Four Ways to Earn Money: From Employee to Capitalist

What really resonated with me the most

was when this guy who was seriously gaming

asked me, “So how much money

do you actually want to make?”

At the time I was super young,

around eighteen,

and I just blurted out, “Like a million yen!”

“I’d like about a million yen a month!”

That’s what I said.

From my perspective back then,

a million yen a month was a totally unreal world.

And the next thing he told me

really hit me hard

and stuck deep with me.

He said that when it comes to work,

there are four ways to earn money.

That is the kind of story he told me.

So first, number one is this:

earning money as a worker.

That’s how most people earn, right?

As workers.

Back then, I was a worker too.

This means you trade your own time for money,

basically a job where you work for an hourly wage.

That is how he explained it.

That was the first category.

So, a job where you earn 800 yen an hour,

900 yen an hour, trading time for money.

That is what he told me!

And then, the next one!

Self-employed!

Sole proprietor!

That is the second one!

This is also a job where you trade time for money!

But with this one, the more you work,

the more it comes back to you.

That is how he explained it to me back then!

In short, there is no limit!

If you are a worker, your company has rules

and a set pay structure, so there is a limit!

No matter how hard you work, there is a ceiling!

But being self-employed has no limit!

The more you sell, the more you sell,

the more you do, the more you do,

the more returns you get, that was the idea he told me!

And then, the third one!

The third one is being a business owner!

You turn people into money, so to speak!

You hire people and turn their work into money,

that is one way of doing it!

And then, the last one, the fourth!

Capitalist!

When he asked what that means,

it is turning money into more money!

That was the kind of thing he talked about!

And what he told me at that time was…

“So he said, you used to be a regular worker, right?”

“If you want to earn one million yen as a worker,

try thinking about what hourly wage you’d need.”

That is what he told me.

“So, one million yen a month, right?

Let’s say you work eight hours a day.

And you work with no days off, thirty days a month, right?

That is two hundred forty hours of work, right?

For one million yen, you would need about five thousand yen an hour.

Or like four thousand yen an hour.

That is already impossible, you know.”

And what he said then was, “That is absolutely impossible, right?”

“So what you are doing

is like watching pro baseball players

while playing soccer, it is the same thing.”

“It is never going to happen in your whole life,” is what he told me.

“With this method, it is never going to happen in your life.”

“With the way you are doing things, no matter what happens,

you will never reach one million yen in your lifetime.”

That is the way he put it to me.

And, well, that is just obvious.

Especially when I hear it now.

It is just common sense.

But back then, to me, that really,

it really hit me hard, and I thought, “I see.”

“Oh, so that is how it is.”

“I was doing something that had no possibility of working.”