The other day, I was watching a story about an American who took her family to a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. It was a small place, with only a few seats, which is still common in many parts of Japan. The owner of the establishment, an old man, cooked a series of elaborate courses (all by hand) and explained each of the dishes, along with his personal story to the visiting family through a translation app.

Each course was great.

And, at the end, the old man then crafted a personalized kirigami (paper art made with scissors) for each of the guests.

The woman was so moved by the entire experience that she cried.

What’s pretty clear is that the owner of the restaurant cared about what he did. He took the time to craft not just great food but an experience that brought joy to the family – and a memory that will probably last a lifetime.

For that, he was paid. I don’t know how much. It likely wasn’t that expensive compared to the United States. From the sound of it, the woman and her family got her money’s worth.

Do You Earn Your Money? Or Do You Extract It?

The point of telling that story is that there are a lot of ways to make money.

You can make it by solving a real problem. You can make it by building something useful. You can make it by doing great work, charging a fair price, treating people right, and earning the kind of reputation that brings people back and makes them recommend you to others.

Or you can make it by finding the people with the fewest options and taking a little more from them. Perhaps you do it by working your employees to the bone to maximize their productivity while you continue to scale your income. Maybe you cheapen your product, hiding the hazardous outcomes it causes, because you make a greater profit. Or, finally, maybe you just outright lie and defraud people.

(And yes, we get the fact that the line between earning your money and extracting it from someone else can get blurry very quickly.)

But what we don’t talk about enough in this country is this very question: How did people actually make their money? We only concern ourselves with the fact that they made it.

To be honest, I think much of the reason for the state that we’re in right now is that we don’t delve into this. We hold up billionaires on this pedestal of achievement, but don’t ask the important questions about the way their money was made.

‘Freedom to Do What I Want, When I Want, However I Want’

There’s a very dangerous aspect of capitalism that we don’t pay attention to. This idea that if I run a business, I can do whatever I want. That I have the freedom to sell as I choose. That I should not have to deal with any regulation. That I should keep the maximum and think only about self-interest, not about my employees, my customers, or the broader society.

Obviously, not all business owners are like this. Not every profit is bad. Not every wealthy person is unethical. Not every use of automation, AI, dynamic pricing, tax planning, or data analysis is a scam.

Businesses need to earn a profit.

They need to manage costs. They need to make decisions based on demand, inventory, labor needs, and the real constraints of operating a business.

But there should be meaningful distinctions between running a smart business and running one whose main purpose is to enrich the owners.

I think many of you know this type of leader or business owner:  

• • Paying themselves more while they cut staff, reduce headcount, or grind their employees into the ground
  • Pressuring governments to provide special tax benefits/breaks or threatening to relocate due to not receiving them (especially sports teams, corporate headquarters, etc.)
  • Making a product worse or cutting corners that endangers others, while spending more money persuading people that it is better.
  • Using confusing contracts, artificial scarcity, or fine print that only an attorney would notice.
  • Bribing individuals to provide inside access, pricing, or better circumstances for themselves or their company
  • And now, increasingly, using data to identify who is likely to accept less pay or who can be charged more based on “surge pricing” that doesn’t reflect real demand.

The list can go on and on.

The point is that these types of business arrangements and decisions don’t serve society in the end. They weaken it. In a more sustainable business culture, leaders who conduct themselves as such would not be praised for making all this money, but shamed for trying to take unfair advantage of others.

After all, if someone “makes out like a bandit,” chances are high they probably are one.

AI Can Serve People. Or Size Them Up

One big wrinkle in much of this today is AI. Indeed, we’ve discussed previously this idea of dynamic pricing and AI’s role in pricing in general.

But it goes far beyond that and can involve some situational complexity. 

For sure, AI can help a small or midsize business answer customer questions faster, identify a broken process, reduce repetitive administrative work, improve accessibility, or help employees spend more time on the parts of their jobs that require judgment and care.

That is useful.

But there is another version of AI: the version that sorts people into categories based on how much they can be pressured.

Certainly some regulators (though not that many, to be honest) have raised concerns about “surveillance pricing,” in which detailed customer data can help companies personalize prices or promotions. The inputs can include location, browsing activity, buying patterns, device information, and behavior on a website.

Think about the difference.

