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What is an entrepreneur?

Guest post by: Roy Derrick

Article Overview: Do you ever wonder what an entrepreneur is? Do you wonder what the difference is between an entrepreneur and a businessman? If so here is an account of what sort of person an entrepreneur is and what motivates him or her to succeed.

What is an entrepreneur?

The term entrepreneur is French. Jean Baptiste Say , a French economist is believed to have first coined the word "entrepreneur" in about 1800. He stated that an entrepreneur is "one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as an intermediatory between capital and labour."

Entrepreneurism has changed over the years and many ordinary people are now succeeding in becoming successful entrepreneurs especially with the ever increasing opportinuities that the internet now provides.

How is an entrepreneur different to a businessman?

Entrepreneurs are in fact businessmen but unlike the traditional approach adopted by a businessman they are more innovative and creative. They start their business from scratch. They cut their own way through to find their market and get their own brand or product established. The businessman on the other hand starts a business using an existing market platform laid down by the entrepreneur. A business can also be purchased or inherited whereas an entrepreneurship cannot as it has been created from person's own idea.

An entrepreneur is generally bold and ambitious and is customer orientated whereas a businessman is usually more profit orientated and plays it safe. His outgoing personality also helps him to succeed in difficult circumstances. Unlike the traditionally minded business owner the entrepreneur is an innovator who has a more happy and enthusiastic approach to life and makes sure to find the right balance between family and working life.

Entrepreneurs are generally more concerned by the quality of their products and the satisfaction of their customers rather than being more concerned with their profits. They also hire people to make their lives better and they work towards creating value for society at large. Whereas the traditional businessman hires people to contribute profit. Business owners can also make up for any shortfalls by hiring staff and consultants to carry our any work that involves skills that they do not have themselves.

An entrepreneur risks his own capital, services and skills in a company. He works without a boss using his own hands to build a livelihood.

Successful entrepreneurs have similar qualities in that they are extremely motivated and they know their business well either from their own experience or by thorough research .They are also very hard working and committed to making their business succeed. They do not give up on their ideas or dreams when difficulties arise. Instead they regard any failure as a learning curve and go on to improve and succeed. Simon Cowell and Richard Branson are modern day examples of people who have not given up on their goals when they have encountered difficulties on the road to their entrepreneurial dreams. They merely tried harder and realised their dreams and have gone on to become global entrepreneurs.

Anyone wanting to go into the entrepreneurial world will ideally need to have a financial background or at least to have a business partner who does have the financial knowledge. You should also know your product and your competitors and have a good business plan. Most importantly you will need access to capital as this is crucial for any small business venture to survive.

You will need to stay positive and remain focused when starting your own business. It is important to remember that many great industrialists have failed numerous times before going on to succeed in their venture. The most important thing to do is to learn from mistakes and to remain focused to go on to succeed and to become a successful entrepreneur and to live a life that you design for yourself

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Article Tags: become a successful entrepreneur, business owner, entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial dreams, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurship, find the right balance between family and working life, global entrepreneurs, good business plan, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, small business venture, starting your own business, successful entrepreneurs, what is an entrepreneur



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KeywordBox.com - Thanks theFranchiseMarket - like bennyboy7, I'm a user of Google's tool (after all, if you're optimizing for Google, why not use their own database?) I put in the keyword "entrepreneur" into keywordbox and got the following top 12 results [quote:13n1aucz]Count Keyword us 51255 entrepreneur 7139 entrepreneur magazine 2569 famous entrepreneur 2441 business and entrepreneur 2256 change child educate entrepreneur leaving microsoft odyssey world world 2243 successful entrepreneur 1918 social entrepreneur 1574 young entrepreneur 1536 book book e entrepreneur from infopreneur information make money product 1504 woman entrepreneur 1358 filipino entrepreneur 1340 book book else entrepreneur free free free get money money money rich somebody wont working[/quote:13n1aucz] It seems strange to me that "change child educate entrepreneur leaving microsoft odyssey world world" would get 2256 searches and would outrank successful entrepreneur and young entrepreneur. Further down the list are other strange keyword combinations. Have you had a better experience using the tool?
Re: What is the best age to become an entrepreneur? - [quote="Evan":a38qpgg3]What is the best age to become an entrepreneur? Please comment![/quote:a38qpgg3] According to my believe being an entrepreneur does not have am exact starting age,as long as you are matured and have an business idea and you are passionate about it then you can be entrepreneur.
Are volunteers useful for entrepreneurs? - When an entrepreneur launches a business, some of them don’t have enough funds. A Canadian entrepreneur told me that volunteers are useful for small businesses. I wonder about it because I’ve never heard it in Japan. What do you think about it?
Re: Kevin's Case Study #14 - When to quit being an entrepreneur? - I'm piggy backing on your question about when to become an entrepreneur and saying the time to quit being an entrepreneur is when you lose the passion for what you are doing. Once you lose your passion, you lose the momentum you need to be a successful entrepreneur, and if you aren't being successful there is no reason to keep doing it. In fact, you probably better get off your but and go find a JOB if that's the case. There are some really fun ones out there. Like I've posted elsewhere on this forum, read the FISH books. They will teach you to have fun no matter what your job (unless your job is just making you feel physical pain.....in that case it's hard to have fun no matter what you try.)
Successful Women Business Owners - Hi sanmateo, It's something we're constantly doing - trying to find great entrepreneur stories to profile. I'm hoping a lot of the suggestions will come from you guys - the entrepreneur community that has populated the forums! I've already seen some great ideas for profiles and am looking forward to more!


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