Businesses earn by building and maintaining ecosystems.

First, you provide a product that meets the demands of society at that time. Second, you ensure that your patrons can make a profit. Finally, you ensure that your shopkeepers and employees—those who follow you—can also benefit.

By barely maintaining a fragile balance among these three, you become a wealthy merchant during this period.

For a family to sustain itself above the danger line over the long term, what’s tested is not your ability to make money, but your ability to manage a household.

Those who live well may not live long, and those who live long may not live well.