Hello Seven Podcast

💰 Ready to use AI to grow your business? Join me for the Hello Seven AI Accelerator: https://helloseven.co/aiaccelerator

Billions of dollars get invested every year into the same type of founder. Erika Aquino is doing something about it.
Erika is an angel investor for the Global Majority, she backs women and minority founders across four continents in sustainability, wellness, future of work, and education. This year alone, 63 companies pitched her. She took meetings with three. In this episode, she's breaking down exactly how she decides who gets the check (and who gets a "no").
We get into:
The deal-flow system that filters 63 pitches down to 3 meetings
The "vibe check" what she's actually testing when she asks a founder "what happens if you fail?"
Her #1 piece of advice for new investors (hint: it's one word, and it's free)
The founder red flags that kill a deal instantly including the cold-email story you have to hear to believe
How her dad sold the family house in his 50s to start a tech company that now employs 1,500 people
How to start angel investing with as little as $1,000 through syndicates and SPVs
Her moonshot: building enough women entrepreneurs in the Philippines that mothers never have to leave their kids to earn a living
Whether you're writing your first $1,000 check or your first six-figure one, this conversation will change how you think about where your money goes and who it builds power for.

#AngelInvesting #WomenInBusiness #RachelRodgers

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

FREE DOWNLOAD: My Friendship Audit will help you figure out who your real friends are and make space for new ones. Grab it here: https://helloseven.co/mdf

I found my best friend through a Facebook ad. (Yes, really.)
This week I'm at the Hello Seven Mastermind retreat with my actual best friend, Broadway star and business owner, Robert Hartwell, and we're telling you the whole story: how a bonus call with a client turned into a decade of bestie vacations, daily Voxer rants, and opportunities neither of us would have without the other.
Here's the thing: entrepreneurship is isolating. In my early days I spent Friday nights alone in my office because nobody in my life understood what I was building. If that's you right now, this episode is your way out.
We're covering:
Why you should pick ONE mentor and go deep, not collect fifty
How to build your Million Dollar Squad with the right mix of ages, life stages, and skill sets (so you don't become the squad mom)
What's waiting on the other side of "hello," even if you're an introvert
Why "you can be right or you can have real relationships, pick one"
How one true business bestie will do more for your business than a massive network
The exact ritual we use to stay close (hi, Voxer)
Plus one thing you can do THIS WEEK to start finding your people.

Also, if you want to be in the room for the next Mastermind Retreat, apply here. I host three of these a year in different parts of the world and it's the best place for entrepreneurs to build, scale, grow and connect with other like minded bosses in their own right! Apply here: http://helloseven.co/apply

Connect with Robert: https://www.instagram.com/sirroberttakespics/

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

Grab my free Millionaire Mindset Checklist so you can start believing making money is easy too: https://helloseven.co/mindsetchecklist/

I grew up low income in Queens, watching people in nicer neighborhoods live lives my parents couldn't afford. And my parents worked hard. So little-kid me did the only logical thing: I walked up to strangers and asked them flat out, "What do you do to make money?"
Decades later, I'm a millionaire. So I took that same question back to the streets of New York City and asked people point blank: do you think making money is easy or hard?
Some said easy. Some said hard. But the ones who said easy? They all had the same thing in common, and it wasn't a fancy degree or a rich family. It was what they believed about money before they ever made a dime.

In this one you'll meet a coach who's been selling since she was a little girl, a college couple I talked into a $2,000-a-month side hustle right there on the sidewalk, a 9-year-old slime entrepreneur who's already braver than most grown adults, and a woman who made $54,000 from sending 20 emails. Twenty. That's it.

Here's the thing I kept hearing all day: making money isn't the hard part. Your head is. What you believe about money is exactly what shows up in your bank account. So if you're ready to change the belief, this is your sign.

Want the full playbook?
My books: https://helloseven.co/the-book/
Join the mastermind: https://helloseven.co/mastermind/
Want to make 6 figures check out: https://helloseven.co/studiosixapp/
Come find me: Instagram: instagram.com/rachrodgersesq/
Website: https://helloseven.co
Subscribe and let's go get this shmoney.

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

Ready to build your business with an AI assistant working while you sleep? Join the Hello Seven AI Accelerator: helloseven.co/aiaccelerator

In this coaching session filmed live in London, I sit down with an entrepreneur who's already successful in one lane but is dying to pivot into something completely different: a hydroponic farm. The catch? She thinks she needs $200K just to start, and that number has her frozen.

