CH 1 Introduction To ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Ujasiriamali)
DEFINITION
The activity of setting up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.
"The new business opportunities have encouraged entrepreneurship on a grand scale"
Essentially, entrepreneurship is the process of developing, organizing, and running a new

business to generate profit while taking on financial risk.
Entrepreneurship refers to the process of creating a new enterprise and bearing any of its
risks, with the view of making the profit. The person who creates a new enterprise and
embraces every challenge for its development and operation is known as an entrepreneur.
Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist who first coined the word entrepreneur in about 1800, said:
“The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher
productivity and greater yield.” One dictionary says an entrepreneur is “one who undertakes an
enterprise,
CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Concept of entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is a complex and multi-faceted endeavor, but there are seven key
concepts that every successful entrepreneur needs to master. These concepts
are: opportunity identification, value creation, risk management, resourcefulness,
networking, sales and marketing, and financial literacy.
3 C's of entrepreneurship:
Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value

The entrepreneurial mindset consists of three key elements: Curiosity, Connections, and Creating
Value—the 3C's. This emergent understanding came from years of work with KEEN faculty,
students, and industry.
3 types of entrepreneurship
Evaluate the relevance of different types of entrepreneurship.
Different types of Entrepreneurship
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 Intrapreneurship.
 Social Entrepreneurship.
 Indigenous Entrepreneurship.
The father of entrepreneurship
Schumpeter is best known for his theories on business cycles and the development of
capitalist economies, and for introducing the concept of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship introduction
Entrepreneurship is when an individual that has an idea acts on that idea, usually
to disrupt the current market with a new product or service. Entrepreneurship
usually starts as a small business but the long-term vision is much greater, to seek high
profits and capture market share with an innovative new idea.
NOTE:
Entrepreneur: What It Means to Be One and How to Get Started

Learn about the challenges facing entrepreneurs as they start new businesses
By
ADAM HAYES
Reviewed by
AMY DRURY
Fact checked by
KATRINA MUNICHIELLO
What Is an Entrepreneur?
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An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and
enjoying most of the rewards.
The process of setting up a business is known as entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is

commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or
procedures.
Entrepreneurs play a key role in any economy, using the skills and initiative necessary to
anticipate needs and bring good new ideas to market.
Entrepreneurship that proves to be successful in taking on the risks of creating a startup is

rewarded with profits, fame, and continued growth opportunities.
Entrepreneurship that fails results in losses and less prevalence in the markets for those
involved.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
 A person who undertakes the risk of starting a new business venture is called an
entrepreneur.
 An entrepreneur creates a firm to realize their idea, known as entrepreneurship, which
aggregates capital and labor in order to produce goods or services for profit.
 Entrepreneurship is highly risky but also can be highly rewarding, as it serves to generate
economic wealth, growth, and innovation.
 Ensuring funding is key for entrepreneurs: Financing resources include SBA loans and
crowdfunding.
 The way entrepreneurs file and pay taxes will depend on how the business is set up in
terms of structure.
Entrepreneur (Mjasiriamali)
A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the

hope of profit.
"Many entrepreneurs see potential in this market"
An entrepreneur is someone who has an idea and who works to create a product or
service that people will buy, as well as an organization to support that effort. An
entrepreneur takes on most of the risk and initiative for their new business, and is often seen as
a visionary or innovator.
An entrepreneur is an individual who identifies a need in the marketplace and works to

fulfill it. The term, historically, has been applied to an individual who starts a business, seeing
the ability to fulfill that identified need as an economic opportunity.
Types of entrepreneur:
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Here, we'll discuss the five types of entrepreneurs and how their respective
priorities and goals create unique businesses and distinctly affect consumers.
 Social entrepreneurship.
 Scalable startup entrepreneurship.
 Small business entrepreneurship.
 Large company entrepreneurship.
 Innovation entrepreneurship.
NOTE:
Types of Entrepreneurship: Meaning and Defining Characteristics

Tyler Parker, Preferred Banking Office Manager, First Republic Bank
January 21, 2022
 Of the several types of entrepreneurship, each has its own distinct goals,
aspirations and measures of success.
 Some types of entrepreneurship focus on innovation or societal change,
others strive for rapid expansion or growth from an existing business
model and still others generate profits to support the entrepreneur’s
lifestyle with no plans for expansion.
 Understanding the different types of entrepreneurship, and which one(s)
align with your business aspirations, can help you make more informed
decisions about the future of your company.
For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, often nothing is more exciting than
embarking on a new business venture. New entrepreneurial ventures promise
excitement, the chance at success and the opportunity to realize a new vision.
While each entrepreneur is unique, many share at least a few core

characteristics that help them succeed:
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
 Independent
 Passionate
 Visionaries
 Innovators
 Resilient
 Tenacious
Entrepreneurs may share several overarching characteristics, but the type of

entrepreneur you are — or aspire to be — could look very different from
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someone else's and may influence your goals, as well as shape the future of
your business.
Here, we’ll discuss the five types of entrepreneurs and how their respective
priorities and goals create unique businesses and distinctly affect consumers.
1. Social entrepreneurship
Driven by a desire to give back to the community, social entrepreneurs seek to
offer solutions to important social problems, which may include:
 Addressing social inequality

 Engaging with environmental concerns
 Supporting more equitable economic development
Some social entrepreneurs may start a nonprofit, whereas others pursue

profitable business ventures that give back to the community.
Social entrepreneurs have a strong vision for the world, and the financial goals
of social entrepreneurs are centered on the company’s mission, often with a
focus on effecting social change. As a result, a social entrepreneur’s markers of
success can heavily weigh on positive progress toward an issue, instead of
financial markets, such as profit generation.
Thus, the intent of social entrepreneurs differs from that of scalable startup
entrepreneurs, who are concerned with rapidly expanding their business.
2. Scalable startup entrepreneurship

Scalable startup entrepreneurs dream big, focusing on innovative ideas that can
expand their business and generate as much profit as quickly as possible.
Most scalable startup entrepreneurs:
 Find a gap in the market and focus on filling that need

 Seek to create a scalable business that’s ready to expand and serve a
larger market
 Have high margins, as well as a lean and agile staff prepared to pivot as
the business grows
With a large profit incentive, scalable startup entrepreneurs often seek to attract
venture capital that will help with their rapid expansion. Scalable businesses are
often favored by venture capitalists, because they can quickly gain a return on
their investment. Because the focus is growth, key metrics for success may
include gross margins, customer retention and conversion rates.
3. Small business entrepreneurship

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Small business entrepreneurs are focused on creating and running their own
business, either on their own or with the help of family members. This group of
entrepreneurs includes many owners of mom-and-pop shops and boutiques, as
well as trade workers and consultants.
Small business owners:
 Seek to make a living from their business activities and generate enough
profit to support their family and lifestyle
 Typically aren't focused on rapid growth and expansion
 Instead of courting investors, they may choose to get a business loan for
financing
Small business entrepreneurship has the potential to grow into large company
entrepreneurship when the company grows rapidly, is bought by another larger
company or if a family member takes the helm of the company and aspires to
grow the company.
4. Large company entrepreneurship

Some businesses naturally grow over time, and large company entrepreneurship
aims to grow a large company from an existing business model.
Large company entrepreneurship:
 Concentrates on generating profits, a focus that allows the business

owner to sustain their lifestyle, as well as support the continued growth of
the business
 Aims to continue growing the existing business model, a factor that
distinguishes it from innovative ownership, which seeks to bring a
completely new idea to the market
As a business' customer base grows and evolves, a large company entrepreneur

may acquire an existing company offering innovative services. This allows the
larger company to meet new customer needs and potentially reach new
markets.
5. Innovation entrepreneurship
Innovative entrepreneurs create their businesses with the intent of bringing
completely new products or new ideas to market.
Innovative entrepreneurs:
 Are creative problem-solvers that invent new products, services and

solutions to improve their customers' lives
 Are often driven by a mission or vision for the world
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 Focus on how their idea or product will change society
 Are sometimes called disruptors as they can change the business
landscape in their industry or even create new technologies that affect
society
Each type of entrepreneurship comes with its own set of goals, priorities and
measures of success.
Understanding the different types of entrepreneurship will ensure that you cater
to your business model and practices accordingly.
The bottom line

