We recently connected with Natalie Cottrell and have shared our conversation below.

Natalie, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

“Go big or go home.” I reminded myself of the mantra that landed me in the middle of the Redwood Forest in the darkness, running out of gas with no cell service. The once-inspiring idea now seemed obviously-ridiculous. Because I couldn’t go home even if I wanted to. I had just spent the last 4 years selling everything I owned, including my beloved Montessori school and relinquishing my apartment in the city I had called home my entire adult life. I had officially traded “home” for the 30,000 miles of road I would travel over the next 9 months covering the contiguous 48 states.

It would be a journey I’d take by myself, for myself. The first thing I would do for me in a long time.

The previous 2 decades were dedicated to everyone else’s needs above my own. I remember sitting through my then-husband’s murder trial, putting my last few dollars on his books so he could eat while my daughter and I lived off of instant oatmeal packets. I’d spends hours doing my child’s hair making sure she was taken care of while missing out on showers for myself. I worked 7 days a week for several years ensuring 20 students, their 40 parents, and all the staff were tended to just to get my business off the ground. It was a life of you-gotta-do-what-you-gotta-do that lasted for so long that the only way to get out of the spiraling chaos was to abort the entire mission. “Go big or go home.” I said to myself. So when my daughter left for college, I left too. I just hit the road and drove away from it all.

As stressful as my life had been, it was familiar. I was so used to fighting for basic needs that it would take me years of living in safety and comfort before I would truly understand the gravity of the constant pressure I was under for all those years. But for now, that fight was the only thing I knew. And it’s what allowed me to established roots there in Seattle. And make my friends and family there. I was even able to make a small name for myself with the 2 businesses I had come to build. I knew it was a risk to leave my comfort zone. Especially not knowing where it would lead me, where I would live or how I would earn an income. I had nothing figured out other than wanting to drive through the lower 48. So that’s what I set out to do.

I was prepared for the journey to get challenging at some point. After all, I was traveling the entire country alone, living out of my car with a daily budget of $96 to cover food, gas and shelter. But I didn’t expect it to be a complete debacle on the first night. I barely made it to this place I had never been to do a thing I had never done. I was camping alone in the Redwood Forest. I had only been camping twice in my whole life and both times, I was just the tag-along. I was never actually responsible for knowing anything. But tonight, I was responsible for everything. And no one knew where to find my body in the event my camping skills turned out to be the cause of my demise. My camping gear was so brand new, I still had to take it out of the packaging, right then and there, minutes before all darkness broke loose.

Sunset wasn’t until 8pm. But amongst trees that are higher than a New York skyscraper, it gets dark hours before that. Something I would have known had I been an experienced camper. But here I was half-passed 6:30 unprepared o’clock, so ill-equipped a novice would have shook his head at me. I felt so insecure, I actually imagined one walking past me doing just that, not even stopping to help. The flashlight I held in my mouth went out. And so did my back up light I was once so proud to have. No one told me to go easy on the water intake so later, in the middle of the night I had to get up and pee somewhere on something and then get lost on the way back. And that was AFTER waking up the whole camp grounds because the car alarm went off when I opened the door trying to get out of my squeaky loud air mattress. My arms never felt so short trying to leverage myself on top of deflated air. I got no sleep that night. I was afraid of being alone in the dark. I was afraid of what I had gotten myself into. No gas. No food. No confidence. And no thing I could do about any of it.

Except to move forward. So I took the next 2 days to continue to panic and then regroup. After that, I got better and better at camping and traveling alone. The rest of my 48 state tour turned out to include everything I could possibly want from an adventure.

It was scary. It was lonely. It was audacious and exciting. And most importantly, it was the exact thing I wanted it to be: bigger than I had ever done before. And after making it out of the Redwoods on hope and faith alone, those 9 months ended up being the white-knucklest, life-lessonest experience I’ve ever had. Not having everything figured out was the best part of the whole journey because it opened up outcomes that were better than I could have imagined myself. Because I took the risk, I met the man of my dreams, relocated, started my 3rd business, got engaged after being single for 15 years and traveled to 49 states and 3 countries. Because I took the risk, now I get to help other people “go big or go home” so they can discover their happier lives too. As a life designer, I help you get unstuck so you can design your dream life, one meaningful goal at a time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a life designer!
What does that mean, Natalie Cottrell? Well…to design means to create a plan and a function for something. So, as a life designer, I help you create a plan and a function for your life. Basically, I help you figure out what you want and how to get it!
What sets me apart from most coaches is that I have saturated experience in a wide variety of fields. Now, it is not necessary for coaches to have experience to be good at what they do. Most don’t and still do a great job with their clients. But the fact that I have extensive background in business, creative writing, early education, parenting, dating/marriage/divorce, unexpected loss of close family, affords me an empathy that allows a deeper connection with my clients. I am not a therapist, by any means, but having been through so many challenging situations really has given me an advantage when working with my clients. It also provides a foresight that can prevent disaster as well as insider knowledge that catapults progress into confidence and success.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Perfectionism is something I am happily unlearning. The better I get at it, the more I love it! I used to be of the mindset that I can’t let anything go out with my name on, if it is not perfect. I thought that my brand would be at stake if the product or service wasn’t perfect. I would waste a lot of time and energy making sure every detail was as good as I could possibly get it.

Then I learned the 70% rule which is…if it is at least 70% ready, get it to production.

This mindset shift has been a game changer. It has brought me peace of mind because I am able to detach from many of the details that used to stress me out and take up a lot of my time. It also increase client satisfaction because I am able to improve products and services easier by getting user feedback sooner. Win, win!

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I was fortunate enough to be able to sell the first business I ever built. It was the one I started with no business knowledge or experience. It was a true grass roots endeavor and I learned everything as I went. I remember borrowing books on CD to listen to in my car and I would pull over on the side of the road to take notes on scrap paper I’d find in the glove compartment.

I built that business with such solid systems, relationships and P&L spreadsheets that I was able to sell it in the middle of a pandemic, a time when no one was buying anything, let alone investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into companies. That would be my advice to other entrepreneurs hoping to sell their business one day. Know that you are selling your systems, relationships and P&L. If you build those 3 elements with strong foundations, a proven history, and a valued integrity, you may have the winning ticket in your hand!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nataliecottrell.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalielifedesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564621611976

Image Credits

n/a