This article throws light upon the top five types of motivations for guiding entrepreneurs. The types are: 1. Independence 2. Personal and Professional Growth 3. A Preferable Alternative to a Dissatisfying Job 4. Income 5. Security.

Type # 1. Independence:

Corporate re-organisations in recent years have led to the lay-off of many managers and professional employees. Rather than seeking employment in other large firms and running the risk of job loss, many such people are using their education, experience and skills to start their own business.

Perhaps the most powerful motivator for many entrepre­neurs who seek the freedom to work independently in their profession is “Being one’s own boss”.

As the top of business, regardless of size, they enjoy the autonomy of making their own decisions, fixing their work schedules and determining what they will do and when they will do it. What is equally important is that these individuals’ careers do not depend on the decisions of others. Rather they write their own rules to do things.

Type # 2. Personal and Professional Growth:

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Secondly, the challenges of building a business innately involve individual growth. To achieve success, an entrepreneur must be able to handle risk, uncertainty and stress as also various interpersonal relationships and manage a business with limited resources.

There are so many real-world examples of individuals becoming entrepreneurs to experience this growth and the fulfillment gained from building a business into a purposeful, productive entity. For some entrepreneurs, personal as well as profes­sional growth becomes an obsession, with the goal being to grow their business into a large organisation able to withstand growing competition in the marketplace.

Type # 3. A Preferable Alternative to a Dissatisfying Job:

Many of today’s entrepreneurs were former executives and employees of large corporations. They were never threatened by loss of jobs. But they became highly dissatisfied with their jobs. Some common reasons for leaving corporate positions are boredom, corporate disinterest in their work and slow decision-making processes associated with larger firms.

Other executives, still doing their jobs, have launched business as a second career—a second line of defence. Moreover, many female entrepreneurs launched a business for poor ad­vancement opportunities in jobs they have left or turned down.

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Others have taken to entrepreneurship and started running a business for achieving the needed flexibility of having both a professional career and children. These factors have encouraged the growth of women entrepreneurship. In short, three major factors contributing to entrepreneurship growth are frustration, independence and controlling one’s life.

Type # 4. Income:

One major reason for the growth of entrepreneurs in recent years has been the desire to earn more money — the hefty profits associated with a highly successful business. Of course, there are numerous odds against such success.

Although money is not always the greatest of all motivators, it is undoubtedly a major factor among part-time entrepreneurs, those who work full time for a company and do part-time one-person business during off-hours.

Type # 5. Security:

Due to substantial risks and uncertainty associated with entrepreneurship, per­sonal security seems to be the least important of all motivators. However, in turbulent times, characterised by much corporate downsizing and layoffs, some entrepreneurs view running their own businesses as a more secure alternative, especially those in the middle and latter stages of their corporate careers.