See All

THE AMERICAN DREAM

In my first-ever college class, my professor asked this question: "How would you define the American Dream?"

I listened as a handful of classmates gave their answers, then offered my own:

"To me, the American Dream is that whatever you're passionate about, you can find a way to make money doing it."

Setting aside the political and socioeconomic conversations that could spiral from that, what I meant was pretty simple:

You can get rich doing just about anything in America.

If you want proof, just look around. The ways people have built wealth are staggering.

Tractors, toilets, real estate, animals, books, apps, code, public speaking. Even 6-second videos posted to the internet. There’s no single blueprint for success. People have figured out how to turn just about anything into a great living.

What’s cool is that what I once believed to be a uniquely American truth eight years ago, I now see as a universal truth.

The opportunity to get rich doing just about anything is no longer unique to the U.S., and that’s thanks to two things:

  • Content & social media
  • AI

Content distribution and AI have completely broken down the geographic borders that used to exist:

That SaaS startup you used to have to move to San Francisco to launch? Now you can build it from a laptop on your couch.

That novel you used to have to land a New York publisher for? Now you can write it at home and sell it straight to your own audience.

Opportunity isn’t tied to a place anymore. It's tied to creativity, leverage, and the willingness to figure sh*t out.

Together, Content and AI have moved the American Dream one step closer to just... the Dream.

But there’s still one final piece that needs separating before we can drop the “American” from it completely–What I call "The Fruits."

The Fruits

The traditional version of the American Dream was built around a pretty clear template:

A house in the suburbs. Two cars in the driveway. A few kids. An annual beach vacation and a steadily growing retirement account.

Those were what I would call the fruits of the Dream. They were the rewards you earned for doing things the "right" way.

Whether or not that lifestyle actually represented what most people truly wanted in past decades, I don’t know.

But today, it definitely doesn’t.

Some people still dream of the white-picket fence, but others dream of yoga retreats in Bal or a penthouse in the city or a simple townhouse close to family.

The fruits are no longer scripted.

And because the outcomes are different, the amount of money needed to reach them is different too. For some people, living their dream might mean earning $75,000 a year. For others, it might mean $750,000.

Neither is right or wrong, it just depends on what you're building toward and what it actually takes to live your version of a wealthy life.

That’s the real shift.

The Dream today isn’t just about "anyone can be wealthy doing anything." It’s about anyone being able to make the amount of money they need to live their version of a wealthy life by doing something they actually care about.

The Dream in the Context of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is often sold as the fastest way to accomplish The Dream. And in many cases, it can be.

Owning a business can open doors that a traditional job might not. It can offer more financial upside, more autonomy, and more control over your time and energy.

But it also comes with real tradeoffs:

  • Uncertainty
  • Stress & responsibility that follow you home at night
  • Sacrifices in your personal life

If you're thinking about starting a business, it’s worth slowing down long enough to ask what you’re really hoping to find on the other side. It’s easy to romanticize running a business when you focus on the freedom, the upside, or the idea of calling your own shots.

But it’s important to remember that running a business changes more than just how you make your money. It changes how you spend your time, how you carry responsibility, and how your life feels day to day.

When you reframe entrepreneurship through the lens of The Dream, a fair question emerges:

Do you really need to go through everything it takes to build a business in order to live the life you want?

Maybe you do. Maybe the version of success you're after only exists on the other side of building something of your own.

But maybe it doesn’t.

Realizing which camp you fall into can save you years of working toward a life that doesn’t truly fit you.

What All This Means for You

If you’re feeling stuck in your life or your career, and are considering entrepreneurship as a “way out”, I would ask yourself these questions:

  • How much money do you want to make?
  • What kind of work do you want to spend your days doing, and what kind of life do you want to build around it?

Each deserves its own honest, thoughtful answer.

First: How much money do you want to make?
This isn’t about chasing some vague idea of success. It’s about putting real numbers to what you want your life to look like to have an actual target you can build toward.

How much do you need each year to live well? What does "enough" actually mean for you, not in theory but in practice?

Until you define it clearly, it’s easy to chase someone else's goals and hard to recognize when you've already crossed your own finish line.

Second: What kind of work and life do you want to build?
This goes way beyond titles or industries. It’s about the real content of your days.

  • What type of role energizes you?
  • What activities do you want to spend your time on?
  • How much responsibility are you excited to carry?
  • How do you want to spend your time both in- and outside of work?
  • What kind of hours do you want to work?
  • How much travel, pressure, and public exposure are you willing to take on?
  • What personal sacrifices are you and aren’t you willing to make?

The best path is the one that aligns both sides of the equation: How you make your money, and how you live while making it.

For a lot of people, if they answer those questions honestly, I think they will realize that entrepreneurship isn’t the best or fastest path for them, and that they’d actually be happier and wealthier working a great job with a great team, inside an environment that supports the life they actually want.

That’s not failure, that’s clarity.

The real failure is chasing a path just because you think you’re supposed to. Building something you don't really enjoy, or sacrificing your life for a version of success you never even asked for.

At the end of the day, The Dream isn’t about a specific outcome. It’s about having the freedom to choose your outcome, and then go out and get it.

---

Keep on,

Jason