Rachel Rodgers: Close the Wealth Gap-How I Built an 8-Figure Business

0:00Butcher Box makes dinner easy for me because I know I've always got great protein ready to go. Go to butcherbox.com slash Mick to get$20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, New York strip or filet mignon in every box for a year with free shipping. Always my interests and my clients interests are aligned. Right. So if I'm showing up and I hate some aspect of the business, I cannot show up as my best for my clients. And so therefore, they're not getting the best of what we have to offer. Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth.

0:37No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today we have the rock star of rock stars, the guru of gurus, the leader of leaders. She's transformed herself from a broke attorney to a self-made millionaire who's passionate about teaching women in marginalized communities how to claim their financial power. And more importantly, she's authored the international bestseller, We Should All Be Millionaires.

1:21Her mission is simple, to close the wealth gap permanently. She's a bold voice in business, a mother of four, a CEO. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming a person I have looked up to for a long time. She's fearless. She's a visionary. She is unapologetic. We're talking to Ms. Rachel Rogers. Rachel, how are you doing today, dear? Thank you for that intro. Listen, I'm going to have to take you on the road with me. I am available, especially in Puerto Rico. I love it. I love it. Rachel, how are you? That's my first question. Just how are you? Yeah, I'm good. You know, I just came off of when that people don't, I think mothers understand this.

2:05Maybe dads too. The end of the school year is so much. Every day it's like today we're having, wear white because we're doing some glow in the dark party. Today you bring your special toy to school for a show and tell. This day is this special. little bit every day. It's like, you got to have a special t-shirt for this one. Then this day's pajamas. And like, we're holding on by a thread to the end of the school year. Please listen. Can we just get this over with? Please stop adding special things. We are done. We have, we have nothing left to give. So that's over. We're officially in summertime now.

2:39So I'm like, okay, we're easing into the summer. That's where we're at right now in my family, you know, and we're getting ready for our big event. We do a big conference every year called ROI, the millionaire summit. So those are the two big things going on right now. I love it. So both my sister and my sister-in-law are teachers and mothers. So they totally feel what you were saying right now. Yes, exactly. Exactly. It's just like, you know, we're not entrepreneurs in isolation, right? We have kids to take care of. We got parents to take care of. We got neighbors to take, like all the things, um, doing it all, you know, and, and, and learning how to manage it all.

3:18Right. And also make sure you're making time for yourself as well. So it's all, it's all a lot. And so sometimes I just posted something yesterday where I was like, you know, school year me is like, eat all those vegetables or you're going to bed early. Right. Like all about that. You go eat these vegetables. Right. I will fight you over these vegetables. And yesterday I found myself being like, you want pretzels for dinner? No problem. Works for me. You know what I mean? Yeah, my sister gets in that mode of do whatever, just let mommy sit right here in this little corner and feel like she's not here.

3:51Exactly. Listen, sometimes it's about self-preservation, okay? Absolutely. Absolutely. So Rachel, you know, again, I've been a huge follower of yours. You've been an inspiration to me as a, not just an entrepreneur, but also a leader. I've always wanted to ask you and I ask all my guests this, but more importantly, you, what is your because? What's that thing that's deeper than your why that really drives you to be? These are my words and my words only one of the biggest givers in the world that I know. Like what's your because? Yeah, well, I just I think there's so many things to be mad about politically, socially, economically.

4:33Right. In our society. And that's never. Hopefully it will change one day. but I feel like it is a constant, right? So it's like, what is the thing to be mad about today, right? What's the thing going on right now that we are not happy with, that we want to change? And so for me, I need to feel like an activist. I need to feel like I'm doing something to change that. And I do feel that real activism is not ranting on the internet about something that you're mad about, although that could be part of it, but it's really like building a system, right? To create, to affect change. And so that's what I see myself doing.

5:08And that's what I get up to do every day. So when terrible things happen or when I'm upset about something, I'm like, you're already doing something about this. You didn't wait for the next thing to be outraged about, to react to it. You're building something that is going to change this slowly but surely over time. And that's what I want to do with my life. you know? And, and I really couldn't afford to be an activist because I have no money. You know what I mean? I got to be able to support myself. So I had to find a way to build a business that could be mission driven and, and like values aligned.

5:41Right. So like we have a mission that we're accomplishing, but we can still turn a profit at the same time. And I can still afford to pay my team and take care of my family and all of those things. And so building that was very important to me. Um, and that's, that's the why it's like the why is almost like, I don't take no for an answer. And I don't accept that it's not possible. Right. Cause you know, people are like, well, you can't do it that way. That's not possible. I'm like, who says, have you tried? How do we know if we haven't tried? So I'm like, okay, I have all these boxes I need to check.

