“Rugged individualism” is the very language we speak in America. It shapes the way we approach work, family, and society. And rugged individualism has a direct impact on the decisions we make about our businesses and careers. In this short Extra Context bonus, I unpack where rugged individualism comes from and highlight a different way forward.
When was the last time you felt like an outsider in a group? For all I know, it could have been today. Or maybe it was last week. Or last month. Being an outsider doesn’t have to be a bad experience. Sometimes, it can be quite fun! But other times, you start to get...
Let me guess: you're feeling a bit stretched, fried, or tired? You had high hopes after your last reset. You took time away from the pile of projects, tactics, and commitments—only to fall back into the same trap when you got back to work. Why does this happen again...
Photo by Ferenc Horvath on Unsplash Sometimes it feels like I just can't slow down. I rush all day while I work—and then I rush to fit in a walk, make dinner, fold the laundry, run to the store. My internal pace is frenetic—but so is my external pace. I'm speeding...
What happens when time really is money? Not just that we’re trading hours for dollars, but when we start to see each minute of the day as an asset that could be sold to the highest bidder. In May 2021, a new app, called NewNew, dreamed up by entrepreneur Courtne...
I’ve been talking about the “new economy” since about 2010. But more and more, I recognize that the economic possibilities created through the internet aren’t nearly as new or innovative as I’d first thought (and hoped). It seems that the old economy is just making itself over as the not-so-new economy. In this episode, I explore 3 processes of the old economy—speculation, financialization, and liquidation—to pinpoint how they’re showing up in our digital world of independent work.
I weave together the housing market, creator economy, Great Recession, and crypto promises to help you situate yourself in this strange, not-so-new world. At times, it’s a bleak story—but ultimately, understanding where we’re at gives us a better opportunity to make different, more humane choices.
My mom was a seamstress while I was growing up. She started working at her sewing machine in the wee hours of the morning, paused to help my brother and me get ready for school, and then welcomed a steady stream of customers into the house for fittings and pickups....
Emotional labor is an under-appreciated, under-compensated type of work. But it’s essential for navigating the 21st-century economy. Entrepreneurship almost always brings with it a need for managing our emotions to lead and care for others. And this expectation is only doubled when the entrepreneur is a woman or marginalized person. What’s more, the type of marketing that many of us are told to do today is thick with emotional labor: showing up with confidence, using your personality as leverage, banking on your sense of self. It’s no wonder so many business owners are burning out. In this episode, I tackle: What is emotional labor? And how does it impact our work as entrepreneurs?
Do you remember the internet before influencers? Before teenagers were regularly becoming millionaires on YouTube or TikTok? Before billions of us started sharing our lives online? The opening bit of Iliza Schlessinger's Elder Millennial special on Netflix always...
What is the creator economy? And why are so many creators… miserable? Mighty Networks founder Gina Bianchini was the first person I knew talking about the creating economy. She’s passionate about helping entrepreneurs, organizers, and creators see why building independently beats trying to amass huge audiences on the usual platforms. In this episode, we talk about what the creator economy is, how the game is rigged, what’s making creators miserable, and how she sees a different way forward. Plus, we’ll discuss research from the massive independent study that Mighty Networks commissioned.
Host of What Works
Tara is a podcaster, small business community leader, strategist, and speaker. She’s been helping small business owners build stronger businesses for over a decade.