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- Create your own business doing something you are passionate about
- Potential for high financial rewards and the ability to shape your own lifestyle
- Can be stressful, and you'll need to be comfortable with taking risks
Entrepreneurs create and grow their own businesses, working for themselves instead of for an employer. This is an exciting and potentially rewarding career for people who have the vision to create their own company and the skills to develop it and grow it.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Be responsible for all parts of a business during the early stages of its development
- Identify a business opportunity or market need
- Develop a solution that is both something that people will buy, and that your business can make or sell at a profit
- Find the money needed to start your business
- Create a brand and marketing strategy
- Manage the finances and legal aspects of running a business
- Manage people and relationships
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
Your day-to-day environment may be stressful due to taking daily risks, but you'll usually be able to work flexibly and set your own hours.
You'll need
There are no set routes to becoming an entrepreneur, but you'll need creativity, commitment to working hard, resilience, and a flair for business.
Studying business, entrepreneurship at school, college, or university can help you gain the skills and knowledge needed to run a business, but there are other ways to build these, including working in a start-up or small business (where you'll see how all of the different elements come together), or simply setting up a low-risk small enterprise and trying it for yourself.
Many entrepreneurs learn their skills by just getting started and trying out business ideas, and many will have one or more businesses fail before they succeed with a business idea. This is normal, and most entrepreneurs learn from these experiences and become better at running their next business as a result.
Getting some work experience in a start-up business or small business is a really good place to start, as well as researching markets that you know about (like a hobby or interest). This can help you identify products or services you could offer.
CAREER PROSPECTS
Starting your own business can be exciting and can lead to great rewards, both in terms of your lifestyle and financially, but it is also very challenging and you'll need to be willing to take risks as not all businesses succeed. With a strong product or service, a market need and demand, and managed costs, you can create and grow a business that helps you achieve your personal goals, but you'll need to be willing to work hard and commit yourself during the early stages.