go over and get Rachels FREE passive income starter kit here:https://www.moneyhoneyrachel.com/
you can follow her on Instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/moneyhoneyrachel/?hl=en
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MoneyHoneyRachel/
Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhoperichards?trk=people-guest_people_search-card
Donnie Tuttle (1s): This is Donnie Tuttle, the sell anywhere trainer, coach, and practitioner. Welcome to the only podcast designed for the remote sales professional and the remote leader, helping you live with more joy, more freedom and more productivity. We believe that your talent is not limited to your zip code and that you can build the life that you want while selling from anywhere. Donnie Tuttle (31s): What is a sell anywhere? Listeners. I have someone you're going to want to look up. Maybe you're like me. Maybe you haven't heard of her, but after this I'm promising you. She is going to leave a Mark. Her name is Rachel Richards. And if you're on social media, just go connect with me and then, and see, look at my secondary connections. Rachel Richards is her name. Rachel, I'm going to let you tell us about you, but welcome to the show. Donnie Tuttle (1m 1s): Welcome to the Sony where podcast. Rachel Richards (1m 3s): Thank you, Donnie. Yeah, so a little bit about me. I am a lot of things. I'm a former financial advisor. I'm a real estate investor. My husband and I own over 35 rental units in Kentucky. I'm an entrepreneur, I'm the bestselling author of two books on financial literacy. And what people find most interesting about me is that last year at age 27, I quit my job and retired. And I'm now living off over $10,000 per month in passive income. Donnie Tuttle (1m 32s): Wow. Okay. Like sign me up. I'm sure that everyone is saying that on, you know, who was listening and listen, it's different to have something where you have a great job and you get paid a lot. You still have to show up for that one. So, but this, this whole passive game you've created something different. And you said, did you say $10,000 so that you don't have to, you don't have to lift a finger for, is that what Rachel Richards (2m 2s): Yeah, exactly. And I will say, you know, there's a lot of myths around passive income, but to me, the way I define passive income is that it is money that is earned with little to no ongoing effort. So is anything truly passive? Maybe the one thing that's truly 100% hands-off is portfolio income. But the problem with portfolio income is you normally have to have, you know, two, $3 million to generate any type of meaningful income. And, you know, I certainly don't have that. So I had to start somewhere else. Other types of passive income streams are rental income, royalty income from books. Rachel Richards (2m 36s): There's tons in my book, I outlined 28 different types. So there's definitely something out there for everybody. And most of these are income streams where you're going to be putting in a couple hours a week, a few hours a month just to maintain them. But if you ask me, that's a lot better than your typical nine to five job. And that's the thing I love about it the most on it, you touched on it. I can now work when, where, and if I want, I'm not tied down to a physical location, I'm not tied down to certain hours. So it's given me the ultimate freedom that I've always wanted. Rachel Richards (3m 8s): So I'm very, I'm in a great spot and very grateful. I put in a lot of hard work, but it's, it's fun to be here. Donnie Tuttle (3m 13s): Love that. Here's the thing. I think anyone listening to this that's there's that, that when, where enough like that to me, that's freedom, right? When you can choose what you do, how you do it, when you do it, where you do it, we're talking about what? Oh gosh, Tim Ferriss, right? Four hour workweek. He calls us the Nuevo rich, the new rich. Yeah. It's it's having choice. Alright. I don't know where you just born into millions of dollars. Rachel Richards (3m 44s): No, but I get asked that a lot. Yeah. I was like, did you inherit money? Bring me to the decision Donnie Tuttle (3m 50s): Where like, like you were a financial advisor in bring me to the decision where you said, I think this is what I want to do. And talk to us a little bit about maybe the big, hairy monster that was looking at you in the eye that you, that you steamrolled. I wanna, I want to hear that story. Rachel Richards (4m 7s): Yeah. I think my passion actually started from a pretty young age in middle school and high school. You know, my parents were on a budget. I grew up in this really wealthy County. And I remember when all my friends turned 16, like people in my high school were getting brand new BMWs and brand new cars. And I certainly was not. And it's hard that age to feel like you don't fit in. So I just remember feeling like I was different than those people. And then I didn't have the same luxury and, and just wanting to fit in. Rachel Richards (4m 37s): And then when you look at, you know, the average American and the average struggles of the average household, people struggle with money. I didn't want to end up like everyone else. I didn't want to have to struggle with money my whole life or operate on a strict budget. I didn't want to have to borrow money from family and friends to make it to my next paycheck. Those were all things that I had witnessed growing up. I wanted to be different. And I realized at that young age, what I did then would either set me up for wealth or for poverty. So it kind of lit a fire under me. When I started learning about money management, I started reading books. Rachel Richards (5m 9s): I became really passionate about it. I sold Cutco cutlery. I don't know if you've heard of it. Cutco knives. Yeah, she has done really. And I sold Cutco throughout college to pay for college. I went to a $40,000 a year, private liberal arts school. And I paid for my way through school, all on my own and graduated without debt, which to this day is one of my proudest accomplishments. So I was taking money very seriously. There's a little bit of a sales journey. Listen. Yes. Donnie Tuttle (5m 39s): If you sold Cutco knives and, and paid for college with that, like, like obviously this, that was probably as much of a college education is what you actually received at the liberal arts college. Rachel Richards (5m 53s): Oh my gosh. You're not wrong. