Hey, fellow entrepreneurs – brace yourself for a potentially uncomfortable question. Have you ever stopped to consider if the whole concept of ‘hustle culture,’ where you grind 24/7 and sacrifice everything for success, is not far off from the deceptive promise of a pyramid scheme?

Think about it. Pyramid schemes thrive on the idea that if you just work hard enough and recruit sufficiently, you’ll reach the pinnacle of financial independence and luxury. Sounds familiar? The hustle culture narratives often parrot this same tune: Work around the clock, say goodbye to your social life, and you’ll be rewarded with entrepreneurial nirvana.

But here’s the controversial bit: Isn’t this promise equally misleading? We celebrate the few who make it, plastering their faces on Forbes and glorifying their bank accounts, but ignore the silent majority suffering from burnout, broken relationships, and spiraling mental health. The narrative dangerously implies that those who fail just ‘didn’t hustle hard enough.’

Are we simply perpetuating a toxic cycle that’s as risky and destructive as the schemes we publicly condemn?

Let’s have an honest conversation. Are we unfairly romanticizing overworking, or is this ‘extreme work ethic’ a necessary step on the ladder to success? Where do we draw the line, and how do we build sustainable, healthy entrepreneurial ventures without falling into this trap?

Ready for the heat

  • glenlassan@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    This is r/entreprenur, not r/hustle. So I’ll just say it. Hustle culture is the worst thing that ever happened to the entrepreneur landscape. This subreddit is filled with wantrapreneurs, and investors who think asking “how to turn $1000 into $10,000 is entrepreneurship.” While investing and grinding can (and often does) overlap with starting a new venture, the key defining feature that separates an entrepreneur, from an investor, and from some hustle culture bro with a side gig, is that being an entrepeneur is about HOW you make a living, NOT how much you make. I’ll say that again, but with even more annoying emphasis.

    Being an entrepreneur is about how you make a living, not how much you make.

    As such, anyone who is in the “hustle and grind till I’m rich” mindset, is at best an entrepreneur with a toxic attitude, and at worst, is a gig worker deluding themselves into thinking that drop shipping on amazon makes them an “entrepreneur”.

    Like my dude. Drop shipping on amazon makes you a goddamn salesperson, with a really shitty relationship to your boss, no commission %, and no actual guarantee of profit, even if you make sales.

    Do not confuse the bullshit sold by “get rich quick gurus” with entrepreneurship.

    Entrepreneurs, as a class, are all about changing the world, or offering a product that reflects their personality or values. The two-bit hack creative selling goth jewelry in a podunk redneck farmers market? That’s an entrepreneur. The guy doing a tech startup who thinks he can give the little guy a better shake and get some sweet sweet revenge on big pharma? That’s an entrepreneur.

    The guy who just wants to turn his spare time, or spare cash into more money? Not an entrepreneur. We call people who turn spare time into extra cash gig economy workers, and we call people who turn spare money into more money by investing in other people’s businesses investors. If you are here, because some fast talking guru sold you on a seminar on how you too, can be fabulously rich if only you grind enough, (and buy his books, and subscribe to his podcast) then you might in fact be in the wrong subreddit. Because hustle culture, is not entrepreneurship. Period. End of story.