‘Spouse Power’ the secret small business support system

Spouses and partners are wedded to their loved one’s business and account for 230 million unpaid hours a month according to research released today by Bibby Financial Services.

The survey found that 68% of spouses regularly worked for their partners business unpaid and a staggering 18% worked five days a week for no pay.

All this unpaid and until now unrecognised work is incredibly valuable to small businesses, particularly when the economic climate is tough. It does raise some interesting questions, however, about the real viability of some of these businesses.

Most of the support provided by partners takes the form of administrative tasks (41%) or book-keeping (29%).  Nevertheless nearly half (46%) say they regularly provide management and consulting advice too and one in four say the original idea for the business was theirs.

For some a monetary transaction does take place with 34% having taken some form of payment for their endeavours.

The research is released as Bibby Financial services launches a site which follows the fortunes of three real business owners at www.live-business.co.uk.

[Picture credit: Lukasz Dunikowski @ Flickr]