6:10How can I make one thing do all of these things, you know, be a great place to work, be a great business that, you know, can be studied one day, you know, by Harvard business school. Right. And still create effect change in the world and make the world a better place, you know, and still be a place that I want to show up to every day and actually want to work, you know, work at. So those were all my boxes. And that's my my ultimate wise. The other thing, too, I will say or ultimate because is I'm just sort of like the guinea pig. That's what I see myself as. So I'm like, let me go. Let me go do it so that I can show everybody that it can be done.

6:49Right. Like that you can go from low income, no resources, no professional network, no investment, no nothing to building an eight figure business. And right now we're moving towards building a nine figure business. And I just want, I just want to create the pathway to show that it can be done. And then of course I'm, I'm always teaching as I go. Right. So like one, you know, first I taught like how to build a six figure business. When I figured that out, then I taught how to build a seven figure business. Now I have an eight figure business. Now I'm teaching that to some of my clients who are at seven figures and trying to grow it to eight.

7:21and then I'll figure out how to get to nine and then I'll teach that too. So, so that it's like, let me see if it can be done. I'll find out. I'm a go and find out. And then if it can, and I mean, on my own terms too. Right. And then if it can, um, then I'm going to teach everybody else how to do it. So that's, that's really what it's just kind of like, let's just keep going. Because honestly, the nine figures, I don't truly care that like about$100 million, right? I have enough money to be comfortable at this point. It's just like, it's the can it be done that is exciting to me, right? And to showing people that it can so that we can stop saying to ourselves we can't or we have these limitations or it's not possible.

8:06Like if I'm the evidence, then we can no longer say that, you know? So that's the reason, to show that a Black woman who grew up poor can bootstrap a business all the way to nine figures. I love it. We're going to get to that growing up poor part in a minute because you have a deep story that I need the world to know and understand. But I want to hit on something that you said a little bit ago. Having a company where you enjoy showing up. Yes. I think most leaders and CEOs don't understand the importance of that because, you know, I have clients that when I go on site with them, I see it in their face.

8:44Like they dread opening the door. And I'm like, well, hold on. If this is how you feel and you're at the top, how do you think your employees and other leaders feel? And I can promise you, and this is what I tell my clients, the biggest reason that you can't scale is because you don't even want to be there. Correct. So if you don't want to be there with a smile on your face and energy to innovate and a mission to impact, how in the heck do you think your team feels when they have to walk into that same environment that, oh, by the way, you created? Yes, exactly. I do not believe in creating, like basically building a business or leading a business is like, you know, creating a job that you hate.

9:25And I'm like, no, thank you. Right. So if there's something that I, what I believe is that my interests and my client's interests are aligned, right? So if I'm showing up and I hate some aspect of the business, I cannot show up as my best for my clients. And so therefore they're not getting the best of what we have to offer. So I'd rather change the offer, alter the marketing, change the system, change something so that we can serve them in a way at our highest and best. and I can show up with my most excited, most enthusiastic energy, right? To deliver to them at a high level. So if something starts killing my vibe, I'm like, okay, get rid of that and let's do it a different way.

10:05Because what's the constant is the mission, right? It's like, how can we help to close this wealth gap, right? As long as we are marching towards that, we're doing what we need to do. The structure of how we do it is going to change because the market changes, the industry changes, times change. So we have to be nimble, but we're always still marching towards the same goal, you know? So I, listen, I say, listen, find your enthusiasm some way. So if it's something got to be killed, kill it. If you need to, maybe sometimes too is not letting go. You might see this too with your leaders, right? You're doing things that is like, you know, five years ago, you should have been doing and was doing, but now this version of you needs to be onto these other things.

10:44You need to let that go and let the leaders you hired do it, or let the team you hired do it. So sometimes that's what's killing your vibe is you're doing old work that you need to let go of and trust somebody else to do. So yeah, I think you have to show up to work with enthusiasm. Otherwise, you know, it's like, it's all downhill from there. If you don't like it, you can't have a best places to work for yourself. Like don't expect anybody. Yes. There's only so much discipline that exists in the world. Okay. You know what I mean? Like you got to get this kid to eat their vegetables right at night.

11:17So it's like, you can't be fighting everywhere. You know what I mean? Like somewhere got to be easy. And the place that you have to be eight hours a day, you know, that should be fun for you in some way. Like, are we going to love every second of it? No. But I feel like 80 % of the work I do, I love and is like 100 % in my zone of genius. And then there's like the 20 % and might even be down to 10 % at this point, because I have such a great leadership team. But like the 10 % that I have to do that I don't enjoy, It's okay because the 80 or 90 % is so much fun that that little bit I can power through.

