From Employee to Global Financial Advisor & Strategist

[00:00:00] Nat: one of the biggest factors, I think, in being an entrepreneur or just being a happy human is to put the onus on yourself. easier said than done because it's so easy to blame other people and circumstances. but I think when you can let go of that and recognize that a lot of this stuff is in your hands if you're willing to do the right things, everything else can and should follow.

[00:00:21] Intro- Outro: Welcome to And Then I Did This. Prepare to be inspired as we celebrate the unique journeys of individuals who've had the courage to break free and live life on their own terms. Their lives prove that you truly can be free to live your best and most authentic life.

[00:00:41] Intro- Outro: Let's get to it

[00:00:44] LuRae: Welcome to the show.

[00:00:46] LuRae: Today, I have a special guest, Nat Berman. After 20 years of building businesses, coaching founders, and watching thousands of people try harder with no change, he founded the Be Better Movement, helping people build a better life one day at a time over 365 days. He's also a co-founder of Brand Built and the CEO of Uncoached, and he is gonna share his journey today and share some words of wisdom for all of you out there who are aspiring to do something else, wanting a better life, and just not sure how to get there.

[00:01:18] LuRae: So Nat, welcome to the show.

[00:01:21] Nat: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

[00:01:23] LuRae: Share your background. I shared kind of just the highlight reel of w- kind of now, but I'd love you to share more about kind of your journey, how you got where you are right now to even be able to do something like you're doing, which I think is amazing.

[00:01:37] Nat: Sure. I don't know, it's always different when I talk about my background. I, I never know how far back I should go, but, I guess for the, the purposes of, folks who are entrepreneurs and, and folks who kind of want to improve and all that kind of stuff, I guess a good way to start would be to say I never really liked authority.

[00:01:54] Nat: and I don't mean that in a rude kind of way. I've had bosses, teachers, you name it, in my life who were incredibly supportive, and those who were pretty mean, frankly. And, in both cases, I just always kind of felt like I wanted to sort of do my own thing. And so, from a very young age, I, I was always tinkering around,doing things on my own.

[00:02:17] Nat: And so, oddly enough, when I graduated college, this was before I got a job, like, in the real world. I even did, like, multi-level marketing stuff, and I was calling people from the yellow pages and white pages and, But yeah, I was in the workforce for about seven years or so, mostly as a recruiter in New York City.

[00:02:38] Nat: So I, I, recruited for, investment banking, sales and trading,for s- some of the larger bulge bracket firms at the time. So it was like, Goldman Sachs, UBS, all that. never liked it. Wasn't really my thing. it w- it was just a little salesy for me. and it was 2007 is when everything really kind of started, and, a buddy of mine emailed me about this blogging platform on Google, which is called Blogspot, and I'm not sure if it still exists.

[00:03:04] Nat: I think it does.

[00:03:05] LuRae: It does. I have one up there.

[00:03:07] Nat: There you go. There you go. that was my very first... technically I had a website right outside of college. That was, that was even older. That was on Yahoo! GeoCities. and so that was like a blog before the word blog even existed. So- But he told me about this Blogspot.

[00:03:25] Nat: I, I kind of was like, I just sort of got obsessed. I was like, "Oh, wow, people are reading this." And then I learned how to use WordPress, and I'm not a technical person by any, any stretch of the imagination. I still don't, I don't know tech or computers very well, but I, I know my way ar- around these themes and, and how to construct them.

[00:03:44] Nat: And so, I had my first website in '07 called uncoached.com, and it was mostly, it wa- it was almost like a Barstool Sports. that's the best comparison I could give it. And, I came up literally at the same time as, like, Dave Portnoy, and the site took off pretty quickly. And so it took about nine months or so, I, I quit my job, and I decided, to give it a shot, And, yeah. thankfully, I never turned back. And,to this day, I still own, a portfolio. There's about 25 sites in there or so. And, luckily, it's, it's not a huge, part of my daily schedule anymore, but it runs, sort of in the background. And then it was,I always had experience growing traffic, building relationships with other sites, and that, that kind of transferred nicely into social media.

[00:04:31] Nat: So it was 2019 where I started to see what was going on with LinkedIn. I was like, "This is interesting. A lot of people, what are all these comments and likes, and why are people getting all this attention on LinkedIn?" And it was, that was about a year or two after the real gold rush on LinkedIn, like, as far as creators were concerned.

[00:04:52] Nat: back in 2017, you could go on there, put something up, and get 200,000 views and it, like, it was, it was like early TikTok days. I missed that boat, but I, I was kinda, I kinda caught the very last wave, and so my following grew relatively quickly There I started talking about being an entrepreneur, everything that, that led up to that point.

