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Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement (with Rachel Richards) · The Daily Writer

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: If I said name the best quote from Jerry Maguire, what would you say?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you answered you complete me, you're close, but no cigar.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: The best quote is actually show me the money.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today we're going to be tackling the always popular topic of you guessed it, money.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, we're going to be talking about how to build passive income streams so you have the option of retiring and pursuing the things that matter to you most.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, my friend.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is Kent Sanders from Inkwell Ghostwriting.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Smart Business Writing Podcast.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is the show that helps you grow your business, amplify your authority, and increase your impact through the power of writing.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thanks so much for joining me today on this episode.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: My guest today is Rachel Richards, who is a former financial advisor who is now a real estate investor, business owner, and professional speaker.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: At 27 years old, Rachel quit her job and retired, living off$10,000 plus per month in passive income.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Rachel is also the best-selling author of two amazing books, Money Honey, and Passive Income Aggressive Retirement.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when I say best selling, I mean that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Rachel's books have hundreds of reviews on Amazon, and she's done a great job of not only writing books, but also getting her message out there with creative marketing.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I make it my goal to have interesting guests on this podcast, and Rachel is definitely no exception.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is a wide-ranging conversation where we touch on passive income, being an owner versus an employee, how a book can help your business explode in success, her book marketing strategies, real estate investing, and other things as well.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get right into the conversation with Rachel Richards.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Rachel, thanks so much for being on the Smart Business Writing Podcast.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've been looking forward to this conversation for a while, so thanks so much for making the time to do it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for inviting me on, Kent.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in here.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of questions that I that I want to ask you because you're obviously a financial wizard.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody who reads your books will very quickly get a sense of like she is legit.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: She knows her stuff.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: She's been doing this a very long time.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not a very, very long time, but you've been doing this this a while now, and you really know your stuff with this.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So there's lots of directions we could go with this with this uh conversation.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to first start with some themes from your news book, which is called Passive Passive Income Aggressive Retirement.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um before we do that, though, can you give us a quick rundown of your story about how you retired at age 27?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is a fascinating story.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard a couple times before, but it's so fascinating, I'd love to hear it again.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: So last year, this is probably what people find most intriguing about me.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: 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.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, how did I begin?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, fast rewind back to 2017, I didn't have any passive income just three years ago.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Then my husband and I started investing in real estate, so we were acquiring rental properties, we bought our first duplex that year.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Later on that year, I wrote and launched my first book, Money Honey.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we had these two passive income streams, rental income and royalty income.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And long story short, we focused on growing those as much as we possibly could over the next couple years.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So now we have over 35 rental units.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: They generally bring in anywhere from$7,000 to$12,000 a month.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I have two books bringing in income.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And February was actually my first$7,000 month in books.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is amazing.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that really goes against the idea that a lot of people have that you can't make any money with books.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why write a book?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're just not going to bring in any money.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it obviously can, and it does for many people.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: You absolutely can.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let me dive into this concept of passive income first of all, because a lot of people don't really understand what that means because they think, wow, does money just magically appear out of the sky?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or does Santa Claus you know throw a big bag of money down your chimney?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's the deal there?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So break that down a little bit for us.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: What is passive income and why should people be interested in that?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm so glad you asked.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So passive income is money or income that is earned with little to no ongoing effort.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want anyone to think it's some get rich quick scheme, because like you said, you can't just snap your fingers and magically have a bunch of money.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it does take time or effort to create.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I had this epiphany several years ago that once your passive income exceeds your living expenses, you're retired.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're financially independent.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So an example of a passive income stream that a lot of us have heard about is rental income.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: You buy the house, you rent it out, you're getting uh rental income checks every month, you know, paying the expenses, and that's pretty passive.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some people would say, well, that's not passive.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: You still have to work, you know, you still have to manage those properties.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would just say any passive income stream that requires a few hours a month or a couple hours a week to maintain, that's pretty passive, especially when you're comparing it to a nine to five job.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's fantastic.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had a conversation with my wife yesterday, and thanks for the explanation, by the way.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's great and very succinct.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yesterday I I told my wife we were here at home, of course, as everybody's home.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Hey, I've got free money in our bank account.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Oh, really?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's that about?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it was that that every three month deposit that shows up in my bank account from ClickFunnels as an affiliate.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, another example of just passive income, it just kind of shows up with little to no effort, and it's such a great thing.