Create value
Encourage people to build businesses, contribute skills, and meet real needs.
FROM PRINCIPLE TO PRACTICE
Let success create
the next opportunity.
A way to think about economic life: the value we create can help more people take part.
Share the benefit
Recognize the work, investment, and cooperation behind success.
Reinvest in possibility
Put a share of prosperity toward education, shared resources, and new enterprise.
Grow opportunity
Give more people a foundation from which to create, contribute, and thrive.
REINVESTMENT CREATES THE NEXT OPPORTUNITY
The rule is clear: define obligations, reserves, and sharing terms before distributing success. Choose the details through informed agreement, representative participation, and evidence of what works.
ONE BUSINESS · TWO POSSIBLE YEARS
Put the principle
into numbers.
Imagine a workshop with ten employees. Before the year begins, owners and worker representatives agree on pay, a reserve policy, and how any available surplus will be shared.
Illustrative cash budget in US dollars. These are two independent scenarios, each starting with a $100,000 operating reserve. The amounts and percentages are examples, not a universal formula or a forecast.
| Annual cash budget | Profitable year | Difficult year |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue collected | $1,000,000 | $780,000 |
| Pay and employer payroll costs | $520,000 | $520,000 |
| Other operating needs and tax provision | $280,000 | $280,000 |
| Cash surplus / shortfall | $200,000 | −$20,000 |
| Added to the operating reserve | $50,000 | $0 |
| Available to allocate | $150,000 | $0 |
| Worker reward pool · 40% | $60,000 | $0 |
| Owner return · 40% | $60,000 | $0 |
| Opportunity fund · 20% | $30,000 | $0 |
| Reserve used to cover the shortfall | $0 | $20,000 |
| Closing operating reserve | $150,000 | $80,000 |
Profitable year
Starting operating reserve: $100,000
- Revenue collected
- $1,000,000
- Pay and employer payroll costs
- $520,000
- Other operating needs and tax provision
- $280,000
- Cash surplus / shortfall
- $200,000
- Added to the operating reserve
- $50,000
- Available to allocate
- $150,000
- Worker reward pool · 40%
- $60,000
- Owner return · 40%
- $60,000
- Opportunity fund · 20%
- $30,000
- Reserve used to cover the shortfall
- $0
- Closing operating reserve
- $150,000
Difficult year
Starting operating reserve: $100,000
- Revenue collected
- $780,000
- Pay and employer payroll costs
- $520,000
- Other operating needs and tax provision
- $280,000
- Cash surplus / shortfall
- −$20,000
- Added to the operating reserve
- $0
- Available to allocate
- $0
- Worker reward pool · 40%
- $0
- Owner return · 40%
- $0
- Opportunity fund · 20%
- $0
- Reserve used to cover the shortfall
- $20,000
- Closing operating reserve
- $80,000
When the year goes well
The $200,000 surplus funds a $50,000 reserve contribution first. The remaining $150,000 is split 40% to workers, 40% to owners, and 20% to an opportunity fund. If all ten employees worked equal eligible hours, the worker pool would provide $6,000 each before individual taxes, in addition to their regular pay.
When the year falls short
Operating needs stay at $800,000 in this simplified scenario. The $20,000 shortfall is covered from the opening reserve. Earned pay is funded; there is no reward pool, owner distribution, or new opportunity-fund allocation. The reserve ends at $80,000. Repeated shortfalls would require a new operating plan.
The agreement behind the numbers
- Workers elect representatives to negotiate the formula and inspect the calculation.
- The reserve contribution is tied to an agreed risk budget. It cannot be inflated without explanation to erase the reward pool.
- In this example, worker rewards follow eligible hours. Other formulas require clear terms agreed before the period begins.
- The opportunity fund supports paid training and access to shared tools. Its decisions, conflicts, and spending are published.
- Any ownership stake or voting right requires a separate, explicit agreement.
Assumptions: all revenue is collected in the year, all listed costs are paid, and there are no separate debt-principal payments, capital purchases, or working-capital changes. Payroll costs include employer contributions. Other needs include an illustrative provision for enterprise taxes. Owner and worker distributions are before their individual taxes. This explains allocation choices; it is not a set of financial statements.
POSSIBILITIES IN PRACTICE
What could this
look like?
Three hypothetical examples. Each illustrates a choice, a benefit, and a tradeoff.
01 / SHARING SUCCESS
A business grows.
Its workers share in it.
A small manufacturer sets aside an agreed portion of annual profit for its team after meeting operating needs and a defined reserve. The formula is published before the year begins.
What it could make possible
Employees participate in the success their work helps create, while the business retains resources to keep operating and invest.
How we would handle it
Set the reserve from operating risks and a published budget, then agree on the remaining profit split with worker representation before the period begins. Base rewards on a transparent formula recognizing contribution. Pay for work stands on its own; a year without profit has no profit pool to share.
02 / WIDENING OWNERSHIP
Investment opens
a path to a stake.
A retiring owner explores a gradual sale of part of the business to employees. Clear terms explain the price, payment schedule, voting rights, and risks before anyone chooses to participate.
What it could make possible
People gain a route to ownership that might otherwise be out of reach. The founder receives value for what they built.
How we would handle it
Keep participation optional, use an independently supported valuation, and offer a payment plan that does not depend on unaffordable personal borrowing. Explain concentration risk. A written exit agreement sets the valuation method, eligible buyers, and payment schedule before anyone buys in.
03 / THE NEXT GENERATION
Today's prosperity
funds tomorrow's start.
A group of businesses commits an agreed share of profits to a fund for paid apprenticeships and shared workshop space. Participants publish its budget and explain how projects are selected.
What it could make possible
More people can learn a skill, test an idea, and begin creating value of their own.
How we would handle it
Use published eligibility and selection criteria, with beneficiary representation on the decision-making committee. Disclose conflicts, require conflicted members to step aside, and provide independent appeals. Budget from committed resources, maintain a reserve, and reduce new commitments transparently when contributions fall.
These are illustrations, not existing programs or promised results. No single ownership structure or sharing formula defines the whole philosophy.
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