Regardless of the type — or types — of entrepreneurship you pursue, launching
a new business or nonprofit involves taking big risks.
Whether an entrepreneur is trying to bring a completely new idea to market,

launching a nonprofit or anything in between, funding is an integral part of
starting and growing a business.
As you explore entrepreneurship and find the path that feels right for you,
understanding your business funding options can help you make more informed
decisions about how to launch and grow your business.
Contacting a financial professional to review your business funding options can

help your new venture come to fruition.
How Entrepreneurship Works

Entrepreneurship is one of the resources economists categorize as integral to production, the
other three being land/natural resources, labor, and capital.
An entrepreneur combines the first three of these to manufacture goods or provide services.
They typically create a business plan, hire labor, acquire resources and financing, and provide
leadership and management for the business.
Entrepreneurs commonly face many obstacles when building their companies. The three that
many of them cite as the most challenging are as follows:
1. Overcoming bureaucracy
2. Hiring talent
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3. Obtaining financing
Economists have never had a consistent definition of "entrepreneur" or "entrepreneurship" (the

word "entrepreneur" comes from the French verb entreprendre, meaning "to undertake").
Though the concept of an entrepreneur existed and was known for centuries, the classical
and neoclassical economists left entrepreneurs out of their formal models:
They assumed that perfect information would be known to fully rational actors, leaving no room
for risk-taking or discovery.
It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that economists seriously attempted to incorporate
entrepreneurship into their models.
Three thinkers were central to the inclusion of entrepreneurs: Joseph Schumpeter, Frank Knight,
and Israel Kirzner.
1 Schumpeter suggested that entrepreneurs—not just companies—were responsible for the

creation of new things in the search for profit.
Knight focused on entrepreneurs as the bearers of uncertainty and believed they were responsible
for risk premiums in financial markets. Kirzner thought of entrepreneurship as a process that led
to the discovery.
Types of Entrepreneur
Not every entrepreneur is the same and not all have the same goals. Here are a few types of
entrepreneurs:
Builder
Builders seek to create scalable businesses within a short time frame. Builders typically pass $5
million in revenue in the first two to four years and continue to build up until $100 million or
beyond.
These individuals seek to build out a strong infrastructure by hiring the best talent and seeking
the best investors.
They have temperamental personalities that are suited to the fast growth they desire but can
make personal and business relationships difficult.2
Opportunist
Opportunistic entrepreneurs are optimistic individuals with the ability to pick out financial
opportunities, get in at the right time, stay on board during the time of growth, and exit when a
business hits its peak.
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These types of entrepreneurs are concerned with profits and the wealth they will build, so they
are attracted to ideas where they can create residual or renewal income.
Because they are looking to find well-timed opportunities, opportunistic entrepreneurs can be
impulsive.2
Innovator
Innovators are those rare individuals that come up with a great idea or product that no one has
thought of before.
Think of Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. These individuals worked on what
they loved and found business opportunities through that.
Rather than focusing on money, innovators care more about the impact that their products and
services have on society.
These individuals are not the best at running a business as they are idea-generating individuals,
so often they leave the day-to-day operations to those more capable in that respect.2
Specialist
These individuals are analytical and risk-averse.
They have a strong skill set in a specific area obtained through education or apprenticeship.
A specialist entrepreneur will build out their business through networking and referrals, resulting
in slower growth than a builder entrepreneur.2
4 Types of Entrepreneurship
As there are different types of entrepreneurs, there are also different types of businesses they
create.
Below are the main different types of entrepreneurship.
Small-Business
Small business entrepreneurship is the idea of opening a business without turning it into a large
conglomerate or opening many chains.
A single-location restaurant, one grocery shop, or a retail shop to sell your handmade goods
would all be an example of small business entrepreneurship.
These individuals usually invest their own money and succeed if their business turns a profit,
which they live off of.
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They don't have outside investors and will only take a loan if it helps continue the business.
Scalable Startup
These are companies that start with a unique idea; think Silicon Valley. The hopes are to
innovate with a unique product or service and continue growing the company, continuously
scaling up as time moves on. These types of companies often require investors and large amounts
of capital to grow their idea and reach multiple markets.
Large-Company
Large company entrepreneurship is a new business division created within an existing company.
The existing company may be well placed to branch out into other sectors or it may be well
placed to become involved in new technology.
CEOs of these companies either foresee a new market for the company or individuals within the
company generate ideas that they bring to senior management to start the process.
Social Entrepreneurship
The goal of social entrepreneurship is to create a benefit to society and humankind.
They focus on helping communities or the environment through their products and services.
They are not driven by profits but rather by helping the world around them.
How to Become an Entrepreneur
After retiring her professional dancing shoes, Judi Sheppard Missett became an entrepreneur by
teaching a dance class to civilians in order to earn some extra cash.
But she soon learned that women who came to her studio were less interested in learning precise
steps than they were in losing weight and toning up.
Sheppard Missett then trained instructors to teach her routines to the masses, and Jazzercise was
born. A franchise deal followed. Today, the company has more than 8,300 locations worldwide.
Following an ice cream making correspondence course, two entrepreneurs, Jerry Greenfield and
Ben Cohen paired $8,000 in savings with a $4,000 loan, leased a Burlington, Vt., gas station, and
purchased equipment to create uniquely flavored ice cream for the local market.
Today, Ben & Jerry’s hauls in millions in annual revenue.
Although the self-made person has always been a popular figure in American society,
entrepreneurship has gotten greatly romanticized in the last few decades.
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In the 21st century, the example of Internet companies like Alphabet, formerly Google
(GOOG), and Meta (META), formerly Facebook, both of which have made their founders wildly
wealthy, have made people enamored with the idea of becoming entrepreneurs.
Unlike traditional professions, where there is often a defined path to follow, the road to
entrepreneurship is mystifying to most.
What works for one entrepreneur might not work for the next and vice versa. That said, there are
seven general steps that most, if not all, successful entrepreneurs have followed:
Ensure Financial Stability
This first step is not a strict requirement but is definitely recommended.
While entrepreneurs have built successful businesses while being less than financially flush
(think of Facebook, now Meta, founder Mark Zuckerberg as a college student), starting out with
an adequate cash supply and ensuring ongoing funding can only help an aspiring entrepreneur,
increasing their personal runway and giving them more time to work on building a successful
business, rather than worrying about making quick money.
Build a Diverse Skill Set
Once a person has strong finances, it is important to build a diverse set of skills and then apply
those skills in the real world. The beauty of step two is it can be done concurrently with step one.
Building a skill set can be achieved through learning and trying new tasks in real-world settings.
For example, if an aspiring entrepreneur has a background in finance, they can move into a sales
role at their existing company to learn the soft skills necessary to be successful.
Once a diverse skill set is built, it gives an entrepreneur a toolkit that they can rely on when they
are faced with the inevitability of tough situations.
Much has been discussed about whether going to college is necessary to become a successful
entrepreneur.
Many famous entrepreneurs are famous for having dropped out of college: Steve Jobs, Mark
Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison, to name a few.
Though going to college isn't necessary to build a successful business, it can teach young
individuals a lot about the world in many other ways.
And these famous college dropouts are the exception rather than the norm.
College may not be for everyone and the choice is personal, but it is something to think about,
especially with the high price tag of a college education in the U.S.
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It is not true that majoring in entrepreneurship is necessary to start a business. People that have
built successful businesses have majored in many different subjects and doing so can open your
eyes to a different way of thinking that can help you in establishing your business.
Consume Content across Multiple Channels
As important as building a diverse skill set is, the need to consume a diverse array of content is
equally so.
This content can be in the form of podcasts, books, articles, or lectures.
The important thing is that the content, no matter the channel, should be varied in what it covers.
An aspiring entrepreneur should always familiarize themselves with the world around them so
they can look at industries with a fresh perspective, giving them the ability to build a business
around a specific sector.
Identify a Problem to Solve
Through the consumption of content across multiple channels, an aspiring entrepreneur is able to
identify various problems to solve.
One business adage dictates that a company's product or service needs to solve a specific pain
point; either for another business or for a consumer group.
Through the identification of a problem, an aspiring entrepreneur is able to build a business

