Entrepreneurship career strategies: A study of small business owners

Satisfactory explanation and treatment of non-financial entrepreneurship sacrifices are almost non-existent in the sociology, psychology, economics and entrepreneurship literature. A study was conducted to help alleviate this problem. This study examined the sacrifices that impact the process of entrepreneurship. The study explained the types of non-financial sacrifices incurred by entrepreneurs and defined them. The sample was segmented according to the types of businesses the entrepreneurs were engaged in. Using Rasch analysis four variables were constructed. The variables are explained in detail with the help of the items that entrepreneurs feel easiest to incur as sacrifices and those that are more difficult and those that entrepreneurs are not willing to incur at all. The same kind of analysis is provided to test the relationships among the major variables of the study namely, Benefits, Motivations, Sacrifices and Individualism.; Since the results pointed to significant findings within the finance, restaurants and the manufactures groups these groups are examined further using correlation analysis. These results show that those entrepreneurs engaged in finance types of business behave more predictably than others do. The relationships are displayed graphically for the finance, restaurants and the manufacturers groups. The possible impact of the findings on entrepreneurship is explained and the impact on entrepreneurship education is also laid out. Future areas of studies is also are suggested. Mainly when researching entrepreneurs it seems to be more useful to separate the types of business entrepreneurs are engaged in rather than collectively studying them. The same logic can be applied to other segments of the entrepreneurial population. This type of segmentation was not usually performed in most of the existing entrepreneurial studies. This seems to be a contribution that other researchers are eagerly embracing.