This certainly seems to sum up the attitude of a lot of entrepreneurs -- and seems to describe the "common sense" reality of their endeavours. Do you think that this describes your reality?

This is a contested statement. Certainly some governments and NGOs would say the exact opposite!

remember this when we deal with the latter weeks that highlight themes of self-actualization, well-being, and wellness. Are we ever content with what we have? What does it mean to be constantly striving for more? Does entrepreneurship encourage only this (or anything approximating a sense of "balance" also...)?

Even with all of the criticisms he's outlined, Szeman ends on a conditional but hopeful note. This reminds me of a song lyric:

Leonard Cohen sang "Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in."

Which leads me to my final note...

This strikes me as really important for my vision of the course. Part of what we're going to be examining this term is how this idea of "the entrepreneurial self" is constituted. A passion project or a side-hustle isn't the only thing an entrepreneurial person is building (or working on). They're also constructing themselves...

Remember at the beginning of the article (when Szeman says "we are all entrepreneurs now") (p. 472)? He doesn't mean that we are all creating business start-ups. Rather, he's suggesting that there is a spirit-of-the-times wherein entrepreneurship has become this new common-sense reality. It is both a dominant way of thinking about how we ought to act, AND an informal rulebook for how economies (and other forms of practice) ought to function too... In other words, entrepreneurship isn't just about undertaking profit-making (and risk-inducing) economic practices in capitalism. Rather, it's about undertaking a new subjectivity, a new identity when it comes to how we think of ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we respond to our wider social, cultural, political, and economic environment.

remember this term (neoliberal) for two weeks hence!

remember this rhetorical nod to "flourishing" (which we'll revisit in earnest in the 2nd or 3rd last week of the semester...)

I love this comment. It links brilliantly to next week's content...

definitely stay tuned in week 3 (when we talk about the "auto-preneur") as the success vs. hardship struggle becomes paramount. Also, passion projects are the very root of "unconventional" entrepreneurs (perhaps even more so than "conventional" ones...)

This is the "modus operandi" for the whole course! What does this mean (for you)?

Gary Vee is a fine example! You've also linked perfectly to next week (as we idolize such figures, making them into heroes of either capitalist achievement or pinnacles of success in other fields (like sports -- some of which aren't necessarily roads to financial success, like a lot of Olympic pursuits...).

To quote a silly Netflix series about baking escapades, you "nailed it"

Hello from Brock University

Tada!

Great Zeus!