Where does money come from?

I have not been writing the blog for a while, as I have got busy into doing something quite different which I will explain later. It has been great to be contacted by many readers who have expressed their wishes to see my write more. Let me start off by writing something which has intrigued me for long.

All of us are interested in making money to varying degrees, some more some less. It is a basic reality that we need money to do a myriad of things that we either need or want to do. One obvious question that often pops up is this – where does money come from? Now one may give answers such as work, business, jobs, services etc that does not really cover the intrinsic answer. Understanding of this is central to earning money, yet many of us are unable to get this basic concept right. So without much ado, and giving credit to all the people who have thought of this prior to me, let me state this profound concept – Money comes from other people.

Now many of you may be thinking as to why this is profound and whether this works at all? Let us test this out by looking at different ways in which we can earn some money:-

• I made some money recently when I managed to sell Yes Bank stocks after waiting for a long time. Not that I made a killing or something, but the little money I made was only because there were some people willing to buy the stock at my asking price. 
• At present I am a Management consultant and do workshops for different companies in the areas of Strategy formulation, Leadership, Effectiveness in Sales etc. The money I earn from these workshops essentially come from the companies that are run by other people – Executives, Management etc
• For most people who are in a regular job, as I was for 27 years, the source of income is the Salary at the end of the month. This again comes from the company or, if you really want to stretch it, from the customers of the company.
• Look at any service provider, big or small and you will be able to conclude that they earn money which comes from other people. If I buy 2 packets of milk every morning then the milk supplier gets money from me. Same is the case with anything else that I and countless other people buy  every day.

Now that we have established the basic principle that money indeed comes from other people, let us see why this is important for us to understand. As all of us know, there is a big brouhaha in our country today about jobs or the lack of it. However, the reality of India is that the informal sector has always been much greater in numbers as well as revenues as compared to the formal sector. In reality the informal sector understands very well that money comes from other people and they design and sell products and services that other people will be willing to pay for. If you are part of the startup ecosystem, you will know the fixation with revenue models where you want to ask what and how much will the consumers pay for. If you have something of value to other people then they will pay money to get it from you. At the end of the day, money is simply an exchange mechanism. 

The other reason this is important is the helplessness many educated and capable people feel when they are not in a regular corporate job for whatever reason. I have seen some friends search desperately for a job and taking up ones which are well below their own capacities just so they can be earning some money. Several women who are home makers go through their entire life without doing something productive as they are not clear as to what they can do. The situation is definitely changing a little today with work from home options and possibility of several small scale entrepreneurial options but there is a lot more that can be done.

So, if you are in a situation that you are wondering what to do in order to earn some money, whether to get started or to supplement your current income, think of the following :-

• Look at options around you where the opportunities are there for providing your services in an already existing framework. Examples can be many, but a few are :-
  • Buy a car and make it available to Uber/Ola either by driving yourself or through a driver.
  • If you are financially knowledgeable then associate with companies as an adviser to help sell their offerings.
  • If you can provide services such as Graphic designing, Software development, Website development etc get connected to some networks and offer your services as a freelancer.
• Create opportunities for any small business based on what value you can offer to people which they will be able to pay for. This can be in the area of knowledge such as Tuition, Consultancy and Advisory services in a variety of areas. It can also be in the areas of small home based businesses. I know of many people who are cooking dishes and selling these in their building complex.
• If you are thinking that you do not have much value to contribute as all you have done is a job for a long time, that is simply not true. Use your imagination a little to think of how you can be of value to others. It will not be difficult to figure out at least 5 ways for each person. Yes, all the 5 may not be practically feasible from a point of making money but a few of these will be.

I hope a lot of readers will find this useful and will venture out to look at new avenues of utilizing their latent capabilities and therefore making money from other people in a positive way. For those still not convinced, I will be sharing some personal experiences in the next post which, I hope, will be an eye opener for many of you.