The author make use of the European Survey on Working Conditions to compare sole proprietors' working conditions and workloads. The survey covers more than 20.000 people in all forms of gainful employment in 15 EU countries. Sole proprietors are not "hands-off" entrepreneurs; rather, a high proportion of their work is directly "hands-on", and they may well be exposed to greater physical stress than average employees. The intrinsic quality of their work, too, corresponds to the ideas of an entrepreneur's activities only to a limited extent. The positive aspects, however, include the fact that they are able to determine the contents and methods of their work themselves and are in a better position to regulate the pressure of work ...