When we think about Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and many other entrepreneurs, we wonder what makes them so special. What does an entrepreneur do? Other than making millions or billions due to their businesses, what else does one do as an entrepreneur?
Well, this gives you half of the answer you are looking for, but not many people indeed know when an entrepreneur is considered one and what does he or she do to become one as well. After all, it isn’t only about having and owning a business but also meeting other factors that can place you in the category.
Suppose you were wondering if it is as simple as investing some money and managing your new business, spoilers! It isn’t.
This is why we decided to go over the topic for a bit and answer this much-asked question: what does an entrepreneur do?
In this way, you will know if you truly qualify for it or not and what you need to start doing or add to your list to get things done.
What Is an Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs are people who set up new businesses and take on risks while reaping the most out of the rewards. In other words, it is about them investing time and effort in something that is definitely risky but worth tons of money and other benefits.
Entrepreneurs are often viewed as innovators, sources of new ideas, products, services, and business or maybe procedures.
We consider any of the vital parts of the economy, and anyone who says the opposite is clearly unaware of how much they cooperate and contribute.
They use their skills and initiative to anticipate market needs and bring new ideas to the marketplace, so thanks to them, you are usually able to see a market that doesn’t stagnate but rather keeps progressing. We wouldn’t have many of the innovative products or services that we use today without entrepreneurs.
Believe it or not, most entrepreneurs fall into entrepreneurship by accident because their side hustles become their full-time jobs not only because they earn more money but also enjoy them the most.
If you can’t picture it, just think about a photographer who transitions from doing photography on the side to starting a full-fledged photography business.
However, you also have a great percentage of the entrepreneurs going for this journey as their primary source of income.
Wondering What They Do? Here’s the Answer
Unlike what you might think and based on the previous definition and short explanation, an entrepreneur can be understood more easily than it seems, especially when it comes to what they do.
To make it simple, any of them often start their own businesses.
Usually, they have an idea, then develop, create, make, market it, and hopefully sell it. In other words, what they do is go through the entire process of getting started and making a business successful based on an idea they had or have.
Some people prefer to start from scratch and build a business thanks to their knowledge in an area. Others may opt to purchase or expand an existing business or even take over a family company and implement most of their ideas to make it grow.
For those with a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship, there are many career options after graduation. These include positions in Human Resources, Marketing, and Business Management.
Since they are the ones who handled all the processes of design, produce, and anything related to the business, you can expect every business, regardless of its size or scope, to have an entrepreneur behind it.
Modern definitions of entrepreneur may be based on having an original and creative idea that can be used online and someone who can make use of the internet to fill in a niche.
Being a business owner can be very rewarding and fulfilling, but since it comes with some risk and initiative, it is never easy, and it can also bring a lot of stress and anxiety.
Most business owners will be the first to arrive at work and the last to go. They often also put in extra hours and forfeit many weekends and holidays to ensure things run smoothly.
For things to work out, entrepreneurs need a lot of confidence, determination, and independence and are open to lots of work, at least during the first years.
It could mean calling hundreds of people and sending out email after email to try to find clients or investors or any other task and job you can think about.
We want to make sure you don’t have a concept of entrepreneurs like people who just develop ideas and then are bossy with their employees whenever their businesses expand. After all, what they do involves many roles:
- An entrepreneur starts and leads business activities and tasks.
Entrepreneurs have a tradition of starting and growing businesses to maturity.
People are constantly developing new needs, which entrepreneurs can meet with their business ideas. These ideas can offer services or products that will benefit the community.
Entrepreneurs can start new ventures by identifying a gap and planning the solution. They need to understand the entire business, from making crucial decisions to set an example for employees to resolving disputes.
For this, they must be the starting point and ensure everything is going well by leading the rest of the members and people involved.
- Distribute and organize employees’ duties and tasks.
Entrepreneurs must ensure that their employees are properly assigned from the very beginning of the company.
Small businesses need to take extra care when hiring competent and qualified staff to ensure they have the right personnel to pursue their goals and achieve the desired results.
Entrepreneurs are also responsible for creating a work environment and business structure that maximizes each employee’s potential, and success often depends on the contributions of its employees.
To maximize business productivity, it is important to define the roles and responsibilities of your team. The allocation of duties helps to minimize team conflict, maximize production, and boost employee morale.
- They must forecast business changes.
As they grow, most businesses will face uncertainty.
This is where entrepreneurs can play a key role (in our opinion, they always play it). They must anticipate and respond to any potential problems as soon as they arise.
