You know those people, right? Those people that are always wheeling and dealing; making deals with almost everyone they meet. Those people are surely entrepreneurs, right? They probably are not. Strictly defined, an entrepreneur is someone that manages an enterprise. Making deals might be a part of being an entrepreneur, but it isn’t everything.
So, who is an entrepreneur? Being an entrepreneur is so much a part of who we are as humans that anyone can be an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur encompasses everything that we humans seek out; social interaction, competition, building alliances, helping others and doing all this in a way that benefits society as a whole. If any of these things are activities that you like to do, then you can be an entrepreneur. You just need to learn how, right? Miki Agrawal
Learning how to be an entrepreneur, a good entrepreneur, is a lifelong process. You don’t have to have a formal education, in other words a college degree, but you do need to learn. What you need to learn depends on what you want to do as an entrepreneur.
A common way people are entrepreneurs is to be business owners and operators. If you have a passion for a product or service, this might be for you. If you aren’t a hands-on type of person, you may want to be an investor and invest in companies that you believe in. This can be done through stocks or by simply finding a privately owned business and buying it. In this way, you can let more qualified people make the business successful.
Any business, whether operated by you or simply owned by you, requires knowledge of the market, local, state and federal laws (possibly international laws, too), knowledge of accounting, marketing, business management and a variety of other trades. You don’t have to be an expert, but you either have to have enough knowledge or know people that have enough knowledge if you want to be successful.
So where do you get the information you need to be a successful entrepreneur? You probably aren’t going to find all of the information you need all in one place. Legal knowledge can be found in law books at a library and online, or you can hire a lawyer. Libraries and book stores are great places to find information on marketing, accounting and industry specific information. Trade magazines and online news groups and associations are great places to learn from other people how they accomplished their goals and how to avoid problems they experienced in their endeavors.