Meet Nadalie Bardo | Pinterest Coach, Content Creator, and Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nadalie Bardo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nadalie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was even parts accidental and intentional when I started my business. In a way, I was always a hustler at heart, from braiding hair in high school when I should have been in class, to being a photographer while I was a full-time grad student.

This wasn’t my first venture into entrepreneurship, but the realization that pushed me down this path away from the 9 to 5 life happened one day while commuting to work. When you live in Toronto you know that Toronto is 1-2 hours away from Toronto, even with a car. One day I did the math, and I added up all the hours I was committing to spend driving to and from work.

Let’s add it all up together: 2 hours each way, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, until retirement. The number was enough to shake me out of the employee lane. If you’re now trying to do the math in your head, the answer is 1,000 hours a year. Then you times that by the 40 years until retirement and I would be spending four and a half years of my life in traffic, commuting. And stewing in the annoyance of having to do it.

So, from my perspective I made the only rational choice: give myself four and a half years to build a passive income stream instead, so I would never have to live in traffic again.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’ve been told that I don’t give up. Maybe it’s staying power or stubbornness, whatever we want to call it. Be it grit, resilience, consistency, or commitment, keep showing up is how we become successful. Too many of us give up before we’ve “made it” or had that undeniable taste of success. I decided early on that I wouldn’t quit, I wouldn’t stop until I figured it out.

In 2016, I started my blog It’s All You Boo, without really knowing much of anything other than I felt like having a place to vent and show up as myself, writing in my own voice. Having been a student for most of my twenties (undergrad, grad school, post-graduate, and continuing education courses) has made me a career learner. When you’re navigating the online business and blogging world, there’s literally always something new to learn, to fix, to try, or to strategize. It’s a constant stretching on all levels and the rules are always changing.

Being an entrepreneur forces you to face yourself, your fears, your insecurities, and challenges you to overcome and level up. There’s always some deeper lesson or more growth needed. It’s a journey of personal development that pushes you farther and moving you faster towards success. Fast forward to now, and my blog has grown into a source of passive income through ad income, affiliate and digital product sales. I’ve also become a published author and in 2019 I started a second online business as a Pinterest coach.

What’s most challenging now is juggling two ventures that are so different. Starting a second business is a good and a bad idea. Choosing which business gets the majority of my time, effort, and resources has been a real struggle for me. It has been so difficult to just let go and accept that my first business isn’t going to be my most successful. Realzing that I can love my blog, be proud of it, and at the same time accept that it’s not my most profitable (or even easiest) path forward.

Yes, I fully stand behind consistency being THE KEY to making it, but also there’s a point where you have to be willing to stop and shift. And that can be just as hard as starting your business in the first place. We keep going or repeating actions becuase we’re committed, but we all have to realize that there comes a point where stopping (or scaling back) is the only smart move. And yes, it’s a bit of a contraction. Like I said, there are no rules. And if there are, they’re made for breaking.

You’ll never know where you’ll end up, but by not giving up, you ensure that you set yourself apart from others because you’re almost guaranteed to be the last one standing. And oftentimes in the online world, those who are successful have either been the pioneers, the adaptors, or the survivers. And since I was never early to the party, I’ve on some level decided that I’m going to be the last one on the dance floor. You have to also know when to adapt, shift, or change (pivot if you must), so you can keep dancing to the tune you love.

I encourage you to constantly reminder yourself of this: You don’t have to be the best, you don’t have to even be the first to do something, but you have to keep going.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh gosh, this is such a foreign experience for me as I completely suffer from “overlooking the splendor of my home town” syndrome. I am always the one who goes to visit friends from other countries and cities. I’ll also have to stretch my imagination a bit as my best friend lives 15 minutes up the road from me and all we seem to do is eat food and drink way too much coffee.

Home for me is just ordinary comfort of a nice long walk, coffee, food, and shopping. Of course, in Toronto exciting and interesting for me is finding and exploring parts of the world at home. There are endless authentic restaurants to enjoy, patios and rooftops to soak up the sun on, cute neighborhoods to walk and shops to splurge in. Head downtown, choose a place to start, and adventure awaits. And of course, visiting in the summer is a must, with food festivals and events every weekend.

Must enjoy things in Toronto Summer include exploring Kennsington Market, a Jays game when the dome is open, shopping on Queen Street or in Yorkville, getting your fill of art and history at the ROM or Aga Khan musuem, and catching a movie or two at TIFF.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The praise goes to the people in my life who don’t understand anything about the online world, much less how Pinterest, blogging, or online marketing works, yet they’ve been on my side from day one. They never doubted that I could do this, despite not getting it. This small cheering section includes my mother who just nods when I try to explain things, but never plants limiting beliefs or tries to discourage me.

We all need motivators, teachers, and “those who get it,” but there’s something really inspiring about those who have no clue, yet just believe in you. I’m so thankful for them, especially in those early stages when the voice of dissent and disapproval was so much louder. We all need unconditional supporters in our corner.

Website: itsallyouboo.com + nadaliebardo.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadaliebardo

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nadaliebardo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nadaliebardo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NadalieBardo

Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nadaliebardo/

Image Credits
Alana Thomson Photography