Paolo, could you explain more clearly what you mean when you say, "people need to stop selling hours"?

When I say “people need to stop selling hours,” what I’m really talking about is breaking free from the outdated mindset that your value is tied to how much time you spend on something. It’s the whole idea that you’re only worth the number of hours you clock in, like you’re a machine cranking out productivity for a set period of time. That’s an old model, and it’s a trap. It locks you into a transactional way of thinking, where you’re exchanging your most precious resource—time—for a paycheck, and nothing more.

Let me explain why this is a problem. When you sell hours, you’re putting a limit on your value. You’re saying, “This is what my time is worth, and that’s it.” But the truth is, your value isn’t in the hours you spend on something—it’s in the impact you create, the results you deliver, the creativity and insight you bring to the table. People need to shift from selling time to selling expertise, solutions, and outcomes. When you do that, you’re no longer bound by the ticking clock. You’re paid for the value you create, not the minutes or hours you log.

Think about freelancers or gig workers who get stuck in this loop. They’re often paid by the hour, and the more hours they work, the more money they make. But there’s a ceiling to that. You only have so many hours in a day. You’re capped. And worse, it incentivizes the wrong things—people end up stretching out tasks or working inefficiently just to rack up hours. It kills innovation, it kills creativity, because you’re focusing on time spent rather than the value you’re delivering.

Now imagine the alternative: instead of selling hours, you sell solutions. You’re hired because of what you know, what you can solve, and how you can create real impact. The time it takes to get there becomes irrelevant. Whether you solve the problem in an hour or a week, it doesn’t matter—what matters is that you delivered. And when you start thinking this way, you free yourself from the constraints of time-based work. You can start commanding prices that reflect the true value of your work, not just the hours you log.

Selling hours is a relic of the industrial age, where people were paid for their physical labor, for being in one place for a certain number of hours. But we’re in a different world now. It’s a world of ideas, innovation, and digital economies where value isn’t tied to time—it’s tied to creativity, insight, and solutions. If you’re still selling hours, you’re playing the old game. And worse, you’re limiting yourself to the clock, when your potential is so much greater than that.

For me, this shift is about empowerment. It’s about understanding that your worth isn’t in how much time you spend at your desk or how many hours you bill a client. It’s in the impact you create, the problems you solve, and the unique perspective you bring. That’s where your value lies, and that’s what you should be selling.

So when I say “stop selling hours,” what I’m really saying is: know your worth beyond time. Start selling what makes you irreplaceable—your skills, your insights, your ability to create something no one else can. That’s how you break free from the constraints of the clock and start building real, sustainable value for yourself and your work.