Who Is An Entrepreneur?

What qualities distinguish an entrepreneur? Do I operate as an entrepreneur? Do you run your own business? Are there any entrepreneurs that I know? Does it run in the family? Is it anything I can catch? Is it deadly? Hold on, what? Everybody who does anything appears to be calling themselves an "entrepreneur." It's applied to a number of well-known people, including Jessica Alba, Marie Kondo, Elon Musk, and Beyoncé.

However, your brother may also make the list if he never stops talking about his invention—coffee-flavored toothpaste. Yum! Entrepreneurs can come from a wide range of backgrounds and are found in many kinds of sectors. While others devote their entire energy to creating a tangible product they believe in, others create personal brands. Really, with the correct resources to turn an idea into a workable business, anyone can become an entrepreneur.

Together, we'll hone our business acumen and discover the value of perseverance, grit, and a healthy dose of good fortune. This is Crash Course Business: Entrepreneurship, and my name is Anna Akana. [The Theme Song Plays] Buzzwords like "trailblazing," "innovative," "problem-solving," "passionate," and so on are sometimes used to characterize an entrepreneur.

It's possible that entrepreneurs can aim for all of these qualities. Fundamentally, however, an entrepreneur is a person who recognizes a need and assumes the financial risk to launch a company in order to address that need. Although it sounds a little ambiguous, that is sort of the idea. An entrepreneur is not a predetermined person. Unless you, you know, launch a cookie cutter company.

In such instance, a cookie-cutter entrepreneur does exist. Your concept might be implemented as a brick and mortar business, which consists of a physical product and a physical location. From a single storefront in downtown Missoula to an appearance on Good Morning America, Charlie and Barbie Beaton of Big Dipper Ice Cream in Montana shared their love of locally produced ice cream.

Oh my god. Alternatively, your business idea could be a nationwide empowerment network rather than a physical product. Alexia Hilbertidou, then 20 years old, started GirlBoss New Zealand since she was the sole female student in her advanced physics class. Her mission is to inspire female students in high school to seek careers in STEM and leadership.

Alternatively, you may aim for a global internet media conglomerate, like to Arianna Huffington, HuffPost's creator and namesake. Her website was created (in collaboration with others) as a kind substitute for news aggregators. And in 2015, she finally sold it to AOL for $315 million US. Ari, get it. It's evident that entrepreneurs take many different forms.

I mean, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor claims that more than 100 million enterprises are started year. That equates to 11,000 new enterprises per hour, or 3 new businesses per second. Therefore, since the definition of an entrepreneur is so broad, we may limit it down by identifying who isn't an entrepreneur.

We should visit the Thought Bubble. Assume Congress is employed by the feline fitness and health corporation Me-Wow. He recognizes a need—a startling deficiency in feline transportation—and devises the Cat-Cycle concept, which he presents to his supervisor. Me-Wow puts the Cat-Cycle into production right away as it's a brilliant idea that sells like hotcakes.

Congress is not yet an entrepreneur, despite the fact that he is operating with an entrepreneurial mindset. In reality, Me-Wow took up the financial risk to design, manufacture, and market the Cat-Cycle. After work, Beetle uses his personal idea notebook to sketch out the Cat-Board after seeing the same necessity for cat mobility.

Working nights and weekends at Me-Wow, he develops the Cat-Board and gets invaluable experience before going out on his own. Beetle commissions a prototype and shops it around to local merchants using his own resources. He arranges contracts with the interested parties. Beetle crafts new designs when his sales start to soar, but he doesn't consider what his consumers think or feel about the Cat-Board.

Sales fell off as a result of his failure to provide his consumers with significant enhancements to the Cat-Board. Although it's a difficult choice, Beetle cuts his losses and sells Me-Wow his Cat-Board designs, which Me-Wow then reinvents as the Dog-Board. Because he recognized a need and assumed the financial risk, Beetle is an entrepreneur.

However, he now understands his mistakes and will not repeat them in his upcoming business venture. Regards, Thought Bubble! For a long time, the archetypal tale of an entrepreneur was someone who started a single venture that developed into a long-term undertaking, such as starting a software startup to produce visually appealing mobile apps or launching a new restaurant.

However, that is no longer the complete picture. The global labor market has changed, which has made it easier for people to pursue entrepreneurship. I'm referring specifically to the growth of the gig economy. Gigging, or contract employment, is growing in popularity and occupying a larger portion of the labor market.

And I'm not simply referring to performances by comedians and musicians that alternate between open mic nights. Businesses are hiring workers temporarily for specific tasks rather than on an ongoing basis where they are paid by the hour or year. This change has made it more affordable for business owners to hire workers to launch their ventures without having to make long-term payroll commitments.

In addition, it has made it possible for fledgling business owners to find flexible employment while they build their goods or services. This has just increased possibility; it does not imply that everyone in the gig economy is an entrepreneur. Hence, a more conventional route would be to start working as an accountant straight out of college, 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, until you retire.

might pass away from boredom. Spreadsheets? Forever? NOT THANK YOU A job that is that stable might make some people feel content. Furthermore, the security that comes with having health insurance and a salary can be extremely valuable. Some people could yearn for greater independence, just like us business owners. You might have two sources of income in the gig economy in addition to or instead of your regular 9–5 work.

