*Preneurs: A business world of niche, sub-niche, micro-niche labels in entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs as you may already know are individuals taking on the risk of working for themselves, starting a business, and possibly employing others. All for the sake of being their own boss. You may also know that there are different kinds of entrepreneurs. What you may not know is the very specific types of entrepreneurs, which I am emphasizing as *preneurs in this article.

*preneurs are individuals who capitalize on a particular industry, a specialty niche within an industry, or use their particular title/status/culture to label their business type.

(e.g., a dogpreneur could be an individual who's business focuses exclusively on canines and/or canine-related products and services;

however if that individual actually were a dog, then they could presumably build their business and patronage around that status, catering to those who really appreciated dogs and sought to support the establishment of entrepreneurship in doghood.)

Note: For the sake of this article, the (*), is used regularly as a prefix to substitute any number of descriptive qualifiers of any given business venture/person.

With the continued evolution of technology; recognition of new social movements; and changes in legislation; the types of unique entrepreneurship niches are ever-increasing.

 Before, entrepreneurship was defined by a few simple categories. Now within distinct industries(or sometimes outside of any specific industry) there are also very specific styles of entrepreneurship based on lifestyles, cultures, and causes.

Hence, the trend of portmanteau use to distinguish one entrepreneur type from another is growing.

These *preneur labels are created when the noun or adjective of a particular movement is prefixed and combined with the word entrepreneur, describing a new or exclusive type of business category (. e.g. pastor + preneur = pastorpreneur. (yes, this is a real thing. Please refer to our list of *preneurs)

In theory, any word could be affixed in front of the root word 'preneur' to customize one's brand or business. In my research, I have found more *preneurs than I thought possible. (e.g. starpreneur, someone who made a living collecting stardust. not a real thing as of the writing of this article.)

I've seen categories of  *preneurs that have gone so far as to copyright or trademark their name/niche. (e.g. Coffepreneur, also on the list of *preneurs)

In other instances, I have seen it used in a clever and descriptive way, yet I was unable to find a  singular definition or category in which it was to be claimed. In those

instances, I assume that it is meant merely to highlight or for marketing purposes.

Aside from the gimmick of *preneuring a business label niche or sub-niche, there are many instances where the prefix is helpful to understand the marginalization of a sect of business and to reach out to the demographic that most could benefit from its products and services. (e.g. blackpreneur) 

Customizing one's entrepreneurship type is also a great way to highlight and recognize strives made in areas of self-employed business that may not otherwise be known. (In the year 2020 I think many know what a mompreneur is by now, but for those who don't -they could be missing out on an opportunity to find a way to make a profit after becoming a parent!

(e.g., a dogpreneur could be an individual who's business focuses exclusively on canines and/or canine-related products and services; however if that individual actually was a dog, then it could presumably build it's business and patronage around those who really appreciated dogs and sought to support the establishment of doghood.) 

To summarize,  *preneurs are business-minded individuals who capitalize on a particular industry, specialty niche within an industry, or use their particular title/status/culture to influence their business model or demographic.

Going forward, as entrepreneurship increases, there are sure to be new portmanteaus of *preneurs created. 

If you are curious as to the history of some of these labels, looking them up in Google Ngrams or Google Trends to find the birth of and increase/decrease of their popularity.

In the meantime, visit the homepage to see The Ultimate List of *Preneurs, an alphabetical list of niche-specific business models, industries, and people.