the bossbabe podcast - 247. Corporate Natalie on Comedy, Confidence & Creating Viral Content

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

From hilarious takes on the idiosyncrasies of the corporate world to a playful look at working remote – Corporate Natalie’s Reels and TikToks have caught the attention of people everywhere. In this week’s episode, Corporate Natalie is giving you a peek behind the scenes at her content creation process and sharing what it’s really like to have a career in social media. Plus – she’s opening up about what her confidence and mental health journey has looked like over the past few years + sharing practical tips for keeping yourself in a healthy minset when posting online is your job.  You don’t want to miss this powerful episode. Listen now! Highlights: Corporate Natalie’s secrets for brand deals + viral content. How social media impacts mental health + what you can do to take care of yourself. Practical tips for developing confidence so you can post consistently on Instagram without letting imposter syndrome get in the way. Links: Insta Influence Kit — 100+ Instagram templates to help you post consistently on IG Viral Reels Guide — Go viral with the content that you post Follow Corporate Natalie Follow: bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Danielle Canty: @daniellecanty

I think a lot of women struggle with putting their stuff out there because there's so much pressure. There's so much judgment. I mean, I still face hate comments, things that no one should go through, messages that no one should have to receive. And it just comes with having a platform and taking the risk and putting it out there, especially being a woman in comedy. I think that comes with so much judgment. I do think for me, the only reason I grew at the rate I did and I've seen the successes I've did is because I just put aside my pride. I put aside the thought that the way I look matters to the world and the way I, you know, my appearance is everything. And I just had to completely abandon that and be like,

this is a video of me without makeup in the middle of the pandemic. I've gained like 15 pounds. Who cares? I'm going to just post a video because I think it's funny and I'm proud of it. And if someone doesn't like me because of that, who cares? They're not the right person for me. A boss babe is unapologetically ambitious and paves the way for herself and other women to rise, keep going and fighting on. She is on a mission to be her best self in all areas. It's just believing in yourself, confidently stepping outside her comfort zone to create her own vision of success. Hello, and welcome to the Boss Babe podcast, the place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance, and learning how to balance it all. I'm Danielle Canty, Boss Babe co-founder and your host for

today's episode. Okay, so today is a really cool episode. I am interviewing Corporate Natalie. Now, as you guys know, I am not from the corporate world. However, her memes, wheels, all things on TikTok are absolutely hilarious. And I am not the only one who thinks so. Because in just two years, Corporate Natalie has amassed over 424,000 followers on TikTok. That's not even including her Instagram platform. She has blown up because first of all, she understands the formula of social media content creation, particularly on TikTok. She understands virality. And second of all, she is dedicated to creating good quality, unique content, which has seen her skyrocket. So let's be a reminder for everyone how quickly your life can change. They say that you can overestimate what you can achieve in a year and underestimate what you can achieve in five. And I think Natalie and myself already are really examples of that. She has absolutely changed her world, really. She's opened up this potential to tap into a completely different level of income,

which she probably wouldn't have necessarily had the opportunity to do previously in her corporate job. So this is a great episode to listen to if you have a side hustle, if you are in work right now, or if you really want to understand what it takes to grow on TikTok and on other social media platforms. And as always, whatever your takeaway is, please share them with myself at Danielle Canty and also share them with at bossbabe.inc. And I know Natalie would also appreciate you sharing them with her. Her handle is at Corporate Natalie. So without further ado, let's dive into this episode. And also, if you haven't already, make sure you get your pen and paper out because there were a ton of notes on this one. Natalie, welcome to freaking Boss Babe podcast.

Thank you so much for having me. This is incredibly exciting and I love talking about everything that your brand discusses. So I can't wait to get into it. Yes, I am here for it. Now, it's funny because I was thinking about when I was doing research on you and just learning more about you. And oh my God, you are funny. I was in stitches. I don't want to name drop, but I am going to name drop, but I don't often do this. But I'm pretty good friends with Trevor Noah and he is really funny in person.

And I was watching your stuff and you reminded me a little bit of him. You have intelligent humor. And I was like, this girl is smart and she is funny. So there you are. I can take that as a reference point. Okay. Well, that I would like you to write down so I can put on my LinkedIn resume, everything across the board. I would appreciate it. But thank you so much. That means a lot. I think a lot of creators kind of get into it and like they're not intending they just shift into comedy because like trends are funny and you get funny but I've always been just like humor has been my best and honestly worst mechanism I never deal with real emotions or anything like that because everything's a joke to me but it's always been such a core part of my identity so thank you for saying that I appreciate it

can we start there then because I'm actually really curious around how corporate Natalie even started off and then why humor? Like how did that stand out to you? So like rewind a second. How did this TikTok account, which has over 400,000 followers, and you're like 424 when I looked this morning or something like that. Like how? What started this off? Yes. So TikTok did not start as I woke up one day and was like, I'm going to be famous. I did, of course, make one TikTok video, send it to my friends and say that I'm going to be famous as a complete and utter joke. But it turned out that actually was the case. But it started with just posting a couple of videos because I was immensely bored

during the pandemic. And then it turned into, wow, people really like this corporate niche. People like what I'm saying. This hasn't really been talked about. Everyone's too afraid to talk about corporate humor and making fun of this world that we're all just grinding away at. It took to TikTok and it grew very quickly because I think I was one of the first movers. I always talk about Rod as well. You've probably seen him as doing corporate stuff. But I think Kim and I were some of the first movers in making fun of corporate America and the corporate world in general and just bringing some humor to this world because it's always so serious. People are so afraid to put their stuff out there. You go on these social media trainings at work. They're like, don't you dare post on

Instagram about our company, all that stuff. So it was like, just kind of novel and exciting. Now there's a ton of corporate creators, but I never knew that it would grow to what it is today, like you just mentioned. I love that because I do think quite often some of the best things are really born out of passion and just personality alignment versus you wanting to get somewhere else or achieve something. Like sometimes people ask me like, actually, that was I did an Instagram poll and people like oh like what like what's the number one reason like you do this and they're like is it to be famous I was like are you kidding me I have never ever ever wanted to have any form of recognition and just happen and this is a byproduct of wanting to support people which I'm like okay I'll do. But I think that's just like when you actually have a bigger message versus I want to be known, but you actually

have a message of like, actually, I really want these things to be discussed. That's when you're really, really onto something. So, okay, you're in the pandemic. You're now, you're in the office. You had to work from home. You'd send this as a joke to your friends. Were you a consumer of TikTok at that point? Or were you a consumer of Instagram? Or were you a consumer of neither? I'm just trying to understand how it even... Do you know what I mean? I get a little bit more into that.

