In this special collab episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, 16 founders come together to answer one deceptively powerful question:

What does "hard work" mean to you, and how is it different from when you started your business?

It's a wide-ranging episode about what hard work really means once volume stops being the measure — from swapping busyness for stillness, to learning to make the ask, to discovering that AI has moved the hard part from typing to thinking. Across all seventeen answers, one thread holds: hard work stopped being about how much these founders could carry, and started being about what they have the discipline to put down.

For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who still measures their effort in hours logged, meetings taken, or how exhausted they feel at the end of the day, this episode is a reset. Seventeen founders, across wildly different industries, arrived at strikingly similar conclusions: hard work isn't disappearing as they grow — it's relocating, from the doing to the deciding, from the hours to the judgment behind them.

🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors

Lisa Larson — Mindful Corporate Mastery

After 25+ years in corporate tech, Lisa founded Mindful Corporate Mastery to help high-performing professionals manage stress and decisions differently than she once did.

Website: https://www.mindfulcorporatemastery.com/

Nate Hebbert — SelfWare Consulting

A former software engineer at 3M, KPMG, and Domo, Nate now runs SelfWare Consulting, helping tech companies and small business owners beat burnout without pausing growth.

Website: https://selfwareconsulting.com/

Shawn Sundsvold — GoldBear Media

Shawn co-founded GoldBear Media with his wife Kelly in 2020, helping small and medium businesses get more out of social media and email marketing.

Website: https://goldbear.media/

Erik Berglund — Loominary

Erik founded The Language of Leadership and Loominary, building skill simulation systems that let people practice their business's hardest conversations.

Website: https://www.loominary.io/

Sheri Roder — Get UnStuck HQ

After 40+ years in corporate life, Sheri launched Get UnStuck HQ, a coaching practice that helps clients turn a messy, complicated choice into a decision they can act on.

Website: https://www.getunstuckhq.com/

Brandon Pankey — Blue Pine Works

Brandon is the founder and owner of Blue Pine Works, an arboriculture and land stewardship company. He and his wife Kay lead the company in East Central Minnesota.

Website: https://bluepineworks.com/

Kevin Kertes — advanceMEN Coaching

A former 30-year music industry executive, Kevin now runs advanceMEN Coaching, helping capable men confront postponed decisions and move forward with confidence.

Website: https://www.advancemencoaching.com/

Brandon Katz — DreamLever

Brandon is founder and CEO of DreamLever, an AI system that learns a business from its own meetings and drives the right work forward, after 4 years as Chief of Staff at Fine Fettle.

Website: https://www.dreamlever.ai/

Raamon Newman — New Mavericks

Raamon co-founded New Mavericks 25 years ago as a full-time meditating monk, and now leads CEO development work with founders scaling companies into the billions.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raamonnewman/

Patricia Ballivian — Altura Strategies

Originally from Bolivia, Patricia founded Altura Strategies to help growing businesses align their operations, systems, and people.

Website: https://www.alturastrategies.net/

Sara Reece — Workmind

Sara is CEO and co-founder of Workmind, helping organizations use operations-first automation to eliminate friction and grow without adding headcount.

Website: https://workmind.cloud/partners/

Mike Gross — Michael J. Gross, LLC

With 35+ years of experience, Mike runs Michael J. Gross, LLC, providing practical ISO training and consulting built on what already works.

Website: https://mj-gross.com/

Stephen Custer — Dry Humor Marketing

Stephen built Dry Humor Marketing as a one-man show helping businesses tell their story through video, photography, and web design, before hiring his first contractor last November.

Website: https://www.dryhumormarketing.com/

Drew Mehta — ThinkFraction

After 20+ years in corporate, Drew founded ThinkFraction to help owner-operators fix the leaks in their back-end workflows and put AI to work the right way.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhroovmehta/

Rami Akeela — Nera Systems

With 20+ years in hardware, software, and cryptography, Rami founded Nera Systems, a confidential AI company helping enterprises use AI on their most sensitive data.

Website: https://nera.systems/

David Beltran — Accord Intelligence

After 14 years at IBM in cybersecurity and identity, David founded Accord Intelligence, building the decision layer that helps organizations govern and trust their AI.

Website: https://www.accordintelligence.ai/

1565: What does "HARD WORK" actually mean as an entrepreneur? (COLLAB EPISODE!)

Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

1565: What does "HARD WORK" actually mean as an entrepreneur? (COLLAB EPISODE!)