Join me as Nathan Rodgers shares his own freed story this week! Nathan is currently a digital marketer and has a background in the public sector in the Peace Corps (which he joined after college). He then worked at UNICEF and had the opportunity to do business analysis and training around a software system called SAP. Nathan then lived and worked in Thailand and got to see a lot of the world which was exciting for him because he had always loved to travel.

Because he always felt like he wanted more out of a career than to spend the entirety of it at one bureaucratic organization, Nathan eventually took a risky leap of faith and allowed a contract to expire seven years ago – without anything else immediately lined up! It was a scary decision, but, as Nathan explains, almost every important decision that he has ever made has been made in opposition to fear. This decision eventually led him to Nicaragua, where, even though he initially thought that he would only stay for a short while, he has been for seven years, having started a business via a hotel. It was a long road, but he and his two partners finally opened the hotel's doors on December 1, 2019.

Nathan discusses some of the challenges presented last year by the COVID-19 pandemic and offers advice to us. He advises against taking on too overwhelming of a project as your very first entrepreneurial endeavor and to also destroy your fear with action. He, in addition, suggests that we should allow ourselves to be vulnerable and open with people in order to establish a sense of community and avoid the loneliness that sometimes comes with the territory of being an entrepreneur.

He additionally explains how he balances his work life with his personal life, recommends some podcasts, and even reveals what he considers his superpower to be! Please do reach out to Nathan via the methods that he provides, and I also really hope that you will continue to join me on the Freed Stories podcast as guests share their stories of entrepreneurship – their successes, their failures, their goals, their hopes, and so on! Be sure to hit that subscribe button so that you never miss an episode!

Time Stamps

[0:59 ] – Jackie introduces this episode's guest, Nathan Rodgers, and Nathan gives us some background information about himself.

[3:33 ] – We learn that Nathan decided to learn Spanish and randomly chose Nicaragua to do so.

[4:44 ] – Nathan reflects on how he has been in Nicaragua for seven years and has started a business via a hotel.

[7:22 ] – Nathan discusses the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic hitting last March posed for the hotel.

[9:55 ] – Nathan describes what his journey has been like over the last year.

[10:45 ] – Nathan explains that he grew up in a middle class family and grew up wanting to be an archaeologist like Indiana Jones.

[11:34 ] – We discover that Nathan has always loved to travel for as long as he can remember but that there hasn't been much else that consistent.

[13:39 ] – Nathan makes a connection between his aspirations when he was younger and what he is doing today.

[15:38 ] – Nathan offers two pieces of advice for anyone interested in starting a business, starting with not taking too big of a project as your first endeavor.

[18:05 ] – Nathan provides a second piece of advice – to destroy fear with action.

[21:04 ] – Nathan expounds upon the loneliness that is sometimes involved with entrepreneurial work, advising that being willing to be vulnerable and seeking out community are the best ways to combat it.

[23:06 ] – Nathan describes his history with serious depression.

[24:52 ] – Nathan delineates how he balances his work life with his personal life.

[28:00 ] – Nathan credits three different podcasts as helpful resources for him.

[30:30 ] – Nathan reveals what he would tell himself five years ago if he could to expect a more difficult journey than he had initially expected.

[31:19 ] – Nathan hopes to grow his business financially within the next couple of years.

[33:00 ] – We learn that Nathan considers his superpower to be an ability to make complicated ideas simpler so that people can understand them.

[35:15 ] – Nathan shares with us where we can reach out to him online.

Links and Resources

Apply for our Freed Fellowship Monthly Grant

Free Training to Help You Grow Your Business

How I Built This with Guy Raz - Podcast

Entrepreneurs on Fire - Podcast

Start from Zero - Podcast

Nathan’s LinkedIn