Nicole Behnam and Mariella Rudi are founders of the media company Beyond The Interview, where they curate a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. As two women who left full-time careers as successful journalists to pursue entrepreneurship, their story is one of taking creative control of their work and embracing a new age of personal, digital journalism.

In this show, Nicole and Mariella talk about their adventure in leaving their careers to pursue entrepreneurship, the importance of having a co-founder, writing authentically but still following a successful formula, and how to monetize a growing audience on any platform. They also discuss in general the media's trend towards personal, vulnerable, and emotional news, and how young entrepreneurs can tap into these subjects to create a viral hits.

Some Questions I Ask Nicole and Mariella:

• What is Beyond the Interview? [1:34]
• What's the dynamic with your friends who became influencers? [4:18]
• Why start this when you have full-time careers already? [10:10]
• Did you feel like your managers were telling you to write meaningless stories? [11:45]
• Is this what your parents wanted you to do? [21:26]
• What are the safe versus frowned-upon means of monetization? [27:19]
• Were you both straight-A students or more focused on entrepreneurship? [28:12]
• What are some subject matters that aren't talked about enough today? [32:20]
• Are there any other noteworthy stories that might be surfacing soon? [38:11]
• How do you balance authenticity and following a popular writing formula? [40:00]
• Are college instructed social media courses helpful? [42:15]
• What's been your most successful article and why was it successful? [48:20]
• What do you guys feel like is your next big milestone? [56:10]
• Has anyone ever turned down an interview? [59:29]
• Any other stand-out experiences when trying to reach out to people? [1:06.30]
• What advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to get press coverage? [1:10:23]
• Should people be paying for PR? [1:15:10]
• What are some books you would recommend? [1:17:30]
• What advice do you have to future entrepreneurs? [1:24:50]

Some Things You'll Learn in This Episode:

• BeyondTheInterview.com is a collection of interviews, essays, and social news.
• A deep dive into the thought process behind leaving a full-time job to pursue your own work.
• Why having a co-founder can create a strong sense of interdependence which is healthy for a startup.
• A lot of entrepreneurial relationships between founders start out as friendships, but it can also happen in the reverse direction.
• The struggle of female founders to fight societal pressure to get married and ignore their career.
• Understanding the difference between a hobby and something you can get paid for.
• How to monetize a nascent service with a growing audience.
• The key to creating shareable, viral writing is tapping into a subject's vulnerability and emotion.
• When generating content, learning how to take advantage of people's natural inclination to talk about themselves and promote their work.
• How the first 10 words of an Instagram DM are the most important in determining if someone will read it and respond.

Get in Touch with Nicole and Mariella:

• Website www.beyondtheinterview.com
• Instagram @beyondtheinterview
• Twitter @InterviewBeyond
• Mariella Social: Twitter @MariellaRudi Instagram @mariworldpeace
• Nicole Social: Twitter @NicoleBehnam Instagram: @nicccb