What Exactly Is An Entrepreneur And How Do You Become One Today?

My dad’s an entrepreneur.

In 1990, he opened his own auto shop.

He took a risk, went through the motions of uncertainty and stress, worked a second job to support his family and his business, grew his customer base, hired other mechanics, sold services (auto repair) as well as products (auto parts), and was ultimately accountable for his own success.

Ask him what he does for a living, however, and he won’t tell you he’s an entrepreneur. He’ll say he fixes cars.

Ask him about being his own boss and he’ll say, “When you have your own business, you’re not the boss. You’re an employee.”

But in my eyes he is most definitely an entrepreneur, at least according to the definition you get from a quick Google search:

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.

Like my dad, many small business owners don’t embrace their identity as “entrepreneurs". On the other hand, you probably know someone who wears the title with pride.

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.

But is an independent freelancer an entrepreneur? What about a full-time Uber driver? Someone who runs a stall at a fish market? Where do we draw the line, if there is one to draw?

This wide range of interpretations, coupled with all the new ways for people to make money on their own terms, begs the question: What exactly is an “entrepreneur” today?

What is an “entrepreneur" today?

According to Census Bureau data, from 1978 to 2012 there’s been a more than 44% decrease in new firms being created as a share of total businesses in the United States—the home of the American Dream—a trend that has been interpreted as the decline of entrepreneurship.

Despite that, our overall interest in the "entrepreneur" is still alive and healthy around the world, according to Google Trends.

In fact, a Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report in 2015 revealed that 66% of adults surveyed worldwide see entrepreneurship as a good career choice—over half who are working-age feel they have the ability to start a business.

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.

So I talked to over 25 “entrepreneurs" from all walks of life—from solopreneurs to tech founders to store owners to creators—to get a range of perspectives on what exactly an entrepreneur is.

What does an entrepreneur do?

Aside from the recurring themes of risk, value creation, and rebellion, the answers I got varied from person to person, from business to business.

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

1. Thanks to technology, the barriers to entry have never been lower to start as an entrepreneur.
2. There are more paths now to starting a business than ever before.

How technology has changed entrepreneurship

A survey of Inc.com readers in 2015 revealed that the biggest barriers perceived by would-be entrepreneurs are:

• “I don’t think I can raise enough money." (48%)
• “I don’t have an idea." (40%)
• “I’m discouraged by the high failure rate of businesses." (22%)
• “I don’t have the right skills." (21%)
• “I worry about balancing business and family life." (18%)
• “I’m worried about taxes and regulations." (17%)
• “The competitive barriers are too high." (13%)
• “I don’t think I could hire people with the skills I need." (7%)

But a lot of these are what I’d call legacy fears surrounding entrepreneurship—outdated misgivings that have yet to catch up with the technology and platforms that enable us to start things and put plans into motion in ways that weren’t possible before.

A timeline of technology enabling entrepreneurship

In the last 20 years, we’ve seen the emergence of new software, tools and platforms addressing the fears and pain points associated with starting and running a business. And that’s excluding all the other opportunities afforded by social networks and search engines.

How technology has enabled entrepreneurs:

• Quickbooks made accounting more accessible for small businesses.
• Alibaba made finding a supplier easier for products you could sell.
• Shopify made it easier to start and run a business selling anything online without knowing how to code.
• Dropbox enabled file sharing for better, more secure collaboration.
• Kickstarter made crowdfunding your ideas a mainstream concept, reducing the financial barrier for execution.
• Buffer streamlined the way you schedule social media content across multiple profiles.
• Fiverr offered a marketplace for finding affordable talent and human resources.
• Zapier made integrating technology possible without a developer in order to automate workflows.
• Canva made it possible for anyone to design the visual assets they need without hiring help.
• Kit built a “virtual employee" to take on some of the burden of running a business.

These companies—these entrepreneurs enabling entrepreneurship, of which I’ve only highlighted a handful—have created a world where a business no longer needs to be tied to a particular building, where many of them start and are run from home, on a laptop, in a coffee shop, through a mobile phone, with “employees? around the world.

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.

Unless you've been hit with a brilliant idea right from the beginning and that's your motivation to start your business, finding great ideas can be a daunting task. There are thousands of possible choices, yet, everything seems like it's been done a thousand times before.

So with all these business idea choices where do you even begin digging to find the gold? The first step to finding ways to become an entrepreneur is to sell online. That starts with being able to recognize the various opportunities that exist for uncovering ideas.

We'll look at the eight potential opportunity types that you must familiarize yourself with. Understanding these eight product opportunity types are key to helping you identify niche opportunities to sell online.

Let's first look at the all eight opportunity types, then, we will dive into each one in more detail:

1. Uncover opportunities in keywords
2. Build an interesting and captivating brand
3. Identify and solve a customer pain point
4. Identify and cater to consumer passions
5. Follow your own passion
6. Look for an opportunity gap
7. Utilize your own experience and expertise
8. Capitalize on trends early

Each opportunity above involves a different mindset and approach. Let’s explore each one in more detail:

1. Uncover opportunities in keywords

Organic search traffic can be the holy grail of ecommerce. If done correctly, Google and other search engines will reward you with massive amounts of consistent and targeted traffic. In a world of slim margins where paid advertising channels are consistently getting more expensive, this is precisely what makes products with keyword opportunities so lucrative.

Looking for keyword opportunities involves strategically looking for a product or niche online based on the keywords people are searching for in search engines like Google and Bing, then identifying high volume but low competition search terms. Keyword research can be a bit technical, so this opportunity involves a solid base understanding of keyword research and search engine optimization (SEO).

This opportunity can be particularly lucrative if you plan to dropship products, as margins on dropshipped goods are thin, many times making it difficult to use paid advertising channels effectively.

