18 per cent of sole traders work well over 60 hours a week, new research shows.

Just under a fifth of entrepreneurs work an extra three days a week to keep their business up-and-running, a national survey of sole traders has revealed.

While 18 per cent of those surveyed admitted to working well over 60 hours a week, 26 per cent of sole traders admitted to putting in 45 to 60 hours a week. The majority get up at 7am (42 per cent) and go to bed at 11pm (44 per cent), the survey of 1,000 sole traders carried out by Viking showed.

Nationally, the research also revealed that more than half have felt lonely and isolated (52 per cent) however, they would not consider going back to working for somebody else (60 per cent).

John O’Keeffe, Commercial Director at Office Depot said: "It comes as no surprise that the average sole trader is putting in such long hours in the current challenging economic climate. Being a sole trader is the very definition of occupational freedom however, it can be an extremely high-pressure way to earn a living with high workloads and long hours."

Freedom was cited by half of the respondents as being their main motivation as opposed to profit. The majority of entrepreneurs also see sales (31 per cent) and cash flow (17 per cent) as the main barriers to future growth.

When quizzed on their plans for the future, 72 per cent of sole traders admitted to not yet having a pension plan in place and 96 per cent believe that the Government could be doing more to represent their needs of SMEs in Parliament.