Types of Entrepreneurial CareersEntrepreneurial Careers in the sewing industry can take many forms. These careers can consist of sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, home-based business, cottage industries, ownership of retail stores, dressmaking or tailoring shops, apparel production businesses, trading companies, mail-order businesses and freelancing and consulting careers.
Just what is an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. An entrepreneur is considered a change agent. That being said, entrepreneurship is the process of new ways of combining resources. Being an entrepreneur can allow an individual to set their own hours, and name their own prices while still making money. The drawback of course as already mentioned is that these individuals also take on all of the risks for the business. Nevertheless, owning one’s own business has long been a dream of many. In fact some of the biggest corporations today started as small businesses. For some great ideas for entrepreneurial careers that can make use of sewing skills, click on the images below.
Information about what entrepreneurs are can also be found at the public library in the Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance, Volume 1, by Infobase Publishers.
Sole Proprietorship:
A sole proprietorship is the type of business entity where there is only one individual who owns and runs the business. There is no legal distinction between the owner and the business. Subject to taxation, all profits and losses go to the owner of the business. The owner of the business must pay all debts from the profits of the business.
For information about sole proprietorships click here on the link to Wikipedia.org Partnership:
The partnership is the type of business entity where there can be multiple owners who share the profits and losses of the business in proportion to the amount of their investment in the business. The partnership does not incur a tax on the business’s profits prior to the distribution of the profits. However, partners have greater personal liability than would a corporation.
For information about partnerships, click here on the link to Wikipedia.org
The corporation is a legal business entity set-up separate from its owners. The corporation’s purpose is to separate the liabilities of the business from the business owners.
For information about corporations click here on the link to Wikipedia.org
The home-based business is generally the way individuals begin their entrepreneurial careers. These business many times grow into partnerships and even corporations. Many times these businesses are started as part-time ventures operating out of the individual’s home, thus the term home-based business. These businesses can provide goods or services. Those with these types of business generally enjoy answering only to themselves and can be quite successful working on their own. Home-based businesses do not always produce products from the home.
For information about starting a home based business click here on the link to Business.gov For a comprehensive discussion of the entrepreneurial career of home-based businesses, click here on the link to NDSU.edu Cottage Industry:
A business that is considered a cottage industry actually produces a product from the individual’s home. The term cottage industry is often used to refer to craft businesses. Products and services produced as part of a cottage industry are usually unique and one of a kind because they are not mass produced.
For more information about cottage industries click here on the link to Wikipedia.org Owner of Retail Store:
The owner of a retail store is one who actually has their small business outside of the home in a physical store location. Individuals may generally invest in a retail store for their business if they have the time and a substantial amount of money for investment to pay for start-up costs such as inventory, rent, employee wages and insurance.
For more information about owning a retail store click here on the link to jobmonkey.com Mail-Order Business:
The mail-order business is carried out by the sale of goods and services through the mail. The goods or services are purchased by the buyer through some remote means such as by telephone or website order. The goods or services are generally shipped directly to the purchaser at their home or can be shipped to a retail location.
For more information about mail-order businesses click here on the link to Wikipedia.org For more information about the entrepreneurial career of how to set-up a mail-order business, click here on the link to the Entrepreneur website Freelancing and Consulting:
Those that freelance are independent contractors who sell their work or services by the hour, day or project and do not work on a salary basis for one employer. Those that are consultants are independent contractors or freelancers that sell their services to businesses in the form of advice to businesses who want to improve their management of their businesses and increase productivity. For more information on freelancers, click here on the link to Wikipedia.org
For more information on the entrepreneurial career of consulting, click here on the link to About.com This section on entrepreneurial careers brings to an end the information on sewing related occupations. Not all of the occupations on the sewing.org list have information readily available, so feel free to submit to this site any information that you may have on any of the occupations not discussed.
This is an ongoing project and information will be added as more information on any of these occupations becomes available.
Happy occupation hunting!
For information about other sewing related occupations, click the links below.
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