For what it's worth, I use "makes money" for creating value†, and "creates value" for the common sense.
For those interested in the topic, I've found the Lean Manufacturing literature helpful. They're usefully obsessed with creating customer value, meaning doing or making something valuable for their customer. Which has some of the problems you mentioned, in that traditional commerce mainly serves people in proportion to the money they have. But you can pretty easily extend the Lean approach to value to non-commercial situations.
For those interested in the topic, I've found the Lean Manufacturing literature helpful. They're usefully obsessed with creating customer value, meaning doing or making something valuable for their customer. Which has some of the problems you mentioned, in that traditional commerce mainly serves people in proportion to the money they have. But you can pretty easily extend the Lean approach to value to non-commercial situations.