[00:05:16] Nat: and I'm a video guy. I did all videos just sitting in my backyard just, talking. no scripts, just, whatever I wanted to say about a certain topic. And, I took to it pretty well. And then what started to happen was I, I didn't really have a plan, which to anyone listening, if I were to do it again, I'd have a plan.

[00:05:36] Nat: But at the time, I didn't have a plan and, and, people started asking me if I did coaching. And one of my biggest topics was always like how there's these 20-year-old coaches out there. I'm like, in my head, I'm like, "I don't know if they really understand this very well." So I started,pushing that a little bit more and, picked up some clients and started doing that.

[00:05:57] Nat: And then, I kinda, kinda took a sort of hiatus on LinkedIn for a bit. Not that I stopped posting, I just wasn't as involved. And luckily, I had a, a nice turn of events where I sold one of my largest properties, so I had some time on my hands, and I decided to really go all in on LinkedIn. This was in 2022/23 And then I met my business partner in '24.

[00:06:22] Nat: That's when we started BrandBuilt, and, so yeah, I've been, I've basically been pretty heavy on social media since 2019. This year, October of 2025 is when I really started to branch out. So I went on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and, I still call it lucky. I grew a very big following on Instagram.

[00:06:42] Nat: It's, it's 215,000 now, and it just keeps... Yeah, I, I hired coaches. Like I'll- that's what I always tell people, "If you don't know how to do it, hire somebody that, that does and can help you." and so I've just taken that ball and run with it and, yeah, what you said in the beginning. In, in January we started, the Be Better movement.

[00:07:03] Nat: and you, you mentioned something like, you know, how I'm able to do that, and frankly, it's, it's just I've had a decent career and I can afford to grow it right, So there's not too many people out there with communities that cost a dollar. it's literally a dollar a month, and I have no plans on upping that or doing any kinda upselling anytime soon.

[00:07:25] Nat: Like, it just doesn't, it's not part of the plan. so it's been great. It started off, kinda slow. We started in January and, it was always people were trickling in here and there, and then the last couple weeks it's been picking up. So now it's like, about 430-plus members and just trying to continuously grow and keep the, keep it very simple.

[00:07:49] Nat: I have a lot of experience with communities and what I find about them is that- Community members suffer burnout a lot, and they feel pressured. it's not their fault. it's, you have this program and it's consistent and it requires people to be there and participate. Whereas I was thinking all along li- all along that, I think the problem a lot of people have is just being consistent, building habits, being disciplined.

[00:08:18] Nat: So if we could just give them one small thing to do every day and just keep them coming back, they'll, they'll hopefully eventually turn that into, like, an automatic practice. And so far the response has been great and, that's where I'm at today. I hope that wasn't too long-winded.

[00:08:33] LuRae: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I think, I think, that our journeys are interesting.

[00:08:37] LuRae: I mean, when I h- you know, I love that you even touched on,the beginning, 'cause p- we're all curious to learn from each other and we, the paths that we've had, we've all been tenacious and continued on. And Karen, like, you're going, going through the phone book and, like, f- reaching out to people that way.

[00:08:54] LuRae: I had a flashback the other day to when I had left, I guess. I- it was one of the, one of the, SEO companies I was with when, back when Google was kind of literally just kind of starting out in 2005. I decided to leave, and I remember I, I was with a company that, that did optimization for them. They were acquired by Hearst Media, but, it was back when I was in Arizona.

[00:09:17] LuRae: But I remember posting on Craigslist, and I got... And I, and it hit me that I literally got my first two clients. I started a digital agency on, my own. I didn't have any clients, and I wound up with two clients, in New York. I decided to go to the major markets on Craigslist and post. And sure enough, I had a, a restaurant on the Upper East Side, and then I had a tech repair shop that was in Brooklyn.

[00:09:44] LuRae: And eventually I wound up... I had never met them in person. This was strictly through Craigslist. And I remember, eventually got to, meet them. W- went to New York for a meeting for some purpose and... But it's like the, the things that we're willing to do, I say willing to do, the things that we do, they all build on, so, on what we've done in the past.

[00:10:04] LuRae: So those experiences you had, I mean, just starting out, like that takes guts to get, go through a phone book, get on a phone, call someone. W- Those, those behaviors,we learn from them.

[00:10:17] Nat: Sure. Sure. I, I used to meet people at the Marriott Hotel in Long Island in, Hempstead, and that was my first experience of just talk about as cold as it gets in terms of cold calling.

[00:10:31] Nat: Literally just names out of the white pages and, and then all, the, all the subsequent years in, in recruiting that was also cold calling. And it's funny, like I don't like cold calling, never have, never will. that's why I took to being online quite well because I don't know, rejection hurts a lot less when you're online.

