Are you a risk-taker? Do you have a tendency towards creative or innovative problem solving? If the answer’s ‘yes’, it’s highly likely you have an entrepreneurial mindset. And that’s a good thing because, whatever your career aspirations, there are many paths for a budding entrepreneur to choose!

Traditionally, entrepreneurs are considered to be people who develop new ideas and turn them into businesses, like Facebook, or revamp old ones – sometimes through disruptive innovation – like Netflix.

The relatively new term, ‘intrapreneur’ is used to describe people who have entrepreneurial characteristics but prefer to bring about change as employees, from within existing organisations.

Whichever category you feel you might fit into – and it’s not unusual for entrepreneurs to start off as intrapreneurs – it’s crucial to tap into and use all possible resources available to help you transform your idea from a vision into a reality.

For intrapreneurs working for organisations that encourage innovation, resources may be provided for you, even in the form of time out from your usual role, to tinker away at new ideas.

For entrepreneurs, it’s more challenging but also more important to seek out every possible tool and learning opportunity that will get you up and running as quickly and cheaply as possible.

To help get you started on the path to developing your entrepreneurial mindset and contemplating the world of self-employment options, Curtin is hosting Independent by Choice.

This event will offer you the chance to learn from others who have already made the decision to work for themselves and have successfully developed their business ideas. They can give you valuable insight into what’s involved in launching yourself as an entrepreneur and creating your own employment opportunities.

And while the tech industry is famous for generating a lot of wealthy young entrepreneurs, it will be a fantastic chance to hear from people across diverse career sectors who are successfully operating their own businesses, right here in WA.

So, if you have the desire to drive change or a yearning to be your own boss, or both, sign up to attend Independent by Choice: Create Your Own Employment Future on campus on 24 August.

And, if you want to consolidate what you’ve learnt at the event, you can check out the modules on Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship available at Curtin Challenge.

Happy innovating!