People become entrepreneurs for many reasons. Sometimes it is just because they cannot find a job that pays enough, is interesting enough, or challenges them enough.

Other times it comes after a long life of working for others and moving up in a company and then realizing that they can do more with their own home based business. Yet others start a home based business because they want time freedom and flexibility.

While there are many reasons for becoming an entrepreneur, it is critical to choose the right business and run it properly if you want to be successful.

What Is An Entrepreneur?

There is a lot of discussion about what makes an entrepreneur, both online and offline. For example, a freelancer is not really an entrepreneur in the sense of creating a business that they can retire from and still earn money, or sell to someone else to keep running into perpetuity.

An entrepreneur builds a business that can outlast them, while a freelancer earns money providing services or benefits to someone else for pay. If that person is out of the picture, the freelancer won’t get paid.

An entrepreneur also takes a financial risk that is greater than average to run their business, while a freelancer generally doesn’t have that many expenses.

Both are perfectly legitimate ways to earn a living, but the goal is slightly different. One is to work and earn money and the other is to build something that is about more than making money and will outlast you and earn money today. You can choose to call either one of these freelancer or business owner, an entrepreneur, but technically there is a mindset difference that is very subtle:

• Entrepreneurs build a business that outlasts themselves
• Freelancers build jobs that support themselves and their family

It is minimal, but it is different and is an important distinction when we are talking about becoming an entrepreneur.