[00:10:49] Nat: I don't, I just don't care. It's just, it like it doesn't matter. Like, nos roll off me much easier than when someone says, "Don't ever call me again." it's, it's like it, it somehow it's... You almost feel like it's not real. when you're on the phone it just feels more real. so today, I could send 100 outreach rema- emails and I, it doesn't make a difference to me whether they return them or not.

[00:11:09] LuRae: Yeah. And I, I think, and I relate with what you're saying because I was in sales also. Like, my first job, I think out of college, I didn't realize it was a sales job. when I had applied, my brother was with the phone company, and so at the time, I, my children's father was still in school and, and so it was like, okay, I have my degree, but it wa- the economy wasn't great.

[00:11:29] LuRae: It was like in the early '80s. And so I wound up, g- g- getting hired as a part-time temporary employee with what was then Pacific Northwest Bell, and sure enough, it was a sales role. I'm like, "Oh, okay." So I'm like selling call waiting and And helping people move their phone service, I mean, it wa- a couple years later I'm like promoted, part-time temporary employee, full-time. They moved me to Seattle and it was like then I was with them for 16 years. I, 12 years later was a VP of marketing. But starting out as that role, you can remember... Like, you have to do, you have to have a mindset shift of, y- serving people.

[00:12:06] LuRae: I, to this day, and I share that only because I'm courteous to people who, even people on LinkedIn who reach out and has... it's not something I'm... 'Cause I have a digital agency, obviously they, they assume, oh, I'm gonna sell her whatever it is that it is that they've got. And I still say, "Thank you for reaching out.

[00:12:22] LuRae: However, I'm not XYZ." Or if someone's on the phone, like I'll say, "Thanks so much, but it's not..." Because I know how much, how many guts it you know, the guts it takes to do it, and then yeah, just we're all human in the end of the day. So be kind, It's not hard.

[00:12:37] Nat: I agree. It reminds me of like the service industry.

[00:12:40] Nat: I've been a busboy, I've been a cook, and I give tips pretty much no matter, give good tips pretty much no matter what. I mean, you, you have to be a real You have to be a really mean person as a server if I'm not gonna tip you. that, I don't know if, I don't know if that's ever even happened, so.

[00:13:00] Nat: But yeah, the, when you can put yourself in someone else's shoes, it always, I think it always helps, Sure.

[00:13:06] LuRae: Yeah. A- and you talked, I know a little bit about, like, relying on others for... And I look at this as, like, do the things you love to do, outsource everything else. If you don't know something, go find...

[00:13:18] LuRae: And, like, talk a little bit about that, 'cause I know part of the barriers people have to stepping out is, "I'm not sure people would pay me for what I know." And I always say, "All you need to know is 10% more than the next person you're helping, and you're of service. You're helping someone else." But talk a little bit about overcoming those things that are, you see as a barrier, and don't, h- why it shouldn't hang people up.

[00:13:43] Nat: Sure. well, the first thing you mentioned, points to leverage, right? Mm-hmm. And, if you don't know something, hire someone out who, who does. And, some people, might not be in position to do that right away, which is very common. you could be in a financial situation where you have to pay the bills and survive, and so you kind of do whatever you need to do.

[00:14:01] Nat: But if you can ever reach a point where, you have the option to not do what you don't wanna do, it's only gonna, make things easier and better. and it also depends on what your preference is as well. It's like, I have a gardener here, right? I have a landscaping company. I, I don't, I don't wanna do all that stuff, I don't necessarily like to go shopping, but luckily I have a spouse who does. And so it's like you, you just find a way. And I always tell, I always told her, I'm like, "It's not that I'm so opposed to it, but, like, I'd ra- I'd just get it delivered." Like, I don't have a problem getting the groceries, I'm just not gonna get them.

[00:14:34] Nat: I'm gonna get them delivered. And the same applies to business as far as I'm concerned. Like I said, in the beginning it might not work out that way because it's a little bit harder and you have responsibilities. However, as you continue to go down the road and you can start handing things off, the way I look at leverage is, is like this.

[00:14:52] Nat: If there's anything that someone else can do as well as you and you don't like it, don't do it, right? Or find a way not to do it. There are very few things that are irreplaceable. However, make sure, and this, this gets into, in my opinion, how to really be successful. You mentioned being 10% better than the other person.

[00:15:15] Nat: Once you understand those one or two things, maybe three things that, that do set you a little bit apart, lean into those and beat them into the ground until there's nothing left, to be there. And I remember- Well, I had a really interesting moment once, and it was with someone on LinkedIn who I talked to, and we just had like a one-to-one conversation and I think we- I was kinda supposed to sell him on one-to-one coaching.

