> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://berniejmitchell.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # When Wealth Divides Us, Community Is the Bridge We Need - URL: https://berniejmitchell.com/when-wealth-divides-us-community/ - Published: 2025-04-07T19:40:17.000Z - Updated: 2026-03-07T18:57:23.000Z - Description: Why community might be your best investment. - Author: Bernie J Mitchell - Tags: Newsletter, #bernie-j-mitchell, #Migrated-1772909644287, #Import 2026-03-07 19:56 ### So Reader, My inbox got noisy after my podcast with Kofi Oppong about wealth inequality. We hit a nerve. The gap isn't just numbers—it's changing how we live, work, and even date. In a separate post, I saw [Tom Ball](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomball2/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) from [DeskLodge | B Corp™](https://www.linkedin.com/company/desklodge/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) share: Times are tough for a lot of people. When people spend less often, they expect more. People are going out less, so it would be better if they did. Tom points out that it's the same for coworking spaces and offices. Working twice a week in the office means those days need to matter. They need to feel alive, social, and human. --- ### ✋ Mind the Wealth Gap: Why Entrepreneurship Isn't Optional with Kofi Oppong 🎙️[Listen here](https://substack.com/home/post/p-160320895?source=queue&autoPlay=true) --- ## We're Built to Create, Not Just Consume Citizenship is making a comeback - I don't know where it went - but it's back. People are tired of just consuming and hungry to build something real. Josh Johnson puts it clearly: "If your obsessions are community, culture, connection, and compassion, there's a way forward." And Kofi made it urgent: "This isn't about building a unicorn—it's about staying alive." Entrepreneurship isn't a TED talk. For working-class communities, it's a lifeline. No romantic stories, just dodging eviction, feeding families, surviving. --- ## Same Tools, Different Starting Lines What bothers me is that people still pretend anyone with Wi-Fi and a laptop can build a business overnight. I have those same tools—and I got lucky. Lucky to sit next to smarter people in coworking spaces and see their highs and lows. I was lucky to bump into [Kofi Oppong](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofioppong1/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) at a 2019 event we were both part of in a coworking space in Hackney. Fifteen years ago, I was lucky to find my now business partner, [Emily Breder](https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygbreder/?ref=berniejmitchell.com), in a LinkedIn group for Event Managers started by [Julius Solaris](https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliussolaris/?ref=berniejmitchell.com). I was lucky to connect with many of you on Twitter circa 2010 when it meant something. But even with all that luck? I still ebb and flow and fucking struggle between the highs. After you have made it, you can easily turn 10 years of hustle and burnout and piecing it together into some cheap Instagram slogan about "Wi-Fi and a dream." --- **But here's what happens:** - First, figure out how to buy a laptop. - Next, work out what the hell to do with it. - Then, drown in YouTube videos selling magic shortcuts that lead nowhere. - And like [Aceil Haddad](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aceil/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) \- [pointed out here](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/term-entrepreneur-gives-me-ick-aceil-haddad-czewe?ref=berniejmitchell.com) \- not everyone, including me, identifies with the term entrepreneur. Building a business or [being more entrepreneurial](https://youtube.com/shorts/glQ6J4Gsri8?si=d9wAQJHkiR2iVxM-&ref=berniejmitchell.com) isn't a button you click if you've just left teaching, nursing, kitchens, road-sweeping, or driving a bus. As [Gary Stevenson](https://youtube.com/shorts/glQ6J4Gsri8?si=d9wAQJHkiR2iVxM-&ref=berniejmitchell.com) says, I'm tired of people pretending it is. --- ## The "New Dork" Myth: Still Funny, Still Bullshit About 15 years ago, this [video](https://youtu.be/exmwSxv7XJI?si=rDe-LsysyfomXNbB&ref=berniejmitchell.com) came out, parodying social media and online hustle culture. It mocked the Silicon Valley hype and ended with: "You can build a business doing what you love." Sound familiar? That line became WeWork's slogan—until they crashed spectacularly. If only the coworking industry had spent the same amount of time talking about the wealth gap in London as they talked about how many times they've met Adam Newman and what WeWork did for the industry. --- --- "Do what you love" isn't advice; it's marketing. **Real life?** Find what you're good at and build something useful around it. That's what [Urban MBA](https://www.linkedin.com/company/urbanmba/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) does for its students. That's what Kofi does. When Daniel, Stephen, and Gary talked on that *[Diary of a CEO episode](https://youtu.be/4yohVh4qcas?si=3mz%5FWBZiGR0m0VBz&ref=berniejmitchell.com)*, they shared some truth and lived experience. From their three different positions, I felt they were getting somewhere, but in the end, Battersea kneecapped Ilford. Some people reacted with shallow outrage instead of deeper curiosity—more upset at Gary's voice than at the collapse of the economy and implosion of our society. I don't know Gary personally, but I lived around the corner from him for 20 years, so I understand where he's coming from. We don't need 'hot takes' and 'sound bites'—we need nuance, real conversations, and people who've survived both sides of the hype. --- ## Coworking as Solidarity Coworking is an action, When we manage to build meaningful spaces: - We create resilience against economic chaos. - We stop being isolated consumers and become connected creators. - We build social capital money can't buy. That's coworking—not desks, not Wi-Fi. People are coming together and looking out for each other. --- ## What you can do now How's your coworking space showing up—not just as a workspace—but as a place of solidarity? When you're ready, here's where we can go deeper: ✅ [Join us at Unreasonable Connection](https://lu.ma/unreasonableApril?ref=berniejmitchell.com): No pitches, no sponsors, just real community builders, one room, the truth. [RSVP here](https://lu.ma/unreasonableApril?ref=berniejmitchell.com). 🎙️ [Coworking Values Podcast](https://www.linkedin.com/company/coworking-values-podcast/?ref=berniejmitchell.com) Conversations with people building real communities, no fluff. Thanks for your time and attention. Be careful out there; it's a jungle. ### Bernie 💚