Column: Death to the desk job

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

Maybe you’ve heard this before, or even thought it: What is an entrepreneur? Where are all these entrepreneurs I hear so much about? Can I be an entrepreneur?

Much has been written about defining the title. Ask the public to name an entrepreneur and likely 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 of organizing and managing 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. This desire to leave desk jobs behind and pursue entrepreneurship is rising.

At colleges across the country, a majority of students are demanding a curriculum with entrepreneurial courses, according to the Young Entrepreneur Council. And 16 percent of college graduates started their own business directly out of college in the 2000s, a rate that boasts more than three times as many people as 20 years ago.

Part of this surge in interest can be attributed to an economy in tepid recovery and a brutal job market for recent college graduates. The unemployment and underemployment rates for recent college grads are 8.5 and 16.8 percent respectively, although national unemployment is at 5.9 percent.

With such depressing numbers, entrepreneurship is becoming a more attractive employment option for new graduates who want to take their futures into their own hands.

But 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 little as five years ago, 90 percent of students ages 18 through 25 believe entrepreneurship education is important, according to numbers from the Young Entrepreneur Council. This has also catapulted entrepreneurship into the top five programs desired by prospective MBAs.

An astounding 54 percent of millennials have started a business or plan to begin one, according to Young Invincibles.

Now more than ever, students are accepting the challenge to put their ideas, and themselves, to work. As one common entrepreneurial quip goes, “The only place where 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.