Ep 011 // How a college side hustle led to an empire of 50,000 members with Natalie Franke (COURAGE)

Summary: This week I’m talking with Natalie Franke, founder of the Rising Tide Society, which is an international network of creative entrepreneurs who believe in community over competition.  In this Courage story, Natalie tells us about what it was like to grow a photography business to 6 figures and — get this — she did that on the side as she studied FULL TIME as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania.  She came to an extremely interesting and confusing crossroads when it was time to graduate, and she had to decide the fate of her business.  Should she continue down the entrepreneurial path she inadvertently set in motion when she was trying to fund her education? And if so, what was the point of getting that expensive degree in the first place? We get into this and much more in this episode, and I can’t wait for you guys to hear from Natalie — she was so fantastic to talk to. She’s got this comforting and nurturing way about her that really pulled me in.  I’m especially excited for these conversations, because The Rising Tide Society is so aligned with the work that we do over at Fizzle.  Natalie and I share many of the same views about the role that community plays in building a business and how lonely it can be to go it alone.  In this episode Natalie shares that 1 in 3 entrepreneurs suffer with anxiety or depression, and she opens up about how she is one of them. Clearly as the founder of Rising Tide Society, a network of 50,000 entrepreneurs, Natalie is an expert on how to build community. That's why in her Clarity episode, the one right after this one, she's taking us behind the scenes to tell us what it really takes to create a following of loyal people who would follow you off a cliff.  These two episodes are the last ones for Season One of the Courage & Clarity podcast. (!) But don’t worry... the truth is I’m already working on Season Two (!!), and I'm so excited to bring you more inspiring & instructional conversations from incredible entrepreneurs. (!!!) However, there's one thing I need from you: in between the two seasons I’m going to create a “Question & Answers” episode devoted to going deeper on anything you heard in Season One (or, anything you want, really!) There’s a super quick survey here. If you could head over there and let me know what you’d like me to answer, I would so appreciate it.