What is the difference between an entrepreneur and a businessman? Are you someone who dreams of being in control of your own future? Do you recruit employees in order to see greater and greater profits? Or are you one who dreams of creating products that will change the game and start a revolution in the industry?
The above are questions whose answers define two specific groups of people that all too often get lumped together as one.
Business owners and entrepreneurs are two distinct types of people that strive for seemingly similar, yet completely different end goals.
Both groups provide employment opportunities for those around them.
They inspire their teams to be motivated and keep progress and efficiency at the front of their minds.
However, the ways in which they do so can be extremely different.
A businessman will stick to a fixed plan.
He will make it his goal to rise above the rest and stay as the leader of the pack.
An entrepreneur, on the other hand, will carve out his own way.
He will separate himself from the group and inspire others to follow in pursuit of the greatness he’s achieved.
By understanding the main differences between a businessman or an entrepreneur, you’ll be better able to understand where you fall.
Here are some key things to look for to help you differentiate between these two different categories of people.
Ideas
Fundamentally, a businessman and an entrepreneur are incredibly alike.
However, one of the main ways in which they become distinct characters is based on the ideas they set out to achieve.
A businessman will decide to set up a company in order to sell a product based on an already established and profitable idea.
While he strives to create a product that’s superior to its competition in every way, he is building upon ideas that were set forward long before he entered into the industry.
He will look at similar options in the market and change his own just enough to set it apart from the competition.
On the other hand, an entrepreneur sees a need or issue in the world that needs to be resolved and seeks out new ideas and solutions that could fill this role.
At their core, entrepreneurs are modern-day inventors who seek to create new and exciting opportunities.
They often think about what might be needed and useful in the future, rather than focusing on what’s popular at the moment.
This forward-thinking nature allows them to be the creators of industries as well as masters of profitability.
Personal Characteristics
Another key difference between these two groups of people is their core characteristics and ways of thinking.
Businessmen, for example, must generally possess a calculating and considerate personality.
These are people who weigh all the different options and look for solutions ahead of time.
They look at the wide variety of options in front of them and see where changes and progressions can be made.
They choose to place themselves in a well-assessed position within the industry.
Good businessmen are people who can see the exact path they’ll take long before they start taking any steps.
Entrepreneurs, on the other side of things, are much more intuitive.
These are people who thrive on imagination and creativity.
Like the businessmen, they also consider things like risk and payoff.
Nevertheless, they are much more likely to jump on an unknown opportunity that could possibly offer them an amazing prospect.
They are problem solvers who are constantly looking to find new and exciting solutions for all types of problems.
This characteristic allows them to become leaders of the markets rather than just players.
Reason For Business
While both types of leaders strive for success, their definition of that word varies drastically.
A businessman will always be focused on monetary gain and reaching his financial goals.
He will be focused distinctly on the happiness and satisfaction of his customers.
This, he knows, helps to ensure continued success and growth.
His main drive is the financial growth and profitability of his business at every moment. He will do everything make sure he is at the top of his industry at any given point in time.
An entrepreneur is more concerned with making a significant impact on the world.
He doesn’t care as much where his company falls in terms of the market or financial gains.
Nonetheless, he is always aware of how important these things are.
But, in the end, his main focus will always be the creation of a solution for his clients.
His end goals are based more on turning his visions into a reality which he can then push out into the world.
Rather than financial motivations, entrepreneurs strive for creating things and making a real difference.
Their products are created in order to inspire change and give the world something it’s been missing, even when people didn’t realize they needed it.
Emphatically, entrepreneurs hope to give the world something they’ve never seen, regardless of the profit they may make as a result.
Relationships
Another key difference between entrepreneurs and businessmen is the way in which they interact with those who work at their company.
We know that the entrepreneur tries to create something that’s never been seen before. So to this end, he will go to incredible lengths to surround himself with the highest quality of people.
Often times, rather than thinking of these people as employees, he considers them partners, working together to help achieve a final end goal.
Entrepreneurs think of those who work for their business to be working with them rather than for them, which can certainly help create a more positive and encouraging environment.
The businessman has a much different way of interacting with his staff.
At the end of the day, a businessman is a manager.
So those who work for him are employees and sometimes nothing more.
Sometimes, they are tools to achieve a final end goal.
Getting this confused with partnership or friendship could lead to serious issues later on down the road.
Ultimately, businessmen must make a clear distinction between themselves and those who work for them.
They (employees) have been hired to help make the company grow.
So, if this isn’t happening, or they aren’t efficiently doing their job, the company needs to let them go to make room for those who can.
Risk Taking
One can’t argue that both businessmen and entrepreneurs take risks.
However, it’s pretty obvious that the risks entrepreneurs take are significantly larger.
A businessman makes calculated risks based on already established numbers and products which have already proven to be successful.
He goes through a long and extensive process in order to ensure that he isn’t making a poor decision.
He considers all the numbers long before he puts himself in any sort of position.
An entrepreneur will consider many different possibilities, and will certainly look at important numbers.
But simultaneously, he realizes that he is diving into unknown territory and that there might not be any previous companies to base his movements on.
Entrepreneurs are true innovators who often consider the pursuant of their passions to be much more important than profitability.
They want to make a real difference, to actually find a solution that’s never been found before.
