# Sweat equity

Ownership earned by putting in work instead of money at closing.

It is the phrase most often used to describe what a [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) contributes, and it is the one an SBA lender cares least about: the program wants a cash injection, and hours worked are not cash. Where it is real is between partners, where one puts in money and the other puts in the years. There the honest version is a written [vesting schedule](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/vesting-schedule), not a handshake about who deserves what later.

In numbers: A partner earning 20% over four years of full-time work is receiving about $200,000 a year of value in a business bought for $4M, which is a salary decision as much as an ownership one.

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sweat-equity
Not dated: A definition is editorial: what a term means, why it matters, and an example. None of it reads a source that can go stale, so there is no date to take and a stamped one would be the build time wearing a costume.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt