Learning how to write a resume that highlights business experience and skills is crucial to any entrepreneur seeking to catch the attention of potential investors, credit institutions, clients, and employers.
So, what should an entrepreneur put on a resume? While resumes for entrepreneurs don’t differ in essence from other types of resumes, careful attention should be paid to specific sections to make them truly effective.
In this article, we will provide you with expert tips and advice on how to emphasize your achievements within your experience, and turn your resume into a powerful tool in your search for partners, financing, or work.
When you are done with planning and are ready to go, you can check out our resume templates to make your life easier. The design is done for you!
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What Makes Entrepreneur Resumes Different?
Entrepreneur resumes, or resumes when you own a business, are slightly different from other types in that they focus more on building credibility and trust. This may be so that you can negotiate an investment or contract a prospective client.
This type of resume also puts the spotlight on any leadership abilities you’ve demonstrated in the past. For this reason, any experiences related to decision making, motivating teams and building partnerships should be explicitly pointed out.
Entrepreneur Resume Sample
First of all, let’s look at an example of an entrepreneur’s resume. This is the kind of a resume you might put together if you own your own business.
[Your Name]
[City, State, ZIP Code | Phone number | email | Linkedin]
[Professional title]
Summary
Resourceful and innovative entrepreneur with 7+ years of experience in launching and growing successful businesses across various industries. Demonstrated ability to identify market opportunities, develop innovative strategies, and achieve both short- and long-term objectives. Adept at building and leading high-performance teams, driving process improvement, and optimizing operations to deliver results.
Experience
Founder & CEO
Company Name: Green Future Innovations | City, State
January 2019 – Present
- Established a sustainable technology company focused on renewable energy, electric vehicles, and smart urban solutions.
- Secured over $5 million in venture capital funding, enabling the development and launch of three innovative products.
- Built and managed a team of 25+ professionals in product development, marketing, sales, and customer support.
- Implemented data-driven decision-making, resulting in a 30% increase in efficiency and a 25% reduction in costs.
- Expanded business operations into five new markets.
Co-Founder & COO
Company Name: TechStart Solutions | City, State
August 2016 – December 2018
- Co-founded a technology consulting firm specializing in custom software development, cloud solutions, and IT infrastructure management.
- Developed and implemented strategic business plans and operational processes, ensuring seamless growth and scalability.
- Acquired and managed a diverse client portfolio, including small businesses, startups, and Fortune 500 companies.
- Increased annual revenue by 10% through targeted marketing campaigns and strategic partnerships.
- Launched a successful training program for young IT professionals, creating a talent pipeline for the organization.
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Entrepreneurship
University Name | City, State
2014
Skills
- Business Development & Growth
- Strategic Planning & Execution
- Financial Management & Analysis
- Marketing & Sales
- Project Management
- Team Building & Leadership
- Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
- Innovation & Creative Problem Solving
Certifications
- Project Management Professional (PMP) – Project Management Institute
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt – International Association for Six Sigma Certification
Languages
- English (Native)
- Spanish (Fluent)
General Tips For Putting Together Your Entrepreneur Resume
Now, let’s look at some general advice before moving on to look at a business owner resume section by section. Here are some elements that you need to take into consideration when drafting your entrepreneur resume.
First thing’s first, planning the content. Let’s take a look at things to consider.
1. Describe How Your Career Has Developed
If you have your own business, your success probably didn’t come easy. Your experience section should detail the difficulties you overcame, as well as specific actions and outcomes.
This will demonstrate your capacity to handle challenging situations, as well as your ability to grow and adapt.
💡top tip
Before you start to write your resume, maybe draw a roadmap of your career on a piece of paper to help you think about this journey of professional and business development.
2. Employ Appropriate Wording
Try to use verbs and adjectives that accentuate your entrepreneurial abilities.
- How you overcame an obstacle.
- When you have used your powers of negotiation.
- A time you had to think on your feet.
- Instances when you adapted to market needs.
Successful business people are known for their innovative ideas and strong leadership skills. Word this well to make you stand out. Use action words that convey your achievements and accomplishments.
For example, instead of saying you “worked on a project,” say you “successfully completed a project that resulted in a 25% increase in revenue.”
Avoid slang or overly casual language, and use industry-specific terminology to demonstrate your knowledge.
💡top tip
Similar to the roadmap, try and make a word shower of ideas before you start writing, so you go in feeling inspired. Use a thesaurus to look up synonyms to vary how you word your accomplishments, and make sure you use the active voice.
3. Put an Emphasis on Your Accomplishments
Although it’s helpful to outline your former employment duties, stakeholders are much more curious about your accomplishments.
Think of experiences that are relevant to the audience you’re addressing, may it be investors, potential partners, or employers.
To illustrate with an example, you may have rushed to get a product out on time and stretched yourself and your team to the limit one time. Describe how you managed to do it within budget and with all stakeholders feeling satisfied.
