There are an estimated 1.2 million gay and lesbian small business owners today, serving a vast spectrum of enterprises. Other surveys investigating gay lifestyles tend to suggest that gay people have higher than average incomes. What is more likely is that due to having fewer dependents than the general population, it is likely that gay people have a higher disposable income.

The character of supporting their each other as a community helps to foster gay business at the same time, having higher than avarage incomes has a major effect also.

Entrepreneurs have many of the same character traits as leaders, similar to the early great man theories of leadership; however trait-based theories of entrepreneurship are increasingly being called into question.

Knowledge entrepreneurship describes the ability to recognize or create an opportunity and take action aimed at realizing the innovative knowledge practice or product. Knowledge entrepreneurship is different from ‘traditional’ economic entrepreneurship in that it does not aim at the realization of monetary profit, but focuses on opportunities with the goal to improve the production (research) and throughput of knowledge (as in personal transformation (Harvey & Knight, 1996)), rather than to maximize monetary profit. It has been argued that knowledge entrepreneurship is the most suitable form of entrepreneurship for not-for-profit educators, researchers and educational institutions.

Social entrepreneurship is the work of a social entrepreneur. A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society. While social entrepreneurs often work through nonprofits and citizen groups, many work in the private and governmental sectors.

Intrapreneurship is the practice of using entrepreneurial skills without taking off the risks or accountability associated with entrepreneurial activities. It is practiced by employees within an established organization using a systemised business model.