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Built to Belong by Natalie Franke: Building a Business with Community at the Core
When I started Built to Belong by Natalie Franke, I thought I was diving into a community-building how-to. What I didn’t expect was how deeply Natalie’s own story, her journey from isolation to growing the global Rising Tide Society, would resonate with my experience as a business owner. She goes beyond the “community is good” mantra, sharing heartfelt, real-world insights into how collaboration can fuel business growth, purpose, and personal wellbeing.
Why This Book Felt So Personal
Natalie’s writing is refreshingly vulnerable. She opens up about her own loneliness, especially during the pandemic, and how those moments of feeling disconnected led her to create spaces where everyone belonged. Her reminder hit home: even thriving business owners can feel isolated behind their screens. I know I certainly do sometimes.
She challenges the scarcity mindset too, the idea that one person’s success takes away from another’s. Natalie reframes this, showing us that “abundance” really means stepping out of fear, celebrating others, and leaning into what we can build together.
Community Over Competition: The Core Message
What I loved was how Natalie talks about competition honestly, dispelling the myth that being collaborative means ignoring rivalries. Instead, she presents a healthier version: we can root for, learn from, and grow alongside our peers, and that actually makes us stronger.
This isn’t fluff. She backs it with science on how we perform better together, yes, entrepreneurs too: think ant colonies and lifters benching more with a friendly rival present. These real-life examples and references to studies make her message feel actionable and credible .
What Makes This a Must-Read for You
Reading Built to Belong was like taking an invitation to reimagine how I lead, market, and connect, including online and IRL. Natalie’s gentle but firm call to reframe jealousy, comparison, and fear as notifications to reach out instead of compare. Whether you run a small team or are flying solo, this book shows you how to build support systems that propel you, not hold you back.
Real Steps You Can Take Today
While she shares powerful concepts, Natalie doesn’t leave us hanging. Here are a few practical actions I appreciated:
- Check Your “Compete vs. Connect” Ratio: Notice when you're scrolling competitors instead of nourishing clients or your community.
- Celebrate Wins Together: Don’t just announce your success, highlight others too, whether that’s in your newsletter, social circles, or conversations.
- Join or Start a Group: The Rising Tide Society is proof: when creatives gather with purpose, everyone lifts higher together.
Is Built to Belong Worth Reading?
Yes, and here’s why:
- You don’t need to be in a group already, this book teaches you why and how to begin building connection.
- It tackles real emotions, loneliness, envy, burnout, head-on and offers warm, hopeful ways forward.
- Natalie links theory and science to soulful storytelling, all under one approachable cover.
If you’ve ever felt alone in your work journey, or wondered how to grow your influence and support others at the same time, this is your roadmap.
Where to Buy Built to Belong
Grab it in these formats:
Join the Business Book Club
While Built to Belong focuses on creating inclusive spaces in the business world, over on My Life From Home, we’re exploring a very different, but equally powerful, take on what it means to feel safe, seen, and heard. This month’s lifestyle book club pick is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, a haunting and beautifully written memoir about identity, emotional survival, and the kind of spaces that can quietly harm, or heal.
Together, these two reads offer a layered look at how the environments we build, whether in our work or our personal lives, shape our stories, our relationships, and our ability to belong.
Join the Book Club Newsletter to get next month’s picks and exclusive resources straight to your inbox.
FAQ – Quick Answers for Googlers & Curious Minds
It’s a business memoir-meets-guide on cultivating community, resilience, and an abundance mindset in work and life.
Absolutely, whether you’re solopreneur, creative, or running a small team, it offers both heart and hands-on strategy.
Both. You’ll get thought-provoking frameworks and tactics you can use now: from reframing thought patterns to starting your own community circle.
Yes, she’s refreshingly transparent, including her loneliness during COVID and her emotional journey developing Rising Tide Society.
I recommend it, while I read the hardcover, I've met Natalie in person a few times and the way she speaks is magnetic. I imagine the audiobook is fantastic, like having a conversation with a close friend.
Final Thoughts
Built to Belong isn’t just another business book, it’s a heartfelt call to lean into our inherent human need to connect. Natalie shows us that when we build with open hands rather than closed fists, our businesses thrive, and so do we.
I’d love to hear which section hit you hardest. Leave a comment below. Together, let’s stop building alone.
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