Entrepreneurship: A Life Time Choice?

Until recently, people tended to think of the world of work in distinct categories. Most people either worked in someone else business or in their own. The distinction between being an employee and being  an Entrepreneur was clear. The exceptions were those who worked inside an organization and created an Entrepreneurial environment.

The rapid changes in the economy over the past two decades have blurred the lines between traditional employment and Entrepreneurship . What counts now are portable skills and knowledge, meaningful work, on-the-job learning, and the ability to build effective networks and contacts, whether through teams or the internet. Many people now follow less predictable , and even zigzagging , career paths. The distinction between managing your own operations and working for others has become blurred. Some people, called Serial Entrepreneurs, start, grow, and sell several businesses over the course of their careers. In any case , to be successful, you must develop the appropriate skill sets, strategic plans, and management team to enhance your possibilities of survival.

There are several different approaches to identifying Entrepreneurial types. “Approaches to the types of Entrepreneurship vary across a wide spectrum, “  Ray Smilor , president of the Foundation for Enterprise Development and formerly vice president of the Kauffman center of Entrepreneurial Leadership. His Book Daring Visionaries, recognizes three king of Entrepreneurs:

Aspiring , Lifestyle and Growth Entrepreneurs

Aspiring Entrepreneurs:

Aspiring Entrepreneurs dream of starting a business; they hope for the chance to be their own bosses, but they have not yet made the leap from their current employment  into the uncertainty of a startup. Finding by the Entrepreneurial Research Consortium , a public and privately sponsored research effort directed by Dr.Paul Reynolds at Babson College in Boston, indicate that at any given time, seven million adults are trying to start businesses in the united states.

Life Style Entrepreneurs:

Life style Entrepreneurs have developed an enterprise that fits their individual circumstances and style of life . Their basic intention is to earn an income for themselves and their families . Lifestyle Entrepreneurs, sometimes referred to as “small businesses”  or “mom-and-pop shops,” develop ventures  that are essential to a community’s as well being. More than 13 million Americans—25 million if you count part-time Entrepreneurs—are now running their own businesses from home. Roughly half of these home-based businesses are service firms, from consulting practices to graphic design firms, The rest are sales (17 percent), technical and administrative support (15 percent), repair service (11 percent), and the arts (5 percent).

Growth Entrepreneurs:

Growth Entrepreneurs have both the desire and ability to grow as fast and as large as possible. These firms are the most dynamic job generators in the American economy. The “gazelles” of this Entrepreneurial group, as David Birch at Cognetics, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, calls them, are increasing, By his reckoning, in the United States there ate over 300,000 Entrepreneurial companies with more than 50 employees that are growing at a rate of more than 20 percent per year. The 2,100 members of the Entrepreneur of the Year institute had revenues of $155 billion and employment of over 1.3 million while growing collectively at an estimated rate of 150,000 jobs per year.