The Best Time in History to Start Your Career… or Your Company

The world is experiencing one of the greatest economic transformations since the industrial age. GenAI is accelerating change, but history shows disruption always creates more opportunities than it destroys. With 170 million new jobs projected by 2030, young people are entering the workforce at the perfect time to build careers—or launch companies—that align with demand. Joy will not come from chasing passion first but will emerge from contributing where you are needed most.

Jeff Hulett is Founder of Personal Finance Reimagined (PFR), a professor of Personal Finance at James Madison University, and a decision scientist focused on helping people and organizations achieve better lives through better decisions.

At the beginning of the 20th century, just over 100 years ago, 40% of Americans worked in agriculture. Nearly half the workforce was devoted to putting food on our tables. Think about it: there were no tractors yet. People were in the fields doing the work of tractors and large farm equipment with their own hands. It was grueling, labor-intensive, and represented the dominant industry of its time.

Today, only 1.5% of Americans work in agriculture. Did we all starve? Of course not. We developed tractors, mechanization, and logistics systems that made farming vastly more productive. Millions of people were freed to work in entirely new industries, fueling growth in manufacturing, technology, medicine, finance, and education.

This is the story of the American economy—dynamic, innovative, and constantly reinventing itself. Where some see disruption, entrepreneurs see opportunity.

Fast forward to today. Many people are asking: What will GenAI do to jobs?

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Work survey projects that by 2030:

• 92 million jobs will be displaced.

• 170 million new jobs will be created.

• The net result: 78 million new jobs, a 7% global gain.

Too often, the focus is on the 92 million jobs lost. But that misses the bigger picture: 170 million new roles will emerge. The question is not whether jobs will disappear—they always do in times of technological change. The question is: Will you be on the gain side or the loss side of history?

For young people entering the workforce, the answer should be inspiring. You are stepping in at the perfect time to seize the opportunities created by GenAI.

Joy Emerges Along the Way

In my own career, this lesson about opportunity and growth has played out time and again. When I was a student at James Madison University in the late 1980s, I was “okay” at math—not exceptional. But I made a decision to lean into math, economics, and finance because I believed data and analytics would be central to the future of business. That was not obvious at the time.

What happened? Employers invested in me. They trained me, mentored me, and gave me responsibility. I would like to think they did this because I was so amazing… but that is simply not true. It was because I was in the right place at the right time. The business was growing so fast that they needed me—not so much because I was an amazing “Mr. Right,” but more like because I was an available “Mr. Right Now.”

That urgency worked in my favor. The positive feedback loops of success activated the brain’s reward systems—dopamine, acetylcholine, and oxytocin. Over time, I learned to like what I once only tolerated. Eventually, I grew to love the work because I had become valuable to others.

This is a critical point I emphasize with students: joy has an emergent quality. It does not usually come first, as if we can simply identify joy as an input and build our lives around it. Too often, people are told to “find what makes them happy” before they act. But neuroscience suggests the opposite. Joy often emerges from doing something that is needed, receiving feedback, and growing through the process. Once you understand this causality—that joy is discovered along the way—it opens countless possibilities.

Entrepreneurship at the Center

My entrepreneurial spirit began in large organizations. At Wells Fargo, I launched a new line of business that grew into a $100 million-per-year revenue stream. At KPMG, I built a national practice network that helped banks and communities navigate the financial crisis—generating hundreds of millions in revenue while stabilizing the financial system. These were intrapreneurial ventures—startups within big corporations.

Eventually, I founded Personal Finance Reimagined (PFR), which today operates on two fronts:

1. Financial Education. We partner with schools, colleges, nonprofits, accounting firms, and wealth managers to deliver practical decision-making and financial literacy. Our “Decision FIRST” approach gives people a repeatable framework for life’s most important financial and career choices.

2. Founder Co-Pilot and Investment Platform. We act as CFO and COO co-pilots for startups, helping with strategy, operations, and growth. Sometimes that partnership leads to direct investment from PFR or our network. One of my favorite examples is the Hulett Brothers—my sons, whose content-creation business we incubated during the pandemic. With the right decision frameworks and adaptability, they scaled from a basement project into a full-time company with millions of followers.

The same entrepreneurial energy is what will power the next wave of jobs. GenAI is lowering barriers to entry, making it cheaper and faster than ever to start a business. The future belongs to those who identify needs, adapt quickly, and create new solutions.

Position Yourself Where the Growth Is

Where should students and young professionals look? Growth areas include AI, data, fintech, green energy, education, and medicine. The sectors most at risk are clerical and process-heavy roles that primarily move information without judgment.

One of the most practical tools I give my students is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website, which tracks the fastest-growing jobs. It is a roadmap of where opportunity will be. I encourage every student to study it, because aligning yourself with demand is one of the most reliable ways to build both wealth and happiness.

The Best Time to Be Entering the Workforce

History shows that disruption always creates winners and losers. Agriculture gave way to manufacturing. Manufacturing gave way to services. Now, GenAI will reshape services and knowledge work.

For those who cling to the past, disruption feels like loss. But for those who adapt, disruption is the greatest creator of opportunity.

That is why I believe this is the best time to be entering the workforce. For entrepreneurs, especially, the opportunities have never been greater. The tools are here, the barriers are lower, and the world needs new solutions.

The only real question is: Will you focus on the jobs being lost—or on the far greater number of jobs being created?

Resources for the Curious

• World Economic Forum. The Future of Jobs Report 2025. Geneva: WEF, 2025.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fastest Growing Occupations. U.S. Department of Labor, www.bls.gov.

• Sapolsky, Robert. Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. Penguin Press, 2017.

• Hulett, Jeff. The Hidden Wealth of Time: Turning Challenges into Opportunity. The Curiosity Vine, 2025.

• Hulett, Jeff. AI Meets Money: How to Make Smarter Financial Choices with GenAI. The Curiosity Vine, 2025.

• Hulett, Jeff. Seeking What Not to Seek: How to Align Achievement and Happiness. The Curiosity Vine, 2024.