According to a recent study conducted by MasterCard 70% of small business owners say that $100,000 would positively impact their work-life balance. So MasterCard is going to do it, they are going to give away $100,000 to help small business owners balance work and life. Studies showed that 49% of people would invest or save the money, 29% would pay off personal loans and other debt and those are only a few of the findings. Bruno Perrault of MasterCard WorldWide says that the ‘Run Your Business, Live Your Life’ promotion is a reflection of our commitment to provide small businesses with the necessary tools and resources that enables them to improve how they run their business but also continue to achieve balance in their life.

Today’s Final Jeopardy answer is: $100,000. What’s the question?

According to MasterCard’s Run Your Business, Live Your Life! new small business promotion, that’s the amount of money that they’ll give away to small business owners to help them balance work and life ($50,000 to spend on one’s business, and $50,000 to spend on one’s self).

Why would MasterCard presume that money would help someone to balance their life? Because, according to a new survey released May 3rd by MasterCard Worldwide, 70% of small business owners say that winning $100,000 would positively impact their work-life balance.

How would small business owners spend the $100K?

• Invest or save it (49%)
• Paying off personal loans and other debts (29%)
• Upgrades or improvements/expansions for your business (26%)
• Paying off business loans and other debts (27%)
• Purchase business equipment and/or supplies (25%)
• Donate it/give to charity (25%)
• Employees (i.e. increased salaries, improved benefits, bonuses, or time off) (20%)

Additional findings of the study included:

• 96% of U.S. small business owners say that balancing their work and life is important to them.

• More than half believe that being a small business owner enables greater work-life balance compared to other workers.

• Not having enough money to meet business and personal needs (21 percent) and rarely being able to fully turn off from the job when they’re away from it (16 percent) were the top factors noted as interfering with work-life balance.

• Making enough money to meet or exceed business and personal needs (30 percent) and having flexible working hours (28 percent), were the top factors noted that help small business owners achieve work-life balance.

• When asked what work-related factors best help them to achieve work- life balance, better organizing business and personal priorities (29 percent); and hiring and retaining competent employees that could assume some responsibilities (21 percent) were among the top factors cited.

Says Bruno Perrault of MasterCard WorldWide:

“For most small business owners, the line between professional and personal life is often blurred as they are constantly juggling multiple business and personal tasks. The ‘Run Your Business, Live Your Life’ promotion is a reflection of our commitment to provide small businesses with the necessary tools and resources that enables them to not only improve how they run their business but also continue to achieve balance in their life.”

Look for more and more companies, and marketers, to recognize just how huge an issue life balance is and will continue to be for the foreseeable future and beyond.

That’s just a hook, of course. The real impetus is the fact that growth in the consumer credit card business is slowing, but small businesses remain virtually untapped in their use of credit cards according to the article Credit Cards Try to Lure Small Firms in the WSJ Startup Journal.