Also, don't be intimidated by everything that is written today about startups, because most of today's business pundits and gurus believe that only high-tech businesses count. With 70% of all U.S. businesses having no employees, the pundits and gurus are totally out of touch with reality.

After you learn how to become an entrepreneur...start whatever business you have a passion for!

Regardless of where you are starting from, here are the steps I suggest taking if you are trying to learn how to become an entrepreneur:

1. Education.
A good place to start is to review the report, What is an Entrepreneur? (if you haven't already), as well as the report on Characteristics of an Entrepreneur to see if you have the "right stuff" to become an entrepreneur. If you are still in school, take as many business classes as you can, especially those dealing with entrepreneurship. If you are no longer attending school, search out adult education classes on how to become an entrepreneur—any business class can be of value.

Just be careful you don’t spend so much time in school, that you never start your business.

2. Visualize.
This is the first requirement for becoming an entrepreneur, but you have to carry your vision to finite details. You need to visualize how you would run the business of your dreams. Do NOT think about startup money at this point. If you worry now about where the money will come from to start your business, you may never start.

Talk to friends who have their own business and ask them how they decided to become an entrepreneur, and how they got started. Build on your vision while you are educating yourself.

3. Plan.
As your vision becomes clearer and details start falling into place, it will be time to start writing down your visualized plan for your business. This is NOT a "business plan," it is simply a compilation of your thoughts and ideas, and you can write them on the back of old envelopes if you want to…no one will see this plan except you.

This is perhaps the most important step when learning how to become an entrepreneur. Just be sure to concentrate heavily on where your customers are going to come from, and why.

For a complete report on "planning," refer to the Small Business Plan report in this website.

4. Money.
Now that you have your planning working, you can incorporate your money needs and sources into your planning. The vast majority of new entrepreneurs obtain their money from self, family, or friends. In some cases you may need to search out an outside Investor, if your new business is that large. You can find more information on Small Business Financing here.

5. Prepare.
After your vision is fairly complete; your education is well along (you should never stop learning); and you have learned the basics of how to start a business, it is time to begin preparing for your new business.

A good place to start is again by visualizing how you intend to reach your planned audience. You will need to visualize what kind of advertising and PR you will need, and how much you plan to spend in these areas.

If you will require employees in your new business, now might be a good time to start lining them up. Also, there are a myriad of other things you will need to do in preparation for starting your business.

6. Start.
With everything planned, prepared, and in place, the next step is to simply "start." Begin with the launch of your advertising and PR. Potential customers need to know about you and what your business offers them that will fill their need.

Your planning and preparedness will, of course, coordinate this preliminary activity with the opening of your doors—physically or virtually, and the acceptance of customers.

7. Adjust.
No matter how much you plan and prepare, things will not always go according to "plan." That is why formal business plans become obsolete almost immediately. But, your ongoing planning process can be quickly modified and adjusted according to what you experience early on in your new business. This is a very important requirement in your endeavor to become an entrepreneur, so don't skip over it.

These steps for becoming an entrepreneur may seem pretty simple, but don't take any of them lightly. Around 5 million businesses fail each year and it has been my observation that many of the failed businesses did not adequately follow these few simple steps.

At the same time, if after reading the reports on entrepreneurship, you then decide that entrepreneurship is not for you…that’s O.K. too—not everyone should be an entrepreneur.

However, there are several ideas presented in the reports on this web site that can be utilized by managers and supervisors in other businesses. So, take a look at the Table of Contents and see if there is anything that might help you in your job.

One of the hottest new small businesses today is that of Internet Entrepreneur. I have prepared a separate report for this business, and you can access the Internet Entrepreneur report here.

Also, for the fun of it, take a look at the reports Famous Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneur Quotes, then get busy so that one day your name can be added to the list of Famous Entrepreneurs, and you can tell others how to become an entrepreneur.