A hotel charging more during a major convention because every room in the city is booked is dynamic pricing. You may not like the price, but the logic follows basic economics: demand is high, supply is limited, and the price applies broadly.

A company charging you more because its system believes you are in a hurry, have fewer alternatives, or have shown signs that you are willing to pay more starts to get much more extractive.

The same concern applies to work. When compensation becomes opaque and individualized, workers can lose the ability to understand why they were offered a certain rate, whether their peers received more, or what information the company used to make that decision. Studies of ride-hailing platforms have examined how algorithmic assignment and wage-setting can shape driver earnings and incentives.

AI has also been used, for example, to undercut the offers of individuals who have been known to have a low credit score.

The problem is not simply technology. The problem is power.

When one side has all the data, all the options, and all the ability to set the terms, “choice” can become a very generous word for what is actually happening.

Despite What Billionaires and the Rich Tell You, There Are Costs to Society

The extractive model can look successful in a spreadsheet.

Labor costs go down. Margins rise. Conversion rates improve. Average order value increases.

“Oh, look at all the people my companies employ!” the rich owners exclaim.

But look closely.

Businesses, after all, are part of a community. Yet, many of the big ones (Amazon, Walmart, etc.) simply have been created to wipe out any smaller entities. Amazon has been caught copying popular products from smaller creators, ordering their product development team to mimic the designs and then put out their own version, which the company then promotes more heavily over the original business’ products.

So, every time you buy from Amazon, you’re basically funding its dominance.

That’s just one example in one area.

The problem is the overall extraction mindset. Indeed, when any company or rich owner repeatedly treats money as the main target rather than societal optimization, it creates costs that do not always show up immediately:

• • Employees disengage, leave, or do the bare minimum.
  • Customers become skeptical and less trusting.
  • The environment and overall well-being of people suffer
  • Leaders start confusing cleverness with character.

That last one may be the most dangerous.

A business, after all, can become very good at getting money from people without becoming good at serving them.

A Better Definition of How to Make Money

There is an old-fashioned idea that is worth defending: you should earn your money.

Not in the simplistic sense that everyone who works hard will become wealthy. (The world is not that fair, and many people work incredibly hard for too little pay.)

But in the sense that businesses should be able to explain where their money comes from without hiding behind jargon.

• • Can you point to the value you created?
  • Can you explain your price clearly?
  • Can your customer understand what they are buying, what it costs, and what happens next?
  • Can your employees understand how they are paid, what good performance looks like, and whether they are being treated fairly?
  • Can you look at your marketing and say, “We helped people make a good decision,” rather than, “We got them to click before they had time to think”?

That is not us being naïve. It is a business strategy.

Trust lowers friction. Transparency reduces buyer’s remorse. Fairness helps retain good people. A reputation for doing what you say you will do is still one of the most valuable assets a business can own.

Ethical Growth Is Possible, But It’s Harder

Ethical business is not anti-growth. It is growth with standards.

It means:

• • Charging enough to do excellent work and keep your promises.
  • Being honest about limitations, tradeoffs, and who your product or service is not right for.
  • Paying people fairly and avoiding compensation systems designed to exploit desperation or confusion.
  • Using customer data to improve service, not to locate the precise point at which someone will overpay.
  • Making fees, terms, subscriptions, and cancellation processes easy to understand.
  • Investing in quality, safety, and sustainability instead of quietly cutting corners.
  • Paying what you owe rather than treating legal loopholes as proof of moral virtue.

None of this guarantees instant success. In fact, it may mean saying no to revenue that another company would gladly take.

But the goal should not be to win every transaction.

The goal should be to build a business that can still be proud of how it won.

Make Money With People, Not Off Of Them

At the end of the day, none of us can be saints all the time when it comes to the reality of operating a business. But one thing we strive for at Marketing Nice Guys is to always be straightforward and honest about who we are and what we can do. Our work focuses on “going to the wall for clients.” We don’t always succeed, but clients should always feel like we did everything we could.  

Similarly, we believe good marketing should help businesses grow by making their value clearer, not by manufacturing confusion, pressure, or distrust.

The best marketing does not need to trick people.

It helps the right people understand why your business is worth choosing. It gives them useful information. It makes the next step clear. It delivers what it promises.

That may sound old-fashioned.

Good.

Some old-fashioned ideas are worth keeping: do good work, tell the truth, charge fairly, take care of people, and earn the trust you ask for.