Entrepreneurial Venture vs. Small Business: What's the Right Move for You
An entrepreneurial venture is fundamentally different than a small business. Learning the nature of each one is imperative for you to financially succeed in your endeavors.
Small Businesses
A small business functions in a more practical manner, by typically dealing with known and established products & services. If you decide to be a small business owner, you’ll need to research what best meets the needs of the people within your community or online niche and aim for gradual growth and steady profitability for long-term sustainability.
Small businesses deal with known risks. To some extent, this allows you the ability to adjust to any setbacks or financial losses you may experience along the way. In case a particular investment doesn’t pan out, you still have a good chance of recovering by maintaining a strong marketing strategy and sticking with mainstream trends. On the downside, small businesses tend to be less flexible when it comes to generating jobs since they remain confined to their own business interests.
Entrepreneurial Ventures
Entrepreneurial ventures steer toward products, services, and ideas that are new and innovative to the market. They haven’t had enough time to become established which makes them more difficult to promote to the average consumer or standard business. If you’d rather take on an entrepreneurial venture, your goal is to reach significant growth and high returns in productivity within a short period of time. Entrepreneurial ventures generally impact economies and communities in a significant manner, which usually produces more job creation in various sectors.
Although entrepreneurs take uncalculated, unknown risks, most have limited resources available. The best way to take on an entrepreneurial venture is to capture and capitalize an idea to increase its potential for success. This involves a measure of marketing experience coupled with a strong passion. Additionally, having sufficient capital is key when handling unexpected financial challenges and losses. Although success is never guaranteed, an entrepreneurial idea when correctly executed can become very profitable for you.
The Bottom Line
Entrepreneurial ventures come with a variety of risks depending upon the nature of the venture, local and regional setting and economic factors involved. Embarking on an entrepreneurial career path is exciting but riskier than running a small business. If you’re allergic to taking risks and good at running a business, a small business venture may be right for you. However, if you’re passionate about putting something on the market that you feel will set the world on fire, an entrepreneurial venture may be the better choice.
Jonah Engler is a financial expert from New York City. Engler lives in the Upper East Side of New York.