Career as Entrepreneur

Last Updated On 10 Sep, 2018

How to Become a Entrepreneur

About Entrepreneur

What do you prefer? Building your own dreams or getting hired by someone to help them build theirs? Whether you're a fresher or a professional who has worked for different companies over the years, the thought of starting a business of your own and becoming an entrepreneur must have monopolised your mind at some point in your life. The best thing about becoming an entrepreneur is that you can start whenever you want, generate employment opportunities for others, and be your own boss, forever.

However, it's not all roses – being an entrepreneur means an investment of time, money, and there is risk involved in every step that you take. While there is no guaranteed success, there is a great deal of learning as you gain knowledge of handling every aspect of running a business.

Being an entrepreneur means having an idea and setting up a business based on it. Once a business idea is generated, an entrepreneur has to undertake many activities to transform it into reality. Starting from market research to study competitors (if any) and identify the target audience, to the recruitment of professionals, taking care of the financial aspects and administering the entire work – there are multiple stages involved in setting up a new venture.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the number of people turning to entrepreneurship to bring their ideas to life. Many colleges and universities are also encouraging such people by launching Courses in Entrepreneurship and Family Business, apart from offering the traditional business management degrees.

Besides, entrepreneurship brings a sense of fulfillment as it helps in contributing to the society by introducing new ideas and helping others sustain by providing employment. Now that you know the perks of being an entrepreneur, go through our step by step guide on Career of an Entrepreneur.

Eligibility to become Entrepreneur

  • If you're looking to pursue an undergraduate course, you can apply for admission after completing your 12th from any recognised institution. You will be offered admission on the basis of the marks you secure in your 10+2.
  • If you're planning to pursue a postgraduate course, you should've done your graduation in any field from a recognised institution and you can apply for admission in a reputed institute after appearing for management entrance exams such as CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, GMAT, NMAT by GMAC, etc.

Types of Job Roles Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur can be found in any field, industry or organisation. He/she could be an inventor, artist, educator, professional, or a businessman. While entrepreneurship means starting a new venture, there are various career paths that lead up to it. Moreover, having some industry experience in hand prior to becoming an entrepreneur equips you with the right skill set, some new contacts and puts some savings in your bank account to give you a head start so that you're able to run your business effectively. Here's a list of fields that you may consider before you head out to start something of your own!

Management – Try and get into a management role before starting your own venture. When you're at a managerial position, you learn to delegate tasks, you learn the importance of teamwork, your time-management skills improve and you also learn resource-optimisation. Having all these skills becomes extremely important when you're running a business.

Sales – If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, working in sales can prove to be extremely beneficial as you gain strong communication skills because of your day-to-day dealing with people. As you get better at talking to people, your persuasion skills also improve. Your ability to convince customers, and meet their demands determines your survival in the business, and that's exactly how it works when you're an entrepreneur.

Public Relations Public relations specialists work to create a good public image of a business or company through press releases, writing speeches, and ensure advertising programs are helping. Entrepreneurs would benefit from working in this profession, as they would learn how to make their company appeal to the public. Public relations specialists need a bachelor's degree to work in the field.

Finance – With some experience in this field, an entrepreneur can plan the finances for his/her business in a better way. While building a business, keeping financial aspects in mind such as investments, taxes, allocation of budgets for marketing, recruitment, etc. is extremely important.

Customer Service – Working in retail can prove to be beneficial for entrepreneurs as it prepares them for different types of potential customers, and helps in understanding their requirements. It also helps business owners get an insight into what all they should expect from their own employees when it comes to dealing with customers.

Employment Sector/Industry for Entrepreneur

The world is your oyster if you're an entrepreneur! It opens the door to countless possibilities irrespective of whether you have a small scale business (such as dry cleaning, electronics repair, restaurants) or a large scale business. As an entrepreneur, you can create products, services, establish companies, and even set up industries. There are many industries like the Internet and IT, media, or engineering where you can find opportunities in abundance. To explore such options, here's our guide to the different sectors where you could plan your career as an entrepreneur.