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a perfect example.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Affiliate marketing.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I talk about that in in my book too.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I do encourage everybody to get both of your books because they're really, really fantastic.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now let me ask about the title of your first book.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't a question I had sent you beforehand, but I'm really curious about this.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great title, Money Honey.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you're targeting females with your book on money.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So why target females with a book about money?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why not put it back out there for everyone?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is the value of targeting a specific demographic or market with that topic with that book?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what I realized.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I was always this go-to person, person throughout high school and college.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was a financial advisor, all of my family and friends would come to me for financial advice.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: At that time, though, it was mostly all my female millennial friends.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought to myself, well, why aren't they reading books or learning on their own?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's tons of materials out there, um, lots of resources.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Then I had this aha moment and remembered personal finance is boring and it's overwhelming and dull and complex.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I realized, oh yeah, that's why no one is learning or finding an easy time learning about money management.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought to myself, well, how can I make this topic sassy and fun and humorous and simple?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And another thought I had was, yeah, most of the books out there about finance are written by old white dudes.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's not there's not a lot.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a lot that is written by young women.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I recognized an opportunity.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that the there was a need for it based on the feedback and based on my own personal experience.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where the idea for money honey came from.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I started writing it right away.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I love the title too.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for saying that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the catchiest phrase that I felt I could come up with.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been really great from a branding perspective because now I'm known as Money Honey Rachel.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Which is also your your website as well, which is really cool.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's very catchy, and I love the the sassiness in the book, and I don't know any other way to say that.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it's funny because I I know that I'm not your demographic for that book.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I'm uh a man in his mid-40s, mid-ish forties.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: We'll just leave it at that.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: But but I find your writing really refreshing and fun.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it is kind of funny.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's that old thing of when you speak to a very specific audience, that the more specific that you are, actually the more general it becomes.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's so true.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's so important, whatever you're doing, if you're creating content, whatever type of content, to really be specific about your audience.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: If I had tried to written to try to write a finance book for everybody, it just wouldn't have done as well.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So by really targeting and being specific, it has resonated with female millennials.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I have readers of all age groups, I have lots of male readers, so it's it's doing more than just helping female millennials.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now you also made a very strategic decision to self-publish both of these books.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about that versus trying to go down the route of traditional publishing?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that was a little bit of a surprise to me when I was learning about how to publish and write a book.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I figured when you land a traditional publishing deal, they basically do all the work for you.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you submit the manuscript, they launch, they promote it, they market it, and you're pretty hands-off, which obviously is pretty attractive, right?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um then I realized after doing a lot of research and talking to authors that that's not the case at all.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: When you get a traditional deal, they still expect you to do 99% of the marketing and promoting.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they expect you to have a big platform already that you can market it to.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought to myself, well, I can go make a 15% royalty with a traditional publishing deal and do all the marketing, or I can go on Amazon and self-publish and make 35 to 70% royalty and do all the marketing.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So once I looked at it that way, I figured I was going to be doing the work anyways, and I'd I want to make a lot more money, and I want to be in control of my work as well.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really an important theme of having control and not having to go through a gatekeeper.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I know lots of people do have lots of success with traditionally published books, and I'm not knocking that, but there is a lack of freedom that you have when you go down that route for sure.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many people that have success with it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one thing I will say, I'm kind of following Hal Elrod's method.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's the international best-selling author of The Miracle Morning, and he's self-published, and he has stuck with self-publishing even as he's become a huge deal.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people know who he is.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing he has told me is that he does traditional publishing deals for foreign rights.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So this is money that he otherwise wouldn't be getting.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: He gets his self-published books translated and sold in foreign countries.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been doing the same thing.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've been getting foreign rights deals.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: The only way to do it is to do it traditionally.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I look at it, the way I look at it is that's money that I otherwise wouldn't be making.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of a win-win.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can be self-published in the U.S.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: and traditionally published also.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a topic that has actually never come up on this show before.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: How do you go about getting foreign rights publishers?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what happened with me.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I, and this might be you unusual, but I was starting to get inquiries on my website from literally from a Korea publisher and a Chinese publisher and different foreign rights agents from other countries.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, Hey, have you sold the rights to the Chinese translation for your book?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I had no idea what to do with that and how to navigate that.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't feel comfortable representing myself in that deal because I just didn't know what to look out for.