Welcome to the Age of Entrepreneurialism

With so many people across all talent levels being unemployed there has been a surge in interest in entrepreneurialism.  Do you have what it takes to start and run your own business?  Do you have a business plan?  Do you know your market?

While these questions can stop you dead in your tracks, there's two simpler questions that might mobilize you better:  Can you think of a way to save a company (maybe your former company) money or to make them money?  That's what every company wants and that's what every company needs.  If you have the connections and can pull together a team to pull it off, then you just might be at the starting line.

I was wondering about what states are the most entrepreneurial, so I pulled the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.  No lie, their most recent data on new businesses is as current as 2006.  I analyzed the data, and found that New England and the Northwest US are the most entrepreneurial.  To help show that, I created the interactive map below.  Green states have the most new businesses per worker, orange states are middle of the road, and red have the fewest businesses per worker.  Why'd I do it that way?  California has the most people, so they'd likewise have the most businesses.  But if you want to understand true entrepreneurialism, you need to look at businesses created per workforce.  

Click on a state on the map and you'll see the number of new businesses in that state from 1989-2006.  Check out the trends and you'll see how great the opportunities are.

What are you waiting for?  It may be the best decision you ever make.