We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nat Eden Fino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nat Eden, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

Becoming a writer wasn’t a straight path for me. I’ve written on and off and on the side for over 20 years but treated it more like a hobby I was naturally good at. I somewhat considered myself a writer but not a professional one. I’ve known I have a book in me, but it’s in a later chapter of my life. Also, depending on what kind of writer you are, you need some maturity and wisdom for your writing to be powerful, especially if you want to write about the human condition as I do.

In 2019 it all started to get more serious. I became heavily interested in sustainability and environmentalism. Images of the Amazon Rainforest on fire made the news in September of that year. I couldn’t believe the stupidity of humanity burning down one of Earth’s most precious and important ecosystems for profit. I was livid. I wanted to do something. Anger can be a great driving force when used constructively. I kept pondering what I could do for a couple of weeks and then one day it hit me in the shower. My best ideas always come that way, in the shower or doing daily chores. I wanted to create a platform that promoted sustainable living and environmental protection. I sat with it and began researching. I call this the gestation period, the time when ideas start to grow in you, it’s like a pregnancy. You nurture the idea, you feed it by collecting information, you create space for inspiration to strike, and when the puzzle pieces come together, it’s time to go into labor.

That being said, for 3 months I was frantically researching, collecting information, building a website, and taking online certificate courses in sustainability and environmental protection. I was also looking for a name. I wanted it to be something sophisticated, something Latin, something that relates to life. I came up with Ad Vitam, which literally means “To Life”. I was first worried that Americans would butcher that word, or that it would be too difficult to remember. I should mention I am European, half German – half Italian, but then I thought I want it to be a global platform so Americans would just have to deal with it (laughs). Then the wildest thing happened. I drove down Fairfax Avenue and I was approaching a big billboard promoting an upcoming movie with an Astronaut, played by Brad Pitt, with the title “Ad Astra”, which means “To the Stars” in Latin. It blew my mind! That was my confirmation sign. If there is a movie coming out with that title in America at the same time as my baby, then Ad Vitam is the name.

From there I came up with a full business plan, what I wanted Ad Vitam to be and grow into. It was a lot of work, I had a big vision, and my challenge was how to start small with little, to no resources. So, I just began blogging every week, though the goal of the business was way beyond blogging, but you must start somewhere. Soon after I launched the website, which had lots of resources on how to live more sustainably at home, the pandemic hit. It was such bad timing. It unfortunately badly influenced my new business venture. The path of the solopreneur is lonely anyway but to go through it in a pandemic with lockdown and social distancing, was extremely hard. My developing depression at the time killed a lot of the fire and drive I started the project with.

Looking at it now in 2023, I wished AI was so readily available at that time. I probably would’ve been able to build the project further. I think AI is a saving grace for solopreneurs/entrepreneurs. It wasn’t just the pandemic and the loneliness but the sheer scope of all the things necessary to build Ad Vitam into a profitable platform. It was too much for one person. For such a big venture, I would have needed a business partner. I did everything by myself. I hate social media, for example, which is a problem in this time and age, because without it, you can’t exist as a business. I knew I was failing in that area, but I couldn’t care less, which is not good for business. I really needed help or a support system. I burned myself out and needed to take a break after working on Ad Vitam for approximately 18 months.

From here I was like okay, I’ll keep Ad Vitam as a platform, but how can I bring in more money? After some encouragement from people, who were familiar with my writing independent from my blogging, I decided to offer up my writing skills and positioned myself as a sustainability and environmental protection writer. After all, I had a whole website with over 60 blog posts to show that I could use as my portfolio. I also got into a European content marketing talent agency as a freelance writer. At this point, I am not blogging on Ad Vitam as much as I used to because I’ve gotten too busy with other projects.

Transitioning into writing, it was very clear to me that the environmental protection and sustainability space is not where I want to end up as a writer in the long run because any writer can write about that with enough research. What sets me apart are my unique and deep insights and critical thinking. I am an artist at heart so the writing that comes from deep inside of me with my own ideas and views must take center stage, otherwise I won’t be happy and motivated. My favorite is to write about the human condition – applied psychology, trauma, transformation, and consciousness. I also have extensive experience in those areas.

Being very clear about my strengths and priorities, as well as being protective over my intellectual brainpower, there are a lot of writing jobs I won’t do because writers are often disrespectfully underpaid. You don’t get my mind for cheap.

With that clarity and not willing to sell my soul, it became clear I needed another side hustle, which found me and came at the perfect time. I recently got into web design. I’ve built a few websites in my life and people liked them and asked me if I could build theirs. That’s how it started. It’s a great side hustle with the potential to turn into a full-time job.

Also, it remains to be seen how the marketplace for writers is going to change in the face of emerging AI technologies such as ChatGPT. I think the more unique and profound your writing is, the better chances are that you can survive as a writer in this new era.