To do this, they need to be willing to sacrifice everything they have and everything they are, should things not work out as they hoped.
Dealing With Change
Change and progress are constant in this world, particularly in the business arena.
No matter what industry you’re involved in, you’ll have to deal with changes sooner or later.
How they deal with change is another big difference between entrepreneurs and businessmen.
An entrepreneur thrives on change.
He considers innovations and progress to be the main focus of his work.
Also, he easily embraces changes even in his own ideas.
He prefers to make the necessary alterations rather than remain stagnant in his vision.
A businessman, on the other hand, could see these changes in a negative light.
Often enough, he prefers to stay locked into certain ideas and concepts.
Businessmen sometimes tend to believe that too many changes could have a significant negative impact on how their customers view their company and products.
They also usually believe that what worked well before will continue to work at the same rate year after year.
Unfortunately, this can actually have the opposite effect of what they were looking for.
Customers can quickly become over-saturated with what they’ve already been getting and start searching for something new and exciting to take its place.
Competition
When it comes to competition, a businessman will often find himself in a seriously difficult situation.
It’s incredibly difficult to carve out a leading space in a market that’s already full of a wide range of the same style of product.
So, to beat out his competitors, a businessman must be able to deliver a quality product that offers his clients something amazing.
Something that will give customers a real reason to go out and buy his product over all the rest.
However, this competition also pushes businessmen to reach new levels on a daily basis.
This constant progress can be a great benefit to their business at the end of the day.
An entrepreneur is often heading out into uncharted territories, so there is virtually no competition to speak of.
Their only real competition is themselves and how far they are willing to go to achieve their dreams.
When entrepreneurs have the best of the best working around them who wholeheartedly believe in the innovation they’re trying to create, they’ll be willing to push themselves beyond the expected limits.
Thereby breaking down barriers around them.
The Idea Of Failure
Failure is certainly not the end goal of any business leader.
So, there are definite differences between how an entrepreneur and a businessman consider the possibility of such.
For businessmen, there are few things as terrifying as a failure.
They put a product out into an industry where there has already been a proven success, so the desire to match that success or surpass it can be extreme.
They get into business following the lead of those who already thrived in it, so the risk of failure should be much less, but the fear of it can be intense.
For entrepreneurs, however, things could not be more different.
They are often faced with the creation of something completely new, so there’s often nothing to base their business model on.
As such, the risk of failure is significantly larger.
An entrepreneur can never be sure how the public will receive his product or whether there will even be a real need for it.
If he can’t provide something that makes a real difference in people’s lives, he will certainly fail.
However, because he started out knowing the true possibility of failure, and because he lives in the constant awareness of it, its fear is significantly less.
View Of The World Around Them
One of the most dramatic differences between an entrepreneur and a businessman is the way in which they view the world.
Businessmen almost always see the world and everything in it as opportunities.
Everything is an opportunity to make a profit and make incredible gains.
They thrive off of seeing money pour in and knowing that they’ve made themselves into their own definition of success.
Financial motivation is often what lies at the core of businessmen, and they are constantly on the lookout for ways by which they can achieve their goals.
Entrepreneurs are much more centered in imagination and creativity, and they see the world around them as a challenge that they need to solve.
They are constantly looking for potential issues and solutions for them.
Solutions that could make a real difference in the lives of those around them.
They make it their duty to help the world reach new levels and new heights, helping to inspire progress and innovation at every turn.
Rather than being driven by solely financial gains, these are leaders who live off the possibility of making a real difference in the world around them.
The Difference between an Entrepreneur and a Businessman Infographic
Time
If you’re someone who needs to make the most out of every minute, then being a businessman might just be your career path.
Businessmen are individuals who live their lives based on a schedule.
They like to ensure everything is done on time, and as such, they don’t handle delays or setbacks particularly well.
They do everything they can to make sure their time is used wisely.
Also, they always look for opportunities to make more profit whenever the chance turns up.
An entrepreneur understands the value of time.
However, he is the first and only competitor in the race, so it matters significantly less to him.
Entrepreneurs put more dedication into the quality of the innovation they’re creating, often placing less importance on how long it takes to achieve.
Unfortunately, creating the perfect product can sometimes take a little too long.
This is why they need business-minded people around them to bring them back to reality when necessary.
Both businessmen and entrepreneurs are key players in the world.
Both also help to create important opportunities for those around them.
However, there are incredible distinctions between the two which people often overlook.
Being able to note the differences between these two groups of people is incredibly important.
One strives to bring about new changes and unseen solutions to the world. The other hopes to build their own level of success in an already established industry.
One seeks to turn vision into reality, while the other hopes to take a product and create astounding levels of profit.
One hopes to stand out in a crowd of competition and the other one builds his own path to follow.
However, what they both have in common is their dedication to what they believe in and the hope of sharing their success with those in their company.
Both entrepreneurs and businessmen provide opportunities for employment and product that will better the lives of their customers in one way or another.
Both of these leaders hope to inspire those around them to strive for greatness. They both aim to be the best they can be at every moment.
When you work with either one of these types of people, you’ll certainly see them make incredible achievements every day.
Endeavor to understand the differences between the two while recognizing the importance of both at the same time.
Have you ever made the effort to distinguish businessmen from entrepreneurs?
Did you even know there was a difference?
Share your thoughts with us!
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