So I was not a consumer of TikTok. So much so that I was the person who was like, I'm never going to waste my time on this silly little app. And then I was so bored. That was the same as me when Instagram came along. I was like, I am too busy with this. Are you kidding me? I'm too busy. Yeah. So then peak pandemic, I mean, what else am I going to do? I can only repaint my walls and reorganize my room so much. So let's just download this app. And the day I downloaded it and started watching a few videos,

I'm like, I can do this. So I just posted random skits, nothing to do with corporate America, just like posting some stuff. And some of them started to take off, but it's just... And what does take off mean? What did take off for you mean at that point? I think take off is this sense of virality. I think everyone has a different standard for it, but I think one of my videos got like a hundred thousand views. And as a creator with little to no followers, you see that and you're like, oh my God, a hundred thousand people saw this. That's crazy. And you kind of get that itch of, let's do it again. I can keep doing this. And then I got a video that got a million views. You start to learn it, sort of like the algorithm. You learn what people like. For me, it was the corporate niche. I was making jokes about anything

and everything, peak pandemic. And I was like, okay, maybe I'll lean a little harder into this corporate thing. But similarly, I never sought after being famous. I never wanted to be famous. It's still terrifying to me that I'll go in public and be recognized. But I've always been entrepreneurial. I've always been a businesswoman. And I think I never thought that this would be the thing that would be my business, if my face is representative of it.

I'm going to come back to that learning in a second, because I think you're right. There's actually a lot of formulas and a lot of people, there's art to creativeness, and there's also actually some science of formulas to creativeness. And I want to break that down in a little bit. But I would also just love to come back to something you said there, like you've always been this entrepreneur and my co-founder story Natalie that's hers always been this entrepreneurial spirit I wasn't like that I was the person I was a kid that liked earning money so I had like three jobs at a time but then I would train to be a chiropractor and I was going down this route and being an entrepreneur really found me versus me finding it

but I'm curious how you identified as being an entrepreneur but then went into corporate America and just how that materialized for you and how you were feeling in corporate America as someone who was kind of identifying a little bit as an entrepreneur, because I felt like a lot of listeners will also be in that position. That's interesting. So I also cringe so hard. I don't know if you watched the recent WeWork show when he's like, I'm a serial entrepreneur. I think that phrase is so, I don't, I reject that at all costs. But I think throughout my whole life, when I was five years old, I had a friendship bracelet business that I would sell to my neighbors. I would sell magazines. I started a car washing business, much to my parents' dismay that there would be suds of

car wash soap in our front yard every single day. I've always been... And I think maybe it's not entrepreneur. It's more of a hustler. Having three jobs, like you said, to make money in college and anything that would thrust me forward in my career. And so I think coming out of college, I was like, oh, I have this big job at a big consulting firm. Like I've made it. This is the next step. Everyone starts here and then I'll build my own company. And I've always been such a futurist thinking about what's next. And I never really was living in the moment to realize what you want to do is more important than like what the world wants you to do,

what you think you should do. You know, making money will come with the passion that you find in doing what you love. So I think I transitioned from this kind of entrepreneur. I always thought I would build a product or do something into, wow, I can maybe use humor and use brand partnerships. And this becomes a business instead of what I traditionally viewed it as. I love that. So true. And I think

that organic play of just like flowing into it really gradually, there's an awful lot to be said for that. So you had like, it was the pandemic. This was like, well, you know what? I'm going to try this thing on TikTok. It doesn't look that hard. I'm recognizing it. And humor, as you mentioned, right from the get-go, was what your default is. Are you the funny one in your friendship group?

Tell me why you're identifying more with the humor side versus, oh, I'm going to teach this about tech or I'm going to do cooking or whatever, maybe a hobby that you've got. Well, it's funny because even as Corporate Natalie today, I don't consider myself an expert on corporate America. I'm 25 years old. I've worked in corporate America for three years. I think it's hilarious when people ask me like, do you have any career advice as a 40-year-old woman trying to make a career shift? I'm like, you know, no, I don't. You seem like you're way ahead of the game. Do you have

any advice for me? I have no idea. So I don't consider myself an expert in anything. And I think there's a lot of people on social media that claim to know everything and be experts and offer all this advice. I think it's helpful to a lot of people, but I think it's hurtful in a way of like, we can't all be experts in everything. We all have areas to grow. So I think humor is a way of just, it's a universal love language. It's a way, and there's a lot of people who hate my videos too. It's not universal, but it's a way to bring light to dark times. I think we're all in a very dark time in the pandemic. I used it and it grew this community of people that were so just excited and happy to see my content. I also think it's important that the community was super positive.