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. I learned more business skills in that knife job than I did at college. So probably Donnie Tuttle (6m 1s): Personal self psychology as well. Rachel Richards (6m 4s): Yes, Donnie Tuttle (6m 5s): I'm sure. So now you're in college where you, when, when, when, when were you a financial advisor and where were you at in kind of, how did, how did that journey go? Rachel Richards (6m 15s): So I figured at graduating college, I was like, well, what should I do? And I have financial advisor to me, sounded like the perfect job because I could help people with this thing I was passionate about and I had the sales experience. So I was like, let's start there. I started. And it turns out I can be very good at sales, but I don't always love it. I'm actually an introvert. And sometimes sales is something that's is very, very draining to me. So it was difficult. I realized, you know, when you're a financial advisor you're spending the first five years, literally cold call calling people, that's all you're doing. Rachel Richards (6m 45s): And I just, at that point, I was like, I just don't think I can commit to this. Like this, this is really, really hard for me. So I did that for about a year, about a year. And then I got out of it. My passion, go ahead Donnie Tuttle (6m 57s): For just a minute, because again, Cutco, and you're now you're a financial advisor. You did that for what, how does an introvert survive in that world? What did you do to Excel while you were there? And this is, I'm just sewing a couple of bones to my introverts out there. You know who you are. Rachel Richards (7m 12s): Yeah. I certainly am one. I, you know, I think fear is such a powerful motivator. And when I was a high school senior about to graduate high school, with what I had learned about money and the struggles I had seen people around me have with money. I had this enormous fear. I had this fear of not having enough money and of having to be financially dependent on somebody else and of not being able to financially help one of my loved ones if they needed me to. So I had this fear going on. Rachel Richards (7m 43s): I didn't want to graduate student loan debts to me. I was like, I remember feeling suffocated by that idea. So, you know, I've been working at American Eagle was like, that's not going to cut it. If I'm trying to pay my way through school. When I found the Cutco job, it was the first time I'd been exposed to something where the harder you worked, the more money you could make. And I was like, well, I may be an introvert, but I can outwork anybody. I can have a solid work ethic. And to me it just became this total focus on my goal and having this why this motivation and I was not going to let anything stop me. Rachel Richards (8m 17s): So I had to just forget about, you know, discomfort and social anxiety and fear of rejection, because my motivation was stronger than all those things. And I think that's really the key finding something that's going to motivate you. And you're going to be willing to make yourself uncomfortable to achieve those things Donnie Tuttle (8m 34s): Strong motivator a lot. Alright. So now bring us to, like, I want to hear, I want to hear the decision and how the early part of this played out because I'm like, I don't know it wasn't, was it cold Turkey or did, did Rachel do the things little by little? I've heard some of your story, so I know it, but Rachel Richards (8m 51s): In terms of writing the book, Donnie Tuttle (8m 53s): No, I mean, in terms of you the 35 properties. Rachel Richards (8m 58s): Yeah. Well, so real estate investing is something I'd always wanted to do. Cause throughout everything I had learned to me, it was one of those. It was one of the best ways to build longterm wealth. So I was always very interested in it after I was a financial advisor. I took some real estate related jobs because I was pretty passionate about that at the time. And I wanted to learn. So that's what I did for a little while. I ended up getting my real estate license that way. And then later I became a corporate finance analyst, which is where I spent three years. Rachel Richards (9m 28s): That was the last thing that I did before I quit. So at some point during that, you know, I felt like I had the knowledge. I finally had the money saved and I decided in 20, 2016, my husband and I started looking for rental properties. And then in 2017 is kind of where things really took off for us Donnie Tuttle (9m 44s): Recent. This isn't like you did this 20 years ago, and now you're telling us how to do it. This is like, Oh, this is applicable today. Yeah. Rachel Richards (9m 51s): Yes. This is something I never thought we could create passive and so much passive income. So fast, my goals that are early, certainly weren't projecting it to be, you know, something I could do in two or three years, but now that I've done it, I see how attainable it is for everybody else. So that's why I love it so much. You know, in 2017 that beginning of 2017, we had $0 million in passive income. We were both working full time. We were tied down to a physical job, a physical location, you know, working nine to five every week. Rachel Richards (10m 21s): So 2017, we bought our first duplex. And then later that year I self published my first book money honey. So that's where things sort of began for us. Donnie Tuttle (10m 31s): Love it. And I know, I know I w well, typically when we, we, we decide to step over the line. There are a lot of things that are screaming at us. You don't know enough, you don't have enough. I don't know. Like what, what were the big things that were kind of yelling at you to kind of keep you in your box? Do you remember any of those? Rachel Richards (10m 54s): Oh, absolutely. I think one big thing when I was writing money, honey, and I'll start with the reason I wrote the book, because at that point I was this GoTo person, all my family and friends came to me for financial advice because of my background and because of my passion. And I began wondering why they weren't reading or self-educating or learning on their own. And then I realized, Oh yeah, money management is really boring. Right? The topic of personal finance is intimidating and dull and complex, and it's hard for people to learn about. So then I thought, well, what if I can take this topic and make it sassy and fun and simple. Rachel Richards (11m 29s): And that's where the idea of writing money honey came from. So I started writing it. I sat down, I was really excited at first of course, you know, the words flowed out of me. And then about four months in, I quit, I quit writing the book. I had no intention of ever proceeding with it. And that's because by that point, the things that I was telling myself were things like, wow, your writing is a piece of crap. You know, who are you to write about this? Who do you think you are? Rachel? I thought it was going to be a total embarrassment if I went through with it. Rachel Richards (12m 1s): So I quit. I was, it was that self doubt. It would just totally consumed me. And it wasn't until I sat down and had lunch with a good friend who was also a coworker. And I told her about this book, I had started writing and she stopped me and she said, Rachel, what are you thinking? You have to pick this up. You have to finish this. You know, you're, you're really onto something here. So she gave me the encouragement I needed, but really the only reason I went through with publishing it is because at that point I just told myself, okay, if I can just help one person, that's all I want to do. Rachel Richards (12m 33s): And, and that was literally a hundred percent true. I didn't do it for money. I didn't do it to change thousands of lives. I just felt compelled to do it. And I was just like, if I can just help one person. That's great. So Donnie Tuttle (12m 45s): Lesson, and I'm just, I'm just going to address this any time any of you like myself, all of us included. We're none of us are immune to this. When we see something in front of us, we're going to be confronted with a fear, right. That you're not enough. You, you, you, you like whatever, there's so many other voices that are all doing it. Why would you do it? And I, and I love that. It wasn't about you. Like, it sounds like it was, it was about others and it wasn't about this massive crowd. Donnie Tuttle (13m 17s): It was just, Hey, you know what? Even one up I'll give myself a success for even one. And I actually, personally, that's, that's a part of my thing too. I literally have my fears on my wall over there. Why I wouldn't play big, you know, like, like I am, but I, in, in one of those is, is that, what if no one listens? And my answer was a lot, like what, what you just shared is, like I said to myself, or I say to myself, I'm all, I'm not looking for the masses. Donnie Tuttle (13m 50s): I only want the rebellion. So it's like being able to, to make it into a small group. It says like it helps. Rachel Richards (13m 59s): Yes, totally. And what I didn't realize at the time, the technical word for what I was struggling with is the imposter syndrome. And it's something that affects everybody. It affected me anytime. I got a new job, I felt like a fraud. I felt like I didn't know what the heck I was doing. So it's something I've had to sort of struggle and work with throughout my life. I've gotten better at it. But you know, the great thing about publishing the book, the way I did with those motivations is that it ended up being wildly successful, more successful than I ever could have thought possible. Rachel Richards (14m 30s): I think I have over like 500, five star reviews on Amazon now. Donnie Tuttle (14m 33s): So talk to us because you're like, if I even help one person, okay. And you did it, and then what happened? Like it was like on the other side of this watershed moment, what happened from, just from this? Rachel Richards (14m 45s): Yeah. Well, it's so funny. Cause even right after I publish it, I was like, you know, hiding, like hanging my head in shame, just had just had such fear about it still. I was still, you know, super nervous. And I think it took six months for me to really understand that I had put some really amazing workout out there and it really resonated with female millennials. And I was starting to get emails like every week and then every day of people. And at this point it was random strangers, you know, it's one thing for your friend to be like, yeah, you wrote a great book, but I was getting emails from strangers being like, Hey, Rachel, I read your book. Rachel Richards (15m 18s): And this has changed my life. And I've paid off my debt and I've turned my life around. I just want to thank you. And it took some of those emails for me to finally realize, Oh wow, I did a, I did a good job. You know, I didn't write a piece of crap. My book is actually changing lives. And that gave me a lot of confidence. Moving forward, Donnie Tuttle (15m 37s): What's up, you wandering Slayer of sales. Hey, listen, if you know anything about me, you know that I am a teacher and I believe in sharing experience, right? That's what this whole podcast is about. Well, I've actually taken all of the best stuff from the people I've interviewed on this podcast and other places. And all of the people I've coached around the world and my own experience, listen, two and a half years of bumping my head and doing it wrong. Finally gave me a formula that helped me to be able to not only go out there and crush my schedule when my office was only a 10 feet commute, but also to be more effective than anyone else that's out there. Donnie Tuttle (16m 23s): Listen, if you can sell anywhere, you can sell everywhere. And so this is a course or a mastery of those who are without an office or those who are aspiring to be without an office. So go ahead and go over to Donnie tuttle.com right now. And you're going to see right there in the, in the header there, you're going to see some information about the new cell anywhere course. And guess what you get the first one for free. So go check it out right now, Donny tuttle.com. Donnie Tuttle (16m 53s): And now back to the show, come on and listen, I believe this, whether it's a book or whatever it is that you have, all of us have something inside of us that is there to free other people, 100% being able to connect with that. And what a, what a powerful place of purpose. Rachel Richards (17m 14s): I love that you said that Donnie. Cause I, I truly think the same thing. Everyone has a unique voice and a unique gift to share with the world. Donnie Tuttle (17m 23s): Yeah. Even in, even if there have been a hundred other people who have said something that that's similar and they haven't said it, I think you said sassy and fun. It's like Jensen chair. I, I recommend one. I'm one of my top books that I recommend is Jensen cheros you are bad ass. Right. And she didn't say anything new. There was zero, zero new in that book, but it was her voice. Rachel Richards (17m 50s): Exactly, exactly. I mean, yeah. Think about the thousands of personal finance books that are out there and you really have to ask yourself as a salesperson or entrepreneur, you know, what problem am I solving? Why would someone choose to buy my book or my service or my product over the thousands of others that are already out there, you have to have that unique value proposition and you have to be able to articulate it very, very clearly. If you can't answer that question, then you're not going to see the success that you're hoping for. Donnie Tuttle (18m 21s): Love that. What problem am I solving? You sell anywhere maniacs that are out there. That's, that's the question for you? What question are you, w w what problem are you solving? And, and I'm going to combine that I was recently on, because my, our son is an artist and, and we were able to speak to the founders of the Stan Lee foundation. And one of the ladies that worked with him across from him for two decades said that he would always say the same thing. Donnie Tuttle (18m 52s): It doesn't matter. Like, you know, people would bring him great stuff all the time. And he's like, make me care, make me care. And I'm, and I'm hearing from you, you know, what problem am I, am I solving, love it? All right. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, you are not just the rank and file person who, you know, follows everything that's been put out there. In fact, there was a lot of bad stuff that you feel like might be littering the airwaves in terms of entrepreneurship, growth, business, finance, money, all of those things. Donnie Tuttle (19m 26s): And maybe, maybe some myths that need to be busted up a little bit. Rachel Richards (19m 32s): Yes, I have several. Donnie Tuttle (19m 34s): See if I could open that one up for you. Rachel Richards (19m 36s): I love that. Yeah. One of the things that in terms of money, specifically, that I hear people say a lot, is that being a full time, salaried employee is safe. You know, you have job stability, you have income security. And I disagree with that. Like really hardcore, because if you're 100% dependent on a single source of income, to me, there's nothing safe about that. What if your hours get cut? What if you get laid back? What if you lose your job, then you have zero income. So I like to talk about this concept of income diversification. Rachel Richards (20m 8s): And this is thinking about how can I have multiple sources of income, because that is where true income stability comes from. And the perfect example of that is myself right now, because you know, a large part of my income is from rental income. And with what's happening right now with coronavirus and what's going on with the world, a lot of my tenants are not able to pay rent. So for example, in, I think in March, I went from on an average month making seven to $12,000 per month in profit, just from my rentals in April, I made $1,000 of profit. Rachel Richards (20m 41s): So I basically broke even now. There's a lot of landlords out there that are a lot worse off than me. There's a lot that are doing better to me. I was like, well, if I break even for a few months, and that's my worst case scenario, like I am very happy with that. That's fine. But the only reason I'm not in a total panic right now, and that I'm not acting out of desperation is because I have three other passive income sources keeping me afloat just in February with my book royalties. I had my first $7,000 a month. So that, yeah, thank you. So that's the importance of income diversification. Rachel Richards (21m 11s): Don't be 100% dependent on a single source of income Donnie Tuttle (21m 16s): That is phenomenal. And so there are lots of ways to do that. Right? Talk to us a little bit about there's, there's probably some anxiety that goes along with that. I'm, I'm hearing your story, that it seems like there's some, some tension that would have worked its way in and out of that. And I know that you have something to say to those of us, like Corona tension and, and, and there's, there are a lot of obviously things in this last week that have been entirely like there's there, it feels like it's one thing after another. Donnie Tuttle (21m 55s): And I, I hear a lot of people telling me that, that I work with as like I'm exhausted from just from the anxiety of what's happening around me. Can you, I know that's an area where, where you have probably you struggle with and you've, and you've put it into place. Can you share with us a little bit about that? Rachel Richards (22m 17s): Oh yeah. I have struggled a lot with anxiety as an entrepreneur, going through the coronavirus, you know, everything that's going on, but actually about a year and a half ago, I was really struggling with severe anxiety. And I, I think it's a problem. That's so typical of salespeople, entrepreneurs, business owners, cause it's so high pressure. And for me, the problem was actually being a workaholic and really suffering from burnout. It's actually funny because last year when I quit my job, I had this fear, you know, we're always dealing with fears and struggles, right? Rachel Richards (22m 49s): So I had this fear that I was going to quit my job and just be, become this very lazy person and sleep all day and not do anything. And I guess I just didn't know myself very well, because that is the opposite of what happened. I went from working my 40 hour job to working 80 hours as an entrepreneur. Right. And I think that's something that entrepreneurs struggle with a lot because when you're working your own business or working from home, you don't have these physical barriers of telling you when your Workday stops and starts. You know, I'm not physically going into an office and physically coming home anymore. Rachel Richards (23m 20s): So it became very hard for me to turn it to the off switch. And not only that, but when you're doing something you're super passionate about it, it's fun. And you want to do it all day long. And that's truly how I felt. So building in those times to rest and recharge, that's something I struggle with. And that's what led me into having such crippling anxiety for probably like a year long period. So what kind of helps me come out of that is I actually went to see how L rod speak last year. He is the, yes, he's the international bestselling author of the miracle morning. Rachel Richards (23m 53s): I'm like such a big fan of him. He's awesome. And he actually has been really public about his struggle with anxiety over the past year. And he said something to me that changed my life. He said, you have to completely commit to living 100% in alignment with your life values. Now my husband and I, we talked about our values before. We've always said our values are health, family and freedom, but how his point was, yeah, everyone says family is their value, but how many, you know, dads and moms don't see their kids enough? Rachel Richards (24m 25s): How many spouses don't make enough quality time for one another? So we're all talking that, but we're not actually walking the walk, right? So, you know, how really had some courage to step up and start really living in alignment with his values. He said, once his schools, his kids' school schedules came out, he started canceling speaking contracts and canceling engagements things he had never done before. Literally having to give back thousands and thousands of dollars to cancel these things because they re he realized that they fell on his kids, you know, fall break or spring break. Rachel Richards (24m 56s): And so once he started talking about this, I just felt so inspired. And I felt like I had the permission, I guess, to go out and do the same