Carried Interest on Operating Income?

I work at a family office making direct investments in small businesses. As we're managing wealth for a family only looking to compound wealth over generations, there's no incentive to sell the businesses we buy.

I was speaking to a laywer who said instead of compensating ourself with salary we could do it with carried interest tied to operating income (obvious tax incentives). I've only understood carry to be realized on sale of the investments and can't find any literature of carry being tied to operating income.

Has anyone experienced carry being tied to operating income and not sales?

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