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13:51Go to butcherbox.com slash mick to get$20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, New York strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year, with free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com slash Mick. Again, that's butcherbox.com slash Mick. Be sure to use our link so they know we sent you. All right, Rachel, we're going to talk a little bit about the beginning, the adult beginning of Rachel, right? And we're going to bust a myth here really quick because most people assume attorneys are wealthy, high-scredited core individuals. individuals but miss rachel rogers at one point had a i'm gonna say this number out loud and i gotta say it a 400 credit score it might have been like 450 or something like it was like in the 400s i don't remember that but like not even the high 400s it was a four correct some people don't even know it could go that low.

14:54Some people don't understand, like, you can't really have a real bank account with a 400-something credit score, and you're an attorney. Correct. So walk us through the moment that you realize, all right, that's enough. Like, something has to change, but then more importantly, the action and energy that you put behind making that change. Yeah. So, so it was like, it's a slow process, right? Like sometimes we think, okay, it's like something that clicks that either changes everything for the better or changes everything for the worse. Sometimes that happens, but a lot of times it could be an erosion, you know?

15:35So like, I just, I, I didn't trust that I was good with money as part of this. And then I was in law school. You couldn't have, you weren't allowed to have a job, like even a part-time one, except in the summer. And so you had to get not only your law school tuition, but also your living expenses. If you didn't live with your parents or you didn't have somebody to foot the bill, which I absolutely did not, then you got to borrow not only your tuition, but also your living expenses for those three years of law school. So that was, you know, expensive, right? Right. And, you know, I'm trying to maintain and slowly but surely, like especially in my last year, I just got so overwhelmed with all the things that I was doing.

16:14Right. To set myself up for my career and all the studying and keeping up with classes and what have you that I remember there was like a credit card like that I was trying to keep up with. And I forgot, like, I literally forgot about one payment and it tanked my credit score. And then once I saw the result of just that one payment that I was late on, I just kind of gave up. I was just like, forget it. This just can't be what I worry about right now. My credit's going to be terrible. It is what it is. I just need to stay focused and finish law school, you know? And so that's what I did. Then at the end of law school, they put you in a room and they have you there with all the other, you know, not everybody, like they take small groups at a time because, you know, they're expecting, you know, traumatized reactions.

16:59So they don't want to have everybody in there. So they take a small group at a time, probably based on your last name, like the first letter of your last name, whatever. And they're like, we'd like to print out for you all of your student loans that you're about to leave this place with. Because it's not just law school, undergrad as well. They get it all on one page. And you, you, you get, they hand you that page that you didn't want because you didn't want to know, you know, and you see that big number, which is a larger number than you've ever seen in your life. You know, I think I had like 300 ,000 some odd dollars in total debt.

17:33And I was like, yes, exactly. Where I just like, I was like, what now? Um, so yeah. So you see that number and it's absolutely terrifying. And they're basically like this, how much you're in the hole. And then also they just, you know, wish you luck, right? Like they don't really give you much advice, you know, or, or tell you what to do is basically like, listen, I hope you have a job because you need to get started with this number, you know, start cracking away. Um, so anyway, so I saw that number and I was like, my God. And that's what kind of got me refocused on my finances. Cause I had abandoned it during my, I think it was my last year of law school.

18:13And so I was like, okay, I'm going to make a list of every debt that I have, the student loans and everything else. I'm going to put it all into Mint at the time was like the software. It was all, it was brand new. And I was like, I'm going to put everything in and just see where, where I'm at. And then it showed me my net worth, which was negative multiple six figures, you know, with the student loans, couple credit cards, you know, whatever else. And I was like, so I was like, why did I do this? Why did I calculate this not worth? But I'm glad I did it because it motivated me. And I was like, okay, we got to solve this problem.

18:51What am I going to do? Right. And so I had a clerkship with a judge for a year and it was not, you know, you don't make a lot of money doing a clerkship, but you get a lot of connections. There's a lot of opportunity that comes from that. So I was like, okay, I'm going to do my clerkship and I'm, I got to get a good job, you know? And this was during the 2008 recession that I graduated because, you know, perfect timing. So I'm going through looking for jobs, applying for jobs and trying all of the things. And all the jobs are like, we'll pay you 65. You know, we've got$70 ,000 a year for you. Or there was one that was even less than that.

19:28There was one job at a small law firm that would pay more closer to a hundred thousand, but the partner was awful. Like she was in my courtroom all the time and she was a nightmare. And I was like, I can't do it. Not even for the money. You know what I mean? And so I was like, you know what? I don't love any of these options. So I'm going to create an option for myself and I'm going to go solo and start my own practice. And my mother was like, you're going to do what now? She was like, wait, you're not going to take one of these jobs. And I'm like, no mom. And I know she was like, my God, I'm sure she was praying like, please Lord, knock some sense into this child, but I started my own practice.

