George Lucas walked away from $500,000 to direct Star Wars. In today’s money that is more than $3.5 million, and the executives at 20th Century Fox were delighted. He had asked for $150,000 and two things they considered worthless. They believed they had just fleeced a kid. What they gave away would pay him for almost forty years. Lucas did not ask by accident. A director with a hit can say things a director with a script cannot. American Graffiti had just made money in 1973, and he spent every dollar of that leverage on the one thing nobody was bidding for: the merchandising rights. Even the toy business laughed. Mego, a giant of the day, was offered the Star Wars license in 1976 and passed. Kenner said yes, then hit a wall. By Christmas 1977 the toys did not exist yet, so Kenner sold an IOU. Kids opened a cardboard certificate that promised four figures in the mail. A year later Kenner sold 40 million toys. $100 million in 1978. Another $100 million in 1979. I remember when the desk first heard this story. Half of us called it luck. The other half went quiet. Luck does not ask for the one right nobody wants. Fox kept the movie. Lucas kept everything the movie turned into. In October 2012 he sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion, about half in cash and half in Disney stock. Now apply it to yourself. Most people negotiate the number on the paycheck. Lucas negotiated what the paycheck could never become. When someone offers you a fee, ask what you could own instead. A salary pays for the hours you work. Ownership pays for the hours you sleep. Everyone remembers the toys. Almost nobody remembers the $500,000 left on the table, or the nerve it took to leave it there. I have signed both kinds of deals. One paid for dinner. The other paid for the building. I know which one I would sign again, and you will have to decide which one you are signing.