Small Business Owners vs. Entrepreneurs…Is There a Difference?

By: Dave Kramer Thursday September 17, 2015 comments Tags: small business, entrepreneur

Are you a small business owner or an entrepreneur? Or are you both? I’ve noticed that some people use these words pretty interchangeably, while others draw a clear line between the two.

We’ve made AllProWebTools to serve the needs of both. In fact, for us, the term entrepreneur absolutely includes small business owners, as well as startup founders and sole proprietorships.

The way we see it, entrepreneurs of all kinds have some very specific needs while their business is small. And no matter how quickly or slowly the business grows, or by how much, it will need systems and processes that can scale up and keep things running smoothly.

Both are Risky

Traditionally, entrepreneurship is associated with the high-risk, high-reward mentality of startup founders and others who play for rapid growth and high return. An entrepreneur can also be someone who has a number of different businesses, investments, and enterprises running at once.

This type of entrepreneur usually has different goals, desires, and aspirations than a small business, and maybe it does merit its own word. But I would argue that small business owners have a no less entrepreneurial spirit. Small business owners put everything on the line to pursue the lives they want to lead.

I say an entrepreneur is anyone who strikes out on their own to start a new venture. Risk is at the heart of any new business, and all different types of entrepreneurs have to learn how to manage risks responsibly.

Both are Fueled by Passion

From working with business owners all over the United States, I’ve learned that passion is the key commonality among all entrepreneurs. This is true for small business owners, startup founders, sole proprietors, and everything in between.

These individuals who dare to pursue their own paths in life are driven by something within themselves that they don’t have control over. Indeed, some people describe entrepreneurship as a “disease” or an “addiction,” because it seems that many entrepreneurs couldn’t be happy doing anything else, despite the hardships of starting your own venture.

Passion can be for a product or service, for customers, for an industry, or for the financial, personal, and professional challenges of entrepreneurship itself. Passion, in my experience, is the biggest thing all entrepreneurs have in common.

Passion, in my experience, is the biggest thing all entrepreneurs have in common [Tweet this]

Both Know the Value of Experimentation

Successful entrepreneurs are always willing to try a new way of doing things. This keeps their businesses moving forward, on the cutting edge of best practices, and continually challenging and stimulating for the business owner.

Yet, the changes they make aren’t random. Many people think of entrepreneurs as flying by the seats of their pants, but if they all did that, most of them would fail. Successful startup founders, sole proprietors, and small business owners all know the value of making, executing, and evaluating plans.

Every change, every idea, must be planned, tested, and evaluated scientifically. This applies to marketing decisions, product decisions, pricing decisions, policy decisions, and much more. Constant improvement, constant tweaking, and a constant willingness to try new ideas are the marks of an entrepreneur.

Both Challenge Your Flexibility

Things change fast in small organizations, and entrepreneurs have to be prepared and able to adapt quickly. This is why most successful entrepreneurs share the gift of flexibility. When you’re flexible, you can address new information quickly, and from anywhere, without interrupting the flow of your day.

Small business owners, startup founders, and other entrepreneurs are constantly on-the-go, so in order to be flexible, they need information on hand to keep them on top of changes in their businesses.

Both Thrive on Transparency

I’m always amazed at how serious communication issues can develop in small organizations. You would think that in a small business, you could just walk across the office and talk with anyone on the team. But in reality, people spend time on the phone, out of the office, in other meetings, and working on projects where they need to work uninterrupted.

So how can information flow freely without the need for interruptions throughout the day? We solve the problem by making business information about new orders, project status, customer satisfaction, and more totally transparent online.

Any employee who has been given access to our cloud-based tools can easily and quickly gather information on their own schedule, without needing to be interrupted and without interrupting others.

Both Have Special Software Requirements

These unique traits, challenges, and needs of entrepreneurs make their choice of business management software very important.

Good business software for entrepreneurs keeps them flexible, helps them manage risk, promotes transparency, enables controlled experimentation, and helps keep passion alive by eliminating and automating time-sucking tasks that pull entrepreneurs away from what they love.

I’ve devoted my career to developing business software that’s suitable for all entrepreneurs: small businesses, startups, sole proprietorships, and more. The toolkit my team and I have created is powerful enough to meet the needs of any team, and customizable enough that you won’t be loaded down with features you don’t need.

There are lots of different kinds of entrepreneurs out there, and each one needs a slightly different set of tools to manage and grow their business. But small business owners, startup founders, and sole proprietors are all entrepreneurs, and AllProWebTools was built to serve all of them.