...published by The Business Leadership Development Corporation:
An Introduction To
Individualpreneurship
- The Individual As An Enterprise
The individualpreneurship discipline…
…and the notion of an individual as an enterprise…
...(individualprise)…
…must be of interest to anybody who wants to:
- Be an entrepreneur/business owner by transforming innovative ideas into value by starting and operating an upwardly mobile enterprise that is focused on capturing large markets, or a lifestyle enterprise in local communities, such as a restaurant or a retail business
- Be self-employed as an independent contractor or freelancer
- Advance as an employee into a leadership and/or managerial capacity in the corporate world and/or in their community
- Manage their own investments
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Individualpreneurship is a mindset for income generation
for the fully-employed, self-employed, under-employed, and
unemployed, whether working for somebody else, for
themselves as sole-practitioners, while planning the next
ventures, or just in-between opportunities.
Opportunity is just beyond an individual's comfort zone,
and the individualpreneurship discipline provides the
framework for capturing it.
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Individualpreneurship
has its roots in the agricultural age when individuals and
families had multiple streams of income from such
activities as farming, metalwork, needlework, and
woodwork.
During the industrial age, the notion of full-time
employment became the norm for many people in managerial,
staff, and labor capacities.
Labor and employment, immigration, and taxation laws,
regulations, and practices were established to encourage
academic and vocational education as the basis for career
opportunities in stable jobs.
These practices were extended to encourage home ownership
by providing income tax breaks on mortgage financing and
property taxes to stabilize the economy as a whole.
The information age has changed many of the prior
assumptions. Globalization is enabled through
improved telecommunications and transportation
technologies, and jobs have been eliminated through
improved information and process control technologies,
impacting managers, staff, and labor. The result is
that the economy has become less stable over
time.
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In
a global marketplace with differing laws, regulations, and
practices in various jurisdictions, new markets can open
for revenue for both existing and new products and/or
services, and new sources can open for cheaper materials,
supplies, assemblies, and finished products and services at
the same or higher quality.
As a consequence, off-shore outsourcing has become
commonplace. Job markets have changed in the United
States, with more emphasis on service delivery and
"knowledge work" than manual labor than in prior
generations.
Knowledge work opportunities exist in many industries, such
as construction, manufacturing, and professional services.
Knowledge workers can perform planning, analysis, and
design activities electronically, and transmit results to
operations facilities around the world, such as
construction sites and factories for fabrication and
assembly.
However, workers in foreign markets can develop the same
knowledge and skills at potentially lower cost in many
cases.
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Globalization
leads to consolidation of large enterprises between and
within mass markets to create economy of scale through
increased effectiveness and efficiency.
Hence, over time there will be fewer large enterprises on a
global basis.
However, specialized boutiques continue to provide
value-added products and/or services in market niches, with
higher qualified workers.
As a consequence, in the United States, markets are
changing to more knowledge-based jobs, less manufacturing
jobs, and more lower-paid service jobs over time.
Both domestic and foreign outsourcing is becoming
commonplace for commodity products and/or services to
providers who achieve economy of scale by serving many
customers in essentially the same way. The result is
that many individuals who were previously fully-employed
are becoming under-employed, or even
unemployed.
An important book on business
trends
However, information technology has made it easier for
individuals to develop their own "nonemployee" businesses
as solopreneurs such as offering professional services and
marketing products and/or services of their own or
others.
Many solopreneurs work from home. Many individuals are
becoming webpreneurs by marketing and selling products
and/services over the internet with solely a virtual
presence.
Solopreneurs can be sole proprietors of their own lifestyle
enterprises and/or independent contractors to others (as
permitted by law).
Overtime, solopreneurs may add employees, thus becoming
more traditional business enterprise owners if demand
requires the additional labor.
According
to the United States Census Bureau, there were 21.1 million
nonemployer businesses in 2009.
Nonemployer businesses have annual receipts of $1,000 or
more across 450 industries, except in the construction
industry, which includes receipts of $1 or more.
Most nonemployers are self-employed and operate businesses
that may or may not be their primary source of income.
Of the 21.1 million businesses, 18.7 million were sole
proprietorships, 1 million were partnerships, and 1.4
million were corporations.
In 2009, these businesses generated $838 billion in
receipts.
In 2007, the number of nonemployee businesses peaked at
21.7 million and generated $992 billion in receipts.
There were 6.0 million employee businesses, with $29.7
trillion in receipts, 121 million paid employees, and an
annual payroll of $5.0 trillion. Less than 1,000
businesses had more than 10,000 employees.
For entrepreneurs starting businesses as providers of new
products and/or services, developing networks of
independent but affiliated solopreneurs as marketing
representatives may be a more effective way of building
market share than traditional wholesale and retail
distribution channels.
The use of social media for electronic "word-of-mouth"
marketing in conjunction with personal websites, webinars,
and online ordering makes the use of webpreneurs as
independent marketing representatives extremely attractive.
These representatives earn commissions from sales and
referral fees.
If the product and/or service providers perform the bulk of
the administration, the representatives can concentrate
their efforts on marketing.
The use of smartphones and tablets for email, phone, and
text messaging in conjunction with personal websites,
social media websites, and provider websites, increases the
effectiveness of webpreneurs.
However, no technology will replace the benefits of
personal relationships and face-to-face
communication.
Marketing representatives may struggle at first as they
learn new skills such as the art of persuasion, especially
if they had been previously employed in administrative or
operations capacities in the "corporate" world.
However, being both "high-tech" and "high-touch" helps
promote business opportunities.
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The restructuring of markets and opportunities in the
information age leads to the individualpreneurship
discipline and the notion of an individual as an enterprise
with multiple sources of income including:
- Wages - all forms of compensation for full and/or part-time employment, or combinations of both (including as a founder in a "C" corporation)
- Interest on investments
- Dividends on investments (including as a founder in a "C" corporation)
- Capital gains on investments
- Net income as an entrepreneur/business owner from active revenue generation activities, such as commissions, fees, rents, royalties, and sales less expenses
- Net income as an investor from passive revenue generation activities, such as real estate rents and/or royalties less expenses
Under employment and taxation laws, entrepreneurs/business owners can fall into one of three categories:
- Founder employee of a "C" corporation
- Shareholder/officer employee of an "S" corporation (self-employed in mindset, but employed for tax purposes) receiving cash flows consisting of salary and capital distributions
- Self-employed as a sole proprietor of a lifestyle business enterprise and/or as an independent contractor, as a partner in a partnership, or member in a limited liability company
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Establishing the individualpreneurship mindset enables an
individual to exert more control over all of their income
generating activities, whether fully-employed,
self-employed, under-employed, or
unemployed.
The individualpreneurship discipline embraces the
enterpriship disciplines of entrepreneurship, leadership,
and management, which apply to every individual in
business, whether fully-employed or not.
Understanding
enterpriship disciplines is extremely important for success
as both an employee and as an entrepreneur/business
owner.
In the corporate world, leadership and managerial
capabilities are essential for advancement through the
ranks. Thinking and behaving as an individualprise
helps an individual perform better for their employer,
especially in an executive capacity, because they
understand the concepts of income generation and expense,
asset, liability, and capital management. For visionaries
in the corporate world, intrapreneurial capabilities are
also important for enacting change.
For those seeking employment positions, recognizing that a
job search is a marketing campaign, just as as for a
business, improves the likelihood of a satisfactory result.
For entrepreneurs/business owners, their businesses are
dependent upon their entrepreneurial, leadership, and
managerial capabilities.
Hence, understanding enterpriship is essential to
understanding individualpreneurship.
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