From Corporate Cog to Entrepreneurial Rebel: Embracing the Human Side of Business in the Age of AI

There’s a particular kind of fatigue that sets in when you’re constantly adapting to systems that weren’t designed with you in mind.

Corporate life can look secure on paper... until it’s not.

With the latest wave of layoffs hitting industries hard (many quietly linked to AI integration), people are being reminded just how fragile those foundations can be. And while tech headlines celebrate innovation, many are left quietly wondering: What happens to me now?

But the rise of AI isn’t the whole story. Sometimes, the biggest threat isn’t the tools we build. It’s the leadership choices around them.

Take Builder.ai - an AI startup once backed by Microsoft and hailed as a leader in no-code development. This year, it collapsed into insolvency. Not because AI was flawed. Because their numbers were inflated, their practices questionable, and their leadership fell short.

The lesson? Even in the age of automation, the systems that hold up a business still start with people.

We were told corporate jobs were the “safe” path. Predictable, respectable.

But for many, especially those who are neurodivergent, caregiving, racialized, or just wired differently, that “safety” came with a cost.

It meant adapting to rigid expectations. Over functioning to cover team gaps. Playing politics to survive restructures.

And lately, it’s meant refreshing your inbox, waiting to see if your role is next on the chopping block.

You’re not imagining it. The game is changing. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of the game.

For some of us, the shift away from traditional roles didn’t come by choice. For others, it was a slow build of discomfort that couldn’t be ignored.

Either way, the result is the same: you start to wonder what it might look like to work on your own terms.

Entrepreneurship isn’t a fairy tale. It’s not always glamorous. Some days you are the entire org chart.

But it offers something the old model rarely did: Alignment. Autonomy. Integrity.

A chance to build something that doesn’t erode you.

We talk a lot about automations and AI tools. But the real systems - the ones that keep your business running - are internal.

• Boundaries that honour your time.

• Gut-checks that protect your peace.

• Client filters that prioritize energy, not just income.

These aren’t “nice to haves.” They’re your infrastructure. Especially when you don’t have a manager buffering the fallout.

Builder.ai had the tech. What it lacked was foundation. Leadership. Integrity. Reality.

It reminds us that AI can assist, but it can’t make ethical decisions. It can’t replace trust. It can’t carry your business when the human stuff falls apart.

And that’s where we still hold the power to shape what comes next.

If you’ve recently lost your job, or you’re watching your industry shift beneath your feet, this isn’t meant to sell you on starting a business overnight.

But I do want you to remember this:

You are not obsolete. You are not behind. You are not too late.

You’re in a moment of transition. And as hard as it is, this is where something new can begin.

I didn’t step into entrepreneurship because I had a perfect plan. I did it because I had no other option. I was a single parent, rebuilding from scratch. I realized that the systems I kept building for other people? I needed them too.

So I started building for myself.

Some days, it’s still messy. But it’s real. And it reflects the life I want to live, not just the work I’m capable of doing.

If you’re somewhere in that in-between space, trying to find your footing, I see you.

You don’t have to replicate broken systems just to be seen as “successful.”

You can build differently. You can work differently. You can live differently.

And that is where your power lies.

If you’re navigating this shift and want to build systems that honour your energy, your capacity, and your future - reach out. I’m here.