Meet
@natalieholloway , CEO and Co-founder of
@bala , the fitness brand that proved you donāt need outside funding to build a powerful, lasting business. Now, sheās sharing her journey in 'Bootstrap Empire: The Bala Blueprint for Building a $100M Brand from the Ground Up'. Dive into the story behind the brand, the book, and the insights she hopes to share with readers.
āAfter quitting my job to travel, my then boyfriend and I came up with the idea for Bala on a napkin sketch in Asia. It was scrappy and uncertain and itās been a wild ride. That idea turned into a multi-million, global business built on instinct, creativity, and figuring things out as we went. Writing a book felt like the natural next step, not to tell a polished success story, but to share what it actually takes to build something from nothing.
A lot of business advice lives in theory. Thatās never been my style. The book is rooted in action and mindset. The real decisions, the mistakes, the pivots, and the lessons you only learn by doing. I want to give people a headstart and I want this to be a āmentor in a bookā. I donāt believe in gatekeeping or overcomplicating things. If you ask, Iāll tell you. This book is just an extension of that mindset. Itās honest, practical, and focused on what actually matters when youāre building.
My day to day looks a lot like that too. Iām a CEO, a speaker, and a mom of 3, so things move fast and rarely go according to plan. Max and I built Bala from our heart and gut, the same way I wrote Bootstrap Empire. Underneath it all, I think pretty methodically, and that comes through in how I write. Itās direct, conversational, and real.
I want people to feel empowered to start. Not perfectly, not with every answer, but with momentum. The best next step is a step. Thatās where everything begins. And outside of work, I stay really close to my family. I started Bala with my now husband and still work closely with my sisters and my mom. Itās a constant reminder that building something big matters, but who you build it with matters just as much.ā
Want to learn more? āBootstrap Empireā is available today at the link in our bio.