MENU
last updated 07/05/2022

Entrepreneur vs. Investor. (The Difference)

There is great confusion between entrepreneurs and investors because many people believe they have the same tasks and jobs.

This is why most people mix them because of their similarity in the money-making process.

Although profit-making is almost equal in both as entrepreneurs people produce and sell the commodities; on the other hand, investors buy the stock and sell them in the future with a high-profit ratio.

There is a modest difference between them, and this article will explain this difference and the pros and cons of each.

Entrepreneur Concept:

An entrepreneur is an individual who sets up a business or business, identifies the problem, and solves it.

He is creative, opportunistic, innovative, takes risks, a self-starter, and is open-minded to making a profit from the enterprise. An entrepreneur deals with risky tasks as he is the person who comes up with a lot of commercial thoughts and innovative business ideas.

The entrepreneur is interested in making these ideas come to life as he has to achieve his profit through this organized vision. He has a map in his brain and imagination through which he exploits the market significantly.

He brings the business to the market and works on these projects managements. Products are then put on the market for people who buy these products, and the entrepreneur gets to profit from the market he is targeting.

This entrepreneur has significant experience in his selected market and relies on risks to grow this market for his profit.

Only an experienced person can be successful here with many risks chances. An entrepreneur can be a social entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, and lifestyle entrepreneur.

The great entrepreneur of history is Bill Gates, who came up with the idea of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg, who came up with Facebook; and Elon Musk, who came up with the concept of SpaceX.

Some of the essential qualities for an entrepreneur are: he must be open-minded to think differently, identify the problem, and think about its solution.

He should be passionate about his work and very confident because he must agree with an investor on his ideas. He must have the ability to deal with risks and should be creative and competitive.

Investor Concept:

An investor is a person who spends money from his pocket on a project to earn a profit from this.

The most successful investors who want to make a high profit by investing go to significant business, real estate, currencies, gold, silver, and retirement plans.

Investors primarily work on these projects. Investors rely on different financial firms and tasks to earn a rate of return. Investors may tolerate risks of varying nature.

For example, some investors prefer very low-risk investments such as certificates of deposit and bonds products.

Other investors can go for a higher risk to make a considerable profit, and these investors usually go for currencies, emerging markets, and stocks.

Difference Between Investor and Entrepreneur:

Source: Unsplash

Despite having the equal goal of earning money, the way of thinking is different.

The investor thinks of establishing a company to earn profit from this, but the entrepreneur makes a plan and puts this idea in the market to present a business idea. When this idea works in that particular market, he gets his profit.

The investor has a realistic approach because he knows whatever the money he invests in his business will return to him to double his financial profit. So, he avoids taking risks.

But the entrepreneur decorates his ideas and makes them look good so that this idea can get adequately executed, and then he achieves his profit.

An entrepreneur focuses on business ideas management, while an investor focuses on the commercial and financial side of the business.

An entrepreneur comes up with new ideas each time because his fundamental goal is to represent a new idea interestingly, so he keeps on thinking of new ideas by analyzing the different markets and businesses and statistics of profit and loss.

At the same time, investors rely upon these entrepreneurs’ ideas and consider either continuing the existing business or the new ideas.

Entrepreneurs must approach an investor to sell their idea, so he comes up with a business plan, vision, and proposal to assure investors about the success and profit ratio.

But an investor-only approaches the entrepreneur when his business is already successful and making a profit, and now he wants to expand his business, so he consults with an entrepreneur for new ideas.

An entrepreneur is passionate about his thoughts and ideas; therefore, he remains dedicated to his plans. Most entrepreneurs stick to their ideas for a long time, and despite suffering from massive losses, they remain devoted to making their plans successful.

On the other hand, an investor is much more realistic about it and takes much care about his business and may leave it when he faces a loss.

Similarly, the entrepreneur is very optimistic about business and looks towards the bright side despite keeping the loss under consideration because he has to deal with risk, but an investor is not that optimistic.

An investor can be happy only if the business value is relatively high.

An entrepreneur is the one who runs the business, considers loss management, and can also invest in the company if he wants.

Otherwise, he only represents the idea. But an investor does not involve in the daily operation of the business. His only job is to invest the money.

An entrepreneur creates reports on whether his plan is working correctly or not, does it needs any modification, and creates depictions of the profit loss ratio.

After preparing these reports, he is responsible for informing the investor all about this, and an investor reads and evaluates all these reports and understands whether his business is in profit or loss.

An entrepreneur can begin a business without any money because he has to develop an idea, but money is the primary tool for an investor because he has to invest in the entrepreneur’s plan.