We break down why the money was never actually the real obstacle. It was the ask. The pitch. The willingness to be new at something and let people watch her figure it out.

If you've got a dream sitting in a drawer because you've convinced yourself you need more capital, more confidence, more certainty before you start, this one's for you.

In this video:

Why "I need capital" is often a story, not a fact
The exact strategy for raising money before you have a track record
How to turn rejection into your best research tool
Why collecting 30 no's in a month will change your business
The confidence vs. courage distinction that unlocks everything

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner working toward your first six figures, we can help you get there. Studio Six is my six month business coaching program built specifically for that stage. You get a step by step growth curriculum (the Hello Seven Growth Scale), monthly group coaching calls with me, level specific coaching calls, an AI prompt library, a community of women doing exactly what you're doing, and one in person meetup. Everything you need to build a sustainable, profitable business without burning yourself out along the way.

Take your first step here with Studio Six:
helloseven.co/studiosixapp/

#entrepreneurship #businesscoaching #wealthbuilding

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

📄 Grab the free one-pager that summarizes everything in this video: helloseven.co/wealth
🚀 Ready to become an AI power user? Join the AI Accelerator: helloseven.co/aiaccelerator

Most people think generational wealth means protecting millions you already have. For the rest of us, it means creating it for the first time, and that changes everything about how you approach money.
In this video, I sat down with my daughter Riley across New York City to talk about what we actually pass down: the racial and gender wealth gap, why mindset is the first inheritance, how to price what you're worth, and the "million dollar decisions" that compound over a lifetime.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:35 Start With You
2:15 The first inheritance is
3:55 Don't Pass Down Crumbs
6:02 Generational Vote
7:51 Boundaries 
9:22 Present For Mom
10:20 The Age Of AI
12:14 What now?

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

🎬 Be the first to know when episode one drops: 

helloseven.co/show

I had meetings with every network you can name. Netflix, Oxygen, Hello Sunshine; they were all "interested." But in Hollywood, "interested" doesn't mean anything happens next. So I stopped waiting.

What started as a filming week in Portugal for the Hello Seven podcast turned into something none of us planned: a TV show. The footage was too good to be two people in chairs in front of microphones. So my creative director Mary Angelica Ferreira and I followed the idea where it wanted to go.

We brought it to our community. They showed up. 313 backers funded $170,000 in three weeks, and we used it to rent the Angelika Film Center in NYC and throw a real premiere with a red carpet, step-and-repeat, gowns, the whole thing. On a side hustle budget, with smart creative people figuring it out as we went.

And I premiered a show I had never seen. I decided not to watch the final cut so I could experience it live, for the first time, with everyone in that room. This video is what happened.
Whatever creative thing you're scared to make: there's always a way to make it happen.

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

Grab the free 10-Day Cash Sprint Checklist here: http://helloseven.co/10day

Most people say they want more money, more freedom, a bigger business. Then they stay exactly where they are. Not because they're not smart enough or because the opportunity isn't there. They stay stuck because they're missing the one ingredient nobody talks about: courage.

In this video I break down the skill that puts you ahead of 99% of people, and no, it's not confidence. Confidence comes after. Courage comes first. You show up once, it's hard. You show up again, it's easier. Before you know it you're the loudmouth in front of the camera who can't be stopped. There's no skipping that part. Money doesn't get to skip it and neither do you.

I also get into the belief that kept me small for way too long, the idea that making money is hard. It's not. I've made money from sending a single email. The trick is training your brain to look for the evidence that it's easy, because once you see it, the opportunities show up.
And I tell you about March 2020, when my business lost most of its revenue overnight. First thing I did was get in the tub and cry. Then I got up, talked to my people, found out what they actually needed, and launched the club. 300 clients the first month. A million dollar run rate. Eight figures over the next few years. Sometimes the worst thing that happens to you is the best thing that happens to you.

Here's what we cover:
Why courage, not confidence, is the real starting line
How to retrain your brain to see money as easy
What to do when your back is against the wall (and why pressure is a gift)
The power of immediate action over waiting for the perfect plan
Why being a first mover on AI is the opening you don't want to miss
How to build an offer that AI can't replace

You can do hard things. Let's do this together.

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

You did not build a business to spend your Sundays answering DMs and reformatting spreadsheets. So let an agent do it.