Additionally, you may search for gigs online from anywhere, not just in your local area. Thus, you might provide day-to-day accounting advice to a network of female small company owners through consulting, make vlogs offering tax software hints, and sell unicorn knit hats on Etsy made from the softest fabric available.

Positively, this makes it possible for employees to obtain satisfying jobs and develop strong portfolios of their work. A greater sense of financial security can be obtained from multiple part-time jobs than from a single full-time one. If you don't win any, you still make money. Hail to the side gig! Because we know how to work hard, today's entrepreneurs are well-suited for the gig economy.

We are self-reliant individuals who feel at ease creating our own varied sources of income, promoting oneself, and interacting with people. Who hasn't had a Lyft driver who also happens to be an expert cinnamon roll maker, after all? However, there are still issues with the gig economy. Yes, someone might decide to drive for Lyft in order to support their sugarcoated ambition.

However, it's highly unlikely that they are doing it because they enjoy driving about strangers. For several individuals, engaging in the gig economy is an obligation rather than a choice. Taking up many jobs can sometimes be a result of struggling to make ends meet and pay rent. Gig workers may also find it more difficult to maintain insurance and retirement funds, or they may have less legal safeguards (such as required breaks and standardized pay), depending on the nation and government.

This makes some nations more appealing to business owners, like Singapore, Denmark, and New Zealand, according to The World Bank's yearly assessment of the "Ease of Doing Business." However, there is a distinction between being entitled to take a break legally and actually doing so, even in those nations. Turning off the hustle can be difficult, particularly for those of us attempting to establish a personal identity through our artwork or internet presence.

However, engaging in enjoyable hobbies and socializing with loved ones are crucial components of success and are also required to maintain mental well-being. Believe me! Thus, life isn't just sunshine and blue sky. But now more than ever, the gig economy makes it feasible to pursue your dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship isn't easy, even now. Both taking a financial risk and putting in lengthy hours to see a project through to completion can be unpleasant. In my experience, the absence of a set work schedule frequently indicates that there is no downtime for my company. And if I'm not careful, I could work nonstop and wear myself out.

However, a lot of us take the risk to launch a new company and persevere through its ups and downs, so what precisely motivates us? Freedom is at the top of the list. Being an entrepreneur means having your own employer. This may entail determining your own work schedule and clothing regulations—or not. All day, every day, in sweatpants, amirite? Perhaps you would prefer to write emails while traveling or while in bed.

And I am, ding ding ding, every one of the historically underrepresented groups in business, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. It can entail choosing your own path in life. Rather than being forced into an awkward— or even illegal— scenario with a supervisor or colleague, you can foster an inclusive workplace atmosphere.

You shouldn't hire someone for your writer's room or film set if they are constantly interrupting you and making disparaging remarks about how funny women can't be. You might even start a business where a former employee's natural hairstyle would never cause them to lose their job. You have the authority. According to a survey published in the Social Science Research Network journal, the majority of entrepreneurs found that their enterprises are founded on the belief that they are intrinsically more valuable than what is shown on paper.

Working for someone else is a waste of their time. "The real them" is not depicted on their resumes. Big businesses are unable to realize their full potential. Additionally, they have the ability to convert their intrinsic value into actual money. In essence, entrepreneurs have self-confidence. Although it's not always simple, developing self-confidence over time can be a really effective motivator.

Then there is the possibility of money. Sure, launching a business carries some financial risk, but operating a profitable one also requires capital. Tales of rags to riches are common in entrepreneurial legend, with individuals pitching the next SnapChat and rising to the top of the commercial world. For example, Oprah Winfrey has stated that she wore overalls made of potato sacks throughout her early years.

However, she went on to become the first black multibillionaire in North America and the "Queen of the Daytime Talkshow." Yes, this is the stuff that inspires posters are made of, and not everyone can achieve such a large scale. However, entrepreneurship does foster an environment of possibility that non-traditional workers may find beneficial. Every business owner who has experienced great success has, of course, also experienced countless failures.

Yes, the infamous "F" word. The Lean Startup methodology, developed by Steve Blank and Eric Ries, is essentially the internationally known manual for entrepreneurs. It also suggests that making mistakes is okay as long as we learn from them. But in order to recognize failures and draw lessons from them, entrepreneurs must ask themselves, "What does success look like to me?" Is it driving a food truck and going skiing every weekend for $30,000 a year? Is it pitching a million dollars for your idea? Is it taking a job as CEO of a medium-sized media production company and pursuing novel writing as a side project? Hank, thanks for hiring us! Where's the follow-up, and when can I be in the film version? Or is it making your own movies and having six cats? Success is entirely up to you, whatever it may be. Naturally, nobody likes to fail. But if failure is really inevitable, together we'll discover how to reinterpret it and pick ourselves up after it.

The key to great entrepreneurs' perseverance isn't that they never experienced failure. In summary, anyone can become an entrepreneur with a little perseverance, guts, and good fortune. And never forget that even if you may no longer think unicorns exist, they still have faith in you. Next time, we'll discuss the essential component at the center of every entrepreneur: their ideas—where they originate, who to present them to, and how to develop them into workable ventures.