Life & Work with Rachel Richards

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Richards. 

Hi Rachel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started building passive income in 2017. Prior to that, my husband and I didn’t have any other income streams or side hustles. 

In 2017, we bought our first rental property – a duplex in Louisville, KY. I was 24 years old at the time. We spent years living frugally and saving money for the down payment. It was a $100K duplex and we each had $10K in our own savings that we combined to get to the $20K down payment. And just to clarify, since I get asked a lot! I’m not a trust fund baby, and I never made 6 figures from a job or career. I started off making $36,000 after graduating. 

Later in 2017, I self-published my first book, Money Honey, which to my surprise, took off. 

We had these two passive income streams: rental income and royalty income. We focused on growing them as much as we possibly could over the next couple years. 

Fast forward to 2019: by then, we grew our rental portfolio to 38 doors (6 properties), and I had two bestselling books. Our passive income had grown to over $15,000 per month in profit. I quit my job and we became financially independent. 

We now spend our time traveling, hiking, and working (after all, we love what we do, and want to continue investing in real estate and helping others achieve financial freedom!) 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has NOT been a smooth road. Plenty of mistakes have been made! 

Writing “Money Honey” posed many challenges. I first started writing the book because I’m a former financial advisor, and all my family & friends came to me for financial advice. I loved that! I also began to wonder, “Why aren’t they reading books or learning about money on their own?” And then I had an “AHA” moment. 

I realized, “Oh, yeah! Personal finance is BORING! It’s overwhelming, intimidating, and complex. No wonder people don’t like to learn about it.” 

I wondered if I could make the topic sassy, fun, and simple. And that’s where the idea for “Money Honey” came from. 

When I first began to write it, the words flowed out of me. It was exhilarating! 

About 4 months in, though, I had done a complete mental 180. I was telling myself things like “Who do you think you are, Rachel, to write a book about finance?” “What do you know? Who’s going to listen to a young woman?” “Your writing is crap. This will be embarrassing!” 

I quit writing the book and had no intention of picking it back up. It wasn’t until I had lunch with a good friend and confessed to her my book idea that she encouraged me to keep going. 

I decided that if I could just help ONE person, it was worth going through with it. And I finally self-published the book in September 2017. And thank goodness I did! To this day, it has helped thousands of people and I have almost 1,200 Amazon reviews. 

My husband and I have made countless mistakes together on the real estate investing side as well. One mistake was being too cheap in hiring a property manager. Instead of hiring a legitimate company, we hired a husband-and-wife duo who had been cleaning our properties and performing odd jobs for us. They were the hardest working people we knew and we wanted to give them a chance and train them to manage the properties. We figured we could save some money and it would be a win-win. 

Everything started out great, but about 6 months in, my husband went to collect rent from the lockboxes onsite one weekend, and he noticed a large amount missing. It turns out, our property managers had stolen $6,000 and skipped town. This was a big learning lesson for us. It was awful at the time, and it seems so naive and obvious in retrospect, but I share it in the hopes that others will learn from our mistakes. 

Know that you WILL make mistakes when you pursue entrepreneurship. It’s unavoidable. Remember, however, that FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning. Every time you FAIL, you become a stronger and wiser business owner. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an author, content creator, and finance coach. My “superpower’ is teaching about money and real estate investing in a very funny, approachable, and easy-to-understand way. 

I’m proud that I have empowered so many women and young people to take control of their finances. I am proud that I have inspired thousands of people to pursue financial freedom. And whereas before they might have thought it impossible, they now see that it IS possible, even for them. No matter your age, or your income, you CAN achieve early retirement. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I have had good luck, bad luck, strong work ethic, and privilege. A mixture of it all! 

By no means was I raised in a wealthy or affluent family. My parents struggled with money. I grew up in a very wealthy community, however, and I remember feeling like we were poor in comparison, even though we weren’t (we were middle class). But we were living paycheck-to-paycheck, and money was always a stressor in our family. I certainly was not getting a brand-new BMW for my 16th birthday like some of the kids in my high school. We weren’t even going out to eat at restaurants let alone going on family trips. 

I remember thinking that I didn’t want to end up struggling with money. I didn’t want to operate on a strict budget or borrow money from family and friends to make it to my next paycheck. I wanted to be different. I realized at a young age, that what I did then, would either set me up for wealth or for poverty. I wanted to be different… I was afraid of being financially dependent. 

Fear can be paralyzing or motivating, and luckily for me, it was motivating. 

I started working as soon as I turned 16. I sold Cutco cutlery to pay my way through college (my parents couldn’t afford to help me at all). I graduated without debt at age 20. I got my first job after college making $36,000, and I saved half of my income, and I was not living at home with my parents. I was very disciplined and frugal. 

I worked my BUTT off, and I also recognize how fortunate I was: being born into a middle-class family, with married parents, helped me do things like sell Cutco to a more affluent community. It helped me have a stable and supportive home environment. 

Pricing:

• My paperbacks are $16 on the Amazon store

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@moneyhoneyrachel.com
• Website: https://www.moneyhoneyrachel.com/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/moneyhoneyrachel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/moneyhoneyrachel
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@moneyhoneyrachel?lang=en