IT’S YOUR MONEY
Get what you want
You’re focused on serving your ideal clients and growing your business.
You sense your needs are met and you pay bills on time. But when it comes to money, you wonder if you’re making smart decisions. You're worried you’re not making the right decisions.
Your days are jam-packed. You envisioned more time off and trusting that your money’s there when you swipe at the register or scroll down to click the ‘Buy Now’ button.
HI. I'M RACHELLE.
I help life coaches and creative solopreneurs who want to be smart with their money.
They have enough to meet their needs but want someone to show them exactly how to take more money home and feel confident in their financial decisions so they can focus on their craft.
I show them how to make their money work for them so that they can spend more time doing what they love.
BORN IN A BARN
My parents came from mid-western farm families. With a toddler and a newborn baby in tow, they squirreled away and built a barn on 24 acres of rolling hills surrounded by trees and tall grass. They dubbed this slice of land “Walnut Oaks”.
The plan was to finish the barn and build a house on the hill overlooking the property. When the recession of the 1980’s hit, inflation skyrocketed and unemployment soared. My dad was a Union electrician and his well-paying job depended on the economy.
My parents decided to sell their suburban ranch ahead of schedule and turned the barn into a temporary home.
I was literally raised in a barn, so if I leave the door open and you must know...
Yes — I was ‘born in a barn’.
YOU WANT IT, YOU’D BETTER WORK
The wood-burning stove heated the house, which meant we spent hours taking down dead trees, stacking wood, and stoking the fire.
With a family of 5, there were copious amounts of chores to do.
Tired of fighting to motivate us, three girls, to join in, my dad designed a chore chart where he paid us one quarter per point.
We quickly learned that the more we worked the more money we’d make. This was our money which afforded us to swap Suave for Pantene, Lucky Brand for hand-me-downs and funded our trips to the movies and the roller-skate rink.
The messages were clear:
Hard work creates money.
Money doesn’t grow on trees.
MY PARENTS VALUED WORK AND I LONGED FOR INDEPENDENCE.
I scored a job as a waitress at a pizza place two weeks before my 16th birthday.
They provided a car for me to drive back and forth to work - an old Pontiac Grand Prix that was minus a windshield and started with a screwdriver in the ignition when it was towed home from auction. I didn’t pay for the car, its maintenance or gas, but I kept a detailed mileage log and paid cents on the mile.
This was my dad’s ingenious way of curbing my run-around before geo-tracking your kids was a thing.
I stepped up my chore chart game to vacuum every room in the house, do the dishes, and take out the trash daily, and mow the 1-acre lawn twice a week. I was making $40 a week with no paycheck deductions. Cash money, baby!
The faster and more efficient I worked, the more I made per hour.
When I graduated high school, I negotiated a deal to come and go as I pleased if I worked at least 40 hours a week. I was hell-bent on getting my independence..
I had 3 part-time jobs totaling 40 hours: a hardware store, a burger joint, and a pizza place. I thought I was earning my freedom, but I was also learning to trade time for money.
On the eve of my 18th birthday, I proudly announced to my parents I wouldn’t be making curfew. When midnight struck (curfew), I’d be “an adult”.
The message was clear:
Time spent working = adulthood.
HAVING MY OWN BACK
I became a mother when I turned 19.
I would be okay, though. I came from a good family, with a stable home. I knew what I wanted to create and provide for myself and my daughter. I knew hard work, where money came from, and I knew how to handle it.
The messages were clear:
It’s all up to you. You’ve got your own back.
Live below your means and you’ll always have enough.
ARRANGE THE NUMBERS INTO POSSIBILITIES
What I didn’t learn about money from my parents, I learned from books to blogs to life’s hard knocks.
I made my money work for me
as a single teen mom living in low-income housing on public assistance
as a working mother and wife raising my family, living on a fixed salary with benefits
as I start over, single for the first time in my adult life
First, I determine what I want, then I research, and assign a dollar amount.
Next, I break that number into manageable bite-size chunks, automate a savings plan, and determine an end date.
If it’s too long, I ask for a pay raise or cut back in other areas.
DESIGNER BY NATURE & BY TRADE
I’m a designer by nature.
As a young girl, I had big visions. I escaped the monotony of physical labor by daydreaming, thoughtfully rearranging redesigning the world around me.
As an employee, I’ve worked as a mechanical piping designer doing 3D modeling. I turn millions of little data points from a laser into a retrofit solution for chemical plants, breweries, and distilleries.
