Entrepreneurship involves the development of a business around an innovative idea, with the aim of regional or international growth. The entrepreneur in this case will need to find avenues to increase the capital base in order to realize the objective. The entrepreneur is also charged with the responsibility of protecting the idea through measures such as patents in order to capitalize on the venture.
The advantages of entrepreneurship include:
The entrepreneur gets the chance to participate in a venture that they enjoy. This increases the chances of success in the venture since the individual is passionate and dedicated to work for the venture.
Entrepreneurship offers flexibility to the entrepreneur allowing them to participate in family and social activities.
An entrepreneur has the capacity to set a salary that they believe is commensurate to their input and this helps improve the level of motivation to achieve more.
The disadvantages of entrepreneurship include:
Entrepreneurship offers no guarantees with regards to a regular paycheck especially when the business is at its formative stage.
Schedules are highly unpredictable and the entrepreneur will be required to respond to changes in the market or customer requests almost immediately. This may at times force one to work longer hours.
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Entrepreneurship has its share of advantages and disadvantages.
- Freedom: Being your own boss offers unparalleled freedom in terms of the type of work and the amount of work. As an employee, one has to fulfill the requirements of the employer and work according to the rules set by the employer.
- Compensation/Salary: An employee works for a certain salary or remuneration package and even if the company is making big profits, only a small portion is transferred to the employees. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have a much bigger stake in the success of their company. If the venture is successful, the sky is the limit for them. Some examples are the founders of Google or Facebook or Whatsapp. However, if the venture fails, entrepreneurs lose everything and being an entrepreneur means not having a regular salary. Thus, entrepreneurship is a high-risk, high reward venture.
- Time: An employee works for a set number of hours. An entrepreneur sets his/her own hours and location. However, entrepreneurs (generally) spend much more time on their ventures as compared to regular employees.
- Job satisfaction: Many employees suffer from job dissatisfaction because of low rewards, boring work profile, etc. Entrepreneurs work on ideas they care about and have high job satisfaction.
The basic trade-off in entrepreneurship is the trade-off of risk against reward.
The disadvantages of being an entrepreneur come in its risks. A person who becomes an entrepreneur is basically gambling. They are trying to do something that has not been done before and they are using their own money (or money they can raise from others) to try to accomplish that goal. They have little security and can lose the money and can put themselves under a great deal of stress as they try to avoid that outcome.
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these disadvantages are the possible rewards. People who become successful entrepreneurs can make a great deal of money. They can make themselves successful and can have the satisfaction of knowing that they put themselves and their ideas "on the line" and emerged victorious. This can be both economically beneficial and emotionally gratifying since they can become rich and can know they had the guts and the ability to make that happen.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of becoming an entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur is a person who creates a new business, and there are definite advantages and disadvantages to consider if you're interested in this type of business opportunity.
One advantage of being an entrepreneur is the opportunity to bring your dreams to life. If you've ever looked around your town or the business world in general and recognized a particular niche that is missing in the market, creating this business is a means of bringing that dream to fruition. This can be incredibly rewarding and can provide a meaningful sense of purpose to one's work. Entrepreneurs are also generally flexible enough to determine when and where they will work. They can base their hours on the market and the most economically advantageous working times and are not necessarily locked into traditional schedules.
There are also incredible risks in being an entrepreneur. Perhaps the most noteworthy risk is the negative financial impact which creating a business might bring. The success of a business depends on many factors, and not all of those factors are within an entrepreneur's control. If the economy takes a nose dive, if consumers aren't interested in a product, or if there is some sort of personal disaster, the business might fail. This could mean a tremendous financial loss for an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are also tasked with meeting other financial responsibilities which might be covered if working for a large company; health insurance, retirement plans, and vacation days must all be shouldered by the entrepreneur himself.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are household names and have made billions. You might consider the financial success of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Walt Disney. Yet it's also important to consider the realistic possibilities of achieving this type of success. Statistics show that 20% of new businesses will fail within the first two years, and only 25% of new business make it for fifteen years or more. Even most successful new businesses achieve modest profits; data reflects that the average salary for an entrepreneur is $68,000. The hours are often long, and breaks are often nonexistent as entrepreneurs understand that the success of their business depends to a great extent on their own involvement.
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