“Entrepreneur” is very much an all-encompassing term for someone, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it so concisely who “sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.” Sounds like that that’s the only term that can describe what we do, doesn’t it?

So, what do entrepreneurs call themselves? Most times, it’s a portmanteau (a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others) of their sector or type of work they do and “preneur”. Let’s examine 10 of these. Can you guess which one I identify with?

  1. Infopreneur: Someone who sells his or her expertise and knowledge either on the internet or as a value-added service.
  2. Techpreneur: Someone who launches and oversees a technology-based business
  3. Solopreneur: Someone who works and operates their business by themselves, and often without any other partners/investors or employees. Also tongue-in-cheek known as “Chief Bottlewasher”
  4. Socialpreneur: Someone who creates and builds a business in order to help solve societal problems while still generating a profit.
  5. Wantrepreneur: Someone who has a great idea for a business but, for varying reasons, never goes through with it. All talk, no action.
  6. Teenpreneur: Quite simply, someone who launches a business as a teenager.
  7. Ecopreneur: Someone who creates and sells environmentally friendly products and/or services.
  8. Multipreneur: Someone who has several profit-generating projects on the go at the same time.
  9. E-preneur: Someone who operates their business solely on the internet and does not have a traditional “brick-and-mortar” location. The name is a portmanteau of “E-commerce” and “entrepreneur”.
  10. Mompreneur/Dadpreneur: A parent that balances operating a business (often home-based) with raising their children.

As you’ve likely guessed by now, there’s also not just one type of entrepreneurship. In fact, there are so many different types of entrepreneurs, that I can’t possibly outline all of them in one single place! I’d need to dedicate an entire blog itself to it!

If you’re curious, Forbes does a fantastic job of neatly summarizing them up into 4 succinct categories (a Builder, an Opportunist, a Specialist and an Innovator) in “The 4 Types of Entrepreneurs–Which Are You?”. To find out everyone else’s take, all you need to do is Google “Different Types of Entrepreneurship” and you’ll get 21,900,000 results!

Now, let’s delve more in-depth into the type of entrepreneur I call myself- the Infopreneur!