around solving that problem.
It is important to combine steps three and four so it is possible to identify a problem to solve by
looking at various industries as an outsider. This often provides an aspiring entrepreneur with the
ability to see a problem others might not.
Solve That Problem
Successful startups solve a specific pain point for other companies or for the public.
This is known as "adding value within the problem." Only through adding value to a specific
problem or pain point does an entrepreneur become successful.
Say, for example, you identify the process for making a dentist appointment is complicated for
patients, and dentists are losing customers as a result.
The value could be to build an online appointment system that makes it easier to book
appointments.
Network Like Crazy
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Most entrepreneurs can't do it alone. The business world is a cutthroat one and getting any help
you can will always help and reduce the time it takes to achieve a successful business.
Networking is critical for any new entrepreneur. Meeting the right people that can introduce you
to contacts in your industry, such as the right suppliers, financiers, and even mentors can be the
difference between success and failure.
Attending conferences, emailing and calling people in the industry, speaking to your cousin's
friend's brother who is in a similar business, will help you get out into the world and discover
people that can guide you.
Once you have your foot in the door with the right people, conducting a business becomes a lot
easier.
Lead by Example
Every entrepreneur needs to be a leader within their company. Simply doing the day-to-day
requirements will not lead to success.
A leader needs to work hard, motivate, and inspire their employees to reach their best potential,
which will lead to the success of the company.
Look at some of the greatest and most successful companies; all of them have had great leaders.
Apple and Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Bob Iger and Disney, and so on.
Study these people and read their books to see how to be a great leader and become the leader
that your employees can follow by the example you set.
Entrepreneurship Financing
Given the riskiness of a new venture, the acquisition of capital funding is particularly
challenging, and many entrepreneurs deal with it via bootstrapping: financing a business using
methods such as using their own money, providing sweat equity to reduce labor costs,
minimizing inventory, and factoring receivables.
While some entrepreneurs are lone players struggling to get small businesses off the ground on
a shoestring, others take on partners armed with greater access to capital and other resources. In
these situations, new firms may acquire financing from venture capitalists, angel investors, hedge
funds, crowdfunding, or through more traditional sources such as bank loans.
Resources for Entrepreneurs
There are a variety of financing resources for entrepreneurs starting their own businesses.
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Obtaining a small business loan through the Small Business Administration (SBA) can help
entrepreneurs get the business off the ground with affordable loans. SBA helps connect
businesses to loan providers.
If entrepreneurs are willing to give up a piece of equity in their business, then they may find
financing in the form of angel investors and venture capitalists.
These types of investors also provide guidance, mentorship, and connections in addition to just
capital.
Crowdfunding has also become a popular way for entrepreneurs to raise capital, particularly
through Kickstarter.
An entrepreneur creates a page for their product and a monetary goal to reach while promising
certain givebacks to those who donate, such as products or experiences.
Bootstrapping for Entrepreneurs
Bootstrapping refers to building a company solely from your savings as an entrepreneur as well
as from the initial sales made from your business. This is a difficult process as all the financial
risk is placed on the entrepreneur and there is little room for error. If the business fails, the
entrepreneur also may lose all of their life savings.
The advantage of bootstrapping is that an entrepreneur can run the business with their own vision
and no outside interference or investors demanding quick profits.
That being said, sometimes having an outsider's assistance can help a business rather than hurt it.
Many companies have succeeded with the bootstrapping strategy, but it is a difficult path.
Small Business vs. Entrepreneurship
A small business and entrepreneurship have a lot in common but they are different.
A small business is a company, usually, a sole-proprietorship or partnership that is not a

medium-sized or large-sized business, operates locally, and does not have access to a vast
amount of resources or capital.
Entrepreneurship is when an individual that has an idea acts on that idea, usually to disrupt the
current market with a new product or service. Entrepreneurship usually starts as a small business
but the long-term vision is much greater, to seek high profits and capture market share with an
innovative new idea.
How Entrepreneurs Make Money
Entrepreneurs make money like any business: they seek to generate revenues that are greater
than costs.
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Increasing revenues is the goal and that can be achieved through marketing, word-of-mouth, and
networking.
Keeping costs low is also critical as it results in higher profit margins. This can be achieved
through efficient operations and eventually economies of scale.
Taxes for Entrepreneurs
The taxes you will pay as an entrepreneur will depend on how you set up your business in terms
of structure.
Sole Proprietorship: A business set up this way is an extension of the individual. Business
income and expenses are filed on Schedule C on your personal tax return and you are taxed at
your individual tax rate.
Partnership: For tax purposes, a partnership functions the same way as a sole proprietorship,
with the only difference being that income and expenses are split amongst the partners.
There are many benefits entrepreneurs can achieve through taxes, such as deducting their home
office and utilities, mileage for business travel, advertising, and travel expenses.6
C-Corporation: A C-corporation is a separate legal entity and has separate taxes filed with the
IRS from the entrepreneur. The business income will be taxed at the corporate tax rate rather
than the personal income tax rate.7
Limited Liability Company (LLC) or S-Corporation: These two options are taxed in the
same manner as a C-corporation but usually at lower amounts.8
7 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
What else do entrepreneurial success stories have in common? They invariably involve
industrious people diving into things they’re naturally passionate about.
Giving credence to the adage, “find a way to get paid for the job you’d do for free,” passion is
arguably the most important component startup business owners must have, and every edge
helps.
While the prospect of becoming your own boss and raking in a fortune is alluring to
entrepreneurial dreamers, the possible downside to hanging one’s own shingle is vast.
Income isn’t guaranteed, employer-sponsored benefits go by the wayside, and when your
business loses money, your personal assets can take a hit; not just a corporation’s bottom line.
But adhering to a few tried and true principles can go a long way in diffusing risk. The following
are a few characteristics required to be a successful entrepreneur.
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1. Versatile
When starting out, it’s essential to personally handle sales and other customer interactions
whenever possible.
Direct client contact is the clearest path to obtaining honest feedback about what the target
market likes and what you could be doing better.
If it’s not always practical to be the sole customer interface, entrepreneurs should train
employees to invite customer comments as a matter of course.
Not only does this make customers feel empowered, but happier clients are more likely to
recommend businesses to others.
Personally answering phones is one of the most significant competitive edges home-based
entrepreneurs hold over their larger competitors.
In a time of high-tech backlash, where customers are frustrated with automated responses and
touch-tone menus, hearing a human voice is one surefire way to entice new customers and make
existing ones feel appreciated; an important fact, given that some 80% of all business is
generated from repeat customers.
Paradoxically, while customers value high-touch telephone access, they also expect a highly
polished website.
Even if your business isn’t in a high-tech industry, entrepreneurs still must exploit internet
technology to get their message across.
A startup garage-based business can have a superior website than an established $100 million
company. Just make sure a live human being is on the other end of the phone number listed.
2. Flexible
Few successful business owners find perfect formulas straight out of the gate. On the contrary:
ideas must morph over time.
Whether tweaking product design or altering food items on a menu, finding the perfect sweet
spot takes trial and error.
Former Starbucks Chair and CEO Howard Schultz initially thought playing Italian opera music
over store speakers would accentuate the Italian coffeehouse experience he was attempting to
replicate.
But customers saw things differently and didn’t seem to like arias with their espressos. As a
result, Schultz jettisoned the opera and introduced comfortable chairs instead.
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3. Money Savvy
At the heart of any successful new business, a venture beats the lifeblood of steady cash flow,
which is essential for purchasing inventory, paying rent, maintaining equipment, and promoting
the business.
The key to staying in the black is rigorous bookkeeping of income versus expenses.
And since most new businesses don’t make a profit within the first year, by setting money aside
for this contingency, entrepreneurs can help mitigate the risk of falling short of funds.
Related to this, it’s essential to keep personal and business costs separate, and never dip into
business funds to cover the costs of daily living.
Of course, it’s important to pay yourself a realistic salary that allows you to cover essentials, but
not much more; especially where investors are involved.
Of course, such sacrifices can strain relationships with loved ones who may need to adjust to
lower standards of living and endure worry over risking family assets.
For this reason, entrepreneurs should communicate these issues well ahead of time, and make
sure significant loved ones are spiritually on board.
4. Resilient
Running your own business is extremely difficult, especially getting one started from scratch. It
requires a lot of time, dedication, and failure.
A successful entrepreneur must show resilience to all the difficulties on the road ahead.
Whenever they meet with failure or rejection they must keep pushing forward.
Starting your business is a learning process and any learning process comes with a learning
curve, which can be frustrating, especially when money is on the line. It's important never to give
up through the difficult times if you want to succeed.
5. Focused
Similar to resilience, a successful entrepreneur must stay focused and eliminate the noise and
doubts that come with running a business.
Becoming sidetracked, not believing in your instincts and ideas, and losing sight of the end goal
is a recipe for failure.
A successful entrepreneur must always remember why they started the business and remain on
course to see it through.
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6. Business Smart
Knowing how to manage money and understanding financial statements are critical for anyone
running their own business.
Knowing your revenues, your costs, and how to increase or decrease them, respectively, is
important. Making sure you don't burn through cash will allow you to keep the business alive.
Implementing a sound business strategy, knowing your target market, your competitors, and your
strengths and weaknesses, will allow you to maneuver the difficult landscape of running your
business.
7. Communicator
Successful communication is important in almost every facet of life, regardless of what you do.
It is also of the utmost importance in running a business.
From conveying your ideas and strategies to potential investors to sharing your business plan
with your employees to negotiating contracts with suppliers all require successful
communication.
Entrepreneurship in Economics
In economist-speak, an entrepreneur acts as a coordinating agent in a capitalist economy.
This coordination takes the form of resources being diverted toward new potential profit
opportunities.
The entrepreneur moves various resources, both tangible and intangible, promoting capital
formation.
In a market full of uncertainty, it is the entrepreneur who can actually help clear up uncertainty,
as they make judgments or assume the risk.
To the extent that capitalism is a dynamic profit-and-loss system, entrepreneurs drive efficient
discovery and consistently reveal knowledge.
Established firms face increased competition and challenges from entrepreneurs, which often
spurs them toward research and development efforts as well. In technical economic terms, the
entrepreneur disrupts the course toward steady-state equilibrium.
In 2021, there were 32.5 million small businesses in the United States.9
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How Entrepreneurship Helps Economies
Nurturing entrepreneurship can have a positive impact on an economy and a society in several
ways. For starters, entrepreneurs create new businesses.
They invent goods and services, resulting in employment, and often create a ripple effect,
resulting in more and more development.
For example, after a few information technology companies began in India in the 1990s,
businesses in associated industries, like call center operations and hardware providers, began to
develop too, offering support services and products.
Entrepreneurs add to the gross national income. Existing businesses may remain confined to their
markets and eventually hit an income ceiling. But new products or technologies create new
markets and new wealth. And increased employment and higher earnings contribute to a nation’s
tax base, enabling greater government spending on public projects.
Entrepreneurs create social change.
They break tradition with unique inventions that reduce dependence on existing methods and
systems, sometimes rendering them obsolete. Smartphones and their apps, for example, have
revolutionized work and play across the globe.
Entrepreneurs invest in community projects and help charities and other non-profit organizations,
supporting causes beyond their own. Bill Gates, for example, has used his considerable wealth
for education and public health initiatives.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
There is research that shows high levels of self-employment can stall economic development:
Entrepreneurship, if not properly regulated, can lead to unfair market practices and corruption,
and too many entrepreneurs can create income inequalities in society.
Overall, though, entrepreneurship is a critical driver of innovation and economic growth.
Therefore, fostering entrepreneurship is an important part of the economic growth strategies of