thing. It was seeing him have the courage to do it, but I was like, you know what, I'm going to do this too. And so I basically, my husband and I kind of did an activity together. After that. We decided to list out all the different ways we spent our time, whether it was literally sleeping or meal prepping or meditating or social media or TV. And we listed out our values, health, family, and freedom. Rachel Richards (25m 27s): And we just went one by one. And we said, well, is spending our time on this is this in complete alignment with these three values. And we would just check those things off. And that exercise was so eyeopening. We saw all the things we were wasting our time on and all of the things that were truly meaningful and adding to our quality of life. So we were able to make some really clear, easy decisions just based off that, just seeing that written down was so powerful. And it's been one of the most significant impacts, significantly impactful things that we've ever done in our marriage. Rachel Richards (25m 58s): So highly recommend that activity highly recommend, you know, just having the courage and giving yourself the permission to actually live in complete alignment with your values. 4 (26m 9s): Mmm. Donnie Tuttle (26m 12s): This, so what, what you just said is this is like, I would say my life song is that, you know, the, the reality is, and, and, and this is going to be a dual podcast. This is definitely going to be on the purpose driven executive is 4 (26m 28s): Well, Donnie Tuttle (26m 30s): But the reality is, is that most of us, we want to, I see a lot of people, Rachel, and, and by a lot of people, I mean like me first, okay. Doing what we think we have to do. And, and I get it right. Like survival is, is a, it's a thing, you know, being addicted to eating and paying bills, you know, I mean, that's a thing, but ultimately you and I, like, I am in control over everything that I say yes to exactly. Donnie Tuttle (27m 5s): And there is a lot more getting through that gate than I think there is until I start actually tracking it and seeing, I like the idea of what you said, like, you know, like just put your life values down steep, see which, which one of these does this connect with. And the reality is, is that most of us have a lot of unintentional filler. And I think by the way, I think that a lot of times we're doing work, that's not gratifying personally. I believe this. We do. What's not gratifying. So it zaps us so much that we end up doing almost like people might eat, eat for comfort or whatever. Donnie Tuttle (27m 41s): We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll do the same thing with our time. And boy, I mean, you just said so many things I think are, are so relevant, but I believe that we can. I think, I think it is, it is our job to find out and just like, what I want out of this thing, I get one trip. What do I want, whatever it is that you want your life story to be, you know, for me, the question is like, what are the feelings I want to feel? Donnie Tuttle (28m 12s): And like, for me, it's, it's, it's joy, which I have listed up here that I want to be the most joyful man. I know, you know, it's joy and it's, it's peace and it's adventure. Those are those three things that I want to feel. Those are the feelings. And then, and then the question is, is, well, what does that look like? It should look like those things. I've got these pictures in my, and for those who are listening, putting on a vision board behind me. And, but it should be played out on my calendar. Rachel Richards (28m 38s): Yes. A hundred percent. And it's something I still struggle with Donnie. I'm not perfect. I'm not like any better than anyone else out there struggling with this. But having, being able to say no, as an entrepreneur salesperson business owner, that's been the absolute hardest part of running a business. Donnie Tuttle (28m 57s): Was there a, was there a fear because I'm like, it's almost like I'm hearing you say, like when I gave myself permission, there was there a fear, was there a fear of loss I'm going to lose income? I'm going to lose space. I'm going to lose value. What, was there a fear that you, Rachel Richards (29m 11s): I think subconsciously yes. And this, this actually leads into another myth that I disagree with because well, to a point, you know, there's this piece of advice that you should say yes to every opportunity, right? Say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. And that I do agree with that to a point. I agree when you're first starting out in whatever venture you're, you're trying to do. Yes. Say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. But there gets a point where if you keep doing that, you're doing that to your detriment and you have to learn to be more selective because you will become so inundated with opportunities and requests that if you say yes to all of them, there's not any time left for anything else. Rachel Richards (29m 51s): And you don't the last thing you want to do. And this is what I realized I was doing. My schedule was filling up with everyone else's priorities. There was no room left for any of my own priorities. So that's when I realized, I have to say, no, I have to be comfortable with saying no. And I have to be okay, knowing that maybe it's a missed opportunity, but look at it this way. Everything you say yes to means you're saying no to something else. Yes, exactly. So you just, you have to be so clear on your priorities. Rachel Richards (30m 23s): Literally write them down that way. If a request or an opportunity comes your way, you just look at your priorities. Is it meeting your priorities? Yes or no. Then you say yes or no. It's as simple as that. I mean, obviously easier said than done. It's simple, but it's not easy. I'll put it that way. Donnie Tuttle (30m 39s): And I will say, so you're looking at a chronic abandoner of the, to do list. And in, in one thing that helps me that it's funny because you think like, Oh, this like, he coaches people to do this. So he shouldn't have to struggle. Not true. Right. I've got messed up. I have several coaches. Rachel Richards (30m 58s): Okay. Donnie Tuttle (30m 59s): But being able to give a why to my, what, so this is what I'm doing, and this is why, or this is why it's important. Like it's like remembering again, like it's just a connection to your essence and being able to own Rachel, like you were saying before, like being able to own like my, like I did this because I wanted to do this, not because I was told to do this, not because I had to, but because I want, and You want to find people who are worn down and hate life, find people who are only are doing what they have to do. Rachel Richards (31m 34s): Exactly. And that was me Donnie Tuttle (31m 