[00:15:44] Nat: This is a couple years ago. And You ever, sometimes, like, you get into a conversation with someone and you're very, intimidated, right? This is someone who is just very successful, handsome, so well-spoken. Like the, the, like this whole... Like I just looked at this guy, I'm like, "Oh my God," like I can't,I can't convince this guy to do anything.

[00:16:10] Nat: Like, what am I supposed to, what am I supposed to do with this guy, right? And I remember leaving that call both enamored but also feeling pretty bad, right? Because I was like, "That sucks." And then i- amazingly, like within a week, like this sort of like swath of fresh air came over me, I was like, "Wait a second, I know a lot more than this guy about X, Y, Z.

[00:16:34] Nat: A lot more," right? And that's when I realized y- you don't have to know anything other than that. It's just that one thing, and if they need that, then you can be the authority and you can be fully confident in being able to talk to that person, and just listen to all the other stuff, right? And, let them be the, the, the authority on, on everything else that maybe you're intimidated by.

[00:16:56] Nat: But when it comes to your thing that you know better than most people, that's when I think the confidence shines through. And you don't need more than those one or two things. You just don't. I happen to be a very strong believer in, not that I don't think people should be diversified, however, when you start off, if you have that, what's the phrase, zone of genius, right?

[00:17:18] Nat: Or whatever you wanna call it. If you just have this really strong ability. I always use Tony Robbins as an example. not because it's like, I love the guy or, or,I'm such a fan. It's only because he was really one of the first people, in my eyes, who went from one place and grew it into a massive diversified company.

[00:17:38] Nat: So everybody knows him for what? Motivational speaking, right? Personal development. Everybody knows Tony Robbins for that. But what I think people missed was over the years, he has a whole bunch of companies in a whole bunch of different areas that you would never know, and I th- and, and to me, it reached its apex when he released that book on finance.

[00:17:59] Nat: And I'm sitting there in my head being like, "What the hell does Tony Robbins know about finance? He's a motivational speaker." However, his motivational speaking career led him to what? Being connected with all these titans of finance. That was what the book was. It was basically him interviewing every person who was a huge name in finance and putting all that information together into this book.

[00:18:20] Nat: And so if you're great at one thing- I think eventually that, that has the opportunity to lead to all the other things, and you can diversify that way.

[00:18:28] LuRae: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I ab- absolutely agree, and, it's also making me think of as people are starting out, we were talking about, they may not have, like, the money, you know, cash to hire someone else.

[00:18:41] LuRae: But if we talk about the community, k- kind of the benefits of community, like, there, there are communities where you can leverage other people's expertise. So trade with someone else. Like, but, find a way where y- you can... I mean, I remember, it, it was interesting. I thought about this the other day, too, when I had, I had left, I'd left Arizona, moved to New York, worked for the agency, and then had,ultimately went back, and a client that I had when I first was working with, in my own agency realized I was back, and she's like, "Oh, well, you, d- can you do my, do my marketing again?" And so, I mean, and then it was, like, at a whole nother level.

[00:19:19] LuRae: Like, we were doing photo shoots, and we were doing events and all kinds of... She was a, a cosmetic,beau- beautifier of, of people and women and, And so, it was like, so w- we even did tr- I have daughters, so it was like a great opportunity to d- do trade for other things. I actually did that w- in other ways with even functional medicine doctors, that kind of thing.

[00:19:40] LuRae: Like, there's so many ways that you can, when you're an entrepreneur, d- do things and pay for things that you don't think about when you're an employee. You just think about, "Oh, w- what does this cost, and how much money do I have?" And it... But it's like, get creative. Like, fin- find, find other ways. The other thing, and this is just a complete...

[00:20:00] LuRae: It's just c- it's connected in a different way. People don't realize when you're an employee, and I'm hearing more people talking about this now on, on some of the social media feeds, like, become an exempt person. But when you're, when you have your own business, you are literally paying yourself. you're paying the, the government after you've taken care of all your expenses, everything that, you know, so the, the numbers look very different when you have your own business.

[00:20:29] LuRae: So even if you're an employee starting a side thing, you don't have to be making a huge profit to get some tax benefits. That's just a side plug for look into it. It's w- it's worth it from that angle also. That's just a side benefit.

[00:20:43] Nat: Yeah, right?

[00:20:45] LuRae: So what other... talk a little bit about the, Be Better and, like, your community perspective and j- just what you've learned around that and, and insights that you can share.

