Entrepreneur is a term that started echoing in the early 2000s and somehow became a profession for a select few people. Generally, being an entrepreneur simply refers to a person who has started his/her own business – but this general definition barely scratches the surface.

So what does this tongue twisting word actually mean? It is about having the ability and being ready to develop, organise and manage a business venture – along with being ready for any sort of risks that you can come across in the course of painting your idea.

Entrepreneurship is tracked back to 17000 BCE, making traders and merchants the first actual entrepreneurs. The origin of the word surfaced much later in 19th Century France with the word “entreprendre” meaning to undertake, usually a task.

So, why do people opt for the less travelled road called “entrepreneurship”?

1. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs working normal, corporate jobs and leading a corporate life. They had ideas which wouldn’t bloom in the corporate world. Steve Jobs perhaps said it best: “When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is … Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it … Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

2. Jumping off a cliff isn’t the actual definition of risk-taking, but being gutsy enough to turn your dream into reality is. Turning into an entrepreneur makes you question yourself at times and at other times leaves you feeling alone – but believing in yourself always pays off!