I'm not trying to tear people down. Despite making fun of corporate America, I don't want to make fun of individuals. I would never talk badly about certain career types. So I think building a positive community was important to me that I was proud of. And I think that's why down the road you get brand deals because you're positive and you're appropriate and you're doing these things. And I think it's all been linked and helpful in that way. So you started posting in the pandemic, like obviously you're not in the office at that point. Were you nervous or conscious around making sure that people that you worked with and for were not seeing it at that point? Because I know that this comes up for a lot of people that I don't want to post because I don't want work colleagues to see it or even friends or family. So curious is what was going through your mind at that point? Were you trying to hide it or being quite open

about it? Of course. And I'll always say this. And my parents have told me this my whole life. I mean, anything you post on the internet, you better be proud that your grandma sees it. I am very proud of the content I make. I wasn't making content that I was like, oh, this better be proud that your grandma sees it. I am very proud of the content I make. I wasn't making content that I was like, oh, this is so risky that if my employer saw this, I would get fired because it's not. I mean, I'm making general jokes about working from home. I was, of course, worried because my whole life I've been told that everyone can see anything. Once it's out there, you can't take it back and all these things. And then in your social media training and work, like I mentioned, they're saying, don't wear our company shirt at any rallies that you attend or anything. So there is this fear for sure. But I think that shifted now. And there's this acceptance and this

recognition that building your personal brand is a very powerful tool and you can apply it into a corporate setting to help a company build their brand. And that's how it worked for me. I moved into more of a marketing role when they discovered Corporate Natalie. Of course, upfront, I was like so fearful, so scared. Didn't want anyone to see it. Someone would send it to me as a CU. I'm like, no, she looks a lot like me though.

That's so weird. And we have the same name. That's really weird. But now it's just, now it's different. Wait, I need to hear about that were you actually called into the office to be like no never into the office but like I'd have okay tell me how did they find out what is they just what is this discussion here I need to know well just it was more peers which is totally fine I'm not fearful of my I'm very supportive of my peers so it wasn't like a

boss that I had this kind of power over me but just like oh my gosh is this you in the beginning I would straight up lie no weird what who's is? Who is that? What is that? But then it was like, oh yeah, I just kind of made a couple of tics. I just ignored that. Anyway, what are we working on? Completely shifting the lens. But at this point, you're in a very techie role, right? Nothing to do with marketing. Nothing to do with marketing. Very tech. Yeah, IT. So it was just, you know, and none of the names I used were like about colleagues. So I tried to be very careful along the way, but mostly it was like, this is awesome that you do that. You know, it was never like, Oh my God, why, why are you, you know,

it was never negative. How did this transition happen then? Like, so I'm hearing the colleague, the peers are seeing it. You're like shutting down any conversation about it, but how did then the transition into the marketing come about? They're like, okay, Natalie, we've just been like watching you on TikTok and now we're taking this as a resume. So this is crazy. It is kind of like a resume. I tell every person who just graduated college, I'm like, build your little portfolio of videos. Like that is the best tool to show your work. But no, so people start chatting about it. It's like sort of one of those things where it's like, you don't want to always talk about, you know, what you're doing outside of work and work. So it's not, you know, my coworkers didn't want

to constantly ask me about it. We would talk occasionally about it. Then the craziest thing happened around the holidays. I get a, an invite from the CEO of my company on my calendar, 15 minute invite. I have like a 12 person company or 12,000 person company. So like a 12,000 person company CEO putting time on my lowly manager position calendar. I'm like, this was great. I'm getting fired. It was really nice knowing all of you. I'm done. Let's just pause because I know if I send calendar invites to my team with no context and just like, Hey, like put a meeting on there. Like, can you just ask what this is about, please? Cause ultimately why is she already sitting

one-on-one with me? Insane, insane. Like you just think nothing but the worst. I'm like, okay, I've done something to offend the CEO of my company. It's over every, you're reeling. And then I went to the meeting and it was very quick. He's like, Natalie, love what you've done. We want you in marketing. I'm like, okay. And then he's like, and I've also invited the CMO to this call and she'll take it from here. And I sat with the CMO for like 10, 15 minutes. I pulled together a pitch of what I think the social media strategy of this massive company could be. And they basically gave me a role in a promotion into marketing that I would have never had access to or gotten had I not made videos on Corporate Natalie. So it was crazy. Wow, that is what a story. And what year was that? Was that like last year, 2021?

Yes, holidays 2021. I made the shift like early 2022. And how many followers did you have at that point? I don't know followers, probably 300,000 on both. It wasn't, not a lot, but yeah, crazy. So obviously in this context, that story has turned out like so amazing. And I'm also curious, like a lot of women that listen to this or followers, one of the biggest hurdles that they have before even learning the formulas, et cetera, of social media is actually really getting out their own way, like really working the mindset. And that's what I struggled with. Like I remember really battling with showing, I remember my first live on and off in 60 seconds,

or like my first face to camera story, like shaking and just being like doing, redoing it 30 times before I even posted it. So did you have any mindset blocks that you were having to overcome during this journey? Or did it all start happening so quickly that you were already getting this serotonin rush and like endorphins when you were posting? It's crazy. I think a lot of women struggle with putting their stuff out there because there's

so much pressure. There's so much judgment. I mean, I still face hate comments, things that no one should go through, messages that no one should have to receive. And it just comes with having a platform and taking the risk and putting it out there, especially being a woman in comedy. I think that comes with so much judgment. I do think for me, the only reason I grew at the rate I did, and I've seen the successes I've did is because I just put aside my pride. I put aside the thought that the way I look matters to the world and the way I, you know, my appearance is everything. I've always had those. I used to edit photos. Like I've always been, I mean, every girl has done it at some point in their life, that person. And I just had to completely abandon that

and be like, this is a video of me without makeup in the middle of the pandemic. I've gained like 15 pounds. Who cares? I'm going to just post a video because I think it's funny and I'm proud of it. And if someone doesn't like me because of that, who cares? They're not the right person for me. So really just knowing that you're proud enough in yourself and confident enough in yourself,

which I know is so hard to say. It's much... It's easy to say. It's much harder in practice. But you have to do that to grow any brand, personal brand, business brand, anything you're trying to do. You need to have the confidence to put it out there. And so that's been really hard, but also really rewarding. And it's changed me as a person entirely. I used to not leave my apartment without makeup on. And now I just, I don't care at all. I truly, it's empowering. I think it's that self-acceptance too, right? I feel like that's the thing I really had to work on. I felt like my twenties, I was way more insecure. And now I'm like, you know what? I'm accepting of who I am, what I look like, what my abilities are.

