A recent (September 30) Wells Fargo/Gallup survey of small business owners has found that, while the percentage of respondents who feel "extremely satisfied" or "very satisfied" with being small business owners has remained relatively constant over the past 12 years, the percentage who feel "extremely successful" or "very successful" as small business owners continues to decline.

In 2003, 56 percent of small business owners reported being "extremely satisfied" or "very satisfied" with being small business owners. That percentage remained relatively steady for the next four years (57 percent in 2004, 55 percent in 2005, 56 percent in 2006, and 57 percent in 2007). It then began to decline (54 percent in 2008, 52 percent in 2009, and 45 percent in 2010), and then began to increase again (52 percent in 2011, 55 percent in 2012, 51 percent in 2013, and 56 percent in 2014).

Feelings of success, however, have shown a different trend. In 2003, 40 percent of respondents reported feeling "extremely successful" or "very successful" as small business owners. Percentages then began to increase (46 percent in 2005, 45 percent in 2006, 47 percent in 2006, and 47 percent in 2007.). Since that time, however, there has been a steady decline (44 percent in 2008, 43 percent in 2009, 40 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2011, 39 percent in 2012, 38 percent in 2013, and 37 percent in 2014).