All employed people are doing either one of two things that is selling time or creating intellectual property. Selling time are jobs that bill by the hour, day, week or month. These jobs are dependent on clients who have problems coming to you (consultant) for solutions. After you solve the problem for the client, you have to wait for another problem or you better start multi-tasking and handling many clients at once to continue receiving an income. Don’t get me wrong; this is also a form of intellectual property but read further to understand better.
Creating intellectual property is by far the best form of and easiest form of income. Consider this, on this side of the scale, you are actually creating a product or service that rakes in millions and if you have any business problems you hire time-sellers (consultants). Before the consultants get angry, I understand that you are also giving your intellectual capabilities in exchange for cash, but your business is dependent on your clients having difficulties in the market. Your clients generate income from products they create, own and sell. The business of a consultant is time-based and lacks the creation of a tangible product or service. Let’s use advertising agencies for example. Client (Bank) will enlist the services of Ad agency. Ad agencies negotiate retainers based on the skills they have and the time they are expected to spend on a campaign or consulting work. A bank has hundreds of products from loans to insurance that will always generate money. The bank has created a business that has a product range to sort all kinds of people; both rich and poor. The Ad agency on the other hand has skills/products that service to help the same bank gain bigger market share or change perception so that bigger market share is attained in insurance or loans via marketing. The Ad agency is therefore an enabler not a creator. The bank is a creator; a creator of products. The Ad agency provides a skill that enables the bank to grow its products. The point of this article is for business to diversify. Consultants need to create business or intellectual property that generates income by itself for it. Time-sellers/consultants depend on big business whereas big business services the greater public.