We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nate Webb a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nate, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I was bullied a lot as a kid. From name calling and trash cans, to physical assault and belittlement. It all came to a climax when 15 of my classmates got on Facebook messenger my 10th grade year and told me to “go kill yourself”. I started to believe that my life maybe wans ‘t worth living. Thankfully that is not where my story ends. thankfully I was able to learn resiliency and was able to come back stronger than ever. But for too many kids, that is the end of their story.
I have made it my mission to help give kids the resiliency tools I didn’t have. To help them look past social media, move on from their bullies, and love their life.
Nate, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got the idea to start Bullies Be Gone while I was selling pest control door to door actually. You see, I was never one to follow conventional pathways to success. I didn’t get scholarships for good grades or high test scores. I worked during the summers to pay my college tuition. And I was a dang good door to door salesman. I raked in around 65K per summer. During one summer though. I felt so unfulfilled. I was making good money, but I wasn’t leaving a legacy or helping anyone but myself and my family. I wanted to make a lasting difference in the world. As I was thinking about what I had to offer, I thought about my experiences overcoming bullies in school, and I felt I could help a lot of kids. And so I started my Bullies Be Gone Instagram account giving tips and mindsets to help kids who were getting bullied.
As time went on, I started studying to become a school counselor. In 2019 my wife had me present to her 6th grade classroom, and I realized that I LOVED to speak. That was when I decided I wanted to be a professional speaker, traveling from school to school ,state to state, helping kids overcome the obstacles in their path.
Fast forward to today, and things have really taken off. I am the host of the Save The Kids Podcasts, the Teaching Kindness Podcast, and I give assemblies and parent nights to communities around the nation about the dangers of social media and bullying and what we can do to prevent it from effecting our kids.
I still feel like a baby in this speaking industry. And I still feel like a baby as a public figure on Instagram. But any time that I am tempted to give up, I think about the countless kids who have reached out to me letting me know the difference I had made to them. I think about the kids who walk up to me after assemblies with tears in their eyes to give me a hug because they feel SEEN for the first time. They remind me that this mission is far too important to give up on.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Slow and steady wins the race my friends. Consistency matters more than anything else. Your ability to make quality content will increase as you practice creating content. Especially in the beginning, quantity matters over quality. Don’t be so overwhelmed by being perfect that you do nothing. For those starting out, I would recommend finding a consistent way you can post. for Instagram, that’s one post or reel a day, and 4-8 story posts a day. If you want to grow, you need to provide value. Instead of jumping on trending audios or dances, provide insights that your audience find valuable. It’s about what you can give to your audience.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I’ve always been about the side hustle life. My side hustle for YEARS was pest control door to door. Then I became a school counselor, and school speaking and podcasting became the hustle. And soon enough…VERY SOON, it is going to become my full time hustle. I estimate in a year or so. My first paid speaking gig was back in 2019, and the last 3 years I have been working hard on selling myself to schools, and consistently getting paid speaking gigs. A big milestone for me was when I matched my counselor salary for 3 consecutive months with speaking money. It was a proof to me that this CAN be my full time career! That I can do this for a living! And along the way, i’ve found ways to monetize from my online presence as well, with podcasting and other collaborations.
Contact Info:
- Website: savethekids.org
- Instagram: @bulliesbe.gone
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/signup/public-profile-join?vieweeVanityName=nate-webb-3a4968190&trk=public_profile-settings_top-card-primary-button-join-to-connect