4 Ways to Make Money (and have your customers thank you for it)

If you wish to make money, try some of the following ideas:

1. Offer customers more value than what they pay
2. Offer them time in exchange for their money
3. Add value to their time
4. Use your capital goods to their benefit

In finance, the Time Value of Money is used to calculate the value of a dollar in the future versus a dollar right now.  As no one is promised tomorrow, spending money today is more advantageous than spending it tomorrow.  The difference between the value of spending it now versus in the future is reflected in the interest rate.

But what if the same principle works in reverse?  Can we offer people time (or a better use of their time) in exchange for money?  This is bigger than charging them x dollars per hour for your labor.  This is charging them x dollars to give y hours of their own time, or charging them x dollars to add value to the time that they do have.  For example, hiring someone for $35 to mow your lawn invokes all four of the principles above.  His $7000 lawn mower and his 30 minutes of labor does a better job than your $300 lawn mower and your hour and a half of mowing, cleaning up, and taking allergy medicine ever could.  This transaction does more than add value to the homeowner’s lawn, it adds value to the homeowner’s time – freeing him to do what he really wants to do, or what he can do to make money (add value) himself.