If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, you are likely to take up any one of the following paths:

Starting a New Venture: It could mean establishing a company, buying a business or franchise, launching a new business in a family enterprise, or commercialising a technology.

Joining Existing Ventures: This may include working for a start-up, which may be related to fields like education, media, advertising, etc. or it could also mean joining your family business.

Some of the popular areas that you can consider for starting a business are:

  • Event Management
  • Healthcare
  • E-commerce
  • Building, Maintenance & Repairing Services
  • Social Media
  • Technology
  • Construction
  • Wellness
  • Restaurant
  • Advertising
  • Media
  • Publishing

Planning to choose Entrepreneur as your career?

Pay Scale/Salary of Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs, in general, cannot have a fixed salary, which may be true to some extent. What you earn certainly depends on the profits you earn from your business and the total business expenditure. However, many employers do pay a certain amount to themselves to keep track of their business expenditure. Setting a fixed amount of salary can help track the amount of money withdrawn from the business capital.

Books & Study Material to Become Entrepreneur

Apart from your course curriculum, you can take inspiration from some authors who have written wonderful books on entrepreneurship. Here's a list of some of them:

  • The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
  • The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
  • The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte
  • The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
  • Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck
  • Think like an Entrepreneur, Act like a CEO by Beverly E. Jones
  • Entrepreneur: A Beginners Guide to Entrepreneurship by Brad Jones
  • The Business Book (Big Ideas) by DK
  • The FINTECH Books by Susanne Chishti and Janos Barberis

 

Pros of becoming a Entrepreneur

  • Flexible working hours
  • Opportunity to translate business ideas into reality
  • Generate employment opportunities
  • Promoting innovation

 

Cons of becoming a Entrepreneur

  • No guaranteed success
  • Needs investment of time and money
  • Requires self-motivation

Career path for Entrepreneur

While there is no set formula to become an entrepreneur, there are many courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels that could enhance your knowledge about the field of entrepreneurship. You may also check some diploma and certificate programmes as well as some free online courses offered by some universities.

 

Do you think this is the right career choice for you?

Take our test and find out if it suits your strengths.

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FAQs about Entrepreneur

I am pursuing P.G.P.M. (Post Graduate Program in Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Human Resource Manager , a Retail Manager , a Sales Manager , a Management Consultant after studying P.G.P.M. (Post Graduate Program in Management).

I am pursuing P.G.D.M. (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Sales Manager , a Human Resource Manager , an Operations Manager , a Digital Marketer after studying P.G.D.M. (Post Graduate Diploma in Management).

I am pursuing M.B.M. (Master of Business Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Retail Manager , a Human Resource Manager , an Operations Manager , a Management Consultant after studying M.B.M. (Master of Business Management).

I am pursuing M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Human Resource Manager , a Management Consultant , a Sales Manager , a Digital Marketer after studying M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration).

I am pursuing M.A.M. (Master of Applied Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Digital Marketer , a Human Resource Manager , an Operations Manager , a Management Consultant after studying M.A.M. (Master of Applied Management).

I am pursuing BBA-MBA to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Digital Marketer , a Human Resource Manager , an Operations Manager , a Management Consultant after studying BBA-MBA.

I am pursuing B.B.S. (Bachelor of Business Studies) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Human Resource Manager , a Management Consultant , an Operations Manager , a Retail Manager after studying B.B.S. (Bachelor of Business Studies).

I am pursuing B.B.M. (Bachelor of Business Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Retail Manager , a Human Resource Manager , a Management Consultant , an Operations Manager after studying B.B.M. (Bachelor of Business Management).

I am pursuing B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Retail Manager , a Management Consultant , a Human Resource Manager , an Operations Manager after studying B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration).

I am pursuing B.A.M. (Bachelor of Applied Management) to become an Entrepreneur. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Retail Manager , a Management Consultant , a Digital Marketer , an Operations Manager after studying B.A.M. (Bachelor of Applied Management).

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