An individual working for oneself as a freelancer for a certain skill is a self-employed person.

An individual who organizes and operates a business or businesses, while employing specialists to run each wing of the business and managing the overall business is an entrepreneur.

Self-employed people work perpetually irrespective of the contractors or employees they have hired. Whereas for an entrepreneur, the business is on auto-pilot mode, and they have the remote control to manage the business. Therefore, the business can run even if the entrepreneur is physically absent for a while as they have a complete business overview.

For a self-employed person, if the owner retires or dies then the company will cease to exist. For an entrepreneurship venture, the business will continue to operate even if the owner retires or dies because the other employees are working with the founder and not for the founder. Therefore, they understand the mission, vision, and values of the business. For example, Apple Inc. continues to operate even after Steve Job’s demise.

Entrepreneurs are global thinkers and strategize and forecast for the long-term business goals and expansion. They forecast their business on large-scale. Whereas a self-employed person has a smaller audience and focuses on short term goals and seldom strategies to reach a large audience.

A self-employed person is usually averse to taking risks whereas entrepreneurs take, manage, and control risks.

A self-employed person handles most of the responsibilities and outsources a task or two whereas an entrepreneur delegates most tasks and has time to strategize and plan for long term.

Self-employed people receive payments directly from their clients whereas entrepreneurs are compensated by taking a share of the profit from the business. Business profit is derived from revenue obtained from numerous customers or clients.

Self-employment carries far fewer requirements and restrictions than entrepreneurship when it is time to file their personal income taxes. Entrepreneurs deal with a wide range of legal requirements including business registration and licenses, obtaining permits, meeting legal insurance requirements, and filing business taxes.