What is an Entrepreneur?

Many of us hear the small business "anthem song" - Complete freedom, unlimited opportunities, dreams realized. But of those who answer it, most don't succeed. Why? What separates those who succeed from those who fail?

Knowledge of the business, sufficient capital, good experience, and a unique idea at the right time are just some of the characteristics of a successful business owner. Although there isn't any way that you can guarantee that you'll become a successful business owner, you can greatly improve your odds by becoming well-prepared for the task.

It is important that you should seriously consider what it really means to own your own business, from the sacrifices you'll have to make to the skills you'll need if you're to succeed.

As a small business owner, you need to:

• Understand the responsibilities and challenges of owning and running a small enterprise - what's involved in owning a business and what are the roles you'll have to play if you own one? This is a good place to start if you're considering starting your own business but haven't owned one before.
• Set realistic goals - what do you want from your business? If you want to "succeed," how will you know if you get there? Knowing what you want from your business permeates all of the other decisions you'll have to make in starting a new business. It will affect which business you choose, how you evaluate your chances for success, and how you determine if you have the right skills.
• Find out if you have the right entrepreneurship attributes - how can you evaluate your own skills and make judgments about whether you're ready to own your own business? This is a good place to start if you already know that you want to own a business.
• Estimate how the decision to start a small business will impact on your everyday life - how will your life change when you become a business owner? Many of the more "secure" aspects of employee life will vanish when you open up your own business.

So, what then is an entrepreneur? "An entrepreneur is one who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them."