An entrepreneur knows the business more because he manages all the daily base operations, marketing, sales, employees, and customer behavior.

An investor understands the company based on provided reports and returns on investment (ROI). Energy and time are the main risk factors for an entrepreneur, while money and time are investors’ risks.

Pros And Cons of Being an entrepreneur:

Like any other field or work area, entrepreneurship also has some advantages and disadvantages. Some of the most important advantages and disadvantages are discussed here.

Advantages:

  • Freedom:

An essential advantage of being an entrepreneur is a high level of freedom as you are your boss; therefore, you can do whatever you want.

Of course, you are responsible for the results of companies and their progress, but still, you are free to decide when you want to work and when you want a break.

Nobody can tell you what to do and how many hours you have to work. You can do whatever you feel is suitable for the company, and you are not responsible for listening to anyone.

  • No Boss:

Another significant benefit of being an entrepreneur is that you do not have any boss to tell you what to do.

You can spend your day as you want; for instance, if you do not want to work on a particular idea or plan, you can skip it now and come to it later.

  • Flexibility Level:

An entrepreneur does not have a tight schedule, so you can sleep shorter or longer whenever you want because of the high level of flexibility.

You can also work from home if you do not want to go to the office. This is an advantage for yourself and your family too as you can spend more time with them and can take better care of your children.

  • Never Gets Boring:

An entrepreneur always has many tasks in his mind, so he never gets bored.

So, if you are curious and want to try different ideas and explore different things, entrepreneurship is much more exciting for you than any other field.

  • Outsource Tasks:

Because many tasks are not fun , an entrepreneur can outsource such tasks.

So, being an entrepreneur, if you do not want to work on such tedious tasks, you can outsource those tasks only if you have other motivated, passionate, and experienced employees.

Although in this case, you have to keep an eye on employees for better results.

  • More Money:

If you want to earn a lot, there is no best way other than entrepreneurship. You can make yourself rich by being an entrepreneur if you’re working for yourself.

Disadvantages:

Now there are also some the disadvantages of being an entrepreneur, such as:

  • Lonely Routine:

Entrepreneurship is usually lonely because you have to decide everything, so you also have nobody to blame other than yourself.

  • Financial Pressure:

You have to bear financial pressures sometime as there are many chances of risks. Also, entrepreneurship has become so competitive, so companies prefer to have an entrepreneur at a lower cost.

  • Health Issues:

Since entrepreneurs have to deal with much stress, it leads to bad health. Many entrepreneurs suffer from burnout or depression during their careers, which is not usually discussed.

Pros and Cons of Being an Investor:

Just like entrepreneurship, being an investor also has some unique pros and cons too, which are discussed below:

Advantages:

  • Money Estimation:

If you are an investor, you will know how much money is required to start a business, so you do not need to spend time on other companies or business ideas, and you will invest your money and time in that particular business.

  • Easy Routine:

The least active approach for earning is to invest. It is suitable for you if you are interested in marketing but do not want to spend your whole day with it or do not want to make it your daily or weekly routine. So, invest and earn by profit.

  • Advantages of growing Economy:

If you invest in the stock, you will earn your profit as the economy grows. It is because economic growth directly leads to sales, which will return you profit.

  • Easy to Buy:

You can easily buy shares of companies and can invest in them. You can purchase stock shares from a broker or online and then sell them with your profit.

  • Regular Income:

If you are retired or approaching retirement, you will be looking for something from which you could earn to meet your expenses. So being an investor, you can easily invest your money in equities, bonds, and properties, and then you will gain from it.

Disadvantages:

  • Difficult to Start:

Being an investor is tricky as you have to invest your money, putting you and your family in trouble until you earn a profit.

  • Risk:

Being an investor, you must be ready to face any risk, and this can create severe issues because you already have invested a lot, and if you face a loss, it will disturb you a lot.

  • Slow Process:

Being an investor, you have to wait a lot until your business grows or the prices of shares increase so you can sell them. Therefore, you must have patience.

Conclusion:

Based on this article, if you have many creative ideas, can think clearly, and must have the skill to represent your ideas convincingly, you can go for entrepreneurship.

Also, if you do not have any money, you can still go for entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, if you have time and money and want to invest to earn throughout your life, you can go for investment.

Also, if you cannot face high-level tension, you can choose to be an investor, but if you are brave enough to handle any problem, then entrepreneurship has a bright future ahead for you.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and you can choose one of them easily according to your routine and based on all the above discussion.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents