If you have never done that, for sure you have traded time for money. You have traded your time as a teacher, lawyer, pipe fitter, or ditchdigger for someone else's money. So, you are halfway there. you just never knew it!

When we trade our time, we are actually trading our time plus our skills. That is why a brain surgeon gets more per hour than a knee surgeon. That is also why an outstanding quarterback gets more than a tackle and surgeon combined. He has a greater career risk. It is not that one skill is inherently more valuable than the other, it is that one is more difficult to come by and carries higher risk. This characteristic generates more dollars for the person selling his or her time and skills.

There is no intrinsic value to Michael Jordan's dribbling and shooting skills, but the owner of the Chicago Bulls saw an opportunity to make a great deal of money with those seemingly valueless skills by. packing stadiums and getting television revenues. Thus, something of “no value” may have great value.

At a trading seminar, I once demonstrated this point by, placing a personal check of mine in a scaled envelope and then added it to 14 similar envelopes in a clear plastic bag. The attendees each had the opportunity to reach in and draw out an envelope. The person who drew the one with the $5,000 check would be allowed to keep it.

The bag contained 14 worthless envelopes, but suddenly they had value Although all but one were empty, there was a 1 in 15 chance of Winning $5,000; thus each envelope, or opportunity to take out an envelope. Was worth $333.33. Once the participants began taking envelopes out of the bag, those empty, worthless envelopes gained in value. After all, once five empty envelopes were removed, there was now a 1 in 10 chance and the value had risen to $500. When just two envelopes were left in the bag, people in the audience were willing to pay $2,500 to dip their hand in and pull out an envelope! Suddenly, what was worthless had great value!