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I asked around several different literary agents.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I found somebody that was okay with me being self-published in the US and then would just help me find all the foreign rights deals.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I hired her.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: She's getting a commission of all the deals, which is fine, and she's hooking me up.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually just got my first check from Korea for about$3,000.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, this is so cool.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely something that's doable for everybody.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is really cool because again, it's money that you wouldn't have otherwise.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's almost like free money in a way.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that the the concept of being an owner versus an being an employee is something that is really important to you.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you talk about a lot in your books, this idea of taking ownership uh not just of your career, but also of your financial independence.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I know that concept of being an owner of your business and being an owner of your intellectual property and thinking of everything that you do as owning that versus being an employee, that that is something that is really a key to this whole whole idea.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about the mindset and the perspective that you need to be an owner versus being someone else's employee?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I I feel like I'm being a little vague with that question, but I think that you know where I'm going with it.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get that.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the difference between an owner and an employee is completely all about mindset.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's scary for a lot of people.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I quit my job and went out on my own, that was a very scary step because when you're an owner, you take complete responsibility for everything that happens.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot riskier.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and being an employee in many ways is safer.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're getting this guaranteed paycheck.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if the company doesn't do well or has a bad quarter, you're still getting your paycheck.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're, you know, you're not really impacted by that.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the first step in transitioning to an owner mindset is just getting comfortable with that.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing that, yes, you have the benefit of being in complete control, but that also comes with having complete responsibility, making sacrifices, and kind of putting yourself up for risk.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, when it comes to financial independence, financial independence requires you to take complete control over your finances and over your future.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So if somebody really wants to retire early, become financially independent, you know, you just have to kind of go in there with the mindset of, okay, I'm gonna do this, maybe this won't work, you might fail, you might make mistakes, I certainly have.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but in the end, that's the only way that you can retire early and become financially independent.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So this idea of security in a traditional job where you're you're an employee, that's really a mirage, that's really an illusion, wouldn't you say, especially right now as we're in the middle of this uh COVID-19 situation, a lot of people have lost jobs or are in transitions or their world is being shaken up.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So really there is no certainty in any kind of a job, no matter how certain you think it is.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad you said that because I think that's a myth that I want to help bust.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're 100% dependent on a single source of income, that's just not safe.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's not secure.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of people think being a full-time salaried employee means you have job stability, you have income security, but you don't.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: What happens if you get laid off or your hours get reduced or you lose your job?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Then all of your income goes away.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I like to talk about the concept of income diversification.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually much more safe and secure to have your income coming in from multiple different sources.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: That way, if one source is impacted, you're still staying afloat with all the other sources.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, a perfect example, real life example of what's happening to us right now, we have several different sources of income.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Our rental income right now, because of coronavirus, is basically break-even.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: We went from making$7,000 to$12,000 a month from our rentals to in April we made$1,000.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not in a complete panic.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not desperate for money because I still have money coming in from all these other different sources.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's why income diversification is so important.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Let me let me go on that theme for just a minute.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm if it sounds like I don't know what I'm doing here, it's because I'm looking at my questions, trying to figure out where to go next with this.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's a lot of there's a lot of there's a lot to what you're saying and a lot of potential directions with this.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So let me ask about real estate.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: One of the common traits that I see among the business owners and leaders, and I would obviously put you in this category because you're very forward thinking um and have been very strategic with real estate and with diversification of your income and so forth.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I see among uh business owners and business leaders are people who get into real estate investing.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is a big theme with, of course, you and I are both a part of the Total Life Freedom community um online, which is fantastic, and that's a big theme there.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits of real estate investing and how can people learn more about that and and get started down that pathway?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it's a huge, huge topic, but can you give us a little bit about why should we consider real estate investing and what are the benefits long term?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: I am so passionate about real estate investing as a source of passive income.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad you asked.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I feel real estate investing is the holy grail because it's not just about passive income.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of other financial uh benefits that you get.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: So first, you get the cash flow, you get the passive income.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Next, you get equity buildup because your tenants are basically paying your mortgage each month.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So after 30 years, you know, after your down payment, you end up with the house free and clear that you own.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, you get tax benefits from owning property.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then as a bonus, I never count on this, but if it's if it is there, then it's a bonus to me, is appreciation.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: So the value of the house could go up over time as well.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't count on that because we all know what happened in 2008.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think real estate investing is so amazing.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's one of the best tools for building long-term wealth.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if somebody is interested in getting into real estate investing, um, basically start with learning.