35s): Happy. It's it's what they want to do. And like, so for me, your story is like, Hey, here is a journey to get to do what you, what you want to do. And Oh, by the way, you don't have to be afraid that you're just going to be some lazy bum. Rachel Richards (31m 48s): Yeah. Donnie Tuttle (31m 50s): I love it. Did, did you have, let me ask you this. I I've worked with people that Once we get to a place to where, so like a lot of people like help me save time. And so I've taken 80 hours and now it's only, now they're getting their job done in 12 or 14 hours. And now they're looking at their time and they're, they're bored. They don't know what to do with it. Did you have any withdrawals from the, just from the pattern of work, work, work, work, work, or at work? Donnie Tuttle (32m 21s): Everyone insight, go, go, go, go. Did you have any withdrawals from that? Or did you just, Rachel Richards (32m 25s): Yeah. You know what? I didn't once I was able to sort of start letting go and really being 100% intentional with the way I was spending my time, my levels of fulfillment and happiness and peace have all increased dramatically. So, you know, these days I am working on my book business, I'm doing podcasts. I'm doing my online course. I, I take breaks throughout the day. I'll go on walks. I'll do exercise throughout the day. And then I try to wrap up my work day around two or three and I'll do you know, maybe I'll do a hike in the afternoon with my husband or take my dog to the dog park. Rachel Richards (32m 58s): So overall it's just so interesting. Cause I'm, I'm operating at the same level I was before. I'm making way more money than I was before. And I have a much more fulfilling lifestyle and a much better balance Donnie Tuttle (33m 11s): Working what you want when you want. Rachel Richards (33m 14s): Yeah. Work smart, not hard. They're smart. Not hard. Right? Donnie Tuttle (33m 17s): Yeah. I've, I've, I've I always kind of view it. Like if I can make every day, like a Saturday Workday and like, it's like, I don't work on Saturdays, but on the days when I used to, it was, it was like, I'd work a little bit. I'd play a little bit, I'd work a little bit more. I go be with a family. It was just like, that was a pattern that I would define for myself. And the reality is as can I create that? And my answer is, yes, you, you can't, you have Rachel speaks to speak to the audience. We're talking about, we're talking about sales executives out there. Donnie Tuttle (33m 48s): A lot of these people are trying to go out there and live the location, independent lifestyle. And so you're offering hope to them. Some of these people are they're leading their businesses and maybe they're non, non dependent upon an office, but we're talking about people in sales, people who are running businesses, can you, can you lay out a simplified plan of how someone like that can create passive income through? And we'll just, we'll just take the real estate path right. Of, of how would someone start? And let's just say, I'm just going to, I'm going to put the average, w we'll take a sales person. Donnie Tuttle (34m 22s): Maybe they're running 130,000 a year. And maybe not even that much, if you want to, if you want to ratchet it down and maybe they only have, you know, $10,000 to their name, like give us, give us a track. Rachel Richards (34m 38s): Yeah. Where to start. And you touched on a great point, Donny, because the first place to start is understanding with passive income. It's not a get rich quick scheme. Okay. You can't just snap your fingers and start generating five K a month in passive income. It takes time or money to create. So the first step is understanding, okay, do I have more time or do I have more money to invest in building this passive income stream? Once you have it built and you have it launched, you have it going. Then it becomes a lot more hands off. That's when it really becomes passive. Rachel Richards (35m 8s): But in that first stage, you're going to have to spend time or money. So if you had asked me that question, do I have more time or money? You know, two, two years ago, I would have said I have neither. So the next question to ask yourself is, okay, well, which one's going to be easier for you to create right now in your life. Is it going to be easier for you to free up more time, or is it going to be easier to create more money? So that's where you really begin. Then you could narrow down, cause there's so many passive income streams out there that you can build. You can narrow it down based off of, if you have more money, maybe you can do portfolio income, rental income. Rachel Richards (35m 41s): If you have more time, you can do something like I did, which was, I wrote a book and I've launched money, honey, for under 600 bucks. I was super frugal with my, the way I spent the money and my resources. And that's become a really big money earner for me over time. You know, other things that might take more time than money would be creating an online course, anything really where you're packaging your knowledge and selling that as content that is more time intensive. And I truly believe we were talking about this earlier, that everyone has knowledge. They can teach somebody else. You don't have to be the number one expert in the world to be an expert. Rachel Richards (36m 15s): You just have to know more than the average person. And I know that EV everybody in some aspect has more knowledge in one area than the average person does. So you can teach that to other people. You can monetize that you can start a blog, you can figure out a way to make that passive over time by hiring writers. So the, the possibilities are endless. There's absolutely something out there for everybody. Donnie Tuttle (36m 37s): So take, just take me, take me down the real estate path though. So like how would, how would you do that? If someone says, yeah, real estate is the answer. I think for me, what do I do first, second and third. Rachel Richards (36m 51s): So with real estate, one of the first things you're gonna want to do is put your team into place. So you're going to want to have a really great realtor who specifically understands investment properties and can help an investor. You're going to want to have a great lender and insurance agent really with any of these it's it begins with learning and educating yourself. You know, I talk a lot about rental income in my book, but another book that I love is called hold by Steve shader and the McKissick, that's a really great book for investing in rental properties. You know, the biggest piece of advice I have for new real estate investors is be patient because good deals are hard to come by. Rachel Richards (37m 28s): And the last thing you want to do is settle for something that's not quite