How to Become an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Key Stats
Education	3-4 Years
Job Outlook	14%

An entrepreneur is a person who recognizes the need for new and different products and services and finds ways to provide them.

They are self-employed, are often creative thinkers, and very diligent workers.

If you decide to become an entrepreneur, you have a very hard path to follow, but one that can be very rewarding also.

If you feel like working for a salary is silly, are constantly trying to think of ways to make money out of things, and people like Richard Branson are your personal heroes, then it’s likely that you are an entrepreneur in the making.

To become an entrepreneur, you’ll need to have a lot of courage and faith in yourself.

Unless you’ve got enough money to fund the business yourself, you will need to find financial backing and get others to believe in your ideas.

Sure, you might get laughed out of a few banks in the beginning, just remember to write down their names so you can go back and flaunt your piles of cash at them later on when you’ve made it.

Education Requirements to Become an Entrepreneur

There is no formal or even regular educational pathway for an Entrepreneur.

Some of the best known entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college before graduation.

This being said, there are others out there that have masters, or even doctorate degrees.

As an entrepreneur, you’re going to need a wide skills base.

Skills in business, accounting, marketing and finance are all going to come in handy.

Completing a college degree is going to arm your with a lot of the knowledge that you require.

The most important things you need are ideas.

You’re going to need to be able to come up with original products and services to provide customers with.

Either that, or you’ll need to find new and better ways to market existing services.

Once you know what your focus is going to be as an entrepreneur, you will need to put together a business plan.

Think about what you are selling, providing, or creating.

Who is going to give you money for it? Who is going to use it? Think about how you are going to market it.

Make a focused plan for your first 12 months, as well as a more generalized business plan for the first five years.

Entrepreneur Job Description

Working as an entrepreneur, you are responsible for your own job description.

You need to have excellent self discipline, so as to be able to stick to your business plan.

You might be working out of home, from an office, or in another location that works for you.

Some entrepreneurs, usually the ones just starting out, work alone.

This means they need to look after every aspect of their business, from taking inquires, to balancing the books, to promotion and marketing.

This means that you will probably be very busy and working long hours.

As time goes on, you will be able to hire staff and delegate responsibility.

Some entrepreneurs have staffs of hundreds, if not thousands of people.

Here are some of the tasks an entrepreneur might find themselves completing:

• Coming up with new ideas
• Generating new ways to market current ideas
• Gaining financial backing
• Communicating with suppliers and manufacturers
• Marketing and promotion
• Product sales
• Customer service
• Building relationships
• Working with computers

Entrepreneur Salary and Career Path

While many entrepreneurs begin their own businesses right after college, some have been a part of the work force for many years and decide to leave to start their own enterprise.

The salary you earn as an entrepreneur is unlimited.

It will only be determined by the caliber of your ideas, how well you can market them, and how hard you are prepared to work.

In your first few years of business, most people shouldn’t expect to make a lot of money.

You will likely pay yourself a modest salary and work very long hours trying to promote and develop your business.

After a few years, you can expect to make more money and have a higher cash flow.

While 50% of new businesses fail in their first three years, it should also be noted that some of the world’s richest men and women are entrepreneurs, and started their own businesses from scratch.

When you become an entrepreneur, you open yourself up to the freedom of being your own boss and calling the shots.

You also face long hours for little pay in the beginning, and a lot of hurdles that will need to be jumped along the way.

Being an entrepreneur can bring a lot of job satisfaction, as well as a lot of money.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does an entrepreneur do?

Entrepreneurs are people who operate and organize a business (or businesses).

They are usually the ones who get the ideas and later on try to find a way to implement them in real life.

Entrepreneurs are ready to become leaders of their company and are fully responsible for the execution of the idea and whether or not the business is going to be successful.

An entrepreneur can fully build the business, take over a family business or become part of an existing business (like franchise owners, for example).

The end goal of every entrepreneur is financial profit.

The different types of entrepreneurs include social, serial, business, and lifestyle.

Professionals have to be initiative, confident, hardworking, and ready to handle stress.

How much do entrepreneurs make?

If you are an entrepreneur, then your salary fully depends on whether or not your business is succeeding.

The truth is that entrepreneurs can earn nothing or millions (and even billions) of dollars.

However, the average salary for an entrepreneur is about $43.000 in the United States.

Entry-level entrepreneurs can start from earning a little less than $14, while top-level professionals can easily make $64 per hour.

The salary will fully depend on your success, the industry that you have chosen, and, sometimes, the geographical location of your business.

How much does it cost to become an entrepreneur?

There is no one single path in becoming an entrepreneur.

You might be the one to start your business after you have acquired a master’s degree or you might bite the bullet with a high school diploma.

After you have determined what industry you want to focus on, you have to figure out whether or not education will be necessary.

However, you can always go for a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship or general business, for example.

A year will cost you anywhere between $1.000 and $40.000 (and over) per year, depending on whether or not you are an in-state student, the school’s overall prestige and whether it is private or public.

What is the demand for entrepreneurs?

It is pretty much impossible to estimate the job market for entrepreneurs as they are the ones who basically create the working places for everyone else.

The success rate would certainly depend on the industry that you decide to choose and the location, as well as your idea and execution.

Nearly 14% of working-age Americans are starting or already running their own businesses.

Entrepreneurs are the driving force of the country’s economy, however, the number of businessmen and businesswomen does depend on the overall economy.

How long does it take to become a entrepreneur?

If you decide to go for a bachelor’s degree, then it would take you 4 years to obtain one.

Firstly, identify the industry that you want to work in and only then go for a degree.

If you want your business to be connected with the technology field, for example, then the chances to succeed will be higher, if you get the right education.

It can take you a few weeks or a few decades to launch a business.

In any case, you would want to have a talk with a lawyer to ensure that your future business is legally protected.