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can read my book.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: You can there's a lot of other books out there though.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite books about real estate investing is called Hold by, I think his name is Steve Chayder, and also co-authored by the McKissics.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's called Hold.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you're serious after you've been learning a lot, if you're serious about really getting started, I would say the next step is to sort of put together your team.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have a trustworthy real estate agent that works with investors, you have to have an insurance agent, a really good lender.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: I always recommend using local lenders, and then also a really great CPA and attorney.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So get those five people in place and then start looking.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a completely stupid question, I realize, because I don't know anything about real estate investing.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I know it a little bit, just enough to be dangerous.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: But but when you get into that, it's not as if you have to have, let's say if you're going to buy um a house and you're going to rent it out.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: It it's not as if you have to go pay a quarter of a million dollars for a house and then you start to rent it out.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you actually take a mortgage out on that house and then you rent it out.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the general idea?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And there are people that disagree.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so there's the only buy real estate investments with cash party, and then there's the use the mortgage party.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I like to use mortgage mortgages because um if you can leverage your money the right way, then you can get a much higher return on your investment.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: The trick is don't be over-leveraged.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Don't go putting down 5 or 10% on a rental property.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's one thing to do that for your primary residence, but it becomes a lot riskier when you're doing that for rentals.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, in fact, most lenders require you to put down a 20 to 25% down payment on your rental properties.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And normally there's no way around that.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, with those requirements in mind, I felt very safe being leveraged and having loans on all of my properties.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, there's a lot to learn here, obviously.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let me go back to this theme of books for a minute.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why write books in the first place?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, our listeners on this show, uh, the show is all about business writing.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, most of the people in listening to this show are interested in books and are geared toward that.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: But can you reiterate the value of writing books for your business?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like why write books as opposed to writing on Medium or just having a podcast or writing blog posts or things like that?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: What have books done for you that other types of content would not have been able to do for you?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think I read recently that something like 82 or 84% of Americans want to write a book.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: They dream of publishing a book.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I definitely fell into that camp.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's something I always thought about when I was a little kid and never thought it was going to be practical.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it started out as a hobby.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was not motivated financially.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: I did not write my first book, Money Honey, to try to make a bunch of money.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's good that I did that because people would have seen right through it if I was just trying to push this money, push this book and make all this money.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I saw a market need, I would I felt compelled to write the book.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the the only way I can describe it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um actually, it's funny because four months in, I began to kind of get cold feet.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking that my writing was total crap.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And who was I to write this book on money?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I felt like a total fraud.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I told myself that it would be embarrassing if I went through with it, so I quit writing the book.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I quit for about a four-month period, actually.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: I it wasn't until I sat down and had lunch with a friend who was also a coworker and told her about the book.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Rachel, you have to write this book.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like you're really onto something here.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, obviously there's a need for this material, so finish what you started doing.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I finally decided, okay, I'll pick it back up.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the only reason I published it is because I told myself, if I can just help one person, that is all I want.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, it's all about helping people.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a topic I'm so passionate about because we truly are in a financial education crisis as a country.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: At no point in our lives are we taught how to manage money.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I hate seeing my friends and family struggle because they weren't given the correct resources when they were growing up.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So you can tell I'm passionate about the topic.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing it for the money, but you know, writing a book specifically has opened up so many opportunities for me.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've been invited to do keynotes at colleges.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I have been on the local news several times now.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been in magazines and articles.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're a published author, you are seen as a very credible source and a very credible expert.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I really think it can open up a lot more doors for you.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's still something a little bit magical about having a book.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's so fun.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I always qualify this with people, when you have a book that has a nice cover and it's the interior is designed well, you know, it has to, it has to look good.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It can't be some cruddy self-I mean, there are a lot of cruddy self published books.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you and I have probably seen a lot of those.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yours both look really, really fantastic.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're indistinguishable from traditionally published books.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: But there's still something magical about that.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Giving somebody a copy of your book and they're like, Wow, they really know what they're talking about, or they're this authority on this topic.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like that that's really been the case for you as well.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's so cool.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's I'm glad you say that though, because you know, it the imposter syndrome is something that I've struggled with throughout my entire career as a writer.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I've only been a published author for about three years now.