One of the most fundamental differences between microbusiness owners and everybody else in the business world is our view of the end game.

While a lot of people say that the point of starting a business is to make money, that's only part of it. The underlying point is to "create wealth."

That's why there's so much focus in small business training circles on growing the business.

It's not really about making more money than you could ever possibly use or need. It's about creating a valuable asset that adds mightily to your net worth and to the overall U.S. economic pie otherwise known as the gross domestic product.

And that is precisely why economists and policy makers tend to be dismissive of microbusinesses.

Of course, microbusinesses do have value that can be measured in dollars and cents. And even the low revenue outfits among them contribute to GDP, even if that contribution is minuscule.

But, in many ways, microbusinesses have less to do with economic issues than they have to do with social issues. They are built to create a life rather than merely creating an asset. And their existence is often more about now than later.

That is the Great Microbusiness Crime against the economy, the reason why we are shunned, dismissed and ignored.

Because we value our lives above our wealth.

That's a false dichotomy, of course. It's not a question of choosing one or the other; those two things are not mutually exclusive.

It's just that a lot of people — perhaps most of them — would argue that one (wealth) permits you to greatly improve the other (life). And, to a certain extent, that is true.

But only to a certain extent.

And the fact that we, as a society, still have not learned that money is not necessarily the answer to all questions tell you something, too, doesn't it?