I'm okay saying I'm not the smartest person in every single room. I'm okay saying I'm not, you know, I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, you know, I'm okay. I'm like, oh yeah, like I got a bit of cellulite on my leg. Whereas my twenties were like, oh my God, I've got cellulite. Like now, and I think it's when you start feeling like self acceptance, that's when you really unlock your true power. And I think it's when you start feeling like self-acceptance, that's when you really unlock your true power. And I think anyone who is struggling with what posting looks like for them or having these dreams that they don't feel confident enough to go after, it's really like, what

is the self-acceptance? How can you self-accept exactly where you're at? Know that your best is good enough and just accept yourself in that journey and each step that you put in front of each other. Because I know, and I'm interested if you're like this, do you ever look back on some of the early TikToks and be a little bit cringe? Like, oh, this is so cringey. Exactly. I'm the same. I'm like, oh, wow. Like that was really bad. Yeah. And there's multiple hurdles. You know, there's the like appearance hurdle of, okay, I can't, this is

a video straight up filmed in the app. I can't change my appearance. And then there's the hurdle of this video could get zero views. And you could pour so much time and effort into it and it would just completely fail. And so you have to accept, you're going to have videos that completely fail. No one watches and someone will comment, why is this even on the internet? And you have to be able to be like, I tried, took a risk. The fear of failure is a whole nother hurdle you have to overcome because you're not going to post a TikTok and it's going to get a million views. And you're going to be like, thank God I did it. Like that paid off. You're going to fail 800 times and then have one that goes viral and be like, wow, okay,

finally it's working. And so that's very hard for people to accept. I feel like a second reason is really into like that learn and that formula, because we have a program called Influencer School where we teach Instagram and then we actually had Dre and those best come in and teach TikTok because I am not going to teach no one TikTok. And I really like learned from that and was like sharing with our audience that, you know what, it's not really about failure either. It's just like learning. What are they resonating with? What are they not resonating with? Like I did a reel yesterday, which was about like keeping energy high with meetings. Right. And you could argue, oh, like that didn't do very well. That was a flop. But I'm like, actually it wasn't, I can see it didn't do very well, but why didn't it do very well? Okay. Maybe it was actually like

a really long one. Maybe the transitions weren't quick enough. Maybe this didn't work. And I think that's also permission for everyone to recognize like by those 800 that you do that don't go viral, you get to learn and start piecing. So what is the formula that you've really discovered that you spoke about at the beginning? Like you've really noticed that drives TikToks and your views forward? A couple of things. I think trying to teach or do something that's not in line with your core beliefs or identity or values, it shows. Humor is so easy for me and it comes easy for me. It doesn't read in a way that I'm trying super hard. And I think you can see that with people trying to be creators or trying to do something when maybe it's not innate to their personality. It's like, you know, trying a bunch of different trends. Like I totally, I think that's great and valuable,

but what is unique to you that makes you stand out amongst the millions of users of TikTok or doing all these trends every single day? I think also quantity over quality, like caring so much about how it looks, the transitions, is it perfect? It'll only put you behind. Post, take that time that you're using to edit it a million times over, rewatch it, make sure it's perfect to post two more videos in that time, because that's two more chances to succeed. Then you'll get better with the editing and it doesn't, it doesn't matter as much. I think, especially on TikTok, it's such an open, welcoming community. Like you can post, I mean, there's a very dark and mean side of TikTok as well, but like every creator has at least a chance to succeed on that platform. And I truly

believe that to this day. I think that's so true. And one thing that I always say is like, what's better to post something and like 10 people see it or not to post it and no one see it. You have to really understand like what you're even arguing against. Like, I'm not putting this out. It's not quite perfect yet. And I'm just not happy. And then it's not good enough. Then you don't put anything out and no one's impacted positively by it. So I think that is such a great reminder. I'm really just acknowledging, you know what, done is better than perfect in this instance. And as you are getting bigger, then you can really dial down this sort of thing. Like I'm sure now you have like a little bit more

of like a process at this point or like, hang on, is this really what I want to be sharing? Or actually could I do better? I'm wanting to re-edit it. But I think that comes with experience and it comes with that following. And at the beginning, I think you're right. It's almost the game of consistency and the game of like how much content can you put out to test so that you can then feed that loop back into it. From your perspective, how has your, and you kind of touched on it a little bit, like how has building a social media platform impacted you personally and professionally? Like, I think we've heard a little bit about the professional side in work, but I'm also curious about like what opportunities this has opened up

for you outside of corporate and like maybe how that's even changed your life's dreams or like how you personally feel about yourself. Like I'm hearing bits and positivity around like how you feel externally, like all these things. I just love to understand how it's, cause I feel like in Instagram and TikTok, they get a little bit of a bad rep in the sense of, you know, the highlight reel and all these pieces. And whilst I don't disagree with that, I also think they have given so many people such amazing opportunities and really allowed us to see the world from so many different other people's perspectives. I'm curious what that meant for you. Yes. So it's changed my life immensely, personally. I mean, I've had opportunities

open up to go to things like the Revolve Party in LA, where you're surrounded by A-list celebrities and people I've idolized my whole life. I got invited to the Super Bowl. I mean, these things that I am so unbelievably thankful to have a seat at the table and be a part of that I would never have had I just continued in my corporate job. So yes, there are a ton of things that come with having a following. Brands, companies, experiences, people that want to work with you. So that side has been incredible. Personally, it's made me value the friendships that I've had before this all happened. I think it makes me a little more judgmental of people and their intentions. And that part of it is hard. It's like, why do you want to be friends with me? And it's not that I'm not famous or

anything. It's just you question every relationship, every interaction you have. You think about when you're at a bar, I don't want to have too many drinks and put myself in a compromising position. There's a lot of pressure that comes with it. It's changed things in my life that I never would have thought I'd have to consider, like my dating life having to reveal. By the way, there's 800,000 people that are going to probably come along with this journey if this gets serious. So just like FYI, things know, and like things that you would never have to worry about before that now it can turn the thing that you're most proud of into like sometimes your biggest insecurity. But I don't know. It's mostly all very positive. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi. You know, I've been singing their praises lately

because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place, so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and kajabi has really helped us do that this year so of course i needed to share it here with you it's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business you know get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible i definitely recommend kajabi to all of my clients and students so if you're listening and haven't

checked out Kajabi yet now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial that's kajabi.com slash boss babe do you know what I think though the beauty of your platform that you've built is you don't pretend to be something that you're not though and I think though the beauty of your platform that you've built is you don't pretend to be something that you're not though and I think when you do it from that place and you come from a place of authenticity so what if you have a few drinks and like you get to be multifaceted and I think that goes along with your brand and I think like that's the thing that I've learned like when I post on mine it's always like like, you know what, I'm a human being. And I posted more recently about my divorce, but I'll post like for a while,