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember even, you know, up till recently, up till when I quit my job and people, you know, asked what I did, I was almost embarrassed to admit I was an author because I I still felt like a fraud, I realized.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like, oh, you know, I I have a book.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I I wasn't really confident in saying that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And now I've been able to really own my business and own what I'm doing.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so proud of both of my books.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: They've been so much more successful than I ever could have thought possible.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's exciting now to tell somebody that I'm an author because everyone's really interested.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: They're always like, oh, well, what's your book?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: What do you write?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, let me look it up on Amazon.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's a really fun conversation.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: How did you decide on the topic for your second book?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So your first book, Money Honey, great success.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: You could probably probably could have gone in a lot of different directions with the second book.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: How did you decide specifically on the topic of passive income aggressive retirement?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think I realized at some point that people were really, really intrigued by the idea of passive income.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And at some point I looked to see what the competition was on Amazon and to see what how many books out there were written about passive income, and there really wasn't much at all.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I realized, okay, this is a a really good opportunity for me to write another book.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it went well with what I was trying to do because I was building up all these different passive income streams.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was something I was passionate about, and people knew my story.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: They knew that I was going to be retired at age 27, making all this passive income.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that tagline alone sells the book.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, someone's retired at age 27 making$10,000 a month in passive income.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: People want to find out how and they'll pay to learn.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it just ended up working out and was a win-win for everybody.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now I do want to ask about your reviews on Amazon for both of your books because you have over 500 reviews on Amazon for your first book and over 150 for your second one.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of reviews.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's really, really a lot of reviews.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: What were some of the primary strategies that you used to grow your readership, get those reviews, and sell more books?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's a couple resources I will discuss, and they were really life-changing for me.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: First, I read the book Publish by Chandler Bolt.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I read this book that I was able to sit down and put pen to paper.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because before this, writing a book was just this far-off dream.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was this abstract idea.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: But the book published tells you 99% of what you need to know to write a book.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: It goes through how to come up with an idea, outline it, write it, mark it, launch it, everything.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it was my guide.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I stuck to that and had a lot of success.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Also, You Must Write a Book by Honore Corter is another fabulous resource.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't find that one until later, but it is so helpful.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: So those two books together, that's all you need to learn how to write and publish a book.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Both books talk about having a launch plan, having a group that's committed to helping, you know, buy your book, share your book, review your book.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: And although I didn't formally do this for my first book, Money Honey, I realized after the fact that I did this in an indirect way.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I used Facebook groups, and Facebook groups for me were the secret and the key to having a successful lunch.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: I was involved in this Facebook group that had maybe 7,000 female millennials in it.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was more politically, the topic was more political, so it's not like it was a finance group.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: But every now and then a finance question would come up from somebody, and I would pop in and I would say, Hey, Rachel Richards, former financial advisor here, here's what I think.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I would type out this really long, helpful response.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: And people were really excited about some of that.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: After a while, when a finance question would come up, people would tag me and they'd say, Oh, you need to ask Rachel Richards.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Rachel Richards is your girl.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of became known in this group of thousands of female millennials as the finance guru of this group.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And this took place over several months.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: This was before I was even writing my book, but I positioned myself very well as an expert in that Facebook group.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Then when I came up with the idea, I said, Hey guys, here's what I'm thinking.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: What do you guys think about this book idea?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone was like, You have to do this, Rachel.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: You make finances so simple.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would definitely read this book.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I realized in a way that was almost my launch group.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: That whole Facebook group was almost my launch team because by that point, so many people were emotionally invested in the success of my book and they wanted to see it do well.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I had a ton of success using that as basically my informal launch group.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really my key to success, I would say.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I've gotten so many sales, so many reviews.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I do as much cross-promotion as I can now that I'm past the launch.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm doing blog posts and I'm, you know, example I'm getting on podcasts so that we can cross promote to each other's audiences.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then specifically in terms of building your email list, you absolutely have to have a freebie, something that people can download, something that's easily digestible.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: People will give you your email in return for downloading your freebie.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: So mine for Money Honey is my free budgeting and net worth worksheets.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Even if somebody doesn't buy my book, they can sign up for my freebie and then they get on my email list.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And your email list is gold.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: How did you decide what to offer for that freebie?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or I guess as we call it in the industry, a lead magnet, whatever term you want to put on it.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: For money honey, it came sort of naturally because I talked about budgeting and tracking your net worth, and I figured, oh, well, I should make this easy for them and create a template to go along with it.