Are you a business owner or an entrepreneur - or something in between? Or maybe both! Most people will agree that a business owner creates a job for himself (and possibly others), usually from his own skill set or by purchasing an already established business.
The entrepreneur is often described as one who creates a business from a new thought, or created an opportunity to meet a need that is not currently being met.
The key difference is that most entrepreneurial efforts are created from the ground up.
Many people who are entrepreneurs (many times called solo-preneurs) have more than one business because it's often the creativity and opportunity to create something new that sets them apart from business owners, who as a whole are less inclined to be huge risk-takers.
With that said, then my next question is this: If you purchase a franchise, comprehensive business package, or licensing agreement, are you a business owner or an entrepreneur? One of our licensees actually used the term "modified entrepreneur" when identifying his place in the business world.
This explains, in very succinct terms, exactly what those who purchase a franchise or business package/licensing agreement, are! They are entrepreneurs in the sense that, as Wikipedia says, they are an "enterprising individual who builds capital through risk and/or initiative.
" The word "modified" comes into play because much of the up-front risk has already happened by the original founders.
The primary advantage that a modified entrepreneur has is that you can move into the business quite quickly compared to a true entrepreneurial approach that has an extremely long and difficult start-up phase.
It's very reasonable to begin developing the business immediately, rather than spending months and months creating the behind-the-scenes activities such as creating marketing materials, establishing processes and procedures, developing correspondence and worksheets, etc.
Rather than go through the trial-and-error of business development, and suffer through the long learning curve that many entrepreneurs experience, an alternative is to choose to be a modified entrepreneur.
This is a great advantage when it comes to lessening the risk and speeding up the start-up period.
So if the full entrepreneurship idea is a little frightening to you, creating something from nothing, consider a franchise or comprehensive business package/licensing agreement to help you get started.
These options give you the freedom of business ownership, the pride of building a business, and the excitement that you created something that is yours! And at the same time, you have a built-in mentor to help guide you as you make your own business decisions.