Resilience, adaptability and innovation are just some of the many characteristics associated with Australian small businesses. One of the biggest, but often overlooked traits, is instinct. While there are numerous ingredients that contribute to a successful entrepreneur, from industry skills and business acumen to diligence and planning, turning a dream into reality and a passion into a purpose ultimately requires decisiveness and a leap of faith.
The power of instincts backed by research
According to new ‘Go for it’ research released by GoDaddy, there’s more to trusting your instincts than we may realise. The research, carried out amongst a nationally representative sample of 1015 Australian entrepreneurs, small-business owners and side hustlers found that a whopping 85 per cent of Aussie small-business owners said that instincts were either ‘important or very important’ in their decision to start their business. Three quarters (78 per cent) of survey respondents believe that trusting their instincts has positively impacted their business, while only one per cent believe it has had a negative impact.
Looking at how often Aussie small-business owners use their intuition, more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of those surveyed said they trust their instincts to make business decisions ‘most days’, while 84 per cent do so at least once a week. A third (31 per cent) said they make an instinct-based decision every single day.
It turns out backing your instincts can also be advantageous when it comes to business growth, with pricing changes (30 per cent), business strategy (30 per cent), investments (28 per cent), and hiring (24 per cent) reported as the top instinct-based decisions, according to the research. When it comes to hiring and upskilling, Aussie entrepreneurs are prioritising soft skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving – two characteristics that can help to develop stronger instincts – compared to hard skills like a relevant degree, coding or bookkeeping.
Barking up the right tree
Roxane Coutts and Corrin Elliot, co-owners of Victorian-based Barkery Deluxe Dog Treats are just two of the thousands of Aussie business owners who wouldn’t be where they are today if they hadn’t trusted their instincts. With a shared love of dogs and a desire to enjoy more freedom and flexibility around their families, they trusted their instincts, built a website using our Website Builder and haven’t looked back. Both agree that it’s incredibly important to plan and prepare when launching a business, but there comes a point when they had to back themselves and go for it. Many have business ideas, but our moment of inspiration is often curbed by self-doubt. Whether it’s the decision to start a business or to overcome challenging situations, our research shows that instinct and assuredness are crucial for Australia’s entrepreneurs. The last two years have presented some of the toughest challenges entrepreneurs have ever faced, yet data from ASIC (The Australian Securities and Investments Commission) revealed that business registrations were higher than pre-pandemic levels. Australian entrepreneurs are demonstrating that dreams can become a reality when you trust your instincts and ‘go for it’.
