From Entrepreneur to Investor: Making the Leap

Learning how to become an investor can be difficult, check out our tips below.

What do entrepreneurs and investors have in common? A fearless and highly-driven mindset, the ability to work well under pressure, the understanding of what it takes to achieve their goals? 

If you are currently the former but would like to transition into the latter, you’ll find that there’s a completely new set of challenges waiting for you to overcome them. But if you’re ready to persevere and arm yourself with patience, you can become an investor in a matter of years. Here’s how:

Understand What You Don’t Know 

As an entrepreneur, you may be a bona fide expert in your field. However, investing will require a different kind of knowledge – and more of it. Just because you currently excel at something doesn’t mean you are capable of investing in similar companies right away. 

Start by educating yourself, not just on the finesses of your industry (or the industry you want to move into), but on the intricacies of investing. There are investing newsletters you should sign up for, webinars to attend, and countless books to read that will help you learn and widen your horizons.

Accept Your New Position 

One of the bigger challenges you might face is accepting that you’re no longer the best at what you do. You’ll likely start out at the very bottom and need to work your way up to the top of yet another ladder.

You’ve done this already when you launched your own business. Don’t let your ego or your past achievements hold you back. You are now going to have to contend with some new fish in your pond (well, technically, it’s their pond). So the sooner you accept this, the sooner you’ll see results. 

Consider Creating a Passive Income Stream 

Becoming an entrepreneur comes with its own financial challenges, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll truly be able to make ends meet when you first start out. The same is true of becoming an investor. 

To prevent financial difficulties, consider establishing a passive income stream. Of course, it will take years until it gets to where you need it to be. But your transition to becoming an investor will take a long time as well – so the sooner you get started, the better. 

Depending on your experience and interests, you can write a book, start a blog, create a course, and so on. There are numerous passive income options to consider. 

Make the Right Connections 

You’ve surely been doing some networking as an entrepreneur. Well, now you’ll need to widen that circle and start meeting other investors. 

You also need to start knocking on some doors that may have previously been closed to you. There are certainly big-shots who have refused to take a meeting with an entrepreneur but who will want to speak to a VC investor. 

Change your pitch, too. While you may still be an entrepreneur, you need to highlight the next step in your career as you branch out. Make that the focus of your small talk and networking conversation starter.

Hone Your Vision 

The biggest names in investing boast some incredible motivation and vision. They’re not in it simply for the money: they have a goal in mind, and that’s what they are chasing. 

Investor visions are not all that different from the visions you started working on when you became an entrepreneur. In fact, the two may be completely aligned. All you need to do is revise how your career as an investor will help you live up to your vision of yourself and your business. 

Don’t be afraid to swerve, either. If you’ve discovered that you want to take your life in a completely new direction, that’s perfectly okay. As long as you’re sure where you want to be, don’t be afraid of a bolder vision. 

Understand Change 

As an investor, you’ll need to grapple with an ever-changing business landscape. You may secure one deal today only to have it fall through the next. If it can happen to Elon Musk, it can happen to anyone. 

The readier you are for these changes, the better you’ll fare. Your entrepreneurial experience will certainly help you work through the challenges of the modern investment landscape. 

Also, the knowledge you amass and the goals and visions you set will help you stay on track. Unexpected opportunities will arise, but knowing where you want to be will help you refuse or chase after them with more confidence.

Wrapping Up 

Becoming an investor is never a walk in the park. However, as an entrepreneur, you already have all the right skills and experiences behind you. All you now have to do is direct your focus and attention somewhere else – all the while making sure you stay on your path and keep chasing those dreams.