where you want it to be. It took us nine months to find our first duplex. And we went through putting offers in, on properties, having accepted contracts that fell through having inspections that cause us to back out. And so most people by that 0.4, six, eight months in would get discouraged and give up. But the thing with rental properties is you have to be patient and be willing to wait it out for the right deal. Cause then when it comes along, you're going to see it and recognize it. Rachel Richards (37m 58s): And you're going to snatch it up and it's going to be the best thing that you ever did. And that's exactly what happened with our duplex. I still think to this day, it's the best investment we've ever made. Donnie Tuttle (38m 8s): I love that. It's interesting because, and this is, this is by the way, almost anything I can imagine where you have a vision for it. If you first off believe that it can be done next off, you put yourself in a place where you can make it happen. And then you actually get out there on the market and you see, you see, you see, you see, you see, and when the, if you're ready, when the right deal comes along, you're there, you're you're there, but it doesn't, it doesn't happen if you're not acting like that's who I'm going become, that's what I'm going to do. Rachel Richards (38m 37s): Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like look at those first few months where you're learning and making offers and making mistakes. And that's what everyone does just look at those as a learning opportunity. And that way, when the right deal comes along, you're going to be 100% confident and ready to go. Donnie Tuttle (38m 51s): So now you have one you've got, let's just imagine that I have a duplex and in, in, in, in, but you know, that doesn't, that doesn't create massive amounts of passive income. What next I let's. I like, get me, get me, get me a few more. How do I, what do you leverage that? Or what do you, what are you doing to, Rachel Richards (39m 10s): Yeah, so a lot of people do this in a lot of different ways. We could have leveraged it, but when we first invested in it, we were making $500 in cashflow, like net profit per month, right off the bat. So it was really generating pretty significant amount of money. We were also really good at saving in general at that time. And then the third thing that I had going for me financially was that I had my real estate license. So when I represented myself in that deal, I got the buyer's agent commission. So it actually did not take, as long as I thought it was going to take to sort of replenish our savings account and purchase the next property. Rachel Richards (39m 42s): Cause I had that commission right off the bat, we were saving the same amount and then we were reinvesting everything we were earning. So I think it took us actually another nine months to find the second property and buy it. But by then we had enough money to again, you know, purchase it with the 20 to 25% down payment. But another option that people do when they're first starting out is they'll do exactly what you said. And they'll leverage that one of the properties that they've already bought. So they'll pull out like a home equity line or they'll refinance and pull out the money. Rachel Richards (40m 12s): That's another thing we could have done with our duplex because we bought it for a hundred thousand and keep in mind, this was in Louisville, Kentucky. So very, you know, low cost of living area. I can hear my Bay area, people scoffing at me, but don't ever, don't ever be afraid to invest out of state. The Midwest is a great place to invest. But yeah, when we bought the duplex for a hundred thousand, we had to completely renovate one unit. And once we did that, the value of that duplex went up to about 140, 150 grand. So even if I didn't have that cash that I was able to save up for the next property, I could have refinanced that duplex, I could have pulled the equity out of that and use that as the next down payment. Donnie Tuttle (40m 51s): Love it, love it. This is powerful stuff, Rachel, like it's, it's one thing, you know, a lot of, a lot of the stuff we hear out there as people, you know, it's, it's you hope when you wish. And by the way that like the things we talked about earlier are very real. We do have to, we have, we have to remove some of those internal belief barriers, right. To be able to get to, to these places, but it's a whole lot easier to rest and relax. And let's just say, breathe in, breathe out, you know, push away the anxiety when we are getting, you know, seven to $12,000 of passive income, it's a whole lot easier, right? Donnie Tuttle (41m 29s): When the big, bad Wolf isn't blowing on your house a lot easier. So this is, this is a selfish one. This is for me, but I know a lot of my people are, you know, w w we listen, writing a book is, is a thing, right? Getting our voice out there as a thing. And you were able to publish money, honey, I think you said you launched it at for 600 bucks. It's been massively successful. You have your you're bringing in commissions. Donnie Tuttle (41m 59s): Most books are written and never read and definitely even, well, not many more actually make money. So, so what's the trick. What did you do? Can you, can you talk to some of us as aspiring authors on, you know, maybe what to avoid and what to do in terms of writing a book? Rachel Richards (42m 21s): Yes. I love talking about this. It's so interesting because I read a statistic recently that something like 82 or 84% of Americans have a dream of writing a book. Actually, I didn't realize that, but most people have this sort of hidden dream and they want to publish a book. And I kind of always felt that way, but I just never thought it was realistic, or I didn't know how to go about it. It wasn't until I read this other book, which is called published by Chandler bolt, excellent resource. And that book published, it taught me 99% of what I needed to know to effectively outline and market and write and launch a book. Rachel Richards (42m 60s): So I basically followed exactly what was in that. We already talked a little bit about having unique value proposition, you know, understanding the problem that you're solving and the next step of launching any successful product. Like a book is to go to where your target audience is. So to number one, to know your target audience, for me, mine was female millennials. And then to be able to find where those people are and begin adding value to them. So this is something I actually did unintentionally, but that, I think it's really the number one reason my book did so well. Rachel Richards (43m 32s): I became really engaged in Facebook groups. And these Facebook groups weren't necessarily about money management, but they were full of female millennials. And so anytime a money question did come up, I would jump on and I would say, Hey, I'm Rachel Fino, former financial advisor here. Here's what I think. And I'd write out a really helpful response. Well, I started doing that enough times that when a money question would come up, people would start tagging me and they'd be like, Oh, you need to ask Rachel Richards or, Hey, Rachel Richards is your girl and she'll help you. Rachel Richards (44m 2s): So I kind of became known in these Facebook groups, some of which were thousands of people as the finance guru, you know, the GoTo finance person. So that was great. I did that well before I even started, I started thinking of writing a book. And then once I had the book idea, I went to these groups and I was like, you guys, you know, here's what I'm thinking. What do you guys think? And then so many people were like, Oh my gosh, Rachel, please write this book. Like you make finance so simple and easy to understand. I would definitely read this book. So in a way I realize it at the time, but I was forming a launch team. Rachel Richards (44m 34s): And that's something that Chandler talks about in the book is having a launch team, you know, people that are really committed to buying and sharing and reviewing your book when it comes out. And that's what I was doing. You know, I was using these groups to kind of do market research. I had them vote on my cover. I had them vote on my title. So by the time I launched the book, there were like thousands of people that were emotionally invested in the success of my book and that I was able to launch it with a really big bang. And that really created a lot of longterm momentum and it's helped it stay relevant even two years later. Rachel Richards (45m 5s): So that is, I would say my, my key secret ingredient for you. Donnie Tuttle (45m 9s): Love it. That's so good. Did you now, did you go through a big publisher? Did you self publish? What was your, Rachel Richards (45m 16s): Yeah, so I did a lot of research on traditional versus self publishing. And my thought at the time, I think a lot of people have the same thought is that if you can land a traditional publishing deal, you're going to have, you know, a ton of success. They're going to do all the marketing and they're going to get you on the national campaign and the book tour and all that stuff. I realized that that's actually not true. And that's only true for like the big time authors that are already out there. And for first time authors, if you get a traditional publishing deal, they actually still expect you to do 99% of the launching and promoting and marketing. Rachel Richards (45m 52s): So then I was like, well, that doesn't make sense because right, if I'm going to do traditional publishing and make a 15% royalty versus I could self publish on Amazon and make up to 70% and still do the same amount of work, I was like, yeah, I'm going to definitely do a self publishing. And I'm so glad I did. I think that's what any first time author needs to do anyone that doesn't have a platform. I mean, no one knew who I was in 2017. I had no following no platform. And so I think self publishing was definitely the right way to go. Donnie Tuttle (46m 23s): Love it. Yeah. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. This is, this has been fun, Rachel, what's next? Where are you going? I know you've got some online stuff you're putting out there, like what's next? Rachel Richards (46m 33s): Yeah, I do this year. I'm really focusing on online courses. So I just launched my first online course that goes along with my book money, honey. And you know, just, I'm going to continue working on that. My really big dream, which is more of a longterm goal is actually to do fiction and to write a novel. So I'm pretty excited about that. I haven't started at all. It's a dream right now, but it's going to happen. So Donnie Tuttle (46m 56s): Yeah, that sounds, that sounds amazing. It's so cool. Listen, I'm talking to someone who 3 (47m 2s): Okay. Donnie Tuttle (47m 4s): Came to a revelation that the reality that she has as the reality that she was going to create, and there's so much value for the rest of us and being able to draw from that. And I know you have so much more to telling your story. I am going to read money, honey. I will, I will absolutely commit to that. Although I, I checked audible. I wish she were on audible. Rachel Richards (47m 30s): Oh, I am. Yeah. I can't find it. Let me know. But yeah, both of my books are on ebook, paperback and audio on audible and Amazon. Okay. Donnie Tuttle (47m 38s): Okay. So, okay. So consider that one done immediately and listen, and I'll have that link in the show notes here, but for the rest of us, listen, like how can we not want more Rachel in our lives? How can, how can we continue this, this journey with you? How can we hear more of you see more of you, you know, allow you to be a part of our lives. Where can we find you? What can we do? Rachel Richards (48m 4s): Yeah, definitely. So you can follow me on Facebook and Instagram. You just search money, honey, Rachel. And then I would love to give your listeners my free passive income starter kit. So yes, so you can learn, you know, the three deadly mistakes to avoid there's free resources and tools, and it'll help you decide which type of passive income stream to pursue first. So you can go to www.money, honey, rachel.com/bonus to download that. Donnie Tuttle (48m 31s): Rachel, you are the bomb.com. Thank you so much for hanging with us today and thanks for thanks for changing lives. Thanks for doing what you do. Rachel Richards (48m 42s): Thank you. And thank you so much for having me on Donnie Tuttle (48m 44s): Awesome. And guys, listen. If, if you can sell anywhere, you can sell everywhere. And if you can be connected with your purpose, you're going to find that your profit is going to grow. Thank you so much for joining us on the sell anywhere podcast, where we believe if you can sell anywhere, you can sell everywhere and your talent is not limited to your zip code. Listen, this is not a one way street. I want to hear from you. I want to hear from you on your ratings, right beyond iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you listen to us on that helps me immensely do that now, but also reach out, find us on sell anywhere.com and you can interact with us there on LinkedIn on so many different places I want to hear from you. Donnie Tuttle (49m 29s): What are your struggles? Who do you want on the show? What are the things that you feel like I could help you to solve? I love you so much that I'm doing whatever I can to give value so that I can spend the rest of my life with you. So let me know what I could be doing to help you and your journey.