[00:20:57] Nat: Yeah, sure. So the, the inception of, of the Be Better movement, Unfortunately came out of tragedy, but it was still, I'm, I'm glad that the, the, that it happened. I'm just not glad about what happened prior. My, my mother passed away, back in October of 2025, very unexpectedly. not that she didn't live a long life.

[00:21:18] Nat: She was 83 years old and, but she... Yeah, she fell down the stairs, and this is someone who was, very, with it mentally, for her age, and she was in very good health, and so that's why it sort of came as a shock. And I remember, I don't even know why or what I was thinking, but I just, when I was kind of reflecting on the things that we had talked about in the previous year or, or even before that, there was just somewhere in my head I was, like, there was this phrase, "Be better."

[00:21:50] Nat: I don't... And like, and I never even heard of the Melania Trump thing years ago. I think she had something called Be Better. I never knew about it. So in my head, it was just like, it's like, just be better," Like, it's just a simple statement, like, just be better. And we already had BrandBuilt, and that was a community that was, that was paid and more expensive, That was like a, a, that's like a $250 a month community,for execs and, and helping people with their businesses. But I wanted to do something that was like, not just necessarily, necessarily a community, but more like a, a movement,and based around something entirely simple and something that...

[00:22:27] Nat: I've always liked to do things that people don't think can be done. I'm not saying that a dollar a month community can't be done, but- For some reason, I've always been in the volume business, and what I mean by that is when I had websites, and I still do, I never made money with products. I never made money with affiliates.

[00:22:47] Nat: I always made money on digital advertising, so banner ads and things like that. And the way to make money on those is you need to get impressions. You have to have visitors. that's the only way to make a full-time living with just display ads. And so I was always in the business of having to get millions and millions of visitors.

[00:23:05] Nat: I always dreamed of having a site that had 1,000 visitors a day and could make a million dollars a year, but that's hard, right? That- that's like,you- you're like a Rolex dealer or something, and you have these thousand clients that you can always turn to or, or Lamborghinis or whatever you wanna call it.

[00:23:20] Nat: I just decided to lean into that because I was always good at building an audience. I was always good at social media. I grew fast on LinkedIn and, and that's when I kinda decided, all right, well, what's missing here, right? It's very, very difficult to get someone to buy into a high-ticket product when they don't know you.

[00:23:39] Nat: It- it-- close to impossible, right? You usually have to have a one-to-one conversation with them, if not a series of them. equally not, I don't think it's easy either. It's, it's not easy to get someone to do something for $100 or $200, even a dollar. When, when someone's actually putting in their credit card information, that's a big commitment no matter what the amount is.

[00:23:57] Nat: But I figured in my head I didn't wanna do so much outreach. I didn't wa- I just wanted to be able to do what I love doing, which is content. I, I've always loved making videos, and I just had this crazy notion that, like, if I just keep spreading this message about getting, being better, all personal development, having kind of a wide array of topics that all connected in some way around being better, that eventually people would buy in, people would sign up, people would do this, And so, it took a, a little while on Instagram for the whole system to sort of kick in, but I got lucky in the sense that I, I had a couple videos that went viral very quickly in the first month or so. And so, as soon as I got, like, my first million-view video, it brought a lot of followers in, and then I was able to create, like, automations.

[00:24:59] Nat: So whenever you see a video of me, it'll say, "Comment the word better and I'll send you a link," and, that automates, a link being sent out with a message. I do a lot of things myself manually to this day, like, no AI, no bots, anything like that. But, for these messages, it, it...

[00:25:15] Nat: I couldn't, I can't return them all myself. It's very, very difficult. it started to work, and then on LinkedIn I started-- I totally changed my strategy, on LinkedIn a couple months ago, where I decided, you know what? If these are doing really well on Instagram, maybe they'll work on LinkedIn. So I started putting them on LinkedIn, and all of a sudden,'cause everyone knows this who's been on LinkedIn long enough, that everybody's reach got, plummeted over the last year or two.

[00:25:40] Nat: And frankly, mine's gone up, and I think it's 'cause I'm one of the few people that's doing only video and nothing AI. So it's like, maybe the algorithm likes it. I don't know. But I'm just gonna ride that while I can and just keep being me and keep doing that. And so, but then the actual idea of Be Better, w- here's what I did.

[00:25:59] Nat: I basically took every single thing I didn't like about the paid community that was much more, intensive, and I decided I'm gonna take all of that out, strip it to the most bare minimum thing I can, but still try and have the most impact possible. And so what I didn't wanna do was... there was a point with Brand Built, we were doing meetings five days a week.

[00:26:22] Nat: that's just too much. Yeah. That, it's insane, And we had all these courses and so much information, which is still there and still available to all our members, but, I got burned out, members got burned out, and I've always had this, and this goes back to the, to n- the initial days of me having websites.