Join me and the Hello Seven team for the AI Accelerator, two weeks live, June 16 to 26. Five sessions. By the end of week one, you'll have an AI system trained on your actual business. By the end of week two, your first agent is live and working in the background while you focus on the stuff only you can do. You leave having built something real, not a folder of notes you'll never open. 

Join here:
https://helloseven.co/aiaccelerator/

Now, this video.

A coach came to me at $70K a year, growing her program, and stuck on a question a lot of you are sitting with too: she knows she needs more than a VA taking tasks off her plate. She needs someone who makes decisions. So how do you find that person when you're not ready for a full-time hire?
Here's what I told her. Look at the team you already have before you go looking outside. Write the job description for your vision of the role, not shrunk down to fit one person. Run a 30-day trial, because saying you can do the job and actually doing it are two different things. Hire slow, fire fast.
We also got into pricing across different markets, why a time study should come before the job posting, and where your dream hire is actually hiding. Spoiler: probably your email list. Mariangelica was a client before she became one of the most valued people on my team.
If you're ready to stop watching everyone else figure out AI and put it to work in your own business, no tech background required, come build with us. Your first agent goes live June 26. https://helloseven.co/aiaccelerator/

#HiringTips #SmallBusinessHiring #BuildYourTeam #FirstHire #DelegateToElevate #HireSlowFireFast #TeamBuilding #OperationsLead

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

Your money psychology is the first thing you have to fix before any moneymaking strategy will actually work. In this video, filmed in London, I'm breaking down the broke-ass thoughts keeping you from your first million, the thought work to rewire them, and the daily checklist you can use to upgrade your money mindset for good. 

👉 Join me for the Hello Seven AI Accelerator: https://helloseven.co/aiaccelerator/ 
👉 Download the free Millionaire Mindset Checklist: Helloseven.co/mindsetchecklist

In two weeks inside the AI Accelerator, you'll walk away with a working AI agent that acts as your personal assistant, learn how to switch from ChatGPT to Claude, become a power user, and get my personal playbook for using AI to get clients, manage your inbox, and grow your business without spending a ton of capital.

The mindset shift that separates people who get wealthy from people who accept whatever comes their way. The most damaging broke thoughts (I'm bad with money, no one will pay me for that, what will people think). Why investing in yourself buys speed toward your dream. How thought work actually rewires the stories in your head. The 2026 broke thoughts making the rounds right now, including the big one: refusing to use AI.

Not using AI in 2026 is like refusing to use the internet in 2000. Don't get left behind. 

If this hit home, grab the free checklist and put it to work in your daily life. 

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind

Wanna more innovative business advice? Join us in our AI Accelerator:
https://helloseven.co/aiaccelerator/

Tanya runs a $400,000 a year speech therapy private practice, but she's thinking about going back to a full-time job because she's not seeing the money she makes. In this coaching session, we break down exactly why a high-revenue business can still feel broke, and the specific moves to fix it.

We cover: 
• Why insurance-based and contract-based clients are killing your cash flow
• How to free yourself up to actually run the business (instead of working in it)
• The pitch strategy for landing higher-paying private clients
• How to restructure your contracts so you get paid before, not 60 days after
• Why $10K in 10 days is absolutely possible when you stop running like a freelancer

If you're a service business owner who looks successful on paper but can't figure out where the money goes, this one is for you.

Want more coaching? 
Join the mastermind: https://helloseven.co/mastermind/

FOLLOW ALONG:
Instagram: @rachrodgersesq
TikTok: @rachrodgersesq 
Books: We Should All Be Millionaires | Future Millionaire | Your Debt Plan  

SUBSCRIBE for more on building wealth, scaling a business, and getting your money right.  


 #millionairemindset #womenentrepreneurs #aiforbusiness #startabusiness #firstmillion

🌐 Stay Connected

 Behind-the-scenes content, quick tips, and updates. 📸 Instagram

 Rachel's corner of the Internet for hard-hitting articles and empowerment.  💌  Risky Women Substack

 Watch full conversations, highlights, and additional video content. 🎥 YouTube

🚀 Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re serious about taking what you’re learning on this podcast and turning it into real results, check out The Hello Seven Mastermind.

 Inside the Mastermind, you’ll get:

✨ Unlimited 1:1 coaching
✨ Three in-person retreats each year
✨ A powerful network of ambitious peers committed to growth 

👉 Learn more and apply: Mastermind