How to Make Money

After my musings on God and atheism, which some may have found useless, let’s look at a supremely practical problem — how to make money. Loads of it. Apparently, it is one of the most frequently searched phrases in Google, and the results usually attempt to separate you from your cash rather than help you make more of it.

To be fair, this post won’t give you any get-rich-quick, sure-fire schemes or strategies. What it will tell you is why and how some people make money, and hopefully uncover some new insights. You may be able to put some of these insights to work and make yourself rich — if that’s where you think your happiness lies.

By now, it is clear to most people that they cannot become filthy rich by working for somebody else. In fact, that statement is not quite true. CEOs and top executives all work for the shareholders of the companies that employ them, but are filthy rich. At least, some of them are. But, in general, it is true that you cannot make serious money working in a company, statistically speaking.

Working for yourself — if you are very lucky and extremely talented — you may make a bundle. When we hear the word “rich,” the people that come to mind tend to be (a) entrepreneurs/industrialists/software moguls — like Bill Gates, Richard Branson etc., (b) celebrities — actors, writers etc., (c) investment professionals — Warren Buffet, for instance, and (d) fraudsters of the Madoff school.

There is a common thread that runs across all these categories of rich people, and the endeavors that make them their money. It is the notion of scalability. To understand it well, let’s look at why there is a limit to how much money you can make as a professional. Let’s say you are a very successful, highly-skilled professional — say a brain surgeon. You charge $10k a surgery, and perform one a day. So you make about $2.5 million a year. Serious money, no doubt. How do you scale it up though? By working twice as long and charging more, may be you can make $5 million or $10 million. But there is a limit you won’t be able to go beyond.

The limit comes about because the fundamental economic transaction involves selling your time. Although your time may be highly-skilled and expensive, you have only 24 hours in a day to sell. That is your limit.

Now take the example of, say, John Grisham. He spends his time researching and writing his best-selling books. In that sense, he sells his time as well. But the big difference is that he sells it to many people.

We can see a similar pattern in software products like Windows XP, performances by artists, sports events, movies and so on. One performance or accomplishment is sold countless times. With a slight stretch of imagination, we can say that entrepreneurs are also selling their time (that they spend setting up their businesses) multiple times (to customers, clients, passengers etc.) This is the only way to address the scalability issue that comes about due to the paucity of time.

Investment professionals (bankers) do it too. They develop new products and ideas that they can sell to the masses. In addition, they make use of a different angle that we discussed in the Philosophy of Money. They focus on the investment value of money to make oodles of it. It not so much that they take your money as deposits, lend it out as loans, and earn the spread. Those simple times are gone for good. The banks make use of the fact that investors demand the highest possible return for the lowest possible risk. Any opportunity to push this risk-reward envelope is a profit potential. When they make money for you , they demand their compensation and you are happy to pay it.

Put it that way, investment sounds like a positive concept, which it is, in our current mode of thinking. We can easily make it a negative thing by portraying the demand for the investment value of money as greed. It then follows that all of us are greedy, and that it is our greed that fuels the insane compensation packages of top-level executives. Greed also fuels fraud – ponzi and pyramid schemes.

There is a thin blurry line between the schemes that thrive on other people’s greed and confidence jobs. If you can come up with a scheme that makes money for others, and stay legal (if not moral), then you will make money. You can see that even education, traditionally considered a higher pursuit, is indeed an investment against future earnings. Viewed in that light, you will understand the correlation between the tuition fees at various schools and the salaries their graduates command.

Comments

8 thoughts on “How to Make Money”

  1. It is an eyeopening train of thoughts, especially the reference to the doctor`s limited hours in hand. Great writing!
    N T Nair, EKL

  2. that is what many people would want to do– creating a large amount of money. it is very nice that you’ve post this one. at least there would be things that could help people on their way in seeking this for the answer of their desires. well anyway, your blog is great. keep it up.

  3. I like your thinking…..from the etherial to the practical. Why do people want to make lots of money? My mother went through WW II. She is almost 91 now and her compulsions are more pronounced than ever. SAVE EVERYTHING. Why, because if it is there at least she won’t run out such as in wartime when she was starving almost all the time. I don’t think she thinks about the logic of this and I find it frustrating because she denies herself good, fresh food because she wants to be sure it is there so she does not need to go hungry. At the same time the food gets too old or rots and has to be pitched out.

    Many people who make it rich today also gnawed the hungercloth at one time. They have the same compulsion to make MORE to assure financial security. Those who are simply money-obsessed could be considered greedy, especially if hoarding is all they want. After all you can only sit on one toilet at a time.

    I want to make money too so I do not have to look at a bleak future. If the windfall is way more than enough, I want to share. The bible philosophy is: The more you give, the more you get. 🙂

    Take Care,
    A. Ommen

    1. Thanks for your comments, Ommen. I think I would make more of a distinction between frugality and greed. Those who faced hardship at some point in their life, if they want to hoard for a rainy day, that is not too bad. It may be illogical, but not in the same league as greed. Greed, in my view, is wanting more than you need. A child who grabs five desserts when there is no way she can eat more than three is greedy. A man who wants two houses is greedy.

      When it comes to money, this definition of greed becomes a bit murky. One can always argue that one “deserves” a better life. Right now, I believe that I thoroughly deserve two vacations a year and a fancy car. If I had a lot more money, I may think that I deserve a private jet. I know it sounds silly, but I am sure those who do have private jets have no doubts about their meriting the good life.

      If a child grabs a cake too many, we scold her. But when somebody makes more money than they can possibly spend, we somehow end up celebrating their “success.” Me, personally, whenever I feel greedy and find myself wanting my mountains of things, I hear the accusatory tone of Tracy Chapman calling me one of “those who deserve the best in life” and it keeps me a bit centered. At least, I hope it does.

  4. Very much enjoyed this read.
    So scalability factor is important.
    But how can a doctor(Brain Surgeon) implement this scalability in his profession. He is of course constrained by time. Is there work around?
    Just a thought..! I am not a doctor…

  5. Scalability is definitely a key factor.
    But how does one such as a doctor(brain surgeon) for example implement the scalability factor considering he is limited by 24 hr time limit ?
    Is there some work around?
    Just a thought.. i am no doctor!!
    ~Vishwa

  6. Scalability? Sure, that’s easy. Take your Blog for example. I suspect it has not made you rich. The tricky bit is finding a scalable activity that people will pay good money for.

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