I think the giant difference - apart from selling stuff (I really like Hugh's summary of that) - is how you get paid.
A friend of mine is a school teacher. She can turn up in the morning and do an outstanding job, inspiring the children and transforming their lives, and her salary gets paid into her bank account. Or she could turn up unprepared and teach the children nothing at all, and the same salary would still be paid in.
If I do a brilliant job (at both creating value and selling it) I make more money. If I do a bad job, I make no money. Feedback is instant and total, with no insulating layer. It'd be an over-simplification to say that the value I create in the world is revealed in my bank statement each month, but not completely untrue, either.
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