Lessons

The four ways money arrives

What it is

Money reaches you in one of four shapes. You sell your time to one employer. You sell your time to several buyers. You sell a finished outcome at a price you set. Or you sell a thing, which somebody else could hand over.

Why it matters

Three of the four are capped by hours in a week, and everybody has the same number of those. The fourth is not. Knowing which one you are in tells you which ceiling you are pushing against — and the arithmetic that finds your real position is different for each.

The method

Do not pick the one you want. Pick the one that describes where last year's money actually came from. Most people are in two: a job, and something on the side.

Example

Salma teaches at a school and takes evening tuition. That is two: time sold to one employer, and an outcome sold at her own price. Both get counted, separately, and then added.