many local and national governments around the world.
To this end, governments commonly assist in the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems,

which may include entrepreneurs themselves, government-sponsored assistance programs, and
venture capitalists.
They may also include non-government organizations, such as entrepreneurs' associations,

business incubators, and education programs.
19
For example, California's Silicon Valley is often cited as an example of a well-functioning
entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The region has a well-developed venture capital base, a large pool of well-educated talent,
especially in technical fields, and a wide range of government and non-government programs
fostering new ventures and providing information and support to entrepreneurs.
Questions for Entrepreneurs
Embarking on the entrepreneurial career path to “being your own boss” is exciting.
But along with all your research, make sure to do your homework about yourself and your
situation.
A Few Questions to Ask Yourself:
 Do I have the personality, temperament, and mindset of taking on the world on my own
terms?
 Do I have the required ambiance and resources to devote all my time to my venture?
 Do I have an exit plan ready with a clearly defined timeline in case my venture does not
work?
 Do I have a concrete plan for the next "x" number of months or will I face challenges
midway due to family, financial, or other commitments? Do I have a mitigation plan for
those challenges?
 Do I have the required network to seek help and advice as needed?
 Have I identified and built bridges with experienced mentors to learn from their
expertise?
 Have I prepared the rough draft of a complete risk assessment, including dependencies on
external factors?
 Have I realistically assessed the potential of my offering and how it will figure in the
existing market?
 If my offering is going to replace an existing product in the market, how will my
competitors react?
 To keep my offering secure, will it make sense to get a patent? Do I have the capacity to
wait that long?
 Have I identified my target customer base for the initial phase? Do I have scalability
plans ready for larger markets?
 Have I identified sales and distribution channels?
Questions That Delve Into External Factors:
 Does my entrepreneurial venture meet local regulations and laws? If not feasible locally,
can I and should I relocate to another region?
20
 How long does it take to get the necessary license or permissions from concerned
authorities? Can I survive that long?
 Do I have a plan for getting the necessary resources and skilled employees, and have I
made cost considerations for the same?
 What are the tentative timelines for bringing the first prototype to market or for services
to be operational?
 Who are my primary customers?
 Who are the funding sources I may need to approach to make this big? Is my venture
good enough to convince potential stakeholders?
 What technical infrastructure do I need?
 Once the business is established, will I have sufficient funds to get resources and take it
to the next level? Will other big firms copy my model and kill my operation?
What Does It Mean to Be an Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is an individual who takes the risk to start their own business based on an idea
they have or a product they have created while assuming most of the risks and reaping most of
the rewards of the business.
What Is the Best Definition of Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the process of setting up a business, taking it from an idea to realization.
What Are the 4 Types of Entrepreneurs?
Small business, scalable startup, large company, and social.
What Are the 7 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs?
Versatile, resilient, flexible, money-savvy, business smart, focused, and communicators.
The Bottom Line
An entrepreneur is an individual who takes an idea or product and creates a business, a process
known as entrepreneurship.
Creating a business requires a lot of work and dedication, which not everyone is cut out for.
Entrepreneurs are highly motivated risk-takers that have a vision and sacrifice a lot to achieve
that vision.
Entrepreneurs enter the market because they love what they do, believe their product will have a
positive impact, and hope to make profits from their efforts.
The steps entrepreneurs take fuel the economy; they create businesses that employ people and
make products and services that consumers buy.
21
What Are Intrapreneurs? History, Role, and Benefits for a Company
An intrapreneur is an employee who is tasked with developing an innovative
idea within a company and can draw on its resources to do so.
NOTE:
21st century entrepreneurship is about creating and growing for-profit businesses and other
types of social enterprises that add value beyond the traditional bottom line. …. and help
to make some part of the world a bit brighter for all.
What Is An Entrepreneur?
Learn what defines an entrepreneur, what they do and what
constitutes an entrepreneur in the modern era
 Entrepreneurs' Relief: Everything You Need To Know
 What Is Entrepreneurship?
The term entrepreneur refers to individuals who prefer to make their
professional careers running businesses themselves rather than getting
employed at another company or organization.
They assume all the relevant risk factors and profit earning opportunities
related to their business idea and the delivery and manufacture of their
products and services.
Entrepreneurs Are Decision Makers

An entrepreneur is not only concerned with identifying and taking the
initiative to avail a fruitful business opportunity and laying down the basis of
a business machinery but in fact, entrepreneurs also act as decision-making
bodies.
Entrepreneurs need to be extremely judicious decision makers as the sole

responsibility to make all the important decisions about the running and
management of a business entity lies with them.
22
They make important decisions concerned with the selection of products or
services that they are to provide to the consumers, operational and
manufacturing procedures and the feasibility of a business idea, product or a
service in the marketplace.
Entrepreneurs Are Analysts and Observant

However, what an entrepreneur really needs to be is highly insightful of
consumers’ needs.
A more abstract definition of entrepreneurs may relate to individuals who

identify various needs and requirements of a consumer market that remain
unfulfilled.
Once identified, the entrepreneurs take the initiative to set up an

enterprise with the rudimentary objective to deploy the business machinery
towards the fulfilment of identified unfulfilled consumer needs to generate
optimum profits for themselves.
Entrepreneurs Are Innovators

Considering the aforementioned explanation of the role of an entrepreneur,
an entrepreneur may also be termed as an innovator, who deals in the
manufacture and delivery of novel ideas, products, services and procedures
to meet an unfulfilled consumer demands.
As entrepreneurs are commonly considered as risk takers and leaders, an

entrepreneur needs to have immense self-belief in his abilities and
confidence in the feasibility of his business idea.
Only then they will be able to optimally avail the most out of the
opportunities presented to them and execute their business ideas and
concepts.
23
Though the term ‘entrepreneur’ finds its root in the 18th-century literature,
the concept of enterprising exists since the beginning of time.
The birth of the concept of enterprising is usually attributed as a result of the

realization among humans, concerning the need to deliver services and
goods to survive.
Richard Cantillon Defines ‘Entrepreneur’

The first proper and formal definition of entrepreneur was provided
by Richard Cantillon in 1755. Cantillon describes an entrepreneur as an
‘adventurer’, who invests in the purchase of goods and materials with the
incentive of selling these in the future.
The inclusion of the term adventurer in the definition of entrepreneur by

Richard Cantillon is the result of the uncertainty the surrounds the price at
which an entrepreneur will resell the bought goods and materials.
This unique feature also served as the distinctive factor between

entrepreneurs and other businessmen.
This early definition of the term entrepreneur is indicative of their pro-active

involvement in trade and travel while exercising their ability to take risks and
identify and avail fruitful business opportunities.
Explanation of ‘Entrepreneur’ By Francois Quesnay

Following the Cantillon’s definition of an entrepreneur, the next structured
description of an entrepreneur may be found in the theories of Francois
Quesnay, published in 1758.
These theories brought forth the organizational and innovation related
aspects of an entrepreneur’s ability.
Criticism By Adam Smith
24
However, it was much later in the year 1776, that entrepreneurs had to face
the first documented criticism. In the ‘Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations’, Adam Smith completely disregards the
entrepreneurial aspect of human behavior. He talked of its absence as a
natural trait of human behavior, giving precedence to industrious attitude.
Jean-Baptiste’s Explanation
The damaged caused to the reputation of entrepreneurs by Adam Smith was
rectified by Jean-Baptiste, who published his theory on entrepreneurs in
1803. This work included and elaborated on the famous phrase of “supply
creates its own demand”, as Jean-Baptiste talked about the importance of
entrepreneurs for the economy. He established the importance of
entrepreneurs for the running and prospering of all industrial sectors, in
relation to their organizational abilities, which they employ to meet
consumer demands.
Other factors that were highlighted in Jean-Baptiste’s definition of

entrepreneurs included the qualities of farsightedness, risk taking abilities
and analytical expertise.
John Stuart Mill Published ‘Principles Of Political Economy’

The last encouragement that entrepreneurs received was through John
Stuart Mill’s‘Principles of Political Economy’, published in 1848, before the
popularity of entrepreneurial personalities completely diminished by the end
of 19 century.
th
Joseph Schumpeter Highlights Entrepreneurs’ Importance

It was in 1930 that entrepreneurs’ popularity was restored when Joseph
Schumpeter described entrepreneurs are innovative heroes.
He described entrepreneurs as the elementary source of induction of

innovation into business cycles, without which businesses may suffer from
stagnancy and monotony.
25
He explained the phenomenon of ‘creative destruction’ which was a
consequence of entrepreneurial efforts that disturbed the economic and
corporate equilibrium, eventually leading to the emergence of new industries
and the redundancy of the older ones.
Modern Definition of ‘Entrepreneur’

Later, Frank Knight delved the concept that entailed the term entrepreneur
and modified Cantillon’s definition, elaborating on the concepts of related
risk and profit factors.
Eventually, it was in 1970, that Nobel Laureate Theodore W.

