Reverse-engineering how money gets made
A map of the ways to make money, worked backwards. Start at $ and follow the arrows to see each way to earn it, the catch that comes with it, and a small first step you could try this week.
- Explore the mapPick any bubble to see what it means and where it leads.
- See what it saysThe big lessons, in a few minutes of reading.
- Choose a first moveConcrete steps to try, with a checklist to tick off.
The map
Drag to move around. Pinch, or hold Ctrl or ⌘ while you scroll, to zoom. Pick a bubble to read its note.
What the map says
It all comes down to whose time
Follow any branch far enough and it ends in your hours, someone else’s hours, or nobody’s: software, templates, courses. Most people climb in that order. Sell your own time, use the money to buy other people’s, then build things that earn without anyone’s. See it on the map
Every route has a catch
No branch is free. The question is which catch you’re better placed to handle than most people. Savings make holding costs easy, a network makes supply easy, and a skill turns other people’s lack of it into your opening. See it on the map
Know which wall you’re up against
Abundant stock is easy to get and hard to sell. Limited stock is easy to sell and hard to get. A business is usually stuck on one of the two, and effort spent on the other is wasted. See it on the map
Product and service meet in the middle
Products still take your time to source, sell and support, and services can be packaged into products. Both halves of the map run into the same limit, Capped by your hours. What really separates them is what each asks for first: money or hours. See it on the map
Cash runs out before profit does
Plenty of businesses that are profitable on paper still fail, because money goes out before it comes in. Getting paid before you pay, through deposits, pre-orders or upfront fees, is the most underrated move on the map. See it on the map
Businesses pay more, if you can prove it
Making a business more money, or saving it time, can be measured, so it can justify a real price. The catch is proof. You need a result to point to, which is why the first job is worth doing cheaply. See it on the map
Where to start with more time than money
This route needs no inventory and little capital, shows you quickly whether people will pay, and teaches you to sell, which every other route on the map depends on.
- Pick a problem you can already solve for people who can’t.
- Take a deposit or an upfront fee from the very first job.
- Turn the job into a written process while you do it.
- A fixed package at a fixed price that someone else can deliver.
A close second is reselling limited items. Demand is already proven, so selling is easy, but it stays capped by your hours until you build a network of scouts. See it on the map
24 next moves
Every branch of the map ends in something concrete to try. Tick them off as you go. Your ticks are saved in this browser only.