Today I share with you an interview I did with Natalie Sisson, who is on of my favorite entrepreneurs online.
I’ve been following her almost as long as I’ve had this blog. She has been awesome enough to interview me on her podcast about developing iPhone apps and asked me to contribute to her project, $100 Change.
Natalie helps women (and some men) start from scratch and build a business online that gives them more freedom in their lives. Today her and her partner Natalie McNeil have opened their flagship course, WE Mastermind, for a limited time.
But first I wanted to asked her questions that I get from readers a lot because she is the expert at running an online business.
I follow you online and you definitely do live out of your suitcase traveling the world. Where are you doing this interview from and where have you been in 2013?
I’m currently in the beautiful and eclectic city of Berlin. Germany. I’m going to be here for around 6 more weeks before further travel for Ultimate Frisbee tournaments in Europe, and onto North America. The first 4.5 months of this year I was in South East Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Philippines) and South Korea!
Can you tell us a bit about how you got to this point? I know for many people having an online business is not something they imagined doing at first, but now they wouldn’t want to do anything else.
I’d love to say it was a straight line to online entrepreneurship but in reality, like most success stories, it was two or more years in the making. I had a pretty successful career in the corporate world, rising up through the ranks in various brand management, marketing and business development roles for almost 8 years.
But the 9-5 rat race I experienced in London in 2008 pushed me over the edge. So much so that I quit forever and went to Vancouver, Canada with the dream of starting my own business.
Instead I found the next best thing, my business partner who I ended up co-founding a technology company with. That was a wild rollercoaster ride into the world of entrepreneurship – especially in the fast faced tech startup scene and I learned a ton. It was during that time I started my blog, mainly to share my learnings with others in the hope it would help them, and to interview successful female founders (of which there were – and still are – few of in the tech scene).
That blog is now the Suitcase Entrepreneur and it’s changed a lot since then as I’ve found my unique special proposition (USP) and developed my own voice and brand. It’s coming up 3 years this month that I’ve had my business and I love it more everyday.
You had a successful career in the corporate world. What made you shift to wanting to work online?
For me it was never being able to `own’ the outcome. I mean in all of my roles I had a relatively large amount of autonomy which was great. But often I got roadblocked by senior management when I was wanting to launch a new initiative or project. Nothing frustrated me more, especially as that’s what they had hired me to do. I also tired quickly of office politics, bureaucracy and working within pointless constraints. I wanted the freedom to do my own thing at my own pace.