We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Matesic. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.
Natalie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?
In 2023, I lost my job at a big agency, right on the brink of a promotion to Marketing Manager. It was shocking, sudden, and if I’m being honest, devastating. I had poured so much of myself into that role, but deep down, I also saw countless gaps in how things could have been done better.
With 7 years of social media management and freelance experience behind me and, frankly, a crash course in how not to run an agency, I couldn’t help but wonder: What if I just built my own?
A few months later, I made the leap. I hired coaches, committed fully, and started laying the foundation for my own agency. Within 6 months, I was earning more than I did at the agency, but more importantly, I was working with clients I genuinely loved. By month 11, I hired my first team member!
Losing that job hurt, but it gave me the exact push I needed to create something powerful, sustainable, and entirely my own. Honestly, I’m grateful they set me free! I’m in love with what my business has become and I’m so proud of the work I’ve put into getting to this point.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Natalie, the founder of 52 Card Social, a social media agency for wellness, lifestyle, and conscious brands who are ready to take their marketing to the next level.
I’ve been in the social media and marketing world for over 8 years, working with brands across wellness, food & beverage, beauty, law, luxury real estate, and coaching. Before starting my agency, I worked both in-house and with larger agencies, which gave me a front-row seat to what works and what doesn’t in this industry. What I noticed was a huge gap — brands were getting templated, surface-level content, with no real strategy or substance behind it. That’s when I realized I could do it differently (and a lot better.)
In 2023, after unexpectedly losing my role at a big agency, I decided to finally go all in and build the agency I wished existed. One that was working passionately with powerful brands, inspired small businesses, and driven entrepreneurs. Within 6 months, I was earning more than I was in my corporate role, working with dream clients, and creating a space where brands could actually feel seen, supported, and elevated. At month 11, I hired my first team member. We’re on track for a huge year!
At 52 Card Social, we specialize in strategy-driven, personalized social media marketing. We also offer VIP Strategy Intensives and Consulting for those who just need the blueprint.
Our clients are typically wellness professionals, lifestyle brands, holistic coaches, or founders who are brilliant at what they do, but either don’t have the time or the deep strategy to show up online in a way that actually converts. That’s where we come in. We create inspired content that creates a deep sense of community, aligns with the brand, and builds trust.
What sets us apart is that it’s not just about making content look good (although, trust me, it will). It’s about why it’s working. We blend aesthetics with data, creative direction with strategy, and craft social media that actually drives results and creates meaningful waves online that translate far beyond likes & shares, but customers, friends, fans, and community.
I’m most proud of the fact that this agency was built with intention. I’m proud of the clients we serve, the transformations they experience, and the fact that we’ve been able to scale while still delivering extremely customized service. No client who comes to us is ever thrown into a robotic system. Our main goal is to go above & beyond everyone in our world, and I think we do a great job at this.
What I want people to know is that we’re not here to take your paycheck and toss you into a client management system that feels soulless and unimportant. We’re here to help you build an online presence that actually matches the caliber of your work. We feel so passionate about our business, which is why we love and aspire to work with as many equally passionate businesses as we can, while giving each the attention and support they truly deserve!
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Yes! I actually started as a virtual assistant back in 2017 while I was still a student at Ohio University — broke, ambitious, and eager to learn. I landed my first social media assistant role through LinkedIn, working with a blogger coaching company, and ended up staying with that brand for over 3 years.
During that time, I met so many bloggers and online entrepreneurs who needed help growing their businesses, so I wore a lot of hats. I was a social media manager, copywriter, email marketer, web designer, podcast assistant… you name it. My goal was simply to learn everything I could and gain hands-on experience in as many areas of online business as possible.
For years, I worked full-time, first for a company, then for an agency while continuing to take on my own freelance clients on the side. And honestly, the best part of every day was when I was supporting my own clients. That’s when I realized that I don’t just love social media. I love building relationships, elevating brands, and creating impact through content. That’s what eventually led me to start my own agency!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Honestly, resilience has been the only reason I’ve gotten this far, especially in the social media industry, which is saturated, competitive, and, quite frankly, selective. I hear “no” a lot. Whether it’s brands who don’t fully understand the value of strategic content yet, or clients who aren’t ready to invest, rejection is just part of the process, so being resiliant is literally the name of the game.
Resilience for me hasn’t been about avoiding rejection, it’s about trusting that every “no” is making space for the right clients, the right projects, and the right growth.
But it hasn’t always been that simple. Getting told “no” in the early stages of my business really tested my faith in it. Although it still sucks sometimes, it doesn’t shake me as much. But it’s almost like rejection therapy, the amount of no’s, ignored messages, and ghosted proposals you run into.
It makes that “yes” feel all the more worthwhile, though. When I got my first “yes” client, I felt like I was on top of the world. That made the remaining “no’s” a lot more tolerable as I continued.
But something I had to remind myself, too, was that not all “yes’s” are made equal. Some “yes” clients ended up being the wrong fit, and that’s something I’ve had to grow thick skin with as well. Growing a service-based business that relies on personal outreach isn’t easy, but it’s taught me so much about resiliance (in business and in real-life) and continuing on your path, even if it feels like the world is rooting against you.
Another way I’ve learned resiliency is by taking my business overseas to Innsbruck, Austria for 4 months. As I write this, I’ve been working on 52 Card Social while traveling the world with my partner while he gets his MBA in Austria. I’ve had to learn the ways of working on a new time zone, living in a totally new city, navigating a language I’m not familiar with, and managing my team while across the world.
To be honest, it’s been so much fun. This challenge has hardly even been a challenge with how much fun I’ve been having and how much focus I’ve put into my business while being here. It’s almost felt like a really unique (and long) business-retreat. At the time of writing this, I travel back to Ohio next week, but growing my business while abroad has shown me the reason I started this business in the first place – freedom.
Actually taking advantage of that freedom has been liberating, to say the least. I’m so lucky to have the ability to run a fully functioning business from a different continent and have the time to enjoy all of the beauty this place offers. Resilience in this regard has been overcoming so many fears. Fears of working abroad, fears of being away from friends and family, and fears of not being able to assimilate to the culture. But being here has taught me so much about independence and personal freedom, and for that, I’m so grateful and proud of myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.52cardsocial.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/52cardsocial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566045959158
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/52cardsocial/
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Liz Rinehart, Sean Curry, Sophie Kerivan