[00:26:42] Nat: I just wanted to create something where people could visit once a day, but always feel like they could go once a day, and not necessarily just go once and then goodbye forever. So I just thought, "Okay, in the same vein as, as, like, be better and thinking about my mom and always trying to be better, what can I create that will be effective, actually work and encourage people to come back?"

[00:27:06] Nat: Not only that, but push each other to do better, 'cause that's another key element to communities that I think people miss is if you can somehow create an audience that will run the community themselves to an extent, that's the direction that we're getting to. So it's like you p- you put out the daily rep and let them all just talk to each other and, and motivate each other and, it's got the ability where you can chat with other members and all that.

[00:27:33] Nat: And so it's like, "Hey, look, for the whopping price of a dollar, you have access to this community and all these people." And obviously there are rules, no spamming and all that kind of stuff. And, and so far it's been phenomenal. No one's been, any- yeah, been doing anything where it's like they're constantly bombarding other members with offers.

[00:27:51] Nat: None of that happens. And so, granted, we're not at a huge number yet, but usually when you get about 100 or more people, you start seeing some, some bad apples. And,w- I don't know what... the, the most fun part of this is I have no idea what this is even, is even yet. Like, I don't even... And I don't care.

[00:28:11] Nat: I'm just enjoying the fact that like, hey, people want to improve. They get it. It's not difficult. It's usually the tasks are five to 10 minutes of your time, and then it's like we always say, "Report back. Let us know how it went." And I have no doubt in my mind that you do this stuff for three months plus, your life is going to change.

[00:28:33] Nat: Like, there's no question about it. and now we're at that point where, like, we're at that mark where members are like, "Yeah, this is really working," and it's really cool to see, and something tells me that may be why numbers are accelerating. So, and another thing that I've, that I wanna do, this is the vision that I have, because I'm old school.

[00:28:52] Nat: Like, I believe in person-to-person communication. Even if it's a dollar, I'll still have a conversation with someone, to close them, so to speak, on, on the community. So I just had these sent to me. So this is this thing, right?

[00:29:05] Nat: These are these cards. It's called Be Better, and when you turn it around, it says what it is. Got a QR code on it. but my idea, this is what I really wanna do with this company, I wanna have people in every city or as many cities as possible, not just in America, around the world, literally going up to people...

[00:29:26] Nat: And this isn't a new concept as far as content goes, but I want people to go up to strangers on the street, have cameras with them, and say, "What's one thing you could do to be better?" They would get into a conversation with that person, so you would have great content, get their permission to post it on social media.

[00:29:43] Nat: But then at the end of it, hand them a card. And you're like, "This is the Be Better movement, blah, blah, blah." And that's my ultimate dream. Wherever that goes, I have no idea, but Frankly, I'd like to see this be, synonymous with things like the American Red Cross and really large organizations that,are all about helping people get better in one way or another.

[00:30:04] Nat: so who knows where it's gonna go, but, at our current pace, we should hopefully hit over 1,000 members this year and, and then I think from there is where you can really make things happen. So, we'll see. We'll see.

[00:30:17] LuRae: That's just so cool. I mean, it's just like, it's like throwing the pebble out on the, the water and watching it ripple across, and you harness and think of those groups and, I'm thinking of like youth people, th- the people who can...

[00:30:32] LuRae: there's just all the, the ripple out of subgroups that would be like, "Yeah, I wanna do... and I wanna do this," And 'cause you see s- things that are... and there are always, videos that are, they're always interesting, where, someone will stop someone and then ask them, and they, like you said, they've already agreed to, to participate.

[00:30:51] LuRae: But that, that's like a brilliant idea, and it starts with a spark. Yeah.

[00:30:56] Nat: Yeah. That, that's... and, and another thing that I like about doing this, and this is just for all business owners in general, is that it definitely takes me out of my comfort zone. I, I'm a reasonably outgoing person, but that doesn't mean I'm outgoing with strangers.

[00:31:10] Nat: And like one of the things that's been really challenging, but I just push myself to do it as much as I can, I carry those cards around like wherever I go, and if I see an opportunity, I'll hand it to someone. And it's scary, man. Like, like going... it's like trick-or-treating the first house, Like you're really nervous to, to knock on the first door.

[00:31:29] Nat: And so that's one of the things that's been a great thing but also a scary thing and hopefully... m- my goal is, is it's not just me handing out cards. Like for the first time, our most active members, I messaged them all privately and I said, "There's something I'd like to send you if you're interested.

[00:31:46] Nat: I have... I made these business cards and all you gotta do is hand them out to a couple of people." And so, I sent out my first 30 or so to our members. And so that's another key thing with community and movements is that it's very, very hard for them to grow at the first level, meaning like the company level.

