Becoming a Builder of Worlds

Everyone is familiar with the old stereotype of gainful occupation from school and has also likely felt its pressures from friends, school and members of their family. There is this idea that the three gainful routes are to go to university, learn a trade or to work your way up through an established business. Even when this was popular opinion, it wasn’t true (everyone always seems to forget about the arts which, research has shown contrary to common belief, has an unemployment rate equal to that of other non-profession tertiary educated fields. But that’s a matter for another time.) This view is with every passing year, becoming more absurdly close minded.
 
The age we find ourselves in is a phenomenal one that has largely disrupted these traditional institutions. With the internet and the advent of such structures as massive open online courses of MOOCs, traditional styles of qualification and the need to enrol to achieve a knowledge base is increasingly obsolete. Businesses too are adapting to accommodate these changes with increasingly less store being placed on formal qualifications and much more value being attributed to proven work records and products being developed.

Not only this, but in the age of the internet, social media and crowdfunding, it has never been easier to be completely independent. What this means is that it is the time of the entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur is someone who sets up their own business, making products or selling services for financial gain.
 
There are a number of advantages to setting up your own business, and with the tools out our disposal, it has never been easier. These include the fact that you are not subject to pressure or demands from anyone else (at least until you have shareholders) and perhaps more importantly, you are able to follow your interests and utilise your creativity. The world is moving so fast at the moment that traditional forms of employment are becoming increasingly redundant. Industries that didn’t exist five years ago now dominate the global economy. Ideas such as the sharing economy are all derived from an entrepreneurial base, and all it takes is one good idea and some business acumen to do very well for yourself. Some of the downsides however are obvious. There is a great degree of risk involved in investing money and time in enterprises that may not pay off, there is no force driving you except for your own motivation and your income is intrinsically tied with the results you achieve.
 
Entrepreneurship is increasingly one of the most important economic forces in the world. With an insanely rapidly increasing population, people are very quickly outnumbering the jobs available, making them more competitive and in some cases exaggerating the divide between the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have-not’s’. Here entrepreneurship has a social role to play, rather than occupying jobs, they create them and with an increasingly well-educated and skilled workforce available, it has never been easier to run a solid business.
 
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. But with a growth mindset, a tolerance for risk, an aggressive motivation and bountiful creativity, it can be one of the most rewarding career choices you can make; both financially and more importantly, personally.