Maybe money doesn't make the world go around.
When Manta and Dell joined forces to survey more than 3,000 small business owners (SBOs) in March 2014, it found that when asked what motivates SBOs to become successful entrepreneurs, more SBOs picked personal achievement (37 percent) over financial stability (27 percent).
This is in line with what "firsts" SBOs are most proud of. When asked, 29 percent of them stated the first time their company received an award and/or recognition as their proudest "first", followed by the first time they were able to host a company celebration (15 percent) and the first time they were able to give employees bonuses (15 percent).
From a technology standpoint, the biggest milestone for respondents' small businesses was, overwhelming, launching their business website (54 percent). Similarly, emerging technology they foresee having a significant impact on the way they do business moving forward was new social media platforms (41 percent), followed by mobile technology (32 percent). More insights can be seen in the infographic below.