According to Lorena Schott, entrepreneurs pop up in all types of industries and can have widely different backgrounds. “Really anyone can be an entrepreneur, given the idea and the right tools to develop it into a functional business,” she said.
Schott should know. The director of marketing communications at WESST has met thousands of entrepreneurs since joining the business development organization in 2009. WESST is a nonprofit organization that offers business consulting, workshops, financial resources, business incubation, and support to help entrepreneurs start and grow a business.
“An entrepreneur is someone who sees a need and takes on the financial risk to start a business to fill that need,” she said in a WESST blog post. “It may sound vague, but that’s the point; there is no cookie-cutter entrepreneur…”
Schott contrasts the ‘classic’ entrepreneur — someone who creates a business like a new restaurant or a tech start-up — with today’s entrepreneurs. “There has been a shift in the global job market that has opened the door for entrepreneurship to become more mainstream,” she said.
While the benefits of working for oneself are many, Schott believes the freedom entrepreneurship affords is often the most compelling for many people.
“Entrepreneurship can mean defining one’s own destiny, particularly for traditionally underrepresented groups in business like women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community,” she said. “Entrepreneurial lore is full of rags-to-riches tales, where people pitch the next Snapchat and are launched into the business stratosphere. Sure, this is the stuff of inspirational posters and not everyone can make it big, but entrepreneurship does create a culture of opportunity that might work for some non-traditional workers,” she said.
Schott cautions that entrepreneurship is not easy. “Taking a financial gamble is stressful and so is working long hours to try to get a project off the ground.” And that’s where WESST can make the difference between an overworked business owner and an efficient leader who has the tools and support needed to guide the business toward success.
As Schott puts it, “the bottom line is anyone can be an entrepreneur with a little grit, determination, luck, and help from WESST.”
Visit the WESST website to learn more about the business support services offered from seven New Mexico locations. WESST’s offices have been designated by the U.S. Small Business Administration as Women’s Business Centers, but WESST is also devoted to supporting Black, Indigenous, BIPOC, LGBTQ, and Immigrant small business owners and entrepreneurs as part of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Before joining WESST in 2009, Lorena Schott worked for Intel where she was acknowledged for her establishment of Intel’s centralized online system, rewarding and recognizing employees worldwide. She has also held positions at Honeywell, Senator Pete Domenici’s office, the American Red Cross, and the Admissions Office at New Mexico State University.