Desk jobs be damned! Creating your ideal job starts now

This is the first installment of a three-part series. Read the second part here.

I told my mother I was an entrepreneur. She asked, “Does this mean you’re unemployed?”

Maybe you’ve heard this before, or even thought, “What is an entrepreneur? Where are all these entrepreneurs I hear so much about? Can I be an entrepreneur?” Well, you’ve come to the right column.

Much has been written about defining an entrepreneur, and often it’s the stuff of legends. Poll the public to name an entrepreneur and topping the list are Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. While these are great examples, entrepreneurship has a fuller picture.

An entrepreneur is someone who takes the initiative and assumes the risk to organize and manage a venture.

While the type of venture started varies, this definition is the common thread for those who choose to use their ideas to meet some perceived need in the market, or, in loftier terms, the world. While merely a buzzword a few years ago, this desire to leave desk jobs behind and pursue entrepreneurship is rising.

Part of this surge in interest can be attributed to an economy in tepid recovery and a brutal job market for recent college graduates.

An astounding 53 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed or unemployed, and national unemployment hovers at 7.3 percent currently. With such depression-evoking numbers, entrepreneurship is becoming a more attractive employment option for new graduates.

Before you drop out of college, it’s not all driven by doom and gloom.

With emerging technology and market opportunities that didn’t exist as recently as five years ago, nearly 90 percent of students 18 to 25 believe entrepreneurship education is important. This has also catapulted entrepreneurship into the top five programs that prospective MBAs want their schools to offer.

Now more than ever, students are accepting the challenge to put their ideas, and themselves, to work. Famously, the hair guru and entrepreneur Vidal Sassoon once quipped, “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

With an idea and some dedicated work, you can become a member of a growing nation of startups. Take my advice: Start something.