Everyone is an Entrepreneur
Using our nimbleness to put care back into our culture
Today is Juneteenth—a day to honor Black freedom, resilience, and the ongoing fight for liberation. As a white person, I’m working today not to center myself, but to hold space for others to take the day and reflect on the generations of Black and Brown people whose labor, ingenuity, and culture built this country, often without justice, recognition, or choice.
In many ways, they are the original entrepreneurs of the United States—forced to create livelihoods, communities, and futures in the face of exclusion, violence, and systemic oppression. As we delve into the entrepreneurial spirit in this deep dive, I would like to begin by commemorating the legacy and the many contributions made by those who, having no other option, built from the margins with courage, creativity, and care.
Lately, a lot feels uncertain. Rights are being stripped, budgets are being slashed, and safety nets are being further dismantled. Each headline seems to whisper the same thing: you’re on your own. In this climate, capitalism doesn't just fall short—it makes self-reliance a requirement.
That pressure starts early.
In Chapter 6, Everyone Is an Entrepreneur, I explore how capitalism has transformed survival into an individual responsibility, not by choice, but by design. When the systems meant to support collective well-being—like education, healthcare, housing, and even paid rest—become inaccessible or unreliable, we’re forced to navigate them alone. We become entrepreneurs, not to launch companies, but to piece together a life.
This isn’t just theory. I saw it up close.
In high school and college, my peers weren’t just studying. They were filling out FAFSA forms like side hustles, applying to sketchy scholarships, and working long shifts to afford tuition and books. Later, I watched those same classmates ration prescriptions or skip doctors’ visits—not based on medical need, but on what their job schedule or insurance would allow. The message was clear: stay scrappy, stay afloat, and don’t expect help.
This isn’t the exception—it’s become the norm.
What Is an Entrepreneur, Really?
We’re often told that entrepreneurs are bold, visionary founders—tech bros with pitch decks and whiteboards who grind their way to unicorn success. However, in reality, capitalism has encouraged everyone to act like an entrepreneur, even if they’ve never launched a startup.
If you’ve ever…
Pieced together healthcare or childcare on your own
Worked side gigs to pay for school or survival
Marketed yourself to employers or followers
Made choices based on insurance, burnout, or instability
…then congratulations—you’ve been entrepreneurial, whether or not you wanted to be.
We’re living in a system that has turned resilience into a requirement and resourcefulness into a baseline skill. But that doesn’t mean the only option is to burn out or completely opt out.
The Workplace Hustle
In many of the organizations I’ve worked in or advised, I’ve seen employees expected to “own” their work with little structural support—praised for being scrappy and agile while navigating layoffs, overwork, and unclear expectations. They’re told to lead without a title, to innovate without compensation, and to absorb emotional labor without recognition.
Sometimes that scrappiness leads to mobility, but often at the cost of others who helped along the way. The result? A winner-takes-all culture where success is isolated, not shared. And where entrepreneurship is idolized for a few, while the rest are exhausted.
Reclaiming the Entrepreneurial Mindset
I’m not against entrepreneurship—I identify as one, even if I don’t fit the stereotype. I like building from within and co-creating more than going it alone. But the point isn’t who gets to call themselves an entrepreneur. The point is: we all already are, because capitalism has forced us into it.
Still, there’s something powerful in that recognition.
When we take the parts of the entrepreneurial mindset that serve us—creative problem-solving, critical thinking, a refusal to do “business as usual”—and apply them to building care, not just capital, we unlock something bigger.
Being entrepreneurial can mean:
Designing systems of mutual aid
Creating art or spaces that support healing
Leading with values, not valuations
Resisting extractive leadership in your workplace
The heart of this chapter is about understanding how internalized capitalism has turned entrepreneurship into a survival strategy—and how we might reclaim it as a tool for collective transformation.
Reflection Time
If capitalism has turned survival into a solo sport, how might we rewrite the rules—together?
Here are a few questions to consider:
When did you first feel like you had to fend for yourself—financially, professionally, or emotionally? What was this feeling?
Have you ever felt pressure to be “entrepreneurial” to meet basic needs?
Which parts of the entrepreneurial mindset nourish you? Which parts feel extractive or unsustainable?
How might you apply your creativity to build care, not just capital, for yourself and your community?
Who around you models a form of entrepreneurship that centers values over valuation?
Take a moment to reflect. Talk it through with someone. Journal. Remember: reflection is resistance.
Why This Matters
Despite what the headlines scream, we’re not powerless. Yes, the systems around us are shaky—and yes, capitalism was never built with our well-being in mind. But that doesn’t mean we’re without options.
We still have our creativity.
We still have our communities.
We still can choose values over valuation, even when it feels like everything pushes us in the opposite direction.
The entrepreneurial spirit is already in us—not as a hustle, but as a practice of imagination, collaboration, and care. When we reclaim it on our terms, we begin to build the kind of futures we want to live in.
Scrappily (and stubbornly) yours,
The Restorative Rebel