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I offered for free in my book.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: With passive income aggressive retirement, it was a little trickier.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: I had all different types of ideas, and I ended up creating a five-page PDF that I call my passive income bonus gift.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so it has, you know, top three deadly mistakes to avoid.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: It helps you decide which type of passive income stream to create first, and it has a lot of free resources and tools.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: So both of those freebies have served me really well, and my email list grows by um, I don't know, 10, 20 people each week.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when you're writing, are you still writing primarily to female millennials?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or like is that what you typically have in mind whenever you're you're still writing?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it was for money, honey, but I realized that for the passive income aggressive retirement book, my audience wasn't limited to females or millennials.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a little bit of a broader audience.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I decided to still store sort of try to market it to female millennials because that was most of my audience, anyways, at that point.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote it in the same style and the same voice, so it's fun, it's simple, it's approachable, and it's resonated with a much larger group of people.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, lots of stuff to think about here.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've been taking notes furiously.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: So probably there's gonna be some keyboard clacking coming coming through on my end of the recording.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this has been really fun, Rachel.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've just taken away so much from this.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um Thank you.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact, and I was gonna point this out.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that in the Facebook group specifically, and that's such a great strategy, you got in there and you added value long before you were expecting anything.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's man, that's that's a mistake, and I'm sure you see this as well.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because you talk with a lot of authors and people who are writing.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: A mistake that we see so much so much of the time is people just wanting to put a book out there and just wanting to expect everybody to buy it or support it or promote it without having added value on the front end.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's man, that's such an important thing.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's a huge mistake people make.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want to operate and be successful, and this goes for any relationship in your life, this is for networking, this is for a friendship, this is for you know your relationship with your readers or your platform, you have to give massive value first, and then you can ask for something small.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the way I try to operate.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that is such a critical thing for building any relationship.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you mentioned your freebies.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of that, how can our listeners get in touch with you and grab that bonus gift and find out about all the cool things that you're doing?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'd love to give your listeners the passive income bonus gift.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: So if somebody wants to download that, they can go to www.moneyhoneyRachel.com slash bonus.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, both of my books are on Amazon.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're in ebook, paperback, and audio.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find me online social media by searching moneyhoney Rachel.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll have links to all that wonderful stuff in the show notes.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Rachel, thanks so much.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a blast, and I'm so glad that you were on the show today sharing with us your wisdom, not just about books, but about real estate and investing and passive income.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you have such a huge range of things that you can can talk about, which is fantastic.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: This was so much fun.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I had a blast doing this interview with Rachel, and I'm sure that you took away a lot of great things as well.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it was hard to narrow this down to just three takeaways.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll do my best, so let's dive in.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: These are my three biggest takeaways from this interview.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is the importance of having passive income.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I really can't overstate this enough.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's vital as a business owner and writer to think about ways that you can stop trading time for money.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Rachel gave us some great examples of doing this, specifically book sales and real estate investing.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, passive income doesn't mean that you don't have to work for it.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: It just means that you put in the time on the front end and then set it up so that your money is working for you and paying you rather than you working for it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Takeaway number two, a book can help your business.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a common theme on this podcast, of course, because we're talking about smart business writing.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Rachel is a really great example of how this can work.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: When you write books, it grows your authority and your credibility and it can grow your audience as well.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever your business is, a book can absolutely help you grow it.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then finally, takeaway number three, consider getting into real estate investing as a potential income source.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: I had never really considered real estate investing until the last year or so, since a lot of members of the total life freedom community that I'm a part of are doing real estate investing and are very interested in it.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: But man, it just makes sense on so many levels, especially the way that Rachel explained it.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I really want to point you to Rachel's book, Passive Income Aggressive Retirement, as a great resource for, well, not just real estate investing, but all kinds of other things as well.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: But check out her books for more info on real estate investing.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I want to extend a huge thank you to my special guest, Rachel Richards.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure to grab your passive income starter kit, which Rachel has graciously agreed to make available to smart business writing listeners.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can grab that at moneyhoneyrachel.com slash bonus.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And also make sure, as I mentioned, to check out Rachel's two books, Passive Income Aggressive Retirement and Money Honey.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: My son and I are actually going through Passive Income Aggressive Retirement right now, and it's really a fantastic book.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, thank you so much for listening.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't take your listening for granted, and I appreciate the fact that there's lots of things you could be listening to, so I always am really grateful that you're spending the time with me here on this show, and not just with me, but of course with our guests as well.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can find lots more resources for writers at KentSanders.net, and until next time, remember that your writing has the power to change people's lives.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.