Schultz’s explanation of entrepreneurs gave a final shape to the definition of
entrepreneur.
He described entrepreneurs as all individuals who took an initiative,

assuming all the related risks and profits and established a productive
machinery to meet consumer demands.
What Do Entrepreneurs Do?

Today, entrepreneurs are recognized as the elementary participants of the
market economy who keeps it running and contribute significantly towards
its progress.
Economic Activity
They innovate and lay down the basis of business and industrial
development, encouraging and propagating economic activity.
Trends show that economies of various nations have flourished as a result of

entrepreneurial initiatives.
26
Eventually, the participation of entrepreneurial innovations, initiatives and
activities in the creation of new opportunities and economic growth and
development leads to the overall betterment of the society.
Conclusively, entrepreneurs not only play a role in determining the success

level of an economy, but of the society as a whole.
A wide-scale study of global economy suggests that the most successful

economies in the world today are those which involve increased level of
entrepreneurial activities and where the legal and political structures provide
sufficient support and motivation to entrepreneurs.
Innovation
It is an entrepreneur who lays down the foundation for the implementation of
a new idea or the production and delivery of a novel product or facility.
Entrepreneurs endeavor to explore and exploit various business
opportunities as profit earning incentives, while identifying and meeting
unfulfilled consumer demands.
Resultantly, they play a critical role in the initiation and sustenance of

economic activity.
Taking Initiative
Entrepreneurs serve as the sole proprietors of business machinery who
provide a platform for the integration of resources, labour forces, raw
materials and manufacturing facilities, for the large scale creation and
provision of a useful product or facility.
Enterprising In the Modern Age

Evolving economic trends and the advent of modern technology, which has
considerably transformed marketing strategies and practices, have led to the
modification of the definition and description of entrepreneurs
27
and entrepreneurship, with respect to the needs and demands of the modern
era.
Global Acknowledgement
Entrepreneurial behavior today enjoys widespread appreciation across the
globe. Increasing number of individuals who are showing a profound interest
in enterprising and independent operational and marketing activities has led
to the global acknowledgement and growing implementation of
entrepreneurial initiative.
Recent surveys and studies suggest the growing inclination of young

individuals towards entrepreneurial endeavors.
Modern Age Pressures

Those who are interested in enterprising today need to be passionate about
their business ideas, for ensuring long-term success.
Since competition in the marketplace is at an all-time high- and is expected

to increase with time- entrepreneurs need to be highly motivated about their
business ideas, so that they will be able to meet all the demands of
strenuous hard work and long working hours, which entail
their entrepreneurial success.
Digital and Social Media

Moreover, in the present times, entrepreneurs are showing increased
dependency on digital and social media tools, especially those running and
managing small and medium sized businesses.
Today, social media is relied upon as a useful and efficient means for
communicating, marketing, promotions, networking and various other
business undertakings.
Common Challenges Entrepreneurs Face
28
Though social media has made it considerably easier for the interested
individuals to enterprise, on the other hand, growing competition has added
to the challenges that entrepreneurs face today.
Lack Of Talented Hiring Prospects

One of the biggest problems that entrepreneurs are faced with is the lack of
talent to run their businesses.
Since most of the talented individuals prefer to work for well-known, large
organizations, talent seems to concentrate to a few specified corporations,
while other businesses suffer from a lack of skilled employees.
Rising Need for Consistent Innovation

Similarly, entrepreneurs also find it difficult to consistently innovate to keep
their consumers engaged in the rapidly changing market trends.
Every other day we are informed of a new development and discovery, and
to cope up with the growing competition, it is extremely important for
entrepreneurs to continue to introduce novel ideas and concepts to their
consumers.
Managing Cash Flow

Another challenge that might hinder the progress of budding entrepreneurs
is concerned with the mismanagement of cash flow.
They need to employ workable and feasible strategies to ensure consistent

cash flow, to survive and progress amid the growing competition.
Financing
29
First and foremost it’s financing. How you finance your business is key to its
success. Money is the be all and end all to any successful business, and it’s
not always easy to build cash, encourage investment and keep the money
flowing.
So as a starting-out entrepreneur, how do you stump up the cash? You

should start out by researching into the best business loans on the market.
But before you go feet-first into the nearest bank for your business, you
should make sure you have a well-thought-out business plan to present your
case.
Your plan should include:
 What your business will do
 The products and services it will provide
 How customers will obtain your services
 Product pricing information

 Long-term and short-term objectives
When writing your plan your business plan, you should be clear, honest and
realistic.
Decision Making
In terms of stress, this could be the biggest challenge for an entrepreneur. As
the head of the business, every decision you make is pivotal.
No matter how big or small, decision fatigue can affect entrepreneurs,

especially in the early stages.
So establish the most important questions that need to be answered and

priorities those, and try not to deliberate too much over the minutia.
30
Marketing
Ok, so you know the basics of social media marketing, but that will only get
you so far. Having a great business idea won’t guarantee its success.
You’ll have to invest in long-term marketing for it to be a hit. Know your

customers and tailor a marketing plan to directly engage your target market.
As Bill Gates once said, ‘Content is King’, and he wasn’t wrong.
Investing in a strategic content marketing company could be a great

direction for your business to take.
Legalities
If you want to trade legally and stress-free, you should know the ins and outs
of trading laws.
When incorporating your business how do you want to structure it? Sole
proprietorship? Partnership? Corporation? LLC? Knowing your options is vital
to starting out on the right foot.
It’s worth booking some time with a solicitor for legal advice if you’re unsure.
Next comes the licenses and permits to your type of business.
For example, you will need to establish whether you’re permitted to trade in
certain areas. A simple call to your local council should clear up that query.
Falling under the legality umbrella comes patents and trademarks.
If your business is particularly unique, you should really think about

patenting your idea to prevent a copycat company selling in your product at
a cheaper price. Protecting your business is a must, and should be dealt with
from the outset.
The Unknown
31
Entrepreneurs can be rational, logical thinkers. This can be especially hard
when dealing with the unknown.
If you have a successful business or a great idea for a start-up, chances are,
there’ll be some other bright-spark with the very same idea.
Dealing with this unpredictable competition can be tough.
To overcome this you’ll have to think outside the box and have an edge over
your competitor.
Investigate that competition, know your customers, step up your marketing,

target new markets and don’t forget to look to the future.
As you can see, being an entrepreneur isn’t for the faint-hearted.
You have to be thick-skinned, constantly on the ball and prepared to take the
rough with the smooth.
But as an entrepreneur, you’ll know that challenges are there to be beaten,

and nothing can match that rewarding feeling of success.
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What Is Entrepreneurship?
Learn what entrepreneurship really is, there different types of
entrepreneurship and the role it plays within our society
BY EDITORIAL TEAM | UPDATED MARCH 27, 2021 (PUBLISHED 14/11/2014)
Entrepreneurship refers to the concept of developing and managing a

business venture in order to gain profit by taking several risks in the
corporate world. Simply put, entrepreneurship is the willingness to start a
new business. Entrepreneurship has played a vital role in the economic
development of the expanding global marketplace.
An entrepreneur is someone who is willing to work for himself and by

himself. There are several different meanings of the term entrepreneurship.
Table Of Contents (Quick Links)
 1 Skills Required by Entrepreneurs
 2 Kinds of entrepreneurship
 3 Flexibility
 4 Diversity
 5 Entrepreneurship as a career option
 6 Evolution/ History of Entrepreneurs
 7 Purpose/ Uses of Entrepreneurship
 8 Modern Perspective of Entrepreneurship
 9 Challenges / criticism
Skills Required By Entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is commonly seen and perceived as an innovator.
The skills required for successful entrepreneurship are innovation and ability
to be creative to generate new ideas for a business venture.
33
An entrepreneur must have the quality of leadership and a strong sense of
unified teamwork to gain maximum benefit.
Kinds Of Entrepreneurship
The majority of the people may think that the term entrepreneurship has one
single meaning.
However, like mentioned earlier, the term is quite elastic and has a wide
range of different meanings.
The two most popular kinds of entrepreneurship are entrepreneurship of

start-ups and entrepreneurship of small businesses.
Flexibility
The advantage of having maximum control on the work you do can often
help you gain maximum benefit. Being the authoritative figure at your
workplace often leads to a lot of personal and professional benefits.
Flexibility is one of the perks that people often look for in their professional
careers and in entrepreneurship this advantage comes easily.
Diversity
One excellent aspect of entrepreneurship is that all entrepreneurs enjoy the
advantage of coming up with diverse ideas that may also be unique in the
global marketplace.
Having a diverse range of ideas to choose from, according to your

entrepreneurial vision, you can gain maximum benefit from the ideas you
come up with.
Entrepreneurship as a Career Option
For any enthusiast in the corporate world, starting your own business may
prove to be a remarkable idea. Having control over the work you do is
something that many people long for in their career paths.
34
Therefore, entrepreneurship is a great career option for those willing to make
their name in the corporate world.
Evolution/ History of Entrepreneurs

The search for quality leadership is an on-going process that is in practice
since past few centuries.
The need of a good leader is one of the factors that led to the evolution of
entrepreneurship.
Aside from this, there are several other factors that led to the beginning and
increasing importance of entrepreneurship.
Trading
With the advancement in communication amongst the countries and
improvement in transportation, began the process of trading.
This was when people became more and more independent which led to
success in trade. It is also believed that the merchants and the traders were
the first entrepreneurs.
Advent of Stable Communities and Specialization

When more and more people began to settle in stable communities and live
as a group, a drastic change was observed in their lifestyles.
The fact that each tribe had an individual leader who specialized in one task
cannot be overlooked.
Each leader specializing in a particular task helped in speeding innovation

and development of leadership quality in the individuals.
The leadership quality is what makes the entrepreneurs so successful in

entrepreneurship today.
Formation of Markets
35
With the increasing trade and the formation and creation of markets all over
the globe, the need for better ideas and leadership qualities became more
and more important.
The early entrepreneurs (traders and merchants) began to take more and
more risks in trading to gain profit.
However, with the increase in markets and the requirements of the people,
innovation and trade were considered as an important aspect, and more and
more people began to take risks by getting involved.
This was when the first entrepreneurs started to think out of the box to cope
up with the increasing competition and gain more profits.
Need of Independent Career Path

With the increasing population, came the need for choosing a career path
and obtaining a job to become well settled.
Due to lack of good jobs and the increase in the numbers of unworthy jobs
more and more people wanted to opt for a career path that was
independent.
In the quest for having a stable job and a career, the majority of the people
started to take maximum risks by starting their own small businesses in
order to gain maximum benefits.
Purpose/ Uses of Entrepreneurship

Choosing a career path in order to gain profit for the long haul is the most
important reason why people opt for entrepreneurship.
36
Maintaining a reliable source of income is the best and the most important
way to create a stable job.
Keeping this in mind, being your own boss and having things in your control
are what majority of the people desire. To fulfil this need, entrepreneurs start
their own business to control their career.
Several Perks
Most people working in the corporate world are unable to fulfil their desires.
Having the command and the authority over the kind of work you want to do
is a perk most entrepreneurs enjoy in their experience of successful
entrepreneurship.
The best aspect of being in the global marketplace as an entrepreneur is that

you will harvest what you sow. This means that all the entrepreneurs will
able to benefit from their hard work.
Control and Independence

The sole purpose of choosing entrepreneurship as a career path is to control
your company, be an independent leader of your team and choose exactly
what goes around in your workplace.
Entrepreneurship provides entrepreneurs with the advantage of making the

right decisions that will benefit them in the best possible way.
This is an excellent opportunity to be independent and mould your career the

way that any entrepreneur may prefer.
Demand for Innovative Ideas
37
With such advanced technology and the increasing demands of the market
for more innovative ideas in the corporate world shaped many individuals
into aspiring entrepreneurs.
The sole purpose of providing the corporate world with more innovative ideas
in hopes to gain profit led to the increase in new businesses.
With maximum people involved in obtaining a respectable place in the

corporate world, entrepreneurs became more and more creative by coming
up with innovative ideas for the market.
Even though most entrepreneurs had the main purpose to benefit

themselves and their business, however, it made a huge impact on the
expansion of the corporate world.
Modern Perspective of Entrepreneurship

Along with some other disciplines, the study of entrepreneurship is also
paving its way as an important sub-discipline in many universities and
colleges.
This means that modern youth is extensively interested in pursuing

entrepreneurship as a career path.
Due to this reason, several courses have been introduced related to

entrepreneurship.
Like any other important and popular discipline, entrepreneurship is also

growing rapidly.
Today, more and more people are in favor of becoming independent in their
professional careers and therefore, there are fewer criticisms to be faced by
any aspiring entrepreneur.
Social Media Age
38
Living in the social media age sure has some advantages if you have chosen
entrepreneurship as your career.
Modern day entrepreneurs have the perk of expanding their businesses and
reaching out to the target audience with the help of social media.
This eventually provides the opportunity for any entrepreneur to pave his
way into the global marketplace.
Entrepreneurship in the modern world is something any independent

individual with leadership quality would opt for.
Modern Day Entrepreneur

With the advent of social media age and advanced technologies,
entrepreneurship became more complex.
Even though there are several ideas and techniques that may be used during
entrepreneurial ventures, this somehow does not make the life of an
entrepreneur easy.
With multiple marketing techniques, reaching out to the target audience

became easy.
However, it also increased the workload of an entrepreneur.
With the demanding marketplace, the need of innovative ideas also

increased along with the desire to be unique in your business venture.
Therefore, in entrepreneurship, the many advantages that may be gained by

an entrepreneur are also accompanied by a few disadvantages.
Outlook of Modern-Day Entrepreneurship
39
Some of the aspiring entrepreneurs may have the advantage of being
supported by their families when laying down the foundation for their
entrepreneurial venture.
However, today an independent entrepreneur is highly appreciated as

entrepreneurs are considered as risk takers who are willing to reach the
heights in the corporate world with their own hard work.
The risk of starting everything from scratch is not the kind of risk everyone
has the will and courage to take.
Challenges / Criticism
Due to popular belief, entrepreneurship is considered to be an easy way out
for people not in favor of working under or for someone else.
In several ways, many aspects of this statement might be completely true.
However, just like any other profession, being an entrepreneur and choosing
entrepreneurship as a career may come with several challenges.
There are multiple criticisms and challenges that every entrepreneur may
face throughout their career.
Monotonous Ideas
The stress of coming up with an innovative idea that has not been used in
the market before always lingers on every entrepreneur.
When choosing entrepreneurship as a career path, it is crystal clear that the

only way to stay on top of the corporate world is by coming up with brand
new ideas.
Creativity is the key to success in entrepreneurship.
40
However, with such a vast global marketplace, the ideas proposed are often
monotonous which leads to the trouble of disapproval from the critics.
This is the most common yet crucial challenge that is faced by every
entrepreneur.
Disadvantage of Being a Start-Up Business

One of the most crucial and problematic disadvantages is the challenge of
being a start-up business in the market.
This challenge often leads to the trouble of working late hours during the
initial phase of your business.
It is often a very crucial challenge to be the start-up business in the

corporate world and then pave your way to the top.
When facing dynamic and extensive competition, paving your way to the top
may not be a very easy task!
Major Responsibilities
One of the perks of choosing entrepreneurship as your career is the
independence that you get by being an entrepreneur.
However, being in charge of a unified team and having complete control over
the decisions you make comes with a lot of responsibility.
This might prove to be very challenging for your business. Being the in
charge means being responsible for anything that may go wrong in the
business.
This may prove to be very challenging for any entrepreneur.
Risks of Success or Failure

There are several risks that may come along with entrepreneurship.
41
Like mentioned earlier, an entrepreneur is responsible for several things.
The risks associated with adopting and implementing new and innovative
ideas may sometimes result in failure.
Keeping this in mind, the success or the downfall of a company depends on

the entrepreneur and therefore, it is a highly challenging task to always
make the right decision.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Secrets To Success From 10 Of The World’s Richest
Entrepreneurs
This year has seen blockbuster gains in wealth for some of the world’s wealthiest
private individuals and entrepreneurs but the...
Entrepreneurship
The rich are getting richer. This is especially true in the UK with over 107
billionaires now resident in the UK and an aggregate wealth of over £519
billion between the UK’s 1,000 richest people.
42
With more billionaires per capita than any other country, it seems the UK is a
hotspot for the rich and richer! Let’s take a look at who made the top 10 UK
billionaires list in 2014.
Table of Contents (Quick Links)

