,374
Chemical manufacturing	9,995	259,770
Plastics, rubber, clay, refractory, and glass products	19,979	834,849
Nonmetallic mineral products	7,091	567,982
Primary metal industries	3,669	381,799
Fabricated metal products	42,476	4,086,061
Machinery	21,804	3,096,553
Computer and electronic products	9,258	348,151
Electrical equipment, appliance, and components	9,096	984,234
Transportation equipment	8,925	835,385
Furniture and related products	29,243	2,279,529
Medical equipment and supplies	2,418	293,351
Other miscellaneous manufacturing	40,808	1,905,388
Transportation and warehousing
Air and rail transportation	14,574	503,643
Water transportation	4,349	448,335
General freight trucking, local	169,027	13,456,352
General and specialized freight trucking, long-distance	250,736	21,875,973
Urban transit	973	26,839
Interurban and rural bus transportation	941	6,299
Taxi and limousine service	107,387	3,104,899
School, employee, and charter bus industry	15,772	658,603
Other transit and ground passenger transportation	17,513	317,771
Scenic and sightseeing transportation	10,255	205,850
Vehicle towing and other transportation	37,446	1,575,197
Couriers and messengers	157,753	3,438,180
Warehousing and storage facilities	3,651	371,352
Finance and insurance
Credit intermediation and related activities	54,913	3,174,011
Investment bankers and securities dealers	4,672	5,566,788
Securities brokers	27,690	10,746,057
Commodity contracts brokers and dealers	4,965	4,455,966
Securities and commodity exchanges	956	1,086,282
Investment advice and other investment activities	101,645	37,823,097
Insurance agencies and brokerages	326,762	20,995,816
Insurance (other activities)	57,760	2,542,605

About half of all small business owners have had some family business experience, and about 25% of those who have a college degree majored in business. Home-based business owners were somewhat more likely to have a college degree (21.4%) than business owners not based at home (15.6%). Approximately 10% of business owners have had between ten and nineteen years of prior TABLE 9.7 Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003 (CONTINUED) Patrick O'Rourke, "Total Number of U.S. Sole Proprietorships," in Useful Business Statistics, Bizstats.com, 2003, http://www.bizstats.com/numbersp.htm (accessed January 10, 2006)management experience, and about 20% had previous employment by a relative prior to their own business ownership.

TABLE 9.7
Total number of U.S. sole proprietorships, 2003 (CONTINUED)
	Number of sole proprietorships	Receipts (in thousands)
SOURCE: Patrick O'Rourke, "Total Number of U.S. Sole Proprietorships," in Useful Business Statistics, Bizstats.com, 2003, http://www.bizstats.com/numbersp.htm (accessed January 10, 2006)
Real estate and rental industries
Real estate lessors including warehouses and self storage	16,728	1,039,098
Real estate agents, brokers, managers and appraisers	673,734	34,016,819
Other activities related to real estate	98,254	4,362,306
Automotive equipment rental and leasing	16,736	694,034
Consumer electronics and appliances rental	1,064	64,281
Formal wear and costume rental	941	41,380
Video tape and disc rental	7,476	842,856
General rental centers	11,269	381,586
Commercial equipment rental and leasing	25,232	1,430,381
Other services
Automotive mechanical and electrical repair	168,775	12,405,736
Automotive body shops	94,540	6,897,434
Auto maintenance (including oil change and car washes)	63,329	4,190,180
Miscellaneous repairs (non-automotive)	365,316	12,488,692
Personal and laundry services	1,104,628	27,734,756
Religious, civic and professional organizations	210,843	2,209,867
Performing arts, spectator sports, and related	876,286	14,934,984
Museums, historical sites, and similar institutions	4,034	41,887
Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries	159,888	4,477,467
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Animal production (including breeding of cats and dogs)	35,201	786,209
Forestry and logging	54,337	7,296,277
Fishing	82,380	2,668,631
Hunting and trapping	9,361	105,930
Support activities for agriculture and forestry	125,625	5,795,646
Oil and gas extraction	97,173	3,232,669
Coal mining	9	9,011
Metal ore mining	3,017	35,808
Nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying	9,312	711,567
Support activities for mining	7,587	445,445
Utilities	9,077	108,154
Unclassified establishments	262,768	3,349,077