A wealthy French women goes into a cafe where Pablo Picasso is present. She asks him to draw a portrait of her on a napkins and she will pay all that is needed. Five minutes later the portrait is created and Picasso charges 5,000 Franks. “How can it be so much for five minutes work?” she asks. “It didn’t take five minutes, it took a lifetime” Picasco replies.

This difference in opinion brings up the Marxist point: has the wealthy French women paid for Picasso time or his skill? The latter is empowering, the former is enslaving.

Time is the only resource nobody can control, no one can gain more and no one knows how much they have. If we pay solely on time then the question is simple: the more one works, the more money they will receive. A fair life but it’s quite frightening – life only dictated by time working. No one can excel in such circumstances.

So how do successful business owners get around this? They buy time. They employee people which gives them the time to develop their business. This a frightening thought for the employees. I guess tell the employees it’s the skills!

In ones working lifetime ones skills are due to an investment, an investment of the golden resource – time. This means the more time you invest in your skills the more valuable your time becomes. So how do you spend your time: investing for money(through working) or investing for skills(through researching)? The decision is easy for the employed – they are paid for training. The decision is difficult for the self employed.

When time has run out which one does everyone wish for – more money or more time? A fine balance. Which do you want to wish for?