Home-based e-business - an option for the self-employed?

2.2. Entrepreneurs and Micropreneurs

However, most of today's home-based businesses were not started by traditional entrepreneurs, they were started by a new breed of entrepreneurs called micropreneurs (Leboreuf, 1996) [26]. According to Leboreuf, micropreneurs usually have a different type of personality from traditional entrepreneurs. They come from different backgrounds, have different values and go into business for totally different reasons. There are basically three major characteristics that distinguish the micropreneur from the traditional entrepreneur. Micropreneurs tend to be well educated and highly employable, many hold advanced and professional degrees. The decision to go out on their own is not thrust upon them but is rather a choice they make. The greatest incentive behind micropreneurs is not money, is the promise of personal freedom, so as to achieve a better lifestyle for them and their family. Micropreneurs don't take stressful risks because they don't have to. They will take calculated risk to start a home-based business with little or no capital. This means that they can choose opportunities with high potential payoffs and little to lose. In that sense, home-based e-business can be regarded as the most suitable choice for micropreneurs.