An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater

than normal financial risks in order to do so. Some people exclude those who own side businesses as
“real entrepreneurs”. Others talk broadly about entrepreneurs as anyone who starts a new business in
any capacity. And let’s not forget the “entrepreneurial tendencies” people can have without owning a
business, that many companies today look for in the people they hire.

What is an “entrepreneur” today?

This is likely due to our evolving interpretation of what an entrepreneur is, one that’s born from new
variations and forms of “entrepreneurship”, from the sidepreneur to the infopreneur—emphasizing,
above all, the self-starter attitude toward creating value that in turn creates revenue.

“An entrepreneur is someone who prefers a life of boundless uncertainty to that of predictability and
chooses to bet on themselves before anyone else.”

“An entrepreneur is someone who has made a conscious decision to choose freedom. This freedom
doesn't come easy because being an entrepreneur isn't easy, but it will change your life in every way.
Many of us spend years of our lives building someone else's dream and following someone else's rules.
As entrepreneurs, we get to choose to work on the things that light us up, that motivate us, and that
make a big impact for those around us. As entrepreneurs, we get to spend time with our family when we
choose to, go on vacation when we choose to and surround ourselves with the people we choose to.”

entrepreneur takes on the risk and seeks to fill a need on her own terms. An entrepreneur doesn't just
‘organize’ a business in my mind, but fuels it, directs it, and creates it. I hesitated to call myself an
entrepreneur for a long time because I thought you had to have a Harvard MBA. I was so wrong.
Entrepreneurs are scrappy and disruptive, creative and unruly, strategic and unstoppable. Sometimes
they make lousy students and difficult employees.”

How people become entrepreneurs today

Considering that “part-time entrepreneurship” is now more common than it once was, it’s no
longer necessary for you to quit your job to start building something on the side.

Many Shopify store owners run their businesses part-time, during evenings or on the weekend,
eventually going full-time if they choose to. Some have a physical location for their store and others
operate entirely online.

Businesses can now exist in a variety of forms that just weren’t possible before. So naturally, people
are starting them for a variety of reasons.

Two things all entrepreneurs have in common

The word "entrepreneur" comes from the French word, entreprendre: to undertake. And despite how
entrepreneurship has changed over the years, that part still seems very much intact.

However you or anyone else chooses to define what it means to be an entrepreneur, it almost goes
without saying that an entrepreneur can’t become one if he or she has to wait for that validation.

Because there are at least two things every entrepreneur has in common for sure:

They have ambition.

They start.

What is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is the act of creating a business or businesses while building and scaling it to generate
a profit.

However, as a basic entrepreneurship definition, it’s a bit limiting. The more modern entrepreneurship
definition is also about transforming the world by solving big problems. Like initiating social change,
creating an innovative product or presenting a new life-changing solution.

What the entrepreneurship definition doesn’t tell you is that entrepreneurship is what people do to
take their career and dreams into their hands and lead it in the direction of their own choice. It’s about
building a life on your own terms. No bosses. No restricting schedules. And no one holding you back.
Entrepreneurs are able to take the first step into making the world a better place, for everyone in it.

entrepreneurship

The definition of entrepreneurship seems to have evolved, and it’s likely the result of two things:

Thanks to technology, the barriers to entry have never been lower to start as an entrepreneur.

There are more paths now to starting a business than ever before.
Types and Forms of Business

A business entity is an organization that uses economic resources to provide goods or services to
customers in exchange for money or other goods and services.

Business organizations come in different types and in different forms of ownership.

There are three major types of businesses:

1. Service Business

A service type of business provides intangible products (products with no physical form). Service type
firms offer professional skills, expertise, advice, and other similar products.

Examples of service businesses are: salons, repair shops, schools, banks, accounting firms, and law firms.

2. Merchandising Business

This type of business buys products at wholesale price and sells the same at retail price. They are known
as "buy and sell" businesses. They make profit by selling the products at prices higher than their
purchase costs.

A merchandising business sells a product without changing its form. Examples are: grocery stores,
convenience stores, distributors, and other resellers.

3. Manufacturing Business

Unlike a merchandising business, a manufacturing business buys products with the intention of using
them as materials in making a new product. Thus, there is a transformation of the products purchased.

A manufacturing business combines raw materials, labor, and overhead costs in its production process.
The manufactured goods will then be sold to customers.
Hybrid Business

Hybrid businesses are companies that may be classified in more than one type of business. A restaurant,
for example, combines ingredients in making a fine meal (manufacturing), sells a cold bottle of wine
(merchandising), and fills customer orders (service).

Forms of Business Organization

These are the basic forms of business ownership:

1. Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a business owned by only one person. It is easy to set-up and is the least costly
among all forms of ownership. The owner faces unlimited liability; meaning, the creditors of the
business may go after the personal assets of the owner if the business cannot pay them.

The sole proprietorship form is usually adopted by small business entities.

2. Partnership

A partnership is a business owned by two or more persons who contribute resources into the entity. The
partners divide the profits of the business among themselves.

In general partnerships, all partners have unlimited liability. In limited partnerships, creditors cannot go
after the personal assets of the limited partners.

3. Corporation

A corporation is a business organization that has a separate legal personality from its owners.
Ownership in a stock corporation is represented by shares of stock.

The owners (stockholders) enjoy limited liability but have limited involvement in the company's
operations. The board of directors, an elected group from the stockholders, controls the activities of the
corporation.
In addition to those basic forms of business ownership, these are some other types of organizations that
are common today:

Limited Liability Company

Limited liability companies (LLCs) in the USA, are hybrid forms of business that have characteristics of
both a corporation and a partnership. An LLC is not incorporated; hence, it is not considered a
corporation. But, the owners enjoy limited liability like in a corporation. An LLC may elect to be taxed as
a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation.

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned by a group of individuals and is operated for their
mutual benefit. The persons making up the group are called members. Cooperatives may be
incorporated or unincorporated.

Some examples of cooperatives are: water and electricity (utility) cooperatives, cooperative banking,
credit unions, and housing cooperatives.