100% of Nothing

What would it be worth to you to receive a steady stream of new customers with little or no effort on your part? Would you be willing to pay 10% of the revenue they generate? 20%? 50%? Or do you believe that you can't afford to pay anything?

During a recent discussion, I was surprised that people said they could not afford to 'give up' 20% in commissions to reach new customers. If you have more work than you can handle, that makes sense. However, most of the people who take this position do so because they think it is 'not fair' that someone else get a percentage of the money they believe is theirs. My question is: Would you rather have 100% of nothing, or a smaller percentage of something?

I have taught courses at several places where my compensation was a revenue share. Typically, I received 50% or less