[00:32:04] Nat: you keep... it has to go out and have that ripple effect, as you mentioned. It has... they have to grow it for you, and the only way they're gonna grow it for you is they have to believe in what they're doing. There has to be real buy-in. And it's not easy to get buy-in if you have like this crazy diversified program with 6,000 different things, whereas Being Better is like, that's a pretty simple concept.

[00:32:29] Nat: Pretty easy. it's like working out. It's like if you don't go to the gym, you're not gonna build muscles or lose weight. if you don't build this, these types of habits in your life, you're... it's gonna be hard to improve, in a simple way. So yeah.

[00:32:41] LuRae: Exactly. Yeah, I mean, that literally takes me back to my dad, who's no longer living, but he was a...

[00:32:47] LuRae: I was thinking of him this morning, actually, just... And I think in relation to us knowing we were having this conversation that- He couldn't wait to retire, so he, he was like a farmer, cattle, crops, that, a lot of, physical, physical labor m- most of his life, and he couldn't wait to retire so he could do nothing.

[00:33:06] LuRae: So he could like sit in a rocking chair. And I remember every day that I would see him when I'd come go visit, I'd be like, "Dad, have you been out? Have you been outside to walk? Have you gone..." Or, I said, "Use it or lose it." Like, if you don't use it, you lose it. And so it's that kind of, that kind of m- keeping it simple for people to remember, oh yeah, what have I done to be better today?

[00:33:28] LuRae: And it's like, the 1%, you know this, the 1% every day is like 37% improvement over a year,

[00:33:34] Nat: right?

[00:33:35] Nat: And we underestimate what we can do in a year. We overestimate, oh, in this, I, in this next month I'm gonna do this and this and that, A- and then coming to actually do it, when you break it down day by day, it's doable, and that's, I think, the magic of what you're doing with that, Yeah, it reminds me of,I have no opinion either way on, the military or anything like that. This isn't a political discussion. But one of the things I always loved about, I forgot the... It's a very famous speech at this point, and I, and I, and I'm ex- if I'm getting it wrong, I apologize.

[00:34:09] Nat: But I think it was a guy who was in the Marines, and there, it was a very viral video, and he talked about, making your bed and how all of the people in the Marines or the Army or Navy, I don't remember which one it was, o- one of the biggest foundations of their day was always making their bed in the, the neatest way possible.

[00:34:27] Nat: And it just reminds me of that. and you can be, you can rest assured, I can all but guarantee you that the majority of people who are in military settings who had to do that, that making the bed thing every day, I have no doubt that they do that in real life and have, has been doing it ever since, right?

[00:34:47] Nat: and that's because they, they built the habit. and it, it's like you don't even think twice about it. How great would it be in our own lives if we never thought twice about the things that we knew we had to do, but weren't doing them, right? and so it's way more powerful than motivation, right?

[00:35:02] Nat: the motivation usually follows, the action, and that's something we teach as well.

[00:35:07] LuRae: Well, and I think the beauty of that example is even though, like, my brother was in the Marines, and I had a, a l- lost a nephew actually in the Navy SEALs. He was in a special ops mission and, and we lost him. But that message has rippled, like I said, with the stone across the water.

[00:35:24] LuRae: I think of that every morning when I make my bed because when you accomplish that one thing, you have, you've, the day's already a success. You've already accomplished one thing. And so then it makes it easier to do the other things that come after that. So I think that's p- planting that seed and the thought of, be better, like having that in your mind as something you're aware of, oh, yeah, and then having a card.

[00:35:49] LuRae: I mean, that, that simple thing too, that, that reminder wherever you have it, pocket, purse, whatever, until it becomes a, it's a daily I remember to do this, So what words of advice would you have for those folks sitting out there? I mean, you were smart to get out as early... I say smart because I have, even though I spent a majority of, m- much of my time, I w- I have had a m- an entrepreneurial journey because I was part of the startup space even while I was in the corporate realm.

[00:36:20] LuRae: but breaking out,it, as you said, y- it takes courage and, and pl- a little bit of a plan. Don't just leap blindly. What advice would you have for people to, to really be brave enough to do something, and don't just live your life on autopilot because you're uncomfortably comfortable?

[00:36:41] Nat: Sure. So with regard to how I got out of my job, and I always, I tell this to every aspiring entrepreneur, don't leave until you can. have some runway. I didn't have a ton, but I had about six months left of savings, so I made a very calculated move. So it was a risk I was willing to take.

