Money keeps evolving. From shells, to beans, to metals, to paper, to digits on bank computers, the innovative token that makes humanity move keeps changing over time. Money is a human invention to facilitate trade and survival. No man is an island, and without trading with others humans cannot survive and thrive. To earn money you have to exchange something of value (e.g. time, talent, or a trade) in exchange for money. Money can be seen as a conditional permit or authorization that allows you to engage in certain economic activities or transactions. To make more money, focus on the needs of the market and your economic value proposition.
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Your value proposition is what your customers gain from buying your product or service. Slap readers, for example, receive free spicy food for thought. Slap is currently provided free of charge so it is not a profitable venture yet and does not make any money. In the future, once the service aggregates a considerable audience, Slap will offer premium information for sale, advertising space for rent, and affiliate sale promotions under commission. That is the standard business model for most wannabe digital publications these days.
For you to make money, others have to see value in whatever it is that you offer. Making money begins (and ends) with offering something valuable for sale or trade. You must be willing to trade something in exchange for money. At least one customer besides you needs to see that there is something to be gained from consuming what you offer.
Money as a permit or authorization
Having money allows you to participate in certain economic activities. In that sense, money operates as a permit or authorization to trade. Having money allows you to buy products and services in the marketplace.
This "permit" aspect of money is what makes it valuable. For money to be valuable, others have to believe in it and be willing (or be legally compelled) to accept it as a valid form of payment. If a token or representation of value is not accepted universally as a valid form of payment at a specified valuation in a place or jurisdiction, it is just a token and not money. Conversely, if the tokens or representations whatever they may be (beans, metals, coins, paper, financially backed computer digits) are universally accepted as a valid form of payment at a specified valuation in the jurisdiction, then they are money.
Fiat money
Nowadays, the national or government "central" banks issue the legal money in their countries or jurisdictions. This is "fiat" money or legal "fake" if you will. This fiat money does not have an intrinsic value or anything of tangible value backing it up other than the word of the government issuing it, and the faith that markets may have on those governments.
Long gone are the days when money had intrinsic value or a tangible trade backing it up such as gold, silver, shells, beans, etc. Fiat money does not have any tangible backing, and is not even tangible anymore. Modern money is mostly a set of digits accounted for in bank computers as authorized and licensed by the government.
Paper money and coinage ("cash") still exists, but is a very small fraction of the total money in the economy. Most of the money (90% or more) is in digital form accounted by banks, which are businesses licensed or authorized by the relevant government to create and manage money in exchange of interest and fees.
Banks create money out of nowhere.
When you make a loan to buy a house, the bank does not go out to find cash to give you in bags. Instead, the bank generates a note that is checked against your account (i.e. a check). Puff. Just like that, the bank has created more money that is added to the supply as a debit (negative charge) against your account and a credit (positive charge) in the seller's bank account. Banks account for all these debits and credits and are compensated in fees and interest for performing those financial or money handling services.
Banks create money based on your ability to pay it back and the economic value of the security (called collateral) that you pledge to back up your promise to pay. That is, you receive the permit or authorization (money) based on your payback capacity and credibility (i.e. credit worthiness), which is based on economic valuation of your collateral and credit worthiness.
Economic value is the key
All the confusing and convoluted explanation above circles around the concept of economic value. As stated above, one of the principal functions of money is to serve as a standard unit of economic valuation in a place or jurisdiction. Every trade is valued using the numeric monetary standard in the jurisdiction. Something is valued at 10 units; something else may be valued at 20; 30; 100; 2,000; and so on and on.
Money allows humans to agree on the economic value of goods (products and services) in a particular economy. Different economies value or price things differently based on economic principles (e.g. supply and demand) and the applicable laws in the jurisdiction. For example, medical services are priced differently in the United States than in Cuba. In that case the difference is not solely about economic principles such as supply and demand, but is rather mostly based on the different laws and regulations in the two countries.
To make money and to "be in the money" as we say, focus on your value proposition. What is the value of whatever it is that you are offering in the market? How can you decrease your production costs and increase your economic value proposition? If you figure that out, you will be in the path to making more money. Think about. Read it again.
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