I was like, Oh, should I post out that sometimes like on a weekend I'll go dancing or like whatever. But I'm like, you know what, I'm human. And I'm not just, I'm not just a president of Boss Babe and I'm this, and I'm also this, this, this, and this. It's really important that we all get to empower all aspects of our personalities because otherwise, yeah, like, are we just going to be miserable living a digital life versus an actual life? Totally. But totally get the dating thing. That is definitely an interesting, interesting one for sure. And I went to the gym the other day and then someone messaged me like, oh, was that you in the gym? And I was like, yeah. And I was like thinking back like,

oh, I was a sweaty mess and I worked really hard in that class. Oh, it's like I once went to a various class and like, I'm just trying to be so incognito. I look horrible. Like, please just get me in and out of here. And the instructor who I didn't know is like, we're like three quarters way through class. So I look horrible, sweat stains everywhere. And I think we might have a special guest on tread four. Is that corporate Natalie? No.

Please no. Uh-oh. That was mean. So I bumped my... And like, oh, they're being so kind and like being supportive. All I want is to keep my speed at, you know, a nice solid five. I unfortunately at that point had to move it up to 10 because I'm embarrassed and I start sprinting in fear.

So that was, that was really, that was terrifying. Yeah, no, I definitely, that one has not happened to me. Thank goodness. And I'm definitely going to avoid Barry's just in case. Yeah, avoid that for sure. It's so cool though, that now you kind of get to like run both aspects moving forwards in your corporate position and you're really getting to monetize outside of that. And you mentioned a couple of brand partnerships along and you mentioned this earlier in the interview. I'd love for you to kind of

share like ways that, you know, this is almost how you supplement your lifestyle. And maybe you have goals around owning a house or buying the car or investments or savings and how social media has really catapulted those. Because that's the thing that I've really realized is I had a glass ceiling before building Boss Babe online. And for me, building an online presence has meant location freedom, financial freedom, flexibility in how I work. I mean, I'm going out to work tonight and that looks like a dinner, you know? So I'm curious as to, I can't use the word curious today, but I'm really interested in like, what do you, I'm so curious. I'm so curious. How has that really opened your eyes? Like, were you even familiar with the ways that you can monetize a following before launching Corporate Matt, Natalie? Totally. So I love what

you said about it changes how you work. I think people outside of this community in this space, and myself included, before I became a content creator influencer was like, oh, that's super cute. I work in consulting and they're doing dances online. Ew. I could never... No. It's not a job to be proud of. And I was super judgmental in that way. And now I'm so proud of it that I get angry, viscerally angry when people have that view of my job. The thought of being like, yeah, I quit my job to be a full-time content creator. The thought of saying that at some point in my life is so scary to me because of the stigma that it holds. But in reality, it's like this world opens so many doors financially in the way you work. I love that I can be able to attend an event and have so much fun with fellow co-creators.

And that's working or posting an Instagram story with my friends. To the outsider, it looks like I am just taking a selfie video saying some stupid stuff. But to me, it's building the business. It's building a following. It's building a community. And that's all part of working. So I think that removing the judgment from what different types of work can look like is something that I am so passionate about because there's so much you can do.

But yeah, if you want me, I mean, I can get into brand deals. I can get into how it happened. I mean, the monetization is crazy. It happens so early. It happens so fast. And I think just having the faith in yourself to charge more rates and charge higher rates and know that you have something to offer is important. Look, we love the details in this podcast.

So give them. Why don't you start monetizing? Because also, this is my favorite thing to do on the podcast is actually have conversations that you can't get on social media. Like you don't have a lot of time to go this deep. And I want people to listen to this and be like, oh, I know the next action steps that I get to take. Oh, hang on a minute. I've got 1, to this and be like, oh, I know the next action steps that I get to take. I know what, oh, hang on a minute. I've got 1200 followers and I can start monetizing.

I had no idea, you know, or a brand partnership looks like this. So let's get into the details. So how, how many followers did you have when you started monetizing? I think on TikTok, I don't even have the Instagram yet. At that point, I had like 7,000 followers and I distinctly remember getting reached out to, to my email, my personal email that I had linked to the account offering to... It starts with gifts, right? It starts with these PR packages. And they'll say, we'll send you product and you can make a TikTok about it. But no, nothing's required, whatever. And so being someone who was more vulnerable, and I actually had some friends in the influencer space who I was able to say, should I do a video on this?

They're like, no, no, that's PR. That's a gift. You don't have to do anything for that. The PR started very early, definitely before 7000. And then at 7000, it was an initial offer for an ad for twisted tea, alcoholic tea, whatever. And I did an ad for $500. And I thought I was the richest person in San Francisco. I was like, I am. I'm Jeff Bezos. Let's all go to sushi on me. I'm so excited. I was thrilled. I was literally

thrilled. And knowing just that it could have been so much more and it should have been so much more and now it is so much more is crazy. But it starts early. And I think people are taking advantage of and I think they owe these big brands things for sending them what would be considered a gift. So it's important to state your rates early and just make rates. I think making a rate sheet or a media kit for yourself is so powerful. It makes you seem like a legit business. It makes you seem like you know what you're talking about. And this whole world is so unstandardized that there's no like, you have X followers, you should get X money. It's like, not at all. You can say this is my rate. Sometimes it won't bat an eye. Sometimes it'll be like, absolutely not. And you just have to say it.