[00:37:02] Nat: But then once you get there and you're in it, I live by two mottos, so I tell people the same thing, and one of them is this, right? No excuses. my ch- my JV high school basketball coach used to always say, "No excuses, get it done." So that's one of my mottos, and the other one is, do what you gotta do.

[00:37:21] Nat: I, I happen to believe that all of us need to take serious ownership of ourselves regardless of circumstances, regardless of location and race and sex and all that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong. Certain people are born with tremendous disadvantages. However, we've seen this time and time again.

[00:37:37] Nat: No matter what your situation is, there are people in the world who have made it, and they've made it very, very far regardless. And it's just a matter of how disciplined they were, how willing they were to stick to their plan, how willing they were to be responsible for that plan and not let anyone else get in the way or blame anyone else.

[00:37:59] Nat: So that's one of the biggest factors, I think, in, in being an entrepreneur or just being a happy human is to put the onus on yourself. easier said than done because it's so easy to blame other people and circumstances. but I think when you can let go of that and recognize that a lot of this stuff is in your hands if you're willing to do the right things, everything else can and should follow.

[00:38:21] Nat: So yeah, hopefully people believe that.

[00:38:24] LuRae: Yeah. And I think of, yeah, what you said, one of the things I, I've always held onto when I went through the coaching program at the New York Open Center, I was working as a managing director by day and, moonlighting and training by night , is that trying is lying So when I hear someone who say, "Well, well I'm trying to X, Y, Z," and I'll say in a nice way, "Remember, trying is lying.

[00:38:46] LuRae: We're either doing it or we're not." being honest with ourselves, like, "I didn't do this thing today, but I'm committing to I'm gonna be better tomorrow and I'm gonna do it," right?

[00:38:57] Nat: And, and I don't, I don't argue with Yoda, right? There is no try, right? There's only do, right? So it, it is you know, a line from Star Wars, but it's the best.

[00:39:08] Nat: It... I totally agree with it and that speaks to also just perception as well, right? I'll kind of leave people with this. I think this is a, a good example is I remember, this is such a key difference between I think just true business builders and those who just, I'm not saying don't build businesses, but those who don't think that way.

[00:39:30] Nat: I had this conversation with my dad the other day, and we were talking about Be Better. And I said, I said to him, I was like, "What will really take this to the next level is I really just need to be talking to huge audiences of, like, 1,000 people." And he paused and he said, he's like, "Yeah, but how are you gonna do that?"

[00:39:51] Nat: And when I said it, I never even thought about how I was gonna do it. I just thought I was gonna do it. I'll figure that out. I'll figure out the how. And to me, that's, that's probably the, the single biggest difference between a lot of folks who have grown things that no one ever thought imaginable and those that are just still stuck in the same place, is that you don't think about the how, you just think that you're gonna do it.

[00:40:13] Nat: You figure out the how. and I've always loved that.

[00:40:16] LuRae: I love that, too. Because it's like if we get in the putting up the barriers, there are enough other people outside of us that will do that, so w- for us to have that belief and step out, I always say if you step out in something that you feel is on your heart and you're meant to do, the universe will rise up to meet you a- and opportunities will come that you never even expected because you were open.

[00:40:42] LuRae: And energy is everything. I'm also, I'll, I'll comment on this too, and, I know I've attended, like, three Joe Dis- Dr. Joe Dispenza events in the last year. Just coincidentally I looked back and I was like, wow, I went from, like, his weekend retreat to the week long and then the advanced retreat, and it's really our energy is everything.

[00:40:59] LuRae: If we can get in that state of feeling it already done, there's another woman, Natasha Agra- Agrazio, who wrote a book, Be It Until You Become It, and walking in that feeling of being and you've already done that thing and having that positive vibe and view j- just a- as you're doing. The universe is rising up to meet you because you're stepping out in faith.

[00:41:29] LuRae: Well, Nat, thank you so much for all the words of advice and sharing your story and, and I'll get the links from you for everything so it's in the show notes so people can get and get on board. And you've probably got a QR code or two. I can even throw that into the, into the screen so people can-

[00:41:45] Nat: I can...

[00:41:45] Nat: Yeah, I can send you the image. So the, the card I sent you, we actually have, like, a digital card as well. So yeah. Whatever, whatever works. Yeah.

[00:41:51] LuRae: That is perfect. So thank you so much.

[00:41:54] Nat: Sure. Thanks for having me.

[00:41:57] Intro- Outro: And that's a wrap on another episode of And Then I Did This, celebrating the lives of those who've walked away from the beaten path to pursue work and a life that nourishes their soul.

[00:42:08] Intro- Outro: If you're feeling inspired and ready to explore your own path to freedom, check out youcanbefree.life where you'll find resources and support to help you break free and live life on your own terms. See you next time