Hustle Culture and Ableism in Online Business With Brittany Berger

As an industry, online business is deeply rooted in hustle culture, and it leads to burnout and a host of other issues as we work to pursue the dream we’re being sold. But what if that dream is actually a nightmare?

In this episode, guest Brittany Berger from Work Brighter chats with me about hustle culture, how it shows up, and how this intersects with ableism across the industry.

I’ve talked before about how I’m one of these people who are hardwired for hard work, and how it can be hard for me to turn it off. And for years, that has been reinforced by a steady diet of messages and marketing that told me hustle was a necessary condition of success.

And this is where things get interesting, because as an industry online business pushes a message around hustle, while also telling us we should be working less, living more, and doing that all while making more money.

It’s confusing at best, and to be honest, it’s left me seriously pissed off more than once. I’m sure many of you feel the same way, and that’s where todays’ guest Brittany Berger comes in.

In this conversation we discuss:

• Redefining productivity and how to escape from hustle culture.
• How hustle culture shows up in online business.
• Considering our own toxic relationship with productivity and hustle.
• The intersection of hustle culture and ableism in online business.
• Why so many entrepreneurs seem to have ADHD now and it’s a total thing.
• How business owners cannot perpetuate hustle culture with our clients.

About Brittany Berger

Brittany Berger is the founder of WorkBrighter.co, a digital media company and community that’s working to dismantle Hustle Culture and make productivity more accessible for disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and mentally ill people.

She started Work Brighter after 5 years running content marketing teams in high stress startups that prioritized hustle, growth, and scaling over self-care and mental health. After realizing the toll working like that took on her physical and mental health, she left to normalize a different, accessible, and practical way of working.

Links for this show:
Work Brighter
Work Brighter on IG
Work Brighter Shop