Are You A Business Owner Or An Entrepreneur

This may be the age of the entrepreneur we live in. As people get laid off, or their place of employment shuts down, many adjust to the situation by starting their own business.

Entrepreneurship is the new black, ladies and gentlemen. Write it down.

I stumbled across an article the other day written by Erika Napoletano at Redhead Writing that posed an interesting question, however. She asked her reading audience if they were, in fact, entrepreneurs or if they were business owners. It was an interesting distinction for me, and one I'd like to toss out to all of you.

Are you in fact an entrepreneur, or are you a business owner?

Is there a difference?

I'll bet further that you are one of the majorities who doesn't have an answer to that.

The difference is simple. A business owner owns a business. They may have started it, or bought it from someone else. It may be the family business that generations have just gone into because it was there and it was always a part of them. It doesn't matter. They are all business owners and operators.

The entrepreneur is one who started his own business based on his own concept. If that business concept proves to be a new and exciting one, the entrepreneur is off to a very good start.

If you have a great idea for a business and are thinking about turning yourself into an entrepreneur, you should ask yourself a few probing questions before you take the plunge.

1. Are you terrified you're going to mess it all up? Being an entrepreneur is scary stuff. Know what? You're going to make mistakes. You're goin to crash and burn. There's an excellent chance you're going to fall on your face and have to pick yourself back up again. That's just the way it works. If you can't hack that, don't step in the ring.

2. Do you have a problem telling people what to do? You'd be amazed at how much harder it is to take the reins than it is to let someone else deal with the hard stuff. If you're a pushover who thinks they want to be an entrepreneur, you need to get over it. Seriously.

3. Can you think on the fly? If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that people who can't think on their feet shouldn't be entrepreneurs. You're about to run face first into a whole world of obstacles you've never even thought about going up against before, many of which are going to stomp their feet until you make a decision in 30 seconds or less. If you can't think on your feet, that's it. It's all over. Throw in the towel now.

4. Are you too chicken to tell people what you're about to do? Entrepreneurs have been called nutcases since the beginning of time. If you have an idea someone else hasn't thought of yet, there's obviously something wrong with you. Right? Well, that was kind of a given. But there's going to be a lot of that in your future. Learn to look 'em in the eye, and not to let it get to you.

If you've got all that, you've got what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Or at least, to get your feet wet finding out along the way. More power to you. Let us know how that works out!