Being the next James Caan isn’t all its cracked up to be according to a report by Kingston University and T-Mobile.

The Age of The Entrepreneur report, based on a YouGov survey of over 700 UK Small and Medium Enterprise owner-managers, revealed more than a third of entrepreneurs find it difficult to achieve work-life balance as they struggle to attract customers, manage their time and deal with feelings of isolation.

Hard work, good staff, embracing technology and a strong support network were identified as the most important factors in running a successful business.

The report reveals huge disparities between the perceptions and realities of starting and running a small business.

The portrayal of small businesses as the cutting edge of the UK economy is also questioned. Many SME owner-managers were found to be ‘steady state’ entrepreneurs, not actively looking to improve their businesses (33%) and more concerned with making only a ‘comfortable’ living for themselves and their families (56%). Only 4% of SME owner-managers admitted to starting their business with the aim of ‘making their first million’.

Professor Blackburn, Director of Research at the Small Business Research Centre at Kingston University, said: “Money is not the motivating factor that you would expect based on programmes such as Dragons’ Den and Tycoon. People enter business to take charge of their own destiny and to improve their work-life balance – although this report highlights that SME ownership has more of a negative impact on the latter.”