Have you ever thought about starting your own business or the best way to becoming a business owner? If entrepreneurship isn't yours, you worry about the amount of work or aren't happy to take the risk, put in the hard work, persistence, the good idea, or the capital involved in building and running a successful business, there's an easier solution to owning a business. Better still, it's also an efficient way to build wealth. Simply invest in a business.

Build your property empire

You can either invest in your own business-like entity by buying property, buy shares, or invest in someone else's business as a part-owner. The third one is certainly the most difficult one, as it first requires you to know someone who's got a fantastic business worth investing in, the person needs to have the right mind set ensuring that the business will become and remain a success – in fact, the person needs to posses all the above traits. Buying property is, if done properly and profitable, not really that much different from owning a business. Granted, you will not need to hire and manage any staff, but you'll have to find reliable tenants, make sure the property is well maintained and managed, deal with all the legal issues that come with owning a property from buying to renting, renovating to potentially re-selling the property and then reinvesting your capital. If you're in the business of flipping property, you'll constantly be on your feet hunting for promising properties, manage subcontractors, market the property, and so forth. Very hands-on and highly rewarding if you put on the work.

But as a property investor you'd have to act and think similarly to a business owner (in fact, you are one); you'll have to work hard, have a clear goals, and invest huge sums of capital.

Become a business owner the easy way

With property and part-business ownership being, while very rewarding, not the easiest forms of becoming a business owner, how about shares? Many don't realize that owning shares is business ownership. It's not a fluffy, intangible investment. Quite the contrary, it could be your local supermarket, your favorite sportswear company, your employer. As a shareholder with voting rights, you are a co-owner of the business. The important difference: you are not required to put in the hard work that comes with building and running a business.

If you've always dreamed of becoming a business owner, but have not found the time to invest yourself fully, lacked a great idea, or the capital to do so, share ownership gives you easy access to owning a business. Thus, don't think of shares as something intangible, floating around on the global stock markets. Shares make you a co-owner of a successful business. You have the same rights as a business owner: you get to decide who should manage the business for you, the strategy, influence managerial decisions. Depending on the number of shares you own, the power over management decision diminishes or increases. Just like any other business owner you get to decide on the future of the business and benefit from potential profits. All these benefits without having to put in any of the hard work and significant time investment that is required to start and run a successful business. As a business owner it is you who needs to ensure an ever increasing custoer base. It's not enough to stand still and rest on your laurels.

Contrary, as a shareholder, despite being co-owner of a business, none of the sales, production, marketing, development, or other responsibilities need to burden you and keep you awake at night. If you're not happy with the where the company is going or disapprove of management decisions, see the market move in a different direction, you can withdraw without any of the legal or administrative annoyances you'd be faced with as a entrepreneur. You're a business owner who, while not in the prime driving seat, possesses power to partly influence the direction of the enterprise without the business-related responsibilities.

Thus, if you ever contemplated owning a business, share ownership might be for you. Don't think of it as an intangible construct, think of share ownership as a co-ownership in a business. In fact, if the company is small enough, you could potentially buy enough shares to become the proprietary owner transitioning from an investor to an actual hands-on business owner.