Forecasting is crucial because it allows the entrepreneur to make important decisions like reducing or increasing stock, purchasing updated software, or making credit acquisition decisions.
- Creates jobs for others.
Entrepreneurs hire the employees they need when they start a company or expand it. As a result, people are able to find more jobs thanks to how many an entrepreneur alone is generating.
Often, the person in question will take into account factors like who will oversee processes and who will perform administrative tasks.
Entrepreneurs may need to look at people who are able to provide services, sell software, or work as programmers, even if they don’t directly employ them.
Therefore, it isn’t only about going to an office but also bringing talent and offering them a great deal.
- Identifies business opportunities.
Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to grow their businesses and even start new ones.
They determine which product or market they want to expand into and how they can do it based on trends, statistics, and other factors.
An entrepreneur can do a competitive analysis to find out how other businesses are doing in their area and what they are doing well to know what needs to change.
This could include conducting a survey of the area or looking at publications that discuss trends in the industry. It is easier to talk to customers and identify their frustrations, which entrepreneurs can use to improve their business.
- Every entrepreneur creates but also shares the wealth.
A network of activities is necessary to start a business. Whether an entrepreneur is a new or established business owner, they will need to save money and borrow capital from their family, friends, or banks.
Investors are often excited about investing in small but viable businesses. Lenders grow their businesses by earning interest on capital that is extended to entrepreneurs.
This fund mobilization cycle can be a catalyst for local economic growth. This is why every entrepreneur is so crucial for the economy and contributes to the world greatly.
- Improvement of the standard and quality of life.
The economy is used to measure living standards. When we add entrepreneurs to the equation, you will notice that the development of services provided by entrepreneurs can help improve those standards.
If it is hard for you to picture it, just think about a business that provides services or products with lower prices, allowing customers to spend less on them and save money for other expenses.
This is life improvement because you are allowing them to have a better economy by spending less on your products and services.
- Take and reduce business risk.
Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time researching and analyzing before they start a business since they have the responsibility to minimize the chance of business failure and take steps to reduce it as much as possible.
These measures include hiring competent and dedicated employees, securing insurance coverage for the most high-risk business segments, and attracting more investors to help grow the business.
- Build partnerships.
Entrepreneurs must create an environment that allows for partnerships to thrive since they are part of the key that will help their business grow.
It is essential to be able to generate and close new business leads. For this, entrepreneurs should increase their marketing capabilities, talk to qualified potential partners, and call each prospect regularly.
By doing this, they can make better business decisions and get more capital thanks to forming strategic partnerships.
- Technology and operations are handled.
Technology changes so rapidly that a business product, or service, can become obsolete because of new technology.
Entrepreneurs are responsible for constantly updating the technology used in their business activities and processes to make sure they aren’t falling behind with the rest. Technology roles for entrepreneurs include:
- Finding the current methods to reduce production costs.
- Getting rid of equipment that does not improve profitability.
- To improve efficiency, they organize training for employees to familiarize them with the most recent technological programs on the market.
- Use the most current and popular marketing mediums to reach the target audience.
Want to Be an Entrepreneur? These Are the Skills You Need
Although there isn’t something like a manual or list to become an entrepreneur, the truth is that you will notice that certain skills are required to do a great job and don’t lose yourself in the process.
Entrepreneurs are often described as creative, natural leaders and excellent decision-makers.
Now, owning your business can be rewarding and fulfilling. However, it comes with a lot of stress. When you consider the role of entrepreneur, make sure that you are ready for the challenge.
You will need to be the first person to arrive at work and the last one to go and have the initiative and determination to succeed.
Critical thinking is essential if you want to become your own CEO, while being able to think clearly and make sound financial decisions will be part of the “must-have” when it comes to what you can do or need to learn.
You must communicate well with the public if you want to deal with them, and you should have both written and oral communication skills.
An accounting background can help you assess costs and risks and manage payroll and other administrative office tasks.
More than just skills we can mention, and you have probably read several times, we think any entrepreneur will use their judgment to solve complex problems that affect all aspects of the business. Otherwise, there’s no future for them.
But what problems can you face as an entrepreneur? This could include product distribution delays or mediating employee disputes. Anything that represents an issue in any area of the company.
Entrepreneurship requires confidence, determination, and independence. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
You do, as long as you decide to work hard and get it done.
Choose Your Type of Entrepreneur
Before you think about becoming one or more like call yourself an entrepreneur, you must know there are different types (yes, entrepreneurs are also divided like this).
Therefore, you better look carefully and avoid going through some embarrassing moments:
Business entrepreneur: Has an idea or product that is useful in the business world. This person usually has a unique and different idea that hasn’t been tested before or improves an old one.
