A recent New York Times article about “accidental entrepreneurs, unintended entrepreneurs or forced entrepreneurs” has been nagging at me since I read it about 10 days ago. 
While the article features people who are finding ways to stock their refrigerators and fulfill their need to be productive and creative, it’s dismissive to call someone an “accidental entrepreneur.”
Several people I know have started a business after being unemployed. Sometimes it’s the kick they needed to pursue their dreams or a severance package served as start up capital. There are also people like me, who always wanted to start their own business and did so despite the down economy – which meant willingly leaving a job.
(Tip: you should never ask a freelancer or entrepreneur if they are “just doing this” until the find a job.)
Regardless of how or why you started your business or took the plunge to be a full-time freelancer, you should celebrate that you took a huge risk. That you are willing to do something that could fail or be a wild success.
And you should also know your resources.
- Kauffman Foundation
- IRS (Starting a Business)
- Legal Zoom
- MWBE (Minority and Women Business Enterprises)
- National Women Business Owners Corporation
- Nolo
- SCORE
- Small Business Administration (SBA)
- U.S. Copyright Office
You can also find tips and resources here at a.k.a writer.
- Spotlight On: Independent Businesses
- Entrepreneurial Marketing, Part 1
- Entrepreneurial Marketing, Part 2
- Entrepreneurial Marketing, Part 3
Is there a resource you couldn’t run your business without? Would you like to spotlight an entrepreneur you know? Please share in the comments below.
Jesaka Long 
Hi Jennifer ~ Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience! I like “unintentional entrepreneurs” much better than “accidental.” You never know what could inspire you to do something you never imagined — and then love it so much you can’t imagine anything else.
Amen, to the whole “are you just doing this until you find a job?” question. If you are my family member or friend and need your head bitten off, just ask me that.
Also, I write for a website that calls the folks you are talking about “unintenitonal entreprenuers,” and I like that phrasing. Rather than seeing it as dismissive, I see the phrase as a catchall for people who became entreprenuers even though that wasn’t their original intent. That’s how I got my start – I was laid off from what I thought would be a 10-year job and decided that it was now or never.