The word entrepreneurship has been defined as the “discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities” but until just a few years ago, saying you were a young entrepreneur was a creative way to say you were in between jobs. Today, entrepreneurs are the modern day rockstars. 

The story of how Mark Zuckerburg hacked The Crimson at Harvard is a legend amongst millenials. Hustling and side-hustling is no longer just a way to make more money, it can be incredibly fun. There are so many insanely valuable resources available to entrepreneurs for free these days, you no longer need to “take the plunge” to be an entrepreneur. You can just barely dip your little toe and test the waters. All you’ll lose is the time you invest. Get started with this list of 400, no I didn’t add an extra zero, 400 free resources for entreprenurs.

It’s not that entrepreneurs didn’t exist before the word claimed the desire of the public, but society now sees a greater value in being your own boss. We were keen to talk to some real founders about where they see the future of their lifestyle. So we asked:

What’s the future of Entrepreneurship?

Here is what they taught us…

Wil Benton, Co-Founder & CEO at Chew

“As job automation becomes more prevalent across industries, I think we’re going to be looking at a professional scenario where, in order to have a job, you are an entrepreneur. Instead of relying on an employer to hire you and give you a job, you simply make your own. Whether that’s building the Uber or Facebook for 100 years from now, or something disruptive in a different sense, I think everyone will be an ‘entrepreneur’ in one way or another. In 2017, we no longer really have career jobs and, I think, that’s a concept that is going to be even less relevant in a century’s time.”

Jodie Cook, Founder of JC Social Media

“Entrepreneurship is headed towards location-independent companies, that can be run from a laptop anywhere in the world. Automation will be key, because there will be ways that technology can do some aspects of running a business far faster and more effective than a human can. Automating admin and standard business processes will allow more space for creativity.”

Terence Chatmon, CEO of FCCI

“Two decades ago and one computer revolution later, American business has undergone more extreme changes in every aspect in every industry than could have ever been predicted.

Many center on technology, collaboration and information, but the solution is not technology. It is not collaboration. It is not information. It is producing results… Management is the specific function, the specific instrument to make institutions capable of producing results.

Today, we have displaced the role of management and outsourced it for technology. The practical reality is entrepreneurship and innovation are not manifested the same in future economic systems. It will be execution and leadership driving the essentials. Producers and integrators will drive innovation and efficiencies.

We must equip our future leaders that execution is the key. We must equip them to execute with integrity and for a greater purpose than shareholder value. People management and leadership will be the core drivers of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.”

Deborah Sweeney, CEO & Owner of MyCorporation

“Entrepreneurs are bullish on entrepreneurship. Even academia believes in entrepreneurship! We have seen a drastic increase in people looking to leave corporate America, to forge their own path and become masters of their own destiny. I was an attorney who went in-house for a large publicly traded company.

However, when I offered to purchase our division out of the public company, I never would have imagined the answer would have been ‘yes’! So, I became an entrepreneur, and I have never looked back. Entrepreneurship is a mindset and young adults are getting out of school and excited to make it happen for themselves. This is the trend today, and it will continue to increase as people see more examples of the potential for entrepreneurship in their careers.”

Jack Barmby, CEO & Founder of FM Outsource

“The word ‘entrepreneurship’ has changed since its coining in 1723, originally a term that described someone who increased profits while pushing down costs of production. Today it’s defined as someone who walks the unwalked path, who does things that have not been done before. More generally, being an entrepreneur is about creating opportunity, by creating demand and opportunity for things that we didn’t even know we wanted or needed.

Nobody can predict with any accuracy where we’ll be in 100 years, but it will likely be carved by those who seek opportunity, who aren’t happy to stand still and accept the way things are to be optimal. This definition of entrepreneurship, to drive for opportunity is more eternal in this context, and I think will still be what being an entrepreneur is all about in 100 years’ time.”

Rohit Malhotra, Online Entrepreneur and Owner of LifeSelfMastery.com

“Over the next 100 years, lots of the jobs in form of driving and other menial jobs will be replaced by robots and AI. There will be companies with only 1-2 employees and apps/ companies who will handle other miscellaneous work. There will be billions of entrepreneurs in the world and only few companies will dominate the world while millions or billions of entrepreneurs will use the help of these companies to leverage the market.”

Nishchal Dua, Founder of The Remote Life

“In a 100 years, everyone would be an entrepreneur in the traditional sense. Technology and specifically AI is advancing in a direction where soon almost everything would be automated & most ideas wouldn’t need human intervention to bring to life. Humans would only focus on the creative part and everyone would be building a business because jobs would be for the machines. Entrepreneurship is headed in a direction where it will be ubiquitous.”

Ray McKenzie, Founder and Principal of Red Beach Advisors

“Becoming and entrepreneur will become the first option for people. The next generation of entrepreneurs between ages 16-30 will look to first create their own company, products, services, and vision instead of opting for attaining jobs out of college with large firms or companies. The spirit and evolution of the entrepreneur is alive and well. With more opportunities, funding, and options available people will take advantage of chasing their dreams.”

Michael Noker, Founder of Anthropologist

“The younger generation will believe ‘less is more’: Judging strictly on my own experiences and those of my friends and peers as young, quirky, creative entrepreneurs, we’re headed toward a world of small businesses masquerading as empires. Most of us are building our own companies, but we’re not doing it to get rich. We just want to get by while still being able to do what we love. As we start to see more of the younger generation reaching that level of success, we’ll see them expanding their efforts into more altruistic projects. The age of college students selling a startup to buy a McMansion and retire before they can legally drink is coming to a close. Now you’ll see many people hustling for stability, for art, and for the good of the people in their lives and their communities, but few trying to strike gold.”

Fred D. Winchar, President of Tradition Media Group, LLC and QuadW International, Inc.

“I would hope that “ownership” would simply not exist 100 years from now. Currently people are either “masters” or “slaves”. Employees are always encouraged to stay employees and think, but not be, an entrepreneur. We all know slavery in any form is immoral and rich people getting richer off the backs of poor people will rise. There are more millionaire entrepreneurs then the year before and there are more poor employees then the year before.

This conflict eventually come crashing down years from now when the classes (rich to poor) gets much worse. When this happens, everyone will be able to use their entrepreneur skills fully when being a boss is just a role equal to any other role at the company. We all have these skills right now. This is how we manage to survive. It just needs to be set free. Some companies have already begun doing this now.”