1000% in Influencer School, we literally give media templates that people can put their pictures on. It's the one we used at Boss Babe. It literally gives rates. I'm so glad that you brought that up because I say the same thing. I'm like like some people were like oh well you know you have this many followers we pay this amount and i'm like no this is my rate and my rate is this because my followers are 98 percent women they're all in a certain age group they all have a certain demographic and i know they're absolutely interested in this so mine are really really well curated so i'm like no this is my rate and then i'm also like you know what I have to factor in my time and energy going into that versus where else could it go. I think that's just a really important thing for creators to remember. Like when you're saying yes to something

at here, like you're saying no to something over here. The other thing I noticed is my mom was an art teacher. And I think creators for so long were underpaid and undervalued and left, unless you're already something like a Banksy or like, you know, huge artists that is fortunate enough to make it big when they're actually alive. Creating has never been that well paid and guests are less like, again, like a music person that really hits it big. But I think that's one thing that I love about the social media industry. It's actually opened up a space for so many artists to get paid. And it's really important everyone is paid their worth because, you know, when you're creating, just like you said, some people will look at what you're, I watched the bachelorette

one that you did, the reel. And I imagine your friends, and if you guys haven't seen it, you need to go and look at it. I watched the reel and I was like, oh, that's so interesting because your friends are probably like, oh, that's so interesting because your friends are probably like, oh, she's just asking us this one question, but you had this full vision for like what you were creating and how that then came into fruition. That is such a talent and a gift that now corporate companies are absolutely desperate for. Marketing has completely shifted now. And I'm glad we're bringing it up about what influencers paid now. If you are an influencer between even like, even from 1000 to up to a hundred thousand,

you guys have such insane engagement that actually you're paid more quite often per follower that you have because more people are actually seeing your pieces of content. And I think for a long time, there's also been this feeling. I'm not going to be able to charge until I have 100,000, 200,000, 300,000. But actually, there's a lot of businesses are craving that marketing, that personal touch. They are reaching out to people between 5,000, 100,000 as their marketing plan. So I think just realizing that if you have a following, you can be monetizing it and creating a business ASAP. Totally. Yeah, I completely agree with all that. And it's, they're paying you for your mind.

They're paying you to script an ad for them. They're paying you to promote it to your followers. And it's not, it's not even a promotion. It's like, you're putting the creative energy behind it, especially my ads. I'm very proud of. I think they're... I try to very lightly integrate the product into what I'm doing because it's humor first and product placement second is what I always tell every brand partner I work with. And I think my followers like that because they don't feel like they're being overly sold. Like, hey, everyone, check out Sugar Bear Hair Gummies. Who cares? That model is completely gone. I mean, some people still do it, but it's just how can you bring your creativity and your creator mindset into an ad? And that's so valuable. Your time taken to script that, edit it, film it, reshoot it. When they have a few edits, it all takes time and it's important to value your time highly. What is your creative

process? A lot of people who are juggling this that, okay, I have this time here, must create a reel. And then it's like very hard for them to get the swing into it. I'd love to kind of share for you to share your creative process maybe in the early days and how that has also shifted to now. Yes. So my creative process has been largely the same all the way through. I don't have a manager, an agent representing me and 99% of my brand deals are inbound right now, which I'm very thankful for. So I see the process from the initial inquiry to invoicing and sending analytics 30 days down the road. So I see the whole thing. And my rule of thumb has always been, if I can't think of a creative

idea to promote your product in the first three to five minutes of reading the email, it's not a good fit. But what about outside of brand deals too? What about just generally? Oh, generally. Yeah. Just generally. Oh my God. Every day. Okay. Tell me, because I'm like, you do a lot of original content. A lot of people are just doing mimes and audios and stuff like that. And yours is disproportionately towards original content, which is actually really rare to see in a lot of the content creators. So tell me, how are you coming up with these ideas? So living in my head is exhausting. I'm constantly thinking about

any interaction I have. I'm like, how can I make this a bit? Is this funny? Is this a joke? I'm sitting at a dinner table. I'm like, can we make a joke about splitting the bill? Because there's always those girls like, I just got the appetite, whatever. Everything I'm constantly thinking of how can I make this funny and how could I potentially make this a video? So it's just always on mode. My creative process is not, I don't know if this is untraditional, but I'm never sitting down and thinking about, let's schedule my content. Let's think about bits. Let's think about skits. It really just, it comes to me. And I think, like I talked about earlier, being able to just film when I look in any way, any, like, however I look, I can set up a laptop, set up the camera and film a corporate shtick.

It's always just like act now kind of mindset. And if you don't post now, someone else is going to post it. And you're going to be like, why didn't I think to just make that bit and post it? You know, so yeah, it's very, it's very act quickly. So you're literally recording and then posting like that day as soon as it's finished or like you post the next day at a certain time that, you know, the algorithm is favoring. I try not to let the algorithm run my life. When I first started, it would be like film, edit, you know, add the caption, text overlay, post it. I've now, with my life and my mental health, learned to outsource things that aren't my core competencies. So for me, filming and doing those final touches on the edits is where I'm needed. The rest can

be outsourced to interns and people working for me, people who want part-time work. So I'm able to allow myself the space to just create and have others help with the other elements of posting because there's so much that goes into it. So yeah, now it's changed a bit to I own certain parts of it and I outsource the rest. Do you mind if we talk a little bit about mental health? Totally. Because I think that it's a really important topic. There is a lot of a highlight reel and there are aspects and how have you needed to look after your mental health by

potentially spending more time on social media or potentially like putting things out? Like how have you made sure like, oh, if someone doesn't like this, isn't it a reflection that they don't like me? I'm just really interested to know like what are some of the battles that you've overcome as you've gone on to social media and got the the following that you have now I mean an immense amount of mental health battles you are getting critiqued and talked about every single day by hundreds of thousands of people in In a corporate job, you have a performance review twice a year where they constructively criticize you on areas you could potentially work on. Being a content creator, you're getting unsolicited advice

24 hours a day. For me personally, in my mental health, a lot of creators don't agree with this. They think engaging directly with their community is a very powerful tool. I completely agree. And I do engage in my community in a lot of ways. But for me, reading every single DM and reading every comment does far more harm than help. And so I outsource it. I have people logged into my socials who will delete bad things from my DMs so I don't have to see them. If there's a hate comment on a video, they'll filter it out. I welcome any and all opinions, of course. If you disagree with like a product I'm promoting or something,

please feel free to like, like absolutely. But something just rude about my character or my appearance, that has nothing to do with the video itself. Like I don't, I will delete it and I don't need to see it and I won't delete it. Someone else will.

