When you see the word Emplopreneur^TM, you might pause. Maybe you tilt your head. Maybe your brain tries to correct it. That’s okay. It’s not a word you’ll find in Webster’s because I made it up. It came to me like a bridge between two worlds: The grounded world of employment and the expansive spirit of entrepreneurship. At first, it felt awkward. Unfamiliar. Almost too strange to say. But the more I lived it, the more it made sense. This was a word I needed. And maybe… You do too.

Why not just Entreployee? I considered it, and back in 2016, I even said it out loud a few times. But it never felt right. You see, this isn’t about an entrepreneur learning how to think like an employee. That’s a contraction, not a creation. This is about something else entirely: An employee who starts thinking like a builder. A soul who starts remembering their power. A person who begins to create, even within constraints.

This is the Emplopreneur^TM.

Not a title. Not a brand.

A quiet shift in identity that begins when you stop waiting for permission… and start honoring what’s already stirring inside you.

I first used this term in my earlier book, Designing Your Best Life, when I realized something important: There are so many people—brilliant, kind, creative people—who want to grow something new… But who also need to stay grounded in the life they’ve built. That doesn’t make them uncommitted. It makes them wise. They’re not trying to escape. They’re trying to expand. This book is for them. For you.

Let this word—Emplopreneur—be your permission slip. Let it be a mental anchor as you read, dream, and decide what you want next.