 1 10. The Duke of Westminster: £8.5 billion
 2 9. Roman Abramovich: £8.52 billion
 3 8. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing: £8.8 billion
 4 7. David and Simon Reuben: £9.0 billion
 5 6. John Fredrickson and family: £9.25 billion
 6 5. Ernesto and Kirsty Bartarelli: £9.75 billion
 7 4. Leonard Blavatnik: £10.0 billion
 8 3. Lakshmi Mittal and family: £10.25 billion
 9 2. Alisher Usmanov: £10.65 billion
 10 1. Sri and Gopi Hinduja: £11.90 billion
10. The Duke of Westminster: £8.5 Billion

The 62-year-old Duke (Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor) is the UK’s richest and
biggest property developer.
He owns over 100,000 acres of land worldwide in Scotland, Spain and

England. The booming property market in the UK and particularly London has
seen his fortune rise by approximately £700 million in the last year alone.
9. Roman Abramovich: £8.52 Billion

The owner of Chelsea Football Club and steel tycoon had a rocky year. His
fortune fell by over £780 million approximately in the last year and his steel
giant Evraz lost two-thirds of its value. Still, he’s not doing badly and with
his investment in Russia remains the 5 richest man in Russia as well.
th
8. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing: £8.8 Billion

Inheritors of the Swiss packaging group Tetra Level, this brother and sister
saw their wealth rise by a staggering £2.6 billion in 2013. They sit on the
board of one of the world’s largest food packaging companies.
43
7. David and Simon Reuben: £9.0 Billion
Formerly metal tycoons, this duo is now firmly invested in the property and
hotels market. Similar to the Duke of Westminster their £719 million rise in
wealth can be greatly attributing to the booming property market in the UK.
They did so well last year, their company Global Switch paid them a £500+
million dividend.
6. John Fredrickson and Family: £9.25 Billion

As far as oil tycoons go, few come close the Norwegian-born John
Frederickson. He collectively owns the largest fleet of oil tankers in the
world. Given the rise in energy and specifically fossil fuel prices, it’s no
wonder his fortune rose by £450 million.
5. Ernesto and Kirsty Bartarelli: £9.75 Billion

The Swiss-Italian biotech magnate recently commissioned a £1.1 billion 314ft
yacht for his wives birthday, the former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli. You would
think they can afford it given their £2.25 billion increase in wealth during
2013.
4. Leonard Blavatnik: £10.0 Billion

The oil, music and property mogul Len Blavantnik lost over a £1 billion in
wealth last year. Still given that he owns the holding companies that own
Warner Music Group among other major brands/ companies you’ll have
heard of, we’re sure his year hasn’t been that bad.
3. Lakshmi Mittal and Family: £10.25 Billion

Mr. Mittal owns a large slice of the world’s largest steel giant ArcelorMittal.
He was ranked as one of the world’s richest men in 2011 before he lost over
£5 billion. He’s also known to have paid for one of the world’s most
expensive weddings for his daughter, with the wine tab alone coming to
close to a million pounds.
2. Alisher Usmanov: £10.65 Billion
44
Currently Russia’s richest man but no longer the UK’s. After losing close to
£2 billion in 2013, still, his 100’s of millions in Facebook shares, assets
including football, oil and media should keep him leading an interesting life.
1. Sri and Gopi Hinduja: £11.90 Billion

Making over a £1 billion last year in gains, these two brothers have assets
spanning 37 countries.
The Hindjua brothers have an empire that includes energy, media,

education, chemicals and much more. Also, they live next door to
Buckingham Palace, not such a bad place.
INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

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Entrepreneurship
How to Take the Leap from Employee to Business Owner
45
It's a scary jump from working for someone to running the
show, learn how you can make the jump to starting your own
business a bit easier
RELATED POSTS
 Business Banking: Best Banks And Accounts For UK Businesses
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Taking the leap from employee to a business owner is a huge step and one
that not every aspiring entrepreneur will have the courage to take.
Starting a business is hard, there are a number of risks whether it’s financial,
security or the possible effect of failure that must be considered. In the UK
there is currently a high percentage of entrepreneurs with innovative
business ideas and a comparatively small number of these will progress into
high turnover businesses. Here are my 5 tips on how to take the plunge and
never look back.

 1 Research
 2 Take the risk
 3 Take on the competition
 4 Look online for opportunities and exploit the latest technology
 5 Find your niche
Research
It is essential that you understand the market sector you are targeting,
research the potential customer base, the product and the competition.
Then prepare a realistic business plan before committing to anything. Make
sure you believe in your business and that it is something that you feel
passionate about it.
ADVERTISEMENT
Take the Risk
46
If you have done your research and you believe in your product, brand,
service and business model- Go for it.
All businesses have the potential to fail, but with a strong belief, attention to
detail and a can-do attitude you can make it happen. I had a lot to lose by
setting up my business at just 25 years of age; I had a secure well paid job,
and by following my business dreams I had to make sacrifices at a young age
but, it paid off.
There is always the risk of failure but there is so much to gain from the
freedom that success brings.
Take On the Competition

Don’t be scared to take on the big boys! If you believe you are offering a
better product than the competition, this is the opportunity to break into the
market.
Look Online For Opportunities and Exploit the Latest

Technology
There is a lot of good advice on the internet, and I suggest utilizing all of the
resources available to entrepreneurs for start-ups.
Take advantage of online training in the form of webinars and blogs and
research government websites for details on funding and grant schemes and
use all of the available resources to grow your business. Consider the
advantages of an online business to increase opportunities and reduce
overheads.
Find Your Niche

Customers like dealing with specialists, find your niche and know your
market, by providing an expert service within your sector it will create
47
a competitive advantage and before you know it you could be a market
leader.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship
Thoughts on Silicon Valley from a New Comer

Find out all you would want to know about Silicon Valley from
the perspective of a young French entrepreneur
BY ADRIEN MONTCOUDIOL | UPDATED JULY 27, 2021 (PUBLISHED 20/12/2013)
RELEVANT POINTS
 How To Get A Silicon Valley Internship

 How To Make Your New Employees Feel Welcome
 5 Reasons Why Refurbished IT Equipment Can Be Better Than New
“It’s the place to be”, “there’s no better city to launch a start-up”,

“everybody should go there at least once”.
48
This is what I was often told in Paris about Silicon Valley. I wanted to go and
see for myself during my gap year, and I wasn’t disappointed, even if a few
statements need to be watered down!
I’m passionate about tech, and it’s been quite a long time I had thought
about moving here, to discover this ecosystem which is the global center of
tech innovation.
Interning several start-ups for a year in San Francisco sounded like a good
way to do so. Today, I work at NextUser, and I live in SoMa, the
neighborhood where the HQs of Twitter, Zynga and Airbnb a few blocks from
one another.
This impressive concentration is a striking feature of Silicon Valley: talent

and resources are all gathered in the same place. All this naturally creates
entrepreneurial opportunities.
Startupers Everywhere, All the Time

You can meet passionate startupers every time of day here: in the morning
at the Starbucks where half of the tables are used by freelancers working on
their MacBooks, later at the coworking space, during after work tech
meetups and even at dinners with friends.
There’s no other city in the world where you’ll find so many early-adopters
for every possible tech trend – there are several meetups gathering
hundreds of amateurs of bitcoins, health tech, wearable tech, etc. To meet
other young tech enthusiasts and exchange about our projects I even
launched our own meetup – Early Entrepreneurs – with a friend.
For better or for worse, working in tech has become a norm in San Francisco.
What is great about that is how easy it is to meet the people you’d have
never met in Europe. For instance, you can’t imagine how excited I was when
49
I met an engineer working on the fascinating Google’s Project Loon at the 1st
party I went to.
Today, after four months, my 1st and 2nd circles of connections count
several dozens of founders of successful or promising start-ups.
Most of them were or would be easy enough to meet if you ask them for a
coffee. There’s a very positive mindset towards networking, and it probably
explains (among other reasons) why things can go so fast here.
Extreme Competition and Unique Stimulation

It’s the risky and exciting part of Silicon Valley: there are very talented
people here, and everybody wants them.
The talent war is impressive and makes salaries increase like hell. Getting
a startup job is not difficult, the average salary for a junior level computer
engineer is more than 100k a year! And I’m not talking about the perks such
as free lunches, open snacks, gaming rooms, etc.
The “acqui-hiring” is another trend showing how valuable teams of talented

people are here: to bring amazing developers and designers all at once in
your company (usually big ones such as Google, Facebook or Apple), you
simply buy the start-up they have founded. None of them is more than 25?
It doesn’t really matter – first counts skills and motivation here. It can even
be a weakness to be more than 35 to be chosen for the most prestigious
local startup accelerators such as the Y Combinator.
To overcome this talent war, some start-ups choose not to have their
technical team in the region: build your sales team here in order to be able
to meet several representatives of the biggest tech companies in the same
day but keep your developers far away from job offers!
50
On the other hand, this competition is extremely valuable as it obviously
stimulates anyone who’s passionate about this field. I got that when at the
end of the 1st hackathon I participated in a team demoed Google Glass-
controlled drones… These people already live in the future, it makes it much
easier to build tomorrow’s technology. Such energy is priceless.
A Place to Visit
Silicon Valley’s mindset towards innovation is unique. This place is enriching
for inspiration and encounters. I’d advise anyone seriously interested in tech
to come here at least a few weeks to draw on this great wealth.
Should you launch your start-up here? The answer is a bit more complicated.
It’s the world cup: you can be the best in your country and get eaten in a few
months by the sharks you’ll find here.
The employees are less loyal, the VCs are more generous but so powerful…
But if you succeed here, things can get very big very fast.
Maybe the solution lies in mobility? Criteo, for instance, was founded in 2005
in Paris, then moved to Palo Alto to target the US market and eventually
brought back their HQ to France last year, just before IPO.

