• An investor builds earnings power through a business ownership mind-set.

• Investing in publicly listed businesses is a great way to passively reap most of the major benefits of running one’s own business, without being exposed to the disproportionate risks emanating from the usual vagaries of directly running a business.

• Stocks are not just pieces of paper but fractional ownership stakes in real businesses. They are a claim to a piece of a business’s profits, which grows as the business invests in productive activities, executes well, and generates returns.

• Be passionate about the business but dispassionate about the stock.

• When you think like a business owner, you no longer view stocks as pieces of paper or buy them with “target prices” in mind.

• Instead, you view stocks as part ownership in a business and you want to savor the journey alongside the promoters.

Such a passive approach offers multiple benefits:

1. The possibility of partly owning a business with a small investment corpus

2. Minimizing risk through diversification

3. Access to top-notch managers to run the business.

4. Buying business ownership on your own terms.

5. Opportunity to shoot rare, fast-moving elephants.

6. The invaluable flexibility of a quick and smooth exit.