20:04And the first year I made like$65 ,000, which I replaced my first year salary. Like my salary as a clerk was$41 ,000 a year and good health insurance. So I was like, if I could just replace that, like, let's start there. That's a win. I did it the first year. Then the second year I made like$300 ,000. And so I was like, oh, I'm onto something. Right. And even with the sixty five thousand, I knew I was just scratching the surface. I knew there was so much more opportunity. I could see the pathway, you know. But yes, but seeing that debt, I think sometimes just facing what you have to do, because, you know, I think sometimes we fantasize like, OK, student loans are going to get forgiven or someone's going to come and save me or something's going to happen.

20:49And you just have to recognize you are the you're your own hero. OK, you the one that got to come save the day for yourself. So what are you going to do? You know, and when you recognize, okay, I have no other options, but to roll up my sleeves and make it happen, you figure out a way to do it. And so I took the risk of starting my own practice and that is where my wealth came from. And, you know, within two years, I was making in a year what my total student loan debt was. Right. So it was like, okay, this was worth it. Right. And quickly. So it was risky because I could have gotten more money in the first year.

21:22Right. But it never would have gotten to$300 ,000 in two, two years. Right. It It would have taken me many years as a, you know, becoming a part 10, 12 years, at least to get to that level of salary as an attorney. So it was 100 % worth the risk. And of course, it's only gone up from there. But yeah, but sometimes like building wealth comes from taking those risks, you know, and saying like, what calculated and strategic risk I'm going to take? And if you're going to take a risk of going and being an entrepreneur, then am I willing to show up and do the work to make it happen? You know, is the question to ask yourself.

21:55I wholeheartedly agree. And one of the takeaways I've got from you, you know, again, following you for so long, being a fellow entrepreneur, you know, there's this saying that I always bet on myself. Yeah, I don't like that saying, right? Because it's a bet, right? Like, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't, but the house always wins. Yeah. What I like to say Rachel Rogers did was she believed in herself and she invested in herself. It wasn't a bet. It was a belief in an investment. And I know that that's something that you also teach, you know, leading into to what you do now, which is not just inspiring, but helping others.

22:37Right. Females and marginalized communities see that these things are possible, but not just see it. here's the action that you actually need to take to get there. And so I applaud you for that, for that belief and investment in you, because I think that's the initial catalyst that everyone needs to have. If you don't believe in yourself and you're not willing to invest in yourself, you're probably going to be where you are waiting and hoping for luck or someone else to come rescue you. Exactly. And that's, that's just, you know, some people feel like the making the investment in yourself and taking a risk like that is, you know, very scary, you know, and like, oh, that's a big risk.

23:15But the opposite is a big risk too, right? Like you could work at a job that you could even love and be laid off one day, right? There's no guarantee. So we have to be the owners of our own story and decide what are we going to do to ensure that we win regardless, you know? And I think that's important. And one of the best things that came out of entrepreneurship is I know how to build a business now. So if something happens in my industry and I can no longer do the work that I'm doing, I'll just go start another business. The foundation of all businesses are the same. It doesn't matter what it is.

23:45Exactly. The foundation of all businesses are the same. And that creates a lot of job security, financial security, knowing that you have the ability to go build wealth and make money with your own skills. You don't need a gatekeeper to say yes to you in order to do it. That is the ultimate financial and job security to me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. So again, Rach, I could talk about your accolades forever, right? I could talk about the wisdom that you impart forever. One of the things that I think is critically important for our viewers and listeners is something that you have a program for that you talk about.

24:20It's, hey, you can make$10 ,000 in 10 days. There's a way to do that. So I'd love for you to talk to the viewers and listeners about that, because I think a lot of people are in a place where it's Like, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do it. You know, you start thinking about seven, eight, nine figures. Well, you got to start with the first hundred dollars first. Right. Exactly. Yes. So so talk to us about ten thousand dollars in 10 days and more of the principle and theories behind. Yes. So when I was writing my book, We Should All Be Millionaires, I came to the last chapter and I was like, how do I want to close this out?

24:58and I'm like, wouldn't it be great if they just put all of the lessons that I just shared with them into action right now? Cause I like action. I don't want to just, I don't want to sit here and have somebody get, receive a lecture or be inspired, but not use that inspiration to go act. Right. Because the action is what creates the result. And so I'm like, how can I inspire them to act? And so I had this idea for a 10 K in 10 days challenge, but I wanted, I didn't want to put it in the book without testing it. So I had my own membership community at the time with, you know, over a thousand clients in there.