Example: Andrew Youderian took a technical approach in picking a niche that he felt had the highest chances of success based on keyword research. Utilizing this approach, Andrew found an opportunity to rank for keywords in the CB Radio niche.

You can see in the image above that Andrew's business, Right Channel Radios, has been able to rank in the 1st organic position on Google for the organic search term “Vehicle CB Radios”.

It’s been SEO opportunities like this that have helped Right Channel Radios become so successful.

2. Build an interesting and captivating brand

Differing from the previous method, building a brand means also building an audience. A brand building approach involves developing a superior understanding of your potential customers, crafting a unique brand and carving out a unique place in your customer's mind. This approach to building an online business can be particularly effective at differentiating yourself from competitors in the market if there is heavy competition.

Example: DODOcase, an iPad case manufacturer has done a noteworthy job at crafting a unique brand. Despite operating in the extremely crowded and competitive space of iPad cases, DODOcase broke through by telling a different and unique story, one where their cases are handcrafted using traditional artisan bookbinding techniques in the city of San Francisco. It's this unique story and brand that has made DODOcase one of the top iPad case manufacturers in the world in a short amount of time.

3. Identify and solve a customer pain point

One of the best ways to build a strong business is by solving a customer pain point. Products that solve pain points can be lucrative because customers are actively seeking out solutions to these problems. You'll want to keep in mind that pain points don't always mean physical pain, it can also include frustrating, time consuming, or poor experiences.

Example: Jing, an ecommerce entrepreneur knew that people that grind their teeth can suffer from excruciating pain. More than just the physical pain, constant grinding can lead to expensive dental bills. Knowing this was a pain point that many people would seek out a solution for and happily pay money to solve, Jing launched Pro Teeth Guard, custom moulded teeth guard at a great price.

Active Hound is another example of a brand that solved a pain point for consumers. As dog owners, the founders understood the frustration of buying dog toys only to see them fall apart a few days later.

After confirming this with other dog owners, they were inspired to manufacture their own line of ultra durable chew toys.

4. Cater to consumer passions

It's a fact. Consumers tend to spend significantly more money to support their passions and habits. Just consider golfers. Golfers are notorious for spending thousands of dollars on gear and gadgets with the hopes and dreams of lowering their score, even by the slightest.

Catering to passions has additional benefits as well including deeper interaction with your brand, brand loyalty and increased word of mouth marketing.

Example: Black Milk Clothing began in 2009 after the founder's blog TooManyTights exploded in popularity.

Recognizing the passion consumers had for tights with unique designs and understanding the opportunity the founder created Black Milk Clothing. Today Black Milk is a multi-million dollar company that's grown to over 150 employees and distributes its products globally. Furthermore, by piggybacking on pop culture trends with their designs they tap into passionate audiences and customers from a range of different niches beyond just tights.

5. Follow your own passion

Some people consider choosing a product or niche based on your own personal passion to be a recipe for disaster. However, that's not always the case, and can actually prove to be extremely profitable.

One of the biggest benefits to building a business around your passion is having the tenacity to keep going when you run into difficult times. This one point shouldn't be underestimated as staying motivated is a major key to building a successful online business.

Example: Eric Bandholz began BeardBrand as a personal blog discussing business and sales strategy. Over time though, Eric's passion for the bearded lifestyle kept creeping into his blog. Eventually, he went all in on his passion and began BeardBrand. A brand that sells beard grooming supplies to men that are equally passionate about their beards.

6. Look for an opportunity gap

Capitalizing on an opportunity or feature gap can be lucrative. This opportunity type involves uncovering problems or deficiencies in a product or the marketing for a product that can be capitalized on. An opportunity gap may exist in the form of an improved or additional product feature, an unrealized market by the current competitors, or it may even come in the form of your own marketing capability.

Example: Chaim Pikarski continually seeks out and capitalizes on opportunity gaps. He and his team scours product listings all over the internet and thoroughly reads the reviews section. They are continually on the lookout for deficiencies and feature gaps that buyers post. With this information in hand, he sources a manufacturer in and makes his own, better version of the original product.

Hipe shower radio is one such product (of hundreds) Chaim has manufactured by finding an opportunity gap in the original product. By looking at other shower radios and reading consumer reviews, he found an opportunity gap for a shower radio that was rechargeable.

7. Utilize your own experience and expertise

Utilizing your own experience and expertise is a strong competitive advantage. Turning your expertise into an online business is a great way to enter the market with a leg up and a barrier to entry for others.

Example: Jonathan Snook, an expert in web design and development used his years of knowledge to write and self published a book on web development and CSS called SMACSS.

Jillian Michaels, host of The Biggest Loser took the same approach and used her expertise in fitness and weight loss to develop and sell a line of products, including DVD's, books and fitness equipment.

8. Capitalize on trends early

Capitalizing on a trend early enough can have a massive impact on a new business. It allows you to carve out a place in consumers minds and establish yourself as a leader before others have a chance to. Capitalizing on a trend early can also have a big impact on your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) since you'll be one of the first websites talking about and being indexed by search engines like Google and Bing for the new trending search terms. This can help you climb to the top of search rankings fast.

Example: Sophie Kovic, founder of Flockstocks noticed the trend for feather hair extensions very early on. Before spending any money or buying inventory, Sophie tested the market by quickly mocking up a test store. The results? 11 sales in 4 hours. Knowing there was a huge opportunity she fully built out her site, ordered inventory and even ended up winning the 2012 Shopify Build A Business competition in the Apparel & Jewelry category.

The reasons might be unique to each person, but there are two qualities all entrepreneurs share.

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:

1. They have ambition.
2. They start.

Running your own business? Share your interpretation of what it means to be an entrepreneur in the comments below!