If entrepreneurs running their own businesses know one thing, it's that making those businesses work is an incredibly time-consuming process. A business owner has to be in total control at all times, which almost always means long hours in the office and ongoing brainstorming and problem solving at home. For some, it's almost literally an around-the-clock job, particularly in the early going.

Really, this is how it should be. Most companies that succeed do so not because their products or services are so innovative as to change the market, but because the people behind them worked harder than everybody else. The problem for entrepreneurs, however, is that establishing this kind of work rate can make it difficult to focus on anything else - including growing the income that is ultimately produced by the company. After all, entrepreneurs are always looking to profit, and part of that process means managing and investing income to help it go as far as possible.

But how can you set about investing properly when all your time is tied up in a business? There's no absolute way around this, but if you look into alternative investments and some modern methods, there are ways you can put your money to work strategically and with a minimal time requirement.

Your first step can be looking into a mutual fund that suits your needs and desires for your money. Mutual funds are an ideal investment option when you are looking at convenience and a timesaving opportunity. This is because they basically involve you pooling your own investment with money from other investors, all to be handled by a professional fund manager who controls a strategically diversified account. The fund manager can make larger trades with the pooled money from a range of investors, and the diversified nature of the account makes a net gain more likely. It's generally viewed as an affordable, strategic option that saves you the hassle of researching and conducting trades on your own, and it's often one of the best choices for those pressed for time.

If you do opt to spend the time to make your own trades and investments, however, the best option for an entrepreneur can be to seek out alternative markets that aren't as complex or strictly defined as ordinary stock exchanges. For some, this means the buying and selling of resources such as precious metals and other commodities. For years now, it has also meant engaging with the forex market because with the emergence of electronic trading, large volumes of currency began to be traded among banks, businesses and individuals around the globe. These trades can be conducted privately, online, at a moment's notice, and at all hours, making them extremely accessible even to the busiest of entrepreneurs and other individuals.

Then again, the idea of electronic trading making things simpler for individuals is not exclusive to the forex and commodities markets. In the last few years, we've also seen new electronic tools emerging that help individuals to invest without any of the complications of going through a traditional brokerage (a process that takes time and costs fees). Now, with an app, you can track the performance of stocks and buy or sell them, with just a few taps at no cost. That's an incredibly valuable level of convenience for someone too busy for the stock market, but still interested in making trades. Essentially, the whole process has been streamlined.
To be clear, each of these methods still requires time spent on research and decision-making. Whether you're investing in forex or in stocks through a new app, you'll need to understand the markets and make your own strategic decisions. And even putting your money into a mutual fund requires an initial education process as you sift through options and pick the right situation for you and your money. But overall, these methods provide some solutions for entrepreneurs concerned with growing their income who don't necessarily have the time to do so through conventional investment practices.