Overview of entrepreneur careers
Entrepreneurs are innovators of new ideas, products, services and a wide range of business and commercial activities. They are integral to the growth and development of any healthy economy. However, there are thousands of people looking to launch a business idea who can't choose the right entrepreneurial path.
Thankfully, there are career opportunities in several industries you can pursue to grow your entrepreneurial ideas. Here, we discuss who an entrepreneur is, provide a list of promising entrepreneur careers you can choose, and skills needed to excel as an entrepreneur.
Definition of entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is a person who creates and runs a business. While many entrepreneurs create businesses from innovative ideas, others improve existing products, services, procedures, or businesses to solve a specific problem. As an entrepreneur, you can work alone or be a part of a team. However, the entrepreneur typically bears the risks and enjoys the rewards of owning and managing a business.
Entrepreneurs are a sign of a dynamic economy as they infuse new ideas, initiatives, and strategies into the business community. To succeed as an entrepreneur, it is important to choose a career path that aligns with your passion and strengths, have a high tolerance for risk, and solve a problem people will pay for.
Top entrepreneur careers
Here are 11 of the best career paths you can choose as an entrepreneur:
1. Sales
A career in sales is one of the best ways to hone your entrepreneurial skills. Depending on your level of experience, training, and skills, you can work in different aspects of sales, including as sales manager or sales representative. Working in sales will help you develop core skills such as market research, persuasion, negotiation, customer relations, and delegation. It will also help you gain leadership experience and improve your goal setting and managerial skills.
2. Business management
If you have the right qualifications, you can pursue a career in entry, mid, and senior level business management. Since entrepreneurs create businesses and are responsible for the risks and rewards of their companies, working in management will help you develop best practices that will be essential for your success.
A position in management is ideal if you have an entrepreneurial or business management degree. It will provide plenty of opportunities to learn how a business works, including the financial, production, human resources, and legal aspects of running a company.
3. Research and development
A career in research and development will equip you with the ability to conceptualize, develop, and execute complex business procedures and practices. You will become adept at problem solving, research, ideation, data analysis, forecasting, and several other aspects of products and services development. These skills will prove vital when it’s time to float your business idea.
Regardless of your educational background, a stint in research and development can help you gain a robust understanding of the fundamentals of running a business.
4. Social media management
As a social media manager, you will be responsible for creating and implementing online campaigns to promote brands, products, services, and offers. The position allows you to improve your communication skills, engage audiences, and gauge their pulse to determine how best to serve them to gain their loyalty.
You will also learn how to use the various social media platforms to reach diverse customer segments and improve your digital marketing experience. Working in social media can also help you develop leadership and delegation skills because you will usually need to recruit and work with creatives such as graphics designers, freelance writers, and other digital marketing professionals.
5. Financial advisor
As a financial advisor, you will help clients get the highest returns on investments. People will come to you for advice when they need to make a large transaction such as buying their first home or refinancing a mortgage. You will help them appraise their financial situation and guide them to make the best decisions.
Working in financial advisory will help you develop vital entrepreneurial skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, financial management, data analytics, communication, and customer service.
6. Marketing manager
A marketing manager oversees the marketing campaigns of a business. As a marketing manager, you will develop, execute, and track the performance of marketing strategies. You will help your organization retain existing customers, win new buyers, and increase market share.
Marketing managers also recruit and train the marketing and sales staff, monitor results, and advise management on strategies to improve revenue generation. Working in this role will help you develop several skills that will increase your chances of success as an entrepreneur.
7. Business consultant
Business consultants are experts who help companies solve problems impeding their organization’s growth and development. As a business consultant, you assess clients’ businesses, identify problems, and recommend strategies to solve the issues or improve efficiency.
Business consultants also serve as resource persons, training staff of companies on specialty skills, tools, or procedures. If you have the subject matter expertise to excel in the business consultancy field, you can use that foundation to launch a successful company as an entrepreneur.
8. Real estate
The real estate industry is a high-stakes environment that will teach you important entrepreneurial skills such as persuasion, marketing, communications, interpersonal skills, and negotiation. You will also learn about how to get funding and navigate the legal frameworks of the property market. These will prepare you adequately for the challenges of starting and running a business on your own.
9. Human resources
Working in a human resources role can teach you a wide range of skills required to succeed in business. You will know how to identify and attract talent to your organization. A position in HR can also improve your leadership and conflict resolution skills, and you will enhance your interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills.
Vital skills such as assigning tasks to employees, processing payroll, and managing office politics are other benefits of working in human resources.
10. Public relations
Public relation specialists work with the press and other external actors to ensure a company has a healthy public image. PR requires being adept at diverse modes of communication, including writing, public speaking, and presentation. The role also requires tact, including knowing the right tone and timing to respond to the public’s and media’s inquiries about the company’s conduct. If you can succeed in this role, you will likely make a good chief executive officer.
11. Management analyst
The duties of a management analyst include creating strategies and protocols to help organizations improve their operations and management practices. Management analysts require expert data collection and analysis and policy formulation skills.
You will gain valuable insights into business management and know how to identify and resolve managerial issues, essential skills for any viable entrepreneurial endeavor.
Skills needed for entrepreneur careers
Here is a list of important skills required for success in entrepreneurial careers:
1. Communication skills
Entrepreneurs must have impeccable communication skills. The skill is vital for selling your ideas to investors, delegating effectively, motivating employees, and negotiating contracts with clients and suppliers.
You need strong writing skills to create reports and other written forms of communication. It is also important to be confident when speaking publicly or making presentations. Active listening is also vital for entrepreneurs.
2. Time management skills
Entrepreneurs often have to manage every aspect of their business personally-at least at the beginning. You need to be an effective time manager to create a business plan, execute it, find partners, hire employees, while trying to grow the business simultaneously.
3. Delegation skills
The ability to delegate effectively is one of the most important but underrated skills for entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of perfectionism, believing that nobody can get the exact results they want. However, you don’t have the time, energy, and skills sets to do everything yourself-you just need to know how to choose the right people to help you actualize your goals.
4. Sales skill
To be successful as an entrepreneur, you need to attract investors and buyers to your business. Even if you are not an expert at sales, you must have basic skills to convince people to buy your products and services. As the company grows, you can employ a sales expert to help you increase your customer base and market share.
5. Networking skills
Networking effectively can help you find investors and partners that will help you grow your business. You can also leverage your network to find talented employees, suppliers, and industry contacts that will add important capabilities to your organization and generate more awareness about your offers.
6. Financial intelligence
Effective entrepreneurs need to be knowledgeable in financial analysis. They must understand accounting, financial reporting and analysis, tax, and other aspects of a company’s financial operations.
7. Leadership
A good entrepreneur must be an effective leader. You must be able to convince people to see your vision and believe in it enough to commit their collective skills and knowledge towards its actualization. Leadership will also help you motivate your employees and provide positive feedback that will help them be the best in their individual roles.
Choosing an entrepreneurial path requires being innovative, patient, and having a high tolerance for risk. To actualize your business dreams, you can choose from a wide range of entrepreneur careers that will help you build a solid foundation in different aspects of business management and improve your chances of success.
Learn more: Looking for a new job? Start here.