As someone with an education in business I consider the word “Entrepreneur” to be sacred. It is for this reason that I get really upset when people employ a liberal use of the term. An entrepreneur is someone with a new idea that forges a new path in the world of commerce. They are also fully responsible for the product or business every step of the way. This includes the eventual outcome. They assume all of the risk and reap all of the reward. If a person does not meet every one of these criteria then they are not an entrepreneur. Also, someone who copies someone else’s business model is not an entrepreneur. For example, someone who opens a new restaurant, unless there is something radically different about it, is not an entrepreneur.
I am really suspicious whenever someone says that a celebrity is an entrepreneur. I give credit to the select few that actually are true entrepreneurs but I must lambaste those that aren’t. I’m talking to you Hilary Duff! I’m sorry but putting your name and face on a clothing line that is sold exclusively at Zellers does not make you an entrepreneur. That makes you a spokesperson. It makes you a celebrity endorser. I don’t have a problem with you doing that. Congratulations to you for making money. But, call yourself what you are. You are not an entrepreneur and calling yourself one disrespects all of the true entrepreneurs that came before you. I think it’s time we give back the prestige and distinction that term so richly deserves.
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