We live in a time where many people have multiple sources of income and I think it’s particularly advisable in the creative fields. I really don’t know what to call myself anymore because I keep adding to my portfolios. So, I settled on the term hyphenate.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

How I got into the industry, I already answered in the previous question. Before my writing and web design career, I spent 20 years in the yoga and wellness world. California is the mecca for health and wellness and that lifestyle has always been of great interest to me. It’s part of my DNA. I moved to Los Angeles from Europe for that exact reason in 2005.

The connection then to writing about the human condition, sustainability, and environmental protection is a logical progression because they all deal with health and wellness on a bigger level. My philosophy is “how you do one thing is how you do everything”. Human beings like to set themselves apart from nature but the truth is we are intrinsically connected. You destroy the health of the planet, you destroy the very thing that gives us life; provides the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land to live on. To not care about these things is a luxury, or better said an illusion, we can’t afford anymore. Wake up! Where are your health and well-being coming from? From your internal environment (human condition, psychology) and your external environment, including natural ecosystems.

So, these are all the dots connecting to where I am today on my journey and my continuous quest to grow as a human and a professional. Fast forward to now, I am in a place as a writer where I am focusing on developing my own voice and material. As a freelancer, I only take on jobs with topics that interest me. I get clients through Contentoo, Europe’s leading platform for content marketing talent. They act like an agency, so I don’t have to worry about contracts and payments. I get projects assigned and I can choose if I want to take them or not.

I also take on clients independent from Contentoo. If someone is interested in my writing and services, they can check out my website and contact me there.

Now, my most recent side hustle with great growing potential is web design. As mentioned before, I’ve built numerous websites in my life and people liked them, so they asked me to do theirs. Work breeds work. I build WordPress websites. I am currently putting a portfolio together, so I have something to show to potential clients.

I like to design the website in a way that reflects the client’s personality and doesn’t look generic. For example, I just built a website for someone who is very elegant, she doesn’t work in fashion, but we made sure the website looks elegant and sophisticated besides being functional and easy to navigate.

I pride myself on having an artistic eye and great taste. I can make the most banal thing look good. I also went to Otis College of Art and Design for continuing education in fine arts and digital imaging, so I have a good understanding of visual language.

Overall, I approach website building from an artistic point of view. I watched a video recently and the person said, “Creating a website is like painting a masterpiece”. I love that! It’s like art meets functionality. Web design satisfies the visual artist in me and allows me to live that part in a very practical way. Many would probably argue that a website is not a piece of art, but I approach it that way.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I find the creative process itself extremely rewarding and satisfying! The hard part for me is to get into the right state of mind and flow for it to happen. I have to be very disciplined, and it is often very grueling, especially writing, but when I manage to get beyond that, it’s magic. It almost has a spiritual component. If in the right state, ideas or words just flow out of me. It’s very liberating. It feels like being plugged into universal consciousness or the collective consciousness. I can feel the urge to write about something that I sense is in the air. I don’t always act on it; I must get better at jumping on ideas when I initially have them. It happened before that I wanted to write about something and procrastinated and then a few months later I saw articles about that topic everywhere. With visual arts or design, images pop up in my mind out of nowhere and I know where to go.

Creating things is like having brainchildren. It’s bringing a piece of you into the world, where it gets to live on its own and hopefully, someone else can find some value in it. If that happens, it becomes incredibly meaningful, and I feel I have contributed something that benefitted someone else. That’s the biggest reward!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think my whole life story is one of resilience. It’s about never giving up. I keep pushing myself forward. I had a lot of struggles and roadblocks along the way, many people probably never have to deal with. I am a trauma survivor, who has cPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder). I am also an immigrant in this country, which is never easy. My life has been very challenging with a lot of setbacks. I had to develop resilience. I am a late bloomer because of that really. Many artists have the ability to turn their pain into art, but unfortunately, I am not one of them. All my cPTSD does is paralyze me, and I might be in that state for months.

Because of it, I’ve had to fight for the artist in me. It’s a huge part of why I am able to attend to my creative self only later in life. The more I heal, the more creative I become. When you are in flight/flight/freeze mode, which you are most of the time in cPTSD, you don’t have access to creative thinking. The frontal lobe (cortex) in your brain, responsible for creative thinking, is ‘disabled’ in a fight/flight/freeze response.

So, in order for me to stay on track professionally, I have to do everything I can to keep my mind right, find emotional balance and support, – simply take care of myself. After these setbacks, it takes a lot of strength to get back on the horse, but what else is there? Giving up is not an option. Also, the ability to pivot, which I also had to do many times, is crucial. You need to know when it’s time to let go of an idea or a person and move on. No resilience in the world can solve something that simply isn’t working anymore. You need to have flexibility so that when you are stretched thin, you don’t snap.

It took me a long time to understand how important this balance is. You can’t separate your professional life from your private life because they affect each other. To be truly successful, and by that, I don’t mean just having millions of dollars, you need to take a holistic approach to your life, where your career, finances, relationships, and physical and mental health are balanced. And that makes you ultimately also more resilient to weather storms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nateden.xyz/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natedenf/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nat-eden-f-7886091a1/