Part II... Value Prints Money

Most people believe money comes from jobs, investors, banks, or governments.

I disagree.

Governments print currency.

Value prints money.

The distinction matters.

Currency is simply a medium of exchange. Wealth is something entirely different. Wealth is created whenever a human being discovers a better way to solve a problem, meet a need, remove a frustration, or improve an experience.

Every business that has ever existed began as an idea.

But ideas alone are nearly worthless.

The world is littered with brilliant ideas that never left a notebook or the back of a napkin, never left a garage, never left a conversation, and never changed a single life.

What separates the idea that dies from the idea that creates wealth?

Commitment.

Not interest.

Not intention.

Not desire.

Commitment.

The kind of commitment William Hutchison Murray described when he wrote, "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectivness..."

The kind of commitment that continues after enthusiasm fades.

The kind that survives rejection.

The kind that persists when the market says "not yet."

Investors understand this.

When they invest in a company, they are not merely evaluating an idea. They are evaluating the resolve of the people behind it. They want evidence that the founder possesses the determination necessary to transform possibility into reality.

Customers understand this too, even if they cannot articulate it. Every dollar a customer spends is an act of trust.

They are trusting that someone has worked long enough, cared deeply enough, and refined the solution enough to deserve their hard-earned money.

That trust is earned through commitment. A dogged determination to follow through inspite of what other people say, think, or do. Inspite of opposition.

An idea is a seed.

Commitment grows the tree.

Value is the fruit.

Money is the harvest.

And the marketplace rewards the harvest in exact proportion to the value it creates for others.

That is why I have always believed that money grows on trees.

Not literal trees. The trees of human imagination, discipline, persistence, and service.

Plant an idea. Commit to it fully. Nurture it relentlessly.

Create value for enough people and eventually the marketplace will do what it has always done...

It will send the harvest back to you.

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Namaste 🙏🏾

Mark Johnson

June 14, 2016

New Orleans