This essay sheds light on the top ten critical mistakes to avoid when investing in the stock market and also elucidates how to protect your stock market investments. Moreover, how to make money online as an entrepreneur so that you can afford to invest in the equities market is delineated in this essay. There are a copious amount of mistakes that investors should prudently circumvent making when investing in the stock market that go beyond abstaining from procuring highly volatile penny stocks and buying stocks based on speculation. First and foremost, it is critical for investors to avoid buying stocks from companies that do not offer a dividend payment to their investors. Investors often make the calamitous mistake of buying overvalued stocks from companies that do not provide dividend payments to their shareholders. The dividend not only renders the share of equity an income generating asset, but also vindicates to investors that the company has confidence in their business model to warrant doling out dividends. In other words, it not only renders the stock more valuable as an income generating asset that is not procured based purely off speculation for the prospect of earning a capital gain, but also allows companies to win over the trust of investors and raise capital more easily. The merits of a company's business model are dubious if the board of directors does not have the confidence to offer a dividend to their company's shareholders. Some investors completely abstain from ever buying non-dividend paying equities. Novice investors should understand the importance of leveraging a dividend investment strategy by buying equities from highly profitable companies which possess high dividend yields. The strategic equity investor will reinvest the dividends earned into buying more shares of equity to further grow his investment portfolio. By making the dire mistake of buy non-dividend yielding stocks, you will not be able to execute a dividend investment strategy. Second, investors are prone to making the mistake of investing in companies that do not consistently report earning positive net income annually. Companies should be able to efficaciously manage their resources. Moreover, companies should be able to streamline and refine their business model to remain profitable in the digital. When companies report earning negative net income, it is a clear tell-tale sign of under-performance and underlying financial issues. In the digital era, it can be a hardship to recover from insolvency, operational inefficiencies, mismanagement of resources, and the continual usage of an unprofitable business model. It is incumbent that companies are managed effectively and are not encumbered by debt and lack of positive cash flow. Consistently earning negative net income is a telltale sign that the company may become defunct in the near future. Investors should not be imprudently overly optimistic about a company's ability to recover from showing consistently poor financial performance and bounce back, especially if they compete in an overly saturated competitive market. Third, investors make the financially devastating mistake of not buying shares of equities from companies that compete in lucrative markets characterized by minimal competition and high barriers to entry. By buying shares of equity from companies that compete in markets with low barriers to entry and extreme competition, the investor renders himself vulnerable to greater market volatility. This is because, companies that compete in markets with low barriers to entry and extreme competition are more apt to become unprofitable or defunct than companies less vulnerable to competitive threats which compete in monopolistic markets with little to no competition. Companies that have a monopoly on the market are not prone to competitive threats. Moreover, markets with high barriers to entry indicate that a profitable company will be far more likely to financially thrive.