Some 3.2 million Canadians would like to start their own business and approximately 950,000 of them hope to do so within one year, according to a new survey released today by RBC Financial Group.

However, the survey found a gap between the responses of aspiring entrepreneurs and the Canada’s existing small- and medium-sized business owners.

Money is definitely a motive for many entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, but it isn’t the only reason for going it alone in business. In fact, many aspiring entrepreneurs say they want more control. Eighty-one per cent of Canadians who plan to start a business in the next five years say they want to be their own boss. This compares to 68% who cite income as an important motive. Additionally, 22% think they will be able to take more vacation time.

As for current business owners, 69% agree a main benefit of owning a business is being their own boss, while 42% cite income as a main advantage, and just 14% cite taking more vacation time than before as a main benefit. Both groups see equal benefit to having flexible work hours and believe owning their own business makes it easier to manage family commitments.

The survey also reveals that aspiring entrepreneurs are optimistic about the impact on their bottom line. Forty-two per cent of future entrepreneurs estimate their total household income will increase within the first year of starting their business. However, only 34% of current business owners said their incomes increased in that time period.

Concurrently, 26% of aspiring business people expect to incur a decrease in the first year while 35% of owners said they did. Almost one-quarter (24%) are counting on their new businesses to account for 100% of their household income, but only 16% of existing business owners can make this claim.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/RBC Royal Bank poll conducted between August 12 and August 16. For the survey, invitations were sent to a representative sample of Canadian adults 18 years of age or older, resulting in 2,380 completed online interviews among entrepreneurs and 1,661 completed online interviews among aspiring entrepreneurs. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within (+/-) 2.0 percentage points for existing entrepreneurs and (+/-) 2.4 percentage points for aspiring entrepreneurs, 19 times out of 20, of what would have been, had the entire adult Canadian population been polled.