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Who makes more money a Entrepreneur or a Technologist?

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Jorge’s Answer

Entrepreneur is very broad - from selling T-shirts to starting Facebook. But generally speaking, the potential upside of being an entrepreneur is much higher. As an entrepreneur, you pretty much own the company that you found, and depending on the industry, there is really no limit to how much you can earn. The richest people in the world are self-made entrepreneurs (Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, etc). The downside is that if your business fails, you don't make any money, and in most cases you lose the money you invested in the company.

For Technologist, I assume you meant being an engineer or a scientist. Also depends on the industry. A software engineer can make a lot of money too, depending on your level of experience, the location, the company you work with, etc. The upside is not as high as being an entrepreneur, and they all have a very decent base salary and you can make a very comfortable living.

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. You can be a technologist and an entrepreneur. Many engineers have later on in their career founded their own companies and succeed. Many entrepreneurs have gone back to becoming a technologist or engineer.
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Alex’s Answer

It depends, but entrepreneurs have a much higher upside potential. If you own a company, and your company makes a lot of profit, you effectively 'earn' whatever your company's profit is. Getting a company to the point where it makes a lot of profit takes a great deal of dedication and is wrought with uncertainty. Most new companies never make it to the 'lots of profit' stage.

Working in technology is a very lucrative field. Salaries in the computer engineering space (software engineering, networking engineering, etc) are in high demand. At my last company, we had software engineers and nuclear engineers. To my surprise, software engineers made more than the nuclear engineers. Working in the technology field is what I consider a 'traditional' career path. Generally, you work for a company and that company pays you a salary and benefit. Since the skills in technology are in high demand, you are likely to make a decent salary your entire working career. In other words, it's a safer bet.

Generally speaking, if you like taking risks, are a self starter, and have an idea for a company that you're really passionate about- become an entrepreneur! If not, go down a traditional career path for a while. You can always hop over to becoming an entrepreneur later.
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George’s Answer

For entrepreneurs, it's typically not about the money. They see a problem or opportunity and want to address it. They're very focused and passionate about delivering value / excellence, and the better they are at implementing a vision that makes customers happy, the more successful they are. One day these successful entrepreneurs wake up and realize they have a lot of money, and often it's a surprise. They are so engrossed with their business that this fact (along with their external relationships, marriages, etc) had been completely ignored.

But launching a successful tech business is fraught with risks, and the vast majority of entrepreneurs fail.

Competent technologists are those people who have mastered one or more skill sets that are in demand in the marketplace. Because of the value they can add to many businesses, they command a significant salary for their services. They may never "hit a home run" like an entrepreneur can, but the likelihood of earning a good income -- and leading a healthy, balanced life -- are excellent.

George recommends the following next steps:

Is there something that really excites you (or ticks you off) in the tech world today?
Do you know people or businesses that would actually pay for a solution to this problem, or pay for a new service or product?
Are you willing to put your personal life on hold indefinitely?
Then you could consider becoming an entrepreneur!
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David’s Answer

Hi Jarheia,

I love the question! Generally, the most financially successful entrepreneurs are at their core technologists. If you want to be a successful technology entrepreneur, learning to have a technologist's perspective will give you the potential to be a tech entrepreneur.

- You may want to understand Technology and Design
- You should consider engineering (software, hardware, systems, or something else)
- You need to develop a keen sense of what will make a change in the future

To Jorge's point, you can be an entrepreneur who owns a coffee shop, or a small online business (like a shopify store), this would put you in the category of a lifestyle entrepreneur. Or you can go for the "big leagues" and try to start a company that is backed by investors "Usually venture capitalists". This is the category the most lucrative tech entrepreneurs fall into. A successful track record of running a business and/or a strong technical background would make you a good candidate for making it into this category.

David recommends the following next steps:

Take classes on technology, design, and engineering.
Try starting a small business, to learn the ropes. Do you have a hobby? Try monetizing it with a shopify store. (You can look up how to do that on google)
Learn about programming, it's one of the most important skills of a technologist. At it's essence it's designing a way to make things work automatically.
Make a brainstorming map of what the world will be like in the future. Then try to make a business plan for a product that you think will exist in 5 or 10 years.
Pay attention to what "futurists" write about. A famous one to look into is Ray Kurzweil.
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Madiha’s Answer

Comparing the lifetime earnings of entrepreneurs and salaried workers, its found that entrepreneurs actually make more, on average.
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