🌟Featured content: Did you know that in 2022, according to the U.S Small Business Association, 46.4% of the private workforce was employed by 33.2 million small businesses across the United States? Your small business could be providing people with career opportunities, a stable income and helping grow our economy.
Provide instances of how you helped employees reach their career goals, or how you trained and mentored an intern or junior and helped them grow into the employee they are today.
Add these to your roadmap.
4. Detail the Specifics
Quantify your milestones: use percentages, fractions, figures etc. to describe increases with data.
There is a big difference in terms of credibility between saying “managed a team to achieve sales growth” and “managed a team of 20 and achieved a 13% sales increase by using a solution-focused approach”.
Ask yourself questions, such as: How can I measure this accomplishment? What tools did I use? And, what exactly did I achieve? The more detail you include, the more powerful your story will be.
Take one last look at your roadmap, where can you add these?
Now you have your ideas drafted in your roadmap or word shower, it’s time to get writing the real thing!
What Sections To Include in An Entrepreneur Resume
The basic sections contained in an entrepreneur resume are the same as in other types:
- Name and contact information
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Awards or prizes (optional)
- Hobbies and interests (optional)
If you need more inspiration, check out our page on resume format or take a look at our templates or examples.
Take a look at the sections below to boost your entrepreneur resume:
Write a Professional Entrepreneur Summary Statement
Your resume’s summary statement is the first thing that readers will see. It should be a brief, one or two-sentence overview of your experience, abilities, and any achievements worth mentioning.
A summary for an entrepreneur resume should highlight your unique traits in a wise way. Make strong, detailed reference to your industry knowledge and leadership skills.
Here is an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur’s profile summary. It includes years of experience, a core competency, an achievement, a measurable success and a named company.
Entrepreneur & Business Developer
High-performing Business Developer with 7+ years of leadership experience in the defense industry. Skilled at designing sales strategies for one of the US top 10 defense contractors. Launched a crowdfunding campaign that secured $900K in funds for the creation of telecom brand Intelaxis.
Emphasize Your Abilities and Achievements
If you’ve started your own business, the work experience section of your resume should reflect this appropriately to demonstrate your know-how to stakeholders.
Put the most important information near the top of each work experience entry. Be specific and list your impressive revenue, growth numbers, and any relevant achievements.
Make sure this information is in a bulleted list, to make it easy to read.
Highlight Your Entrepreneur Skills and Leadership
Entrepreneurs are often natural leaders. Make sure to mention that you managed teams, oversaw projects, and made strategic decisions.
If possible, explain how you helped a business, institution, or group of people survive through a difficult period. This will show readers that you’re a competent, quick-thinking, problem-solving and able leader in less-than-optimal situations.
Showcase Your Problem-Solving Abilities
As an entrepreneur, you’ve likely encountered many challenges and issues that you’ve had to overcome. Use your resume to showcase your analytical abilities, highlighting specific challenges you’ve faced and how you overcame them.
💡top tip
Mention any tools, strategies, or methods you applied to add more credibility to your story.
Demonstrate Your Business Acumen
Having a strong understanding of business is essential for entrepreneurs. A skill that potential partners, financial institutions, and employers will value.
Use your resume to highlight your entrepreneurial abilities, including your knowledge of finance, marketing, and sales.
Take a look at the following example showcasing a candidate’s deep understanding of digital marketing:
Experience
Managed an eight-person digital marketing team that revamped the digital marketing strategy, increasing leads by 42% and boosting sales by $3.2 million during the first year.
Take a look at more of our management resume examples to inspire you in selecting what professional information to include.
Tailor Your Resume to Your Audience
It’s essential to adjust your resume to your readers. For example, potential partners and credit institutions are very likely interested in different aspects of your experience.
Customize your resume to emphasize the skills and experience that match the expectations of your readers.
Keep It Concise
While it’s essential to showcase your expertise and abilities, you don’t want to overwhelm your audience with too much information.
Keep your entrepreneur resume short and to the point, focusing on the most relevant and impressive achievements.
Proofread Your Resume
Before submitting your resume, proofread it for any errors or typos. A mistake on your resume can be a red flag to potential employers, banks, or partners.
Take the time to ensure your resume is perfect.
The Final Word
Small business and entrepreneurship continue to grow in the U.S, to the surprise of some. It may be a bounce back from the Covid 19 pandemic, or because some workers are longing for more say in their working lives and want to take control.
Whatever the reason for this boom, it can make for a healthy, competitive economy, but that means there will be competition for investment.
As an entrepreneur, you might need an updated resume for various other reasons too, such as looking for credit, new partnerships, or employment.
How you tell your entrepreneurial story will likely play an essential role in the outcome of your search.
By making sure you put an emphasis on accomplishments and leadership skills and telling your story accurately by using numbers, percentages, and tools or strategies used, you can increase your chances of getting what you need.
Use our free online resume builder to draft yours. Follow the simple step-by-step instructions and take advantage of secret expert tips to stand out.
Good luck!
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