Posted on 08/19/2025 12:30:38 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Disruptive innovation in K-12 education.
When we hear the word entrepreneur, many of us think of Silicon Valley stars like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others who have created sprawling, successful companies whose products and services seep into our everyday lives. These entrepreneurs may be household names, but they are more the exception than the rule. Everyday entrepreneurs—the ordinary people launching and leading small businesses—form the backbone of the US economy. According to the US Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses account for more than 99.9 percent of all American companies, employing more than sixty million people. A typical entrepreneur, defined by Merriam‑Webster as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise,” is more like a microschool founder than a Microsoft founder.
The education entrepreneurs I interviewed for my new book, Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling, are incredibly diverse, but there are several common qualities shared by most of them. They are eager for a challenge and are confident that they can overcome inevitable setbacks. They like to take initiative and are comfortable with unpredictability. They are critical thinkers, questioning the way things are typically done in education and wondering about new approaches. Today’s school founders like to learn and do new things, and often have a low threshold for boredom. They work well under pressure and are good at building relationships and collaborating with others. Finally, the founders I spotlight are optimists. They believe that education can be changed for the better and that they can be a successful part of that change.
The word entrepreneur comes from the French entreprendre, meaning “to undertake.” It is largely believed to have originated with the French‑Irish economist Richard Cantillon, who used the...
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Mary Pride homeschool entrepreneur
“Mary PRIDE homeschool entrepreneur”
Figures.
You know her work?
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