And so that I'd never have to interact with it. So I'm thankful for, that I've been able to afford people to help me with that because I don't have the mental capacity to deal with that. There's enough real life stuff, let alone in this fake digital world that we're living in. That is hard. Yeah. But I think that's really beautiful because like you get to create the world that you do feel comfortable living in. And I think that a lot of these things come up for people going onto social media, but I'm sure you agree. The hate is like the tiny percentage of what you actually get. You're probably getting like 99% love, but that 1% really does hurt. And I think that it's great

that you recognize, you know what, this actually isn't constructive for me really does hurt. And I think that it's great that you recognize, you know what, this actually isn't constructive for me to see this. And I'm going to have my team who are, you know, a little bit more, they're removed from it and then delete it. And that's how I'm going to protect myself. This is my biggest learning too, is just because something works for someone else doesn't mean it has to work for you. And I hear that in what you're saying, like I create in this way. It's not how everyone wants to create or does create, but this is what works for me. I also don't want to see these things because that is actually probably takes you out of the creative mindset too, or like stunts your creativity when you're seeing like trash comments and trolling. So I

think it's really powerful that we all get to curate that space. I'm different. I actually really like batch creating my reels or like content ideas. So I work slightly differently because I have obviously, my job is so multifaceted, whether it's reading legal contracts or doing finances or ops or social media or the podcast. It's like so many different, a day never looks the same. And what I love that it's actually really hard when it comes to social creation, because because then I'm like I have an hour to like record something and now I'm stunted like what the hell am I going to record versus I will literally block the whole of my Friday afternoon off and it'll take me like an hour or so to get into a creative mode but when I do I can

do like a couple of things it's just really empowering to know that this world you get to lean into who you are and what suits you and I'm glad you just said like as well that the community your community are like so wonderful too because I also met the most amazing people on social media and there's people who are just like whatever but oh yeah there's always those yeah but meeting real authentic creative people is always really inspiring and you can also argue you can have that in life too, right? No one is amazing who works at 12,000 people at your company. They're not always going to be nice either.

So it's how you protect yourself and put that up, I think is truly, truly important. What advice would you give to your former self before you had started? If you were to look back and Natalie in 2019, 2020, or just as you were getting started, what is the key bit of advice? Like I wish someone had sat and told me this.

I just always wish I got into it earlier. I think to anyone, I suggest build your personal brand early. It doesn't have to be on social media. It can be you're the funny one and you're comfortable telling jokes on your Zooms with your coworkers and you become such a valuable member of your team because of that.

I think my former self was afraid to make jokes on a client call or whatever. And there is obviously an appropriate way to use humor at work. But I would just say, show the person you are, show your real personality and really find what you're doing in your life, in your job, in your career, whatever it is that's super unique to you. I would argue that parts of Corporate Natalie, I mean, everything can be replicated now, of course, but are so core to my identity, my vocal intonations, the way I deliver bits. And I just want to always be someone that's offering something that you can't find elsewhere. That concept applies everywhere. It's impossible to get fired from your job if you are a single

point of failure and you have something that can't be replicated. You will always have job security. You will always be well-liked by the people around you in your friend group, in your job. I don't know, everywhere. I just always, I always give that advice. And it's that uniqueness, like allow you, I think it's way better to have a personality that you actually have a personality and you're memorable than no personality at all. Like, yeah, sure. Maybe some people are like, you know what? I don't like your sense of humor and therefore I don't want to be necessarily friends with you. But then there's other people that are going to be like, I freaking love you. Like, and then it's like, versus like, who's Natalie again? I can't remember her. Like,

what's that to me? It is like, I would rather stand out for me. I'm so geeky and awkward sometimes. Like, but at least I show my face, particularly living in LA. I must be the most uncool person living in LA. I also don't know who anyone is. So my boyfriend's like, Oh, that's such and such. I'm like, Oh, who's that? He's like, how do you not know? And I'm like, I don't. I need you to make me cool. I know. I got recognized in LA once on a trip. I was just visiting my friend and someone recognized me. I'm like, am I getting recognized in Los Angeles, California right now? I'm a celebrity. I get recognized in San Francisco. I'm like, okay,

whatever. Let's go. But there I was, wow, I made it. I truly made it. It's hilarious. And I'm just like, you know what? I'm just going to own that. I am such a geek at heart because if I stop that, then I'm not really me. And then I'm living a life that I'm not really, isn't actually who I am. Then it doesn't feel authentic. Then it feels like it's stunting who I actually am and want to be. And so I think just permission for everyone to own your quirkiness and particularly millennials. If I look back, I think we kind of also grew up in this era where you didn't really want to stand out that much. Like I remember school, like everyone wore the same, like no one, there was no individuality encouraged, right? We were like, and particularly in the UK school, we were all in uniforms, had have to look the same like we're not even allowed to dye our hair or tie our hair in weird ways like

and now I think individuality is like really encouraged like the people I follow on TikTok or the people I follow on Instagram like they're memorable because they have a personality they have an opinion and I think it's also important to remember not everyone has to agree with you all the time sure there's a difference between like hate opinions and like just absolutely you know I'm not saying do anything but but also it's okay if you're like oh I really love almond butter and they always really love peanut butter but have an opinion on which you love more and I think that's what really sets you apart and that ownership just be who you are and be cool and learn. And if you're not already cool with who you

are, learn to be like, put effort into actually being good with who you are as a person. Because when you do that, I think that just empowers you, this confidence opens up and then you're like, really, why am I not going after this? Why if I have this dream, why am I not trying? Like, who am I letting tell me that I'm not worthy of this and yeah that's on my soapbox but I think everyone should be embracing their individuality I love it absolutely I'm gonna go dye my hair yeah I know right I'm like huh do I want to be do I want to be pink for a little bit maybe that's the girl that's had basically the do you know what I did I was gonna say I had the same haircut since I was 14, but that's not true.

