Shark Tank insights and side hustles secrets: 7 tips from Bala’s co-founder

Natalie Holloway, co-founder of fitness and lifestyle brand Bala, recently took to Glassdoor’s Hot Seat. In an AMA-style format, she spent the day answering burning questions from Glassdoor community users, responding to queries on everything from entrepreneurship and her Shark Tank experience to finding work-life balance, and much more.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. On prioritizing wellness in a “hustle” culture: 

Sadly, I was in such a hustle era that I barely worked out or had time for wellness the first year or two. I am now prioritizing wellness, and I bake things into my calendar (fitness, massage, meditation, etc.) to ensure I actually do it. I think it’s also okay to recognize that some weeks you need to hustle to make your business work, and it’s ok if you miss your wellness routine that week. Some weeks you can get every wellness tactic in. That’s just the nature of building.

2. On launching a business and overcoming obstacles:

Do you know what problem you want to solve? Start with a problem. Or what are you good at? Start with a brainstorm of what you are good at or a problem you need to solve in the world. Go from there.

I had to set the fear of rejection aside to keep it moving. Momentum was critical early on. [I set fear of rejection aside with] a lot of self-talk. I basically just said fear has no home here if I’m going to succeed. Some days are scary, but it’s important to just keep going and acting to have a chance of success.

3. On boundary setting for work-life balance:

Set boundaries and stay away from work emails when you are in your personal time. Some things that are working for me:

Setting boundaries helps you keep loving what you are doing.

4. On advice for women entrepreneurs:

Build in a more approachable way…one step at a time. Brands are built over time not overnight. So, ignore the outside noise and take steps every day to build something beautiful. There are a lot of great resources for females in businesses these days. Use them! A couple: League of Originals and Female Founder House.

5. On her Shark Tank appearance:

[It was] a dream come true but so, so scary. My husband and I were shaking in our boots. But the funny thing is, we hit our goal and then it unlocked a new goal. This is why changing your mindset to appreciate the moments is super important, otherwise, you will never be happy because there is always a further goal to unlock.

6. On the biggest challenges of balancing running a business with motherhood:

Feeling like I’m never enough. Finding that right balance is tricky. I feel guilt when I’m behind or not doing enough on Bala, and then I feel guilt when I’m not present enough as a mom. I have tried to build balance as much as I can. Examples I’m trying lately:

7. On starting a business as your side hustle: