How RTS Really Started
The idea of the Rising Tide Society was conceived one March evening over drinks. I know, you’re sitting there thinking I’ve heard this story about the wine and the tears and #communityovercompetition. But you haven’t heard my side of the story…
So there we are hanging out around my kitchen table having drinks one night in March. There was some wine involved, but there was also some tequila there, too. Why do the girls always leave that part out?
We began talking about a few struggles of being an entrepreneur. Working as a solopreneur or in a small team can get a bit lonely. Throw in the darkness of the winter months, some social media comparison, and it can get downright depressing. Cue tears. To be clear, Huey and I didn’t cry–we continued to make margaritas and kindly asked the girls to pull it together.
So we had this idea: Let’s bring together our industry-friends in Annapolis and hang out. All good ideas are conceived over drinks with friends. At the time we hadn’t come up with topics of the month, guides, webinars, or even a website. We simply wanted to hang out with others in the industry–we wanted community.
What we didn’t know was that thousands of creative entrepreneurs also wanted community with others in the industry.
Shortly after the first meeting we started receiving emails from others around the country who were interested in starting a #TuesdaysTogether group. We were overwhelmed and overjoyed by the positive response, but still oblivious to the magnitude of what this was quickly becoming.
We launched our website on June 1, 2015, and came up with some monthly topics and guides based on early feedback. At the same time we were running our own creative small businesses. What was initially a part-time endeavor was suddenly turning into a sizeable project that required much more than a part-time effort.
So we had an important problem to solve: How do we sustain this movement and support this community while also being able to pay our bills (and my addiction to Italian hoagies… and McFlurries)?
Enter HoneyBook
We met HoneyBook towards the end of June 2015, and it was clear we shared the same values. HoneyBook is a company that puts people first and believes in the power of community. A relationship was built over many months and a trip out to San Francisco where HoneyBook sponsored the launch of the San Francisco #TuesdaysTogether.
A few meals and drinks later it became even more apparent that our missions and values were aligned. They shared with us their dreams of building a tool that would change the industry through connecting the creative community on HoneyBook, and by automating onerous tasks that take away from the time creative entrepreneurs spend on the work they love. They then helped support the December and April Summits so a total of $60,000 could be donated to charitable organizations.
With shared core values, aligned goals, and hearts for the people we serve, we quickly realized that we are stronger together than we are apart. So, we have officially become a part of the HoneyBook family.
What does this mean?
The Rising Tide Society is now a HoneyBook company, which means HoneyBook is fully supporting the Rising Tide Society so we can continue to create communities and educate members through webinars, editorial content, and educational events. Their support means the Rising Tide Society team can go “all-in” and make this our full-time priority. Since we are HoneyBook employees, we now have more resources available to continue furthering the mission and values of the Rising Tide Society. The Rising Tide Society will continue to function as its own organization. I have also been promised a budget for Italian hoagies and McFlurries.
Do RTS members have to use HoneyBook?
No, Rising Tide Society members do not have to use HoneyBook (but we do think it’s a powerful tool and small business management platform). The Rising Tide Society will continue to function as its own organization and will never censor HoneyBook competition on their channels.
What’s changing?
Nothing really, except that we will have the resources to tackle some of the big initiatives we have planned for the Rising Tide Society community. The Rising Tide Society will continue to operate as its own organization led by the same founders–Krista, Natalie, Huey, and Davey.
We are very excited to be joining the HoneyBook family, and to watch the Rising Tide Society community continue to grow in the coming years. Over the last year this community–with HoneyBook’s support–has raised $60,000 for charitable organizations, spread to over 300 cities across the world, and become a place of support and encouragement for creative entrepreneurs. We can’t wait to see what we can achieve together over the years to come.
Have questions? Feel free to email us at [email protected].
Interested in learning more about HoneyBook? Check out there website and blog.