I went through a phase of like dying shorter and dark. And it was so funny. Natalie was like, why are you got extensions? Like, why don't you like go a bit lighter? Like, I think light would suit you. But she was like trying to do it in a really nice way. Now I look back on photos. It was really bad.

It did not suit me at all. And I was like, I looked it like I looked washed out pale. And I'm like, huh, I was like, I really get why you were trying to encourage me to have extensions and dye. A good friend will tell you to get your get your shit together. Yeah. Yeah. I know you tried it, but we're gonna move on. Totally. What do you think is next steps for corporate Natalie? Like, where are your dreams really leaning you into now? Do you know, have you got a five-year vision? Are you just like seeing what happens? Because I'm also really intrigued by the people who plan out everything. And then the others are like, man, I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to see. Yeah. I think I, I mentioned earlier, I've always been such a futurist,

worried about my five-year plan, my 10-year plan. I think there is importance of planning your days and your weeks and your goals at a high level. But I think when you start to get into the granularity of every step you're going to take to get to achieve this goal, it becomes crippling because everything changes, variables change, COVID could happen. You have no idea what's next. So I'm trying to be more living in the present. But some exciting things coming up. I just acted in a show with some fellow creators. I never would have thought I would be acting in LA trying that out. So I was in a show called Sales Are Dope. That'll be coming out in like January,

February, hopefully of next year. But just on the horizon, I'm trying to launch a speaking tour. I'm trying to just build my brand in a way that's sustainable, not just on TikTok and Instagram, like write a book, do a speaking tour, act. And so there's a lot coming up. I think with that comes the need to potentially step away from a full-time role, which is terrifying and scary and also counterintuitive to the brand I've built. So figuring out how to navigate that because you can't, you can't do it all. You need to have a little bit of balance to tie back to the mental health thing. So figuring out what the next steps are is, I'm excited about it. Do you know what I think is really cool though? And again, just like a positive spin on social media is that when I was a chiropractor and I was in that more corporate world, you have a glass ceiling that you can't, you can't say, Oh, I want to earn quadruple next year. I want to travel and do this next year, or I want to try acting and try these things.

And I think what's really, really cool and powerful is that when you have a brand, like you act, like even asking this, like the fact I get to ask you this question, what's next? And you just rattled off a whole host. I might write a book. I might act, I might do a speaking tour. And I'm sure if we rewound three years and I asked you like, hey, what's next in your career? You're probably like, oh, I may go for this promotion at this point. I'm thinking senior consultant next year. It's like, who cares? I used to think that was so cool. It's like, there's so much more. And it allows you to just leapfrog exponentially. That is my biggest learning. Like again, feel free to

disagree. But for me, the biggest thing that has happened since growing on social media is that all of a sudden what I thought would take me five years to achieve, I can do in a year or I can do in less. Like if you think about how much your life has changed in just three years or two years in your instance, I don't even recognize my life from where I started. Like it's completely different. And I wouldn't have even thought to dream the things that now happen to me. And I, I just always want to remember that. I don't come from a wealthy background. These opportunities that now I have were not even imaginable back to me in like little UK in the center, you know, just

completely so cool. Social media is really freaking cool. It does that. I remember. Yeah. Just one anecdote. I mean, the boss, when I was a consultant, the partner on my team wouldn't even let me speak on client calls. Like I'd build this entire deck. I'd, you know, work so hard on it day and night. And then I wasn't even able to talk on the calls. I was not allowed to speak. And now yesterday, I mean, a mere two and a half years later, I just spoke at Instagram, like an incredibly, like a giant company that I would have never even been able to step onto the campus. It's like just the things that the doors that are opened are, I completely agree. It's unimaginable. So post your first TikTok. Don't let it sit in your draft. Just post it.

Yeah. You know what? I'm actually literally going to put your handles because everyone needs to follow you. And I'm going to put some resources because I feel like everyone's going to be a little bit more inspired to like post their first Instagram, their first reel,

their first TikTok, whatever it is. Like let's take some action from this. So Natalie, do you want to share all your handles as well just so that everybody has them? Because I really want to make sure that they get your humor in their life because yours is the type of account that like cheers you up. You just, oh my gosh, it's hilarious. I love it. Well, I'm honored. Yes. If you want to follow me, I am corporate Natalie on Tik TOK, Instagram, and now LinkedIn and Corp Natalie on Twitter. So those are the social channels for now. If you see me on the street, say hi, you know, just anything. Or don't. Or don't. Or if I look like I'm like crying or something, just avoid me.

Yeah. And if you're in a Barry's workout and Natalie's there. Don't say a word. Don't say a word. Yeah. She wants to sweat in peace and know that no one's and feel like no one's looking at her ever like I was really appreciative that the woman came up to me in my dms versus at the gym because I would have been a virus if she came to me I was like sweat beads of sweat dripping down my face oh it's horrible so compromising but thank you so much for having me on this was amazing amazing. I had such a great conversation. So many helpful tips, I think, and the platform you built is incredible. So such an honor to be on. Thank you. Well, we are honored for you to share your wisdom as well. So thanks, Natalie. Appreciate you.

Yay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. that you need to do to start and grow your business. To access this freebie, all you need to do is leave us a review, then share a screenshot of your review with contact at bossbabe.com and we'll send this must-have kit straight to your inbox. Outro Music