Time to look forward to the future in the SMB partner community. You will recall that we have presented two prior installments on our annual salary survey in past issues (Educated and Income) I’d encourage you to refill your coffee (or your beer), review those prior installments before proceeding further. I’ll wait here.
Welcome back!
If anything, entrepreneurs are optimistic. I use that label because, in our past installments (read above), you are the founder and owner of your partner practice (MSP, CSP, consulting practice, reseller), etc. But even I was surprised how positive you are right here, right now. When asked if you expected positive compensation growth in 2016, 62% of you replied affirmative. The positive growth categories ranged from +1% to +50%. The greatest positive response grouping was 1% to +10% growth. The “break-even” crowd came in at 27.27%. The “Nabobs of Negativity” forecasting income contraction only amounted to 10.92%. While I’m no Nate Silver who is arguably the world’s best statistician, I can predict positive growth with a 90%+ confidence level in 2016. You can take that to the bank. Hell go out and buy a new car!
Your overall economic sentiment strongly correlated to the income assessment above. An even greater majority (62.44%) weighed in as Moderately Optimistic/Optimistic). The break-even crowd was 23.64% and the pessimist totaled 14.55%. To be clear, economic sentiment is more of an emotional measure.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
Studies show that over 70% of “employees” are unhappy at work (Gallup). But “we” in the SMB partner community are exactly the opposite. A whopping 89% of you enjoy your job as a partner, MSP, CSP, VAR, reseller, consultant…whatever the heck you call yourself! I’ve always said that to outside observers. You guys love what you do first and foremost. And as I alluded to in my roadshow article here, you entered this business as a technical professional and you still like to geek out at workshops. Only 11% of you don’t like your work. We know who you are (yes – we’re watching you!).
In my next installment of the annual salary survey, we’ll dig a bit deeper into company and customer size and discover if size really matters.