- Social entrepreneur: Has innovative ideas for social change or new solutions for social problems and devotes their time to bring these ideas to life. These could include poverty or inequality. One example is to start a charity to address these problems.
- Serial entrepreneur: Has many ideas and is always looking for new businesses or ventures to put them into practice. A serial entrepreneur will usually have previous success, which allows him/her to start new ventures without being afraid of failure.
- Lifestyle entrepreneur: Starts their venture or idea based on a hobby, sport, or pastime that they are passionate about. This type of venture usually requires large start-up expenses. This is a great opportunity for people who are already successful in business and have some money to invest.
Although the stereotype image of an entrepreneur shows someone who builds a business from scratch, there are other options, such as buying an existing business or taking over a family-owned business.
You should also remember that it takes time to become an entrepreneur and have a successful business.
Businesses are often built slowly over many years or even decades. This is a good thing since building and growing slow offers opportunities to learn and adjust. The best training in entrepreneurship is on the job, and it’s something no degree program can offer.
Successful Entrepreneurs? These Are Their Traits
People may dream of becoming entrepreneurs, but when they do so, they don’t tend to keep in mind that being a successful one can bring extra work and factors to consider.
It is not a common trait for most people to become entrepreneurs. Although it can be very rewarding, it requires a lot of hard work, determination, and perseverance.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of new businesses fail within their first year and 50% in their fifth year. These odds are despite the fact that thousands of new businesses open every year.
What does this mean? Some will succeed, others will be able to sustain themselves, while others will fail.
What does it take to build a successful business? Or more like, what does it take to be an entrepreneur that reaches success? There are several traits that successful entrepreneurs share in common, and if you want to be one of them, you better look at these:
- Vision.
This can be sight or eyesight, an image that you create, or something you dream up. Whatever it is, just remember that vision is essential for entrepreneurs.
It gives them the motivation and courage to take risks, push the envelope, succeed, and ultimately continue on their path. Entrepreneurs who succeed can clearly articulate their purpose and goals and explain their businesses, who, what, and whereabouts.
Vision creates the culture and framework for an organization.
This is crucial when dealing with the inevitable ups and downs, and it also helps build resilience and perseverance from co-founders and members of the immediate team.
Entrepreneurs who succeed are able to keep their vision alive by staying fully engaged in their business and surrounding themselves with people that will help them grow and push their boundaries.
- Drive.
Entrepreneurs are people who risk their lives to succeed in pursuing a business idea with a roughly 50% chance of success over five years or even less. This path can be extremely challenging and competitive and requires determination and motivation, and for it to work out, you must have a deep desire to succeed.
Every entrepreneur is driven by something different. It could be to make money, help others, have autonomy, create a team of like-minded individuals for a cause or leave a legacy.
Don’t understand this? Just think about it as what motivates you every day.
- Passion.
Entrepreneurs are driven by passion and will pursue a mission that is important to them. If not, there are low chances that their idea will work out.
Those who are passionate about their business will not give up. Even when it becomes too stressful and the challenges seem overwhelming, they won’t quit.
Besides, you will need passion to see the future. After all, it is what motivates you and everyone else to keep going.
- Confidence.
Entrepreneurs must have the courage to start a business, and for it, confidence is the biggest key.
A strong character trait for entrepreneurs is to exude a quiet confidence that tells themselves: “you can do this.”
This should not be confused with arrogance and egotism since you are trying to build trust and respect between employees and investors with it, and it is crucial for being able to negotiate and close deals.
When you are good at something or feel comfortable doing it, it is easy to be confident. Entrepreneurs can only innovate and grow if they are open to uncertainty and accept that not everything is going to work out the way it should.
Building confidence as an entrepreneur can be done every day by learning the best practices for your business, taking responsibility for what you can control, and taking calculated risks.
- Humility and empathy.
Egomaniacs are not something anyone likes to deal with. It’s more annoying than those who believe they are better than others. Even with the greatest achievements, entrepreneurs need to be mindful of how to stay on the ground.
Humility can be mistakenly equated with low self-esteem. However, humility doesn’t mean thinking less about yourself.
Being humble means being open-minded, self-aware, and kind to others. These traits are the key to success for entrepreneurs who make it a habit to be open about their weaknesses and strengths every day.
The golden rule is to treat others the same way you would like to be treated. Successful entrepreneurs are able to give credit where credit is due and ask for help when needed.
They also admit their mistakes and are open to constructive criticism. This results in a more trustworthy leader who is honest, compassionate, and gives back.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.