Everyone Fancies Themselves an Entrepreneur

Research conducted by Millenail Branding, a group dedicated to studying Generation Y like the frozen caveman, in collaboration with Identified.com, which specializes in social media trends, found that "owner" is the fifth most popular job listing on facebook among Generation Y.

Generation Y is the group of kids born between 1985-2000.  Our parents are the Baby Boomers and our successors are the Millennial babies. Generation Y has recently become the subject of intensive study because our youngest are entering the work force. Today, Gen-Y-ers are either in college or working full time. We're almost real people, and we're about to have our time in the spotlight.

Millenial Branding found that the biggest employer of Generation Y was the U.S. Army. The second and third were the hospitality and food service industries, respectively. The study hypothesizes that this is because jobs are scarce and landing an internship is like spotting a four-leaf clover. Therefore, our generation is turning to jobs as hostesses and fry cooks. Consumer products (retail\sales) are fourth most popular for the same reason, they suspect.

"Owner," however, suggests that the fifth most popular job-title among the emerging work force is that of young entrepreneur. We are an entrepreneurial generation.

This high a rate of free-lance entrepreneurship is unprecedented. It goes against most of what studies have shown about Gen-Y. We know that Gen-Y is dependent upon a pack-mentality. Trends such as the prevalence of social media, and nuances in early childhood development (There's no 'I' in Team), suggest that we prefer a group. We trust in the higher institution. Whereas the baby boomers were decidedly anti-authoritarian, many of those rebels-without-causes have raised children who believe in the establishment.

We are second only to the G.I. generation in our willingness to participate in group activities and government programs (including the army). We have high financial expectations for ourselves, and strive to climb the corporate ladder.

We love our parents -- to an almost creepy extent. Many have termed Gen-Y the 'boomerang' generation because we have a habit of returning home after college\grad school and before entering the work force. We turn to mom and dad for advice before anyone else.

So why, then, are we so fiercely independent when it comes to entrepreneurship? Another defining characteristic of Gen-Y is our delusions of grandeur. Such delusions are not our fault: they were instilled in us at a very young age: "You are special....You can be anything you want to be!" It is common, for individuals in Generation Y, to believe that they stand out from the pack. Of course, if everyone stands out from the pack, then no one does, the pack simply takes a few steps forward.

It might be this mentality that makes Gen-Y believe that they are so qualified to be entrepreneurs.  The belief, however, is timely.

Start-up companies have been more and more prevalent since the tech-boom of the 1990's. Around '95, select members of early Gen-Y began to find wealth on the internet by patenting cyberware, software, and code functions. This led to the "digital bubble," of the late 90's, which popped just before the millennium.

Though the first few certainty reaped the largest rewards, start-ups are still made cheep and easy by the internet. The net has also made crowd-sourcing possible through sites such as kickstarter. The corporate world is catching on. Every year, more venture capital is offered to small start-up companies that do most (if not all) of their networking and advertising on the internet.

As aspiring Entrepreneurs and members of Generation Y, we should be cautious that, though entrepreneurship is easier than it has been in the past, everyone fancies themselves an entrepreneur. Therefore, we should expect a large pool of competition from which only a fighting few will be selected for success.

According to Millennial Building, Generation Y will make up 75%of the workforce by 2025.