As a homeowner, I invest in home maintenance and routine care. I save to splurge on renovations. I thrift on furniture and artwork that highlights and accentuates. I’m choosy about aesthetics and fanatic about quality.
MANAGING THE HOUSEHOLD FINANCES LIKE A BOSS
I was living beneath my means, paid off all consumer debt - no credit card debt, car payments, student loans, and not even a mortgage by the time I was 32.
I ticked off the home renovations one by one. I covered the kids’ orthodontia, extracurriculars, school trips, and college costs. I watched the retirement plans grow as I directed 20% of our income to secure our future.
I made exquisite travel plans. We had been to Jamaica, The Dominican Republic, and Ireland. I figured out how we could manage bi-annual vacations alternating between Europe and the Caribbeans for the rest of our lives. But even then, I’d still be longingly gazing out the window 215 days a year, 1,827.5 hours, 109,650 minutes.
HAPPY, CONTENT, AND BORED OUT OF MY SKULL
In the fall of 2015, I had been living in the same house, working in the same job for 15 years.
I was safe in my comfort zone and bored out of my ever-lovin’ mind.
I wanted a new challenge.
Our kids were “adults in training.” My daughter would be leaving for college soon - and then whose dreams and goals and potential would I fret and hover over?
I’d never been an adult living in the world on my own. From the day I left my parents’ home, I had always made my decisions based on what was best for her.
I thought about changing jobs, switching careers, or going back to school but I had no graduate degree, no other experience, and I was scared.
MAKING ROOM FOR THINGS THAT FEEL UNFAMILIAR, FRIGHTENING, RISKY
One day at work in 2017, I was listening to my favorite money podcast. The host shared a link to a commencement speech she had given at her alma mater.
As I listened, my eyes popped open. My heart stopped.
She was speaking directly to me.
“So I challenge you to constantly make room for things that feel unfamiliar, frightening, risky...”
My chest throbbed. Electricity pulsed through me.
When was the last time I had done something unfamiliar, frightening, risky? I had organized and planned my life within an inch, so that nothing could touch me.
The craziest thing happened. I returned to her podcast intro where the host was inviting applicants to co-host her Q&A Friday episodes.
I spent the weekend practicing audio clips. To my complete shock a few days later, I got an invite to send my headshot and bio.
I scrambled to throw it together. I did the episode and felt the most alive I ever had.
Why had no one ever told me that talking about money was a career choice?!
THE PERFECT JOB WASN’T OUT THERE. I HAD TO CREATE IT.
I bet you did, too. That’s what I love about you.
When I ask creatives and coaches how they got to do the work that they do, they often give a self-conscious chuckle in response. The path is curvy and full of missteps, failed classes, and unfulfilled dreams.
But, what I see is a brilliant, heart-centered mind serving the world in a way that only she can.
I teach coaches and creative solopreneurs how to take more money home and make their financial decisions based not only on the money that they are making but on what truly matters to them.
GET WHAT YOU WANT
I’ve had clients who’ve done things like install a kegerator in their office, take a family vacation to Paris, or work remotely from London.
My first client is now making double the income in half of the hours she did in her full-time day job - at home with her young son in tow.
One client who was making under $38,000 as a life coach is now making over $300,000 in annual revenue - and is aiming for half a million dollars this year.
Another client who, at 24, felt like it was impossible to pay off her student loans in her lifetime now has a clear path and an end date that is less than 10 years away. She has hope and room for her future.
You deserve to get what you want out of life. Which by the way, is most often simple pleasures that don’t cost a thing.
My clients often say if money and time wasn’t an issue for them, they’d spend Saturday afternoon in a hammock, get their windows professionally cleaned instead of doing their own labor they’d meditate daily, learn a new language, and enjoy a family dinner followed by a bike ride and game night.
You can do that right now. But, are you?
THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH A MONEY COACH
What’s holding you back?
Ask yourself, is this story useful to me?
Am I getting the results I want?
I can help you identify the thoughts that are keeping you bundled in your security blanket.
MY DESIGN SKILLS CREATE WINNING SCENARIOS FOR YOUR LIFE
What do you truly want out of life?
Is that where you spend the majority of your time, money, and energy?
If not, why not?
LET’S START THERE.
Discover how to get what you want from the money you’ve got. Book a Get What You Want session.