As I pointed out in Part I (Innovation and Risk Taking), the slowing and changing economy has even more people considering the path to being their own boss. If you’re thinking about taking the leap, it’s important to understand the distinction between entrepreneur and business owner.

So, this time, we’re going to look at Scaling and Growth as a differentiator.

Scaling and Growth

How big is your dream, and how do you secure the resources to achieve it?

A long time ago, someone called people leaving their current job or career to start or buy a business as having “an Entrepreneurial Seizure”! It’s probably a pretty apt description, because the average person is just not willing to take on the risk and the work required to be a business owner or entrepreneur.

Once the leap is taken, another differentiator between Entrepreneurs and Business Owners is how they plan to expand and grow their businesses.

For Entrepreneurs, doing a local business and growing organically usually isn’t what’s driving them. If you aren’t sure, invest some time at a local tech business incubator. The “inhabitants” are driven both in pursuit of whatever product or service that they have created and finding sources of funding to permit them to keep growing. There is some level of “change the world” seasoning in their food and limitless amounts of caffeine consumed! The search is for rapid, often global, growth and investors or partners to fuel the journey with a sale of the venture in the future that can result in generational wealth...when things hit “just right”.

For Business Owners, the goal can be quite large but, at least initially, it’s more localized. Remember, it’s not about the creation of a brand-new product or service for them so much as it is superior production and delivery of existing products/services that are already accepted in their chosen market. While scaling and growth matter to them, it’s more often a slower paced phenomenon, and may rely more on organic growth and internal financial resources. They are focused on sustainable, steady, and predictable growth. And while not averse to investors and partners, more often than not, they plan to own and operate their business for a longer time to come than Entrepreneurs.

Your confidence in your Creativity and Innovativeness, and your ability to “sell your dream” will probably be big factors in whether, when you leave your employee gig, you choose one path over the other.

The path of the Entrepreneur will require LOTS of creativity and innovation and higher risk tolerance by you! For the more traditional Business Owner, that requirement will be of a different nature, and with somewhat less risk.

That’s it for now. More comparison and contrast are to come on the differences between Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. Let me know what your thoughts are on the topic!