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Interview with Joe Welstead on Motion Nutrition
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Entrepreneurship
7 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When

Starting Up
Learn how you can avoid the most devastating mistakes that first
entrepreneurs often make including overspending, not doing enough
research and more
RELEVANT POINTS
 10 Costly Mistakes You Should Avoid When Starting Out As An Entrepreneur

 7 Common Characteristics Of Successful Entrepreneurs
 10 Common Traits Of Successful Entrepreneurs
Starting up your own business can be exciting and exhilarating.
It can also be frighteningly easy for the unwary to fall into traps and come
unstuck by pursuing plans and strategies that may seem a good idea at the
time, but can quickly lead to disaster.
The reality is that running a small business is often just as much about what
you don’t do as well as what you do.
What can seem the obvious solution can turn out to be the exact opposite?
So here are the seven mistakes most often committed by first time
entrepreneurs – and how to avoid them:
52
 1 1. Not doing enough market research
 2 2. Overspending on advertising
 3 3. Making yourself indispensable
 4 4. Not charging sensible prices
 5 5. Not making the best use of technology
 6 6. Not setting goals
 7 7. Having a great idea and not doing anything about it
 8 Case Study
1. Not Doing Enough Market Research

You may think you have the most fantastic product in the world, but if there
are not enough people who want to buy it at the price you want to sell it, you
are in big trouble.
Just because there is a gap in the market doesn’t necessarily mean there is a
market in the gap.
Find out first what people want and then offer it to them. And don’t just ask
your friends what they think of your idea – they are bound to say it sounds
great.
The Solution
Use the internet to find out what people are looking for. Go to Google
Ads and click on Tools and Analysis, then on Keyword Tools.
It will tell you how many times people have searched for a particular word on
Google, the search engine, in an average month – both in the UK and
worldwide – and is a fantastic rough-and-ready guide to how many people
are interested in what you are selling.
On average 100 – 1000 people in the UK searched for indoor orange trees
each month over the past year, for example, whereas 1000 – 10,000 people
a month were looking for fish tank stands.
53
2. Overspending On Advertising
Too many small businesses waste huge sums of money
on advertising because they think that it is something they should be doing
without giving it any more thought.
They take a small ad in the back of a glossy magazine at a cost of perhaps

£3,000 a year, and then they sit back and hope for the best. Unfortunately,
with so many adverts competing for readers’ attention, it is likely to be
money down the drain.
The Solution
Spend time on PR instead. If you are prepared to think creatively, there are
many ways of bringing your product or service to the public’s attention for
free or little cost.
Contact your local newspaper or the trade magazine that covers your
industry and see if they want to write about you. Offer a prize for a
competition at your town’s summer fete, sponsor the cricket team or a float
in the local carnival. And get stuck into social media – create a Facebook
page, open a Twitter account and join LinkedIn.
3. Making Yourself Indispensable

If you have started a business from scratch, it can be easy to think that you
are the only person who can make a decision or carry out a task.
But as your business grows, you will quickly find yourself with so many
things to do you can hardly keep up, and you will start to fall behind with
your accounts, the sourcing of products and so on. As a result, your business
will be stifled.
The Solution
54
Delegate. Write a manual for every single task you perform in the company,
from answering the phone to filling in an invoice, no matter how trivial it
seems.
Then delegate or outsource them. That way you can be confident that the
business will continue to function if you are not physically there – and you
will be able to clear some head space to think about the bigger picture of
where your company is heading.
4. Not Charging Sensible Prices

Many first time entrepreneurs undercharge for their goods because they lack
confidence and undervalue their time.
But selling things too cheaply is counterproductive because customers think

they are getting an inferior product or service and will be put off.
The Solution
Look at what your competitors are charging and then work out where your
products and services fit into the market.
If you find this hard to do, then ask someone else – a fellow business owner,
an advisor, or your accountant – to help you. Remember, being in business is
about projecting confidence, and if you are being meek about yours, it will
not be around for very long.
5. Not Making the Best Use of Technology

It is tempting to think that because you are a small business, you can act in
a small way. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Investing in up-to-date technology in the form of efficient phone

systems, search-engine optimized websites and so on does not cost a
fortune and can spell the difference between a customer bothering to
contact you or not.
ADVERTISEMENT
55
The Solution
Get a website and make it as user-friendly as possible. Send your existing
customers regular e-mails, perhaps in the form of a newsletter.
Improve your telephone systems so that customers get through first time. If
you don’t know how to do any of this yourself, enlist the help of someone
who does.
6. Not Setting Goals

If you don’t know what you want to achieve, you will never get there. So set
goals – and don’t set your sights too low. You need to set yourself a
challenge and then pour all your energies into achieving it.
The Solution
Set yourself a goal of a certain level of annual turnover and then work
backwards -break it down to work out how many sales you will need to have
each month, each week, each day, to achieve that turnover goal.
7. Having a Great Idea and Not Doing Anything

about It
Procrastination stops 99% of would-be entrepreneurs from taking the
plunge… Don’t let that be you.
The Solution
Stop waiting for things to be perfect before starting your business -they
never will be.
Do not wait until the economy is better, or you have moved house, or got fit,
or saved more money, or until your children have left home.
56
The chances are you will end up procrastinating forever. The right time to
start your business is now.
Case Study
Lucie Storrs, 38, is the owner of Period Features, a shop and mail order
company based in Leek, Staffordshire which provides the finishing touches
for period homes from paint to lighting.
She admits to committing all the sins apart from the last one. Fortunately,
she realized her mistakes in time and her business, which she started in
2001, now has five staff and a turnover of more than £250,000.
She said: “I had been running my business for about six months when it
slowly dawned on me that it was not going to work.
There were days when we didn’t take any money at all, and I could so easily
have gone under.
But I decided to find out what was not working and then change it. As I
started trying out new ways of running my business I realized there is a
solution to every problem.”
57

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CH 1 Introduction To ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Ujasiriamali)

Essentially, entrepreneurship is the process of developing, organizing, and running a new

Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value

Different types of Entrepreneurship

The father of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur: What It Means to Be One and How to Get Started

The process of setting up a business is known as entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is

Entrepreneurship that proves to be successful in taking on the risks of creating a startup is

A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the

"Many entrepreneurs see potential in this market"

An entrepreneur is an individual who identifies a need in the marketplace and works to

Types of Entrepreneurship: Meaning and Defining Characteristics

While each entrepreneur is unique, many share at least a few core

Entrepreneurs may share several overarching characteristics, but the type of

 Addressing social inequality

Some social entrepreneurs may start a nonprofit, whereas others pursue

2. Scalable startup entrepreneurship

Most scalable startup entrepreneurs:

 Find a gap in the market and focus on filling that need

3. Small business entrepreneurship

Small business owners:

4. Large company entrepreneurship

Large company entrepreneurship:

 Concentrates on generating profits, a focus that allows the business

As a business' customer base grows and evolves, a large company entrepreneur

 Are creative problem-solvers that invent new products, services and

The bottom line

Whether an entrepreneur is trying to bring a completely new idea to market,

Contacting a financial professional to review your business funding options can

How Entrepreneurship Works

Economists have never had a consistent definition of "entrepreneur" or "entrepreneurship" (the

1 Schumpeter suggested that entrepreneurs—not just companies—were responsible for the

These individuals are analytical and risk-averse.

Below are the main different types of entrepreneurship.

The goal of social entrepreneurship is to create a benefit to society and humankind.

How to Become an Entrepreneur

Today, Ben & Jerry’s hauls in millions in annual revenue.

Ensure Financial Stability

This first step is not a strict requirement but is definitely recommended.

Build a Diverse Skill Set

Consume Content across Multiple Channels

This content can be in the form of podcasts, books, articles, or lectures.

Identify a Problem to Solve

Through the identification of a problem, an aspiring entrepreneur is able to build a business

Solve That Problem

Network Like Crazy

Resources for Entrepreneurs

Bootstrapping for Entrepreneurs

Small Business vs. Entrepreneurship

A small business is a company, usually, a sole-proprietorship or partnership that is not a

How Entrepreneurs Make Money

Taxes for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs create social change.

Overall, though, entrepreneurship is a critical driver of innovation and economic growth.

Therefore, fostering entrepreneurship is an important part of the economic growth strategies of

To this end, governments commonly assist in the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems,

They may also include non-government organizations, such as entrepreneurs' associations,

Questions for Entrepreneurs

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself: