733: This Family Is Making Thousands in Passive Income… Here’s How

24:55and so she's making these in her backyard you know hammering the wood together doing the stain in the things but again you are the person doing the thing your income is limited because your time right you got to level up so she actually came to us and we do something called reverse sourcing where we take something that you're hand making yep and we find a manufacturer who can make it the same as you if not better in scale right and so she got a manufacturer started making these signs in bulk and that was one of her her first products so she sells a lot of wood products kind the home goods, baby products, her husband's selling like drinkware, things like that.

25:29Love it. But yeah, incredible. That's a, I mean, that's like very like common story in our group, right? Mom who's coming in, working mom or someone who wants to stay home. It doesn't just work for moms, but we just have a huge passion for moms. I think like having kids ourselves and like having that overlap of when we are still in weddings and having to leave for a whole day and seeing my son cry in the driveway with me going away. It was just like having leverage in your life. There's nothing like it. And I believe like when you can free up a mom with her time and her finances, like we changed the world.

26:02Yeah. And I think of, you know, business ownership, entrepreneurship, when you step into something, I think a lot of our moms come in like wanting to financially contribute, but also wanting to have a business that they can own, that they love and that they're proud of. And I remember a story coming in a mom who she was already a very successful real estate agent. And she came into our program and she just was building this like other muscle that she had never seen before. And she has three beautiful girls. And one of her teenage daughters came to her and she said, Mom, like, I'm proud of you.

26:35Like, Mom, I'm proud of you. I've seen this transition since joining Rainmakers. And I think for Steven and I, it's it's so much about the transformation of who you become. And we often talk about this bubble over benefit in your life, like financial, like freedom and leverage that we give you in Rainmakers is incredible. But it's about who you become in the process and what money and relieving you of creating and having finances for your family and what that can do. It can free you up to spend more time with your family if that's on your heart or buy the dream home or go on the vacation. or like Scarlett who came in, she was living in another country and she messaged me one day and she said, you don't know how amazing it is to be able to go to the grocery store and to pick out whatever food I want for my family and to not have to worry about my grocery bill anymore.

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30:32okay so now i want to go make gold earring backs does somebody that's listening to this show so like what level of experience do you have to have to have success in this like is this something where like you already have to have been an entrepreneur or like like where do you begin with this because now i'm just like so intrigued and just thinking about all the millions of things i order on amazon to the point where the driver comes and drew's like what'd you get and I'm like, I don't even remember. I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. So where, where do you have to be like level wise to do this?

31:05Yeah. I mean, honestly, we have a step-by-step process that takes people through it because we were totally that beginner and Amazon is a, it's a complex machine, but once you know how it works and you've, you've gone through the process and you have a mentor going through there with you, like we've had all ages, we've had all different types of people when it comes to tech experience, when it comes to, I mean, we recently had someone hearing impaired go through our thing and like, she was crushing it. And so really, like, I think it's challenged my mindset on who can, who can really do this thing.

31:38Like we have Deb, she was, I think, I don't, I don't know her age, but she's, she's way up there. Okay. And she came into our program and started launching products. And I was just like, oh, like, we'll see how these go, you know? And her products were so amazing. The branding, I was like, who did she have? Like, she just learned, like, we really teach to buy back your time, right? And there's resources out there for Amazon sellers. I mean, you say your brother helps Amazon sellers. It's just like, once you learn to tap the resources and use maybe a sourcing agent to connect you with the manufacturer, there's just tricks that are going to help you compress your time.

32:12But also, you don't need to be an expert, right? You don't need to pretend to be an expert. And 99 % of people that work with us have no product ideas when they come to work with us. So I think that's a key thing, too, because we do have a really specific 11 point checklist. We take all the product ideas through like we take gold earrings through it and see a gold earring back, see if it works, you know. And so if it doesn't meet those 11 qualifiers, we don't do it. Right. So we want to reduce risk on the front end. So you're never ending up with a bunch of inventory you can't sell. You know what I want to do?

32:41This is so crazy. I want to do this and have my girls each design or like ideate a product and then put all that money away from them for their future. Wouldn't that be cool? I love that idea. Yes. We definitely have seen like mom and daughter combos doing it. And the kids just pick up, like even just knowing how to create something, how to source something, right? We've had kids take that knowledge and go source products and then sell them at school or like, you know, like some graduation lays or something like that and go stand on the side of the street and sell them out during graduation. You know, just that idea of knowing how to like, I know how to make something, get it made.

33:23Like that is so powerful. So if somebody is listening to this and they're very intrigued, just like I am, but they don't have an idea for a product, where do you begin? Like, what does that even look like? I mean, I think the most common ones we see, and this is how I'd encourage your listeners to think, is like, okay, one, what have you bought on Amazon recently? Because you might have a random idea. Two, what hobbies are you into? Because as much as it'd be fun to make 90K on gold back earrings, you're just not going to have as much passion there. Eventually, if things get hard, you're like, ah, these are just gold earrings.

33:58But if it's something you're into, you know what I mean? Like if Jen, if you had a podcasting kit or something like that, you would be like into it. Right. So, um, think about the hobbies you're into. Like I got into mountain biking and then I started buying all the accessories and I started looking at the data. I'm like, okay, let's launch a mountain bike accessory brand. Right. Like, so what's the hobby like thing that you're into? That's kind of niche that not really a lot of people do, but the people are into it are really fanatical. That's the thing, you know, there's categories on Amazon.

34:26They're totally oversaturated. You never want to do like cell phone cases or stuff like that. But like those niche hobbies, you think they're small, but like if chicken diapers has 10 ,000 people a month searching for it, you know, like you can do anything. It does. It's true. Can you give me some examples of either some of the products you guys have had success with or in your community, just so that we can show how wide the range really is? Wow. I mean, there are so many, like you kind of name it it's probably in there of course we have a lot of moms so there's just a lot of mom products like but like think small and lightweight because amazon is about fees right like amazon can charge you for how big the thing is so a lot of people will start with smaller things like um i'm thinking belly button shapers okay i think uh that was rebecca that launched that one what does that even mean i didn't know this either but like you know sometimes the babies have the belly button that's kind of coming out yeah and you get a little sticker to put on there that will shape it right i was like i don't i'm not really caring about the belly button but some people do that's great so that was that was a funny one i was like man this thing's just a sticker you know you're selling it for 15 dollars it's a special sticker yeah but i think some of my favorites that come to mind are we've had students make different like diaper caddies like really beautiful like you would see that think this product would be like in target just the way that it's well made well designed that's one of my favorites i mean we just bought a rain product it's like an inflatable bounce house awesome it's like a mini bounce house so we see like small products huge products home decor like fun different like gadgets and things that you need for your home like i don't know we've even had someone do like egg cartons or like an egg holder a butter holder so just like all different kinds of things yeah and i think it's powerful too when you have a story behind a product you know like you see this on shark tank all the time it's like I have the story, right?

36:20So think if in your life, is there a store, is there something? I mean, we've had Rainmakers launch, you know, bereavement gifts because they've been through hard times in their life. And like, Hey, this is the thing that someone said to me that really mattered in that season. They make something for Amazon in that niche. And now it's like blessing all these families out there. So it's really the sky's the limit. You can sell, I mean, you can sell tiny houses on Amazon if you really want to. I've seen, I've seen listings for them. Okay. So one thing I'm curious. So we talked kind of about how you were in the wedding world.

36:52And Steven, I know you love numbers just like I do. So you're at this wedding, you recognize that you've earned a lot of money passively instead of hauling heavy gear, being away from your family, sweating. I mean, all the things that we've been through as wedding photographers. What did it look like, like 12 months after you launched this store and you start to get these results? Like what were some of the revenue numbers that actually made you say like, I'm kind of done shooting weddings and now I'm fully going all in. What did it take for you to hit that? Yeah. I mean, that first product again, very miraculous.

37:25It just like, it was like, wow. And then, but that, that was like, we caught the bug, you know, like, you know, you make that first internet money. You're like, okay, we got to figure this thing out. Right. So we had a goal to do a hundred dollars a day in three months, 500 in, in, I think it was six months and then a thousand dollars a day by the end of the year. And we were able to hit all those goals. And so we did like low six figures that first year on Amazon, which I think was pretty much pacing with our wedding business at that point. And then we started to exceed the wedding business, but you know, weddings, like it takes a while to step out of it.

37:57People book those things out really far. And at that point we were just Amazon evangelists because it was just like, this thing was giving us so much peace. So we're telling all our wedding photographer friends. I'm teaching my mom how to do it. And that's how Rainmakers really started was just us being excited about it. And then it was like a friend, a friend of a friend, friend of a friend. Now we've had, you know, I think 14 ,000 people go through our program. Like it helped so many families step into this, but it really just started with that just excitement, which you could still hear to this day.

38:26Chelsea, what was it like for you? Because I, and I don't mean this in any slight of the way, Steven, but I feel like for women, especially for moms of young kids, there is this like desperation to be present, right? Like I almost feel like nowadays, like you even kind of alluded to it earlier where it's just like, you will never regret this time. And I think so many women, especially, especially women with young children, it's like, we feel this urgency of like, I need to be present. I can't miss this. I'm never going to get this time back. And yet so many of us are living in this universe where we don't have passive opportunities, what did it feel like for you to recognize like, wait, there is a different way that doesn't require me booking my life out two years in advance.

39:10It doesn't require me hustling on the weekends. Like what was that like for you? It was the most amazing, like relief ever. And I think, yeah, I had a conversation with a, with a mentor friend. We had Kaizen, our youngest, he was a toddler and I had a newborn. And at that time we were big into like rainmakers and teaching what we're doing and running our Amazon business. So I think this, even though we have our Amazon business and rainmakers often going, I think I always relate with that feeling and that desire. And honestly, this is what like gets me up every single morning. And so passionate to share this message that we have of just like of hope and that there is another way.

39:52And that I really think that you can have both, you can have, be fully present as mom and be fully present and running your business and how it be this successful thing that you're really proud of. And when I was back in having my toddler Kaizen and then having a newborn, I had this conversation with a mentor and I was really wrestling with, I'm ready to step back into work, but I don't want my calendars to be filled with things and, and definitely feeling that mom guilt and the struggle of like, oh, my baby's still a little, I want to be with him, but I also want to go crush my goals and make money and like serve and, and all of these things.

40:28And she just stopped me and she said, Chelsea, like you will never regret spending more time with your kids. And it was like this guiding compass for me while I make decisions. Cause I'm very much involved in, in our business and in leadership and in our team. And I, And I love that. And I love seeing women win, but I've set my schedule up so that I can thrive in our business role, but also as a mom. And so I think that I relate with women in so many ways on, it's hard to, it's hard to want to balance both. I don't think there is such thing as balancing. It's just like going all in with like my CEO hat and then going all in with my mom hat.

41:13And I think that it's important to have, to understand what leverage is like we talked about earlier, to have that be your guiding compass when you're making decisions about what is the new business opportunity I'm going to go for, or what is the next hire that I'm going to make? Is it allowing me to be freed up to have more leverage both in my business for my finances and as my role as a wife and a mom, like in my case as well. So yeah, I feel you. I think there's so many women. I know that listen to your podcast like weekly. And I'm just like, I just want to encourage you like that. You can totally do this, that there is a way to, it's like this beautiful dance, you know?

41:54And I just envision this like woman sitting on the other side, like listening to this podcast on, I envision you with like, with like a beanie on, you just put your babies down. And I just want to like speak hope to you that there there's totally hope that there is a way and look for those leveraged opportunities in your life. I love that. You guys spoke a little bit about your mastermind. I'm sure there are people that are like, wait, what is this? What do I get? Like, walk me through, what is the Rainmaker Mastermind? Yeah, the mastermind is like our curriculum. We really take people who wanna go deep on this.

42:29We always wanna make sure it's a good fit for your family. And so we take people on a 12 month really journey. A lot of people even go beyond that. I mean, the kind of bigger picture with Amazon, just to pull it back a little bit, is that we build businesses to sell. And so this is no, I didn't think this way for so many years in the wedding business. We never thought like we sell this business, you know, but the crazy part of Amazon, you can make money now. You also make money in the future because you're building enterprise value of this brand that you can sell. And so we really have a track that's probably a three to four year track to really take people to sell.

43:02Some people are like lifestyle rainmakers, we call them, where they just like launch a couple products, pays the mortgage, and they're like, good. But a lot of our Rainmakers launch a couple products, and they catch the bug, right? And they're like, I'm going to scale this thing, right? And so we set them up in a way to do that, and then find a buyer for the business and sell. So the mastermind is really that like kind of take you from zero to multiple six figures. And then we have other programs that'll take you even beyond that. But we pair you up with a coach, a client success manager that really helps you with this product research, because that's the biggest thing people like need to learn is that skill set of product research, but also like qualifying and like having confidence, like before you place an order for some inventory, like it's scary, you know?

43:44So having an expert look at it is really, really key, but we also have community, right? So we have like the mastermind style community where everyone's helping and giving to one another. We have daily coaching calls basically on every phase of the business. So we have our team of experts doing those now. And I'm telling you this stuff, Jenna, to be like, but like, I'm kind of like, this is when we started Rainmakers, it was just us like coaching people. And so what we built over the last five years is really out of like, how can we serve people at the highest level? And at some point we can only do so much coaching.

44:15So we started certifying coaches like Heather, Chelsea told her story, you know, who are in our community. And we're really there with you every step of the journey to support you and to make sure you're not feeling stuck. Cause I think that's the biggest thing is that when you are going to new things, your brain is like, no, stop, stay comfortable. Right. And then you feel I'm stuck. I'm overwhelmed. So we have like literal things in the course that are just like, if you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, here's what to do next. We even have like a Trello board. That's like step-by-step. Like if you have five minutes in your day, we send people a little time block cube.

44:47They can set their time for five minutes. They can go to the Trello board and do one thing, you know, and just start moving that needle a little bit towards the business. So that's our Rainmaker Mastermind in a nutshell. There's a lot in there, but yeah. Look, I've become kind of a systems nerd and anything that gives me more space in my day, I'm all in. And a reliable connection is a huge part of that because when the internet lags or cuts out, everything pauses and suddenly the simplest tasks take forever. I learned really early on that dependable internet, it's not a luxury, it is a must. Whether you're a content creator like me, a restaurant owner, or running a busy dry cleaning business, you need that steady connection to support your team and your clients.

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46:06Can you believe that we're already wrapping up 2025? This year was packed with travel and so many new memories. One of my favorite moments was our team retreat in Arizona with the incredible women who helped me keep this business running. I also recently took the kids to Nashville during fall break and somewhere in between, I squeezed in a trip to Puerto Rico with friends. We booked some of our most memorable stays this year on Airbnb. There's something special about finding a place that doesn't just look great in the photos, but actually feels welcoming the moment you walk in. That this feels right kind of feeling.

46:40If you've got trips coming up, whether it's a family vacation, a retreat, or a work trip, your house will probably be sitting empty while you're gone. Have you considered hosting your home on Airbnb and letting it work for you? It's a simple way to earn some extra income that can be put towards a future trip or home improvement projects. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com forward slash host. Well, and one thing that I love about this is that people can save so much time, energy, frustration, money on the front end of something like this, because I think what's so interesting and different and probably intimidating about product-based businesses is it takes some really crucial decisions on the front end to reap the rewards on the back end, right?

47:30And I think for so many people that are listening, if you don't understand, and I want every listener to understand this, if you can save yourself the time, the money, the frustration, all of those things of making the wrong decisions up front, your reward is going to be so much sweeter, but also you're going to be so much more freed up to stay in your creative zone. Right. And I just think that that's so powerful. And so many people aren't willing to invest on that front end until they've made mistakes. I always think about like how, when I was growing up, my mom would think it was a great idea to like buy box hair dye.

48:07And then we would like dye my hair and it would turn like pineapple yellow. And then we'd have to to pay double and book in an appointment and do what we should have done in the first place, which was to go get it. Right. And it's like so many people make those mistakes. And I don't want you to make this if this is something you want to pursue. And I just love how you make it so clear on how to find success and to not make mistakes on the front end so that you can actually reap those rewards on the back end. Yeah, it's huge. I think we learned that the hard way in the early days of our Amazon is we didn't have a lot of mentors.

48:41Yeah. I remember being, we were at church one day and I was like, man, Amazon's really going off today. Like the sales are going crazy. The thing is Amazon, when you look at your app, like they just show you how many units are moving. Right. And you're not actually looking at like, you know, the profit margin. Right. And so we actually had a coupon code that went out into the world for like, it was like 95 % off on one of our products. So that's why we were selling$7 ,000 of inventory in one day. And we just didn't realize that, you know, until I got home. I was like, this feels weird. We were able to stop some of the orders, but it was just like, man, that one mistake was like a$7 ,000 mistake.

49:14And I'm not sure that to scare people, but just to go like, you know, if you're going to go into a new territory, it's really good to go with a guide who's already been into that territory. Like you can go through the Amazon jungle yourself, or you can walk behind someone who has a machete and it's already cleared the path. We've learned that lesson so many times now with all of our areas of business, we're always willing to, you know, find people that figured out the shortcuts and just follow them. Yeah. And I even remember like the first conference that we ever went to about just learning how to like optimize our business better.

49:45And I had been following this one speaker for a while and they shared like a 10 minute presentation on like 10 steps to like help you in your business. And I literally, I remember my hand, like I was scribbling so fast. I took all of those 10 steps and I applied them to our business. And I think we like 10 X our income just from what that person just getting in a room with somebody who was further ahead of me. And I think after that moment, Steve and I were like, we are never not investing in mentorship, in business coaching because of like the direct ROI in our business. And, and that of course has that bubble over effect again, that we talk about in our marriage and our life and our relationships, because you're always learning.

50:27And so it's, it's so powerful investing in yourself. Amazing. Well, my friends, this was incredible. I want to go make something. I'm so inspired. I'm just so inspired right now that my brain is like, I mean, I don't often leave interviews, like feeling like I'm going to go start a business, but like telling you gold digger listeners, I want to go start a business and I want you to teach me how to do it. If you go to Jenna Kutcher.com slash rainmaker family, That's all one word. Rainmaker family. Jenna Kutcher dot com slash rainmaker family. You can learn more about Steven and Chelsea. Where can everybody connect with you?

51:05Find out more about you and how you serve and follow along with your journey. Yeah, definitely. We recommend like check out our website, rainmaker family dot com. Go to that link. Jenna's got all the info there. We have an opportunity. We're doing something special for Jenna's audience. You can get a one-on-one family freedom design session because again like jenna like i'd even look at your stuff and go is this a good fit right we just never want to like because we've been in that season of like overextending and like and like growing sticks right so we want to dig into people's stuff and make sure this is a good pathway that's going to take them towards what that vision of family freedom right so the family freedom design session is something we do with all of our mastermind members before they hop into the mastermind just to look at where you at right now financially, like what's going on?

51:52What are you doing for work? Are you home? Like how much time do you have? Really dig into that. And then look at like, what does family freedom look like for you? And then let's just see, is Amazon the pathway to get you as rainmakers, the masterminders, the pathway to get there. Or even if not, you have a pathway, like you have a design to go, okay, I have a design for me moving towards family freedom and involves leverage. That's going to help me move in the right direction. So we're doing those for your audience, Jenna, and we have some special stuff cooked up for them as well. So yeah, just super appreciate it.

52:22That's amazing. And I got to say, if you're listening and if your heart was like pulled in a direction, I just feel like nothing happens by chance. Like this was all meant to happen. And I feel like so many times as listeners, we get these pings and these ideas, but we don't take action. And so this is such a simple action that will help you walk away with a plan, regardless of if you create gold earring backs or not, which by the way, that is mine. I'm taking it and running with it. But I'm just so inspired by this and so inspired by your story of leverage. And I feel like you can see it in the path that you've walked, but also the path that you're leading people down.

53:00And so just thank you so much for coming on the Gold Digger podcast and sharing all of this with us. Share a little bit about your podcast and your Instagram and where everyone else can find you. I have been a guest on their podcast. It was amazing, as you can imagine. So tell us about that. Yes, we have a podcast like Jenna mentioned, the Rainmaker Family Show. Go listen to Jenna's episode. I agree. It was amazing. So fun to have you on there. We talk about like leverage in your life and your family and your marriage. We've had so many incredible guests on there from all different backgrounds, not just e-commerce as well.

53:33And then you can find us on social media at Chels underscore Diaz or at Steez Diaz or at the Rainmaker family. Awesome. Thank you guys so much for coming on again, jennacutcher.com slash Rainmaker family. Go check it out, book your planning session and get it all in. Thank you guys for giving us that opportunity. I am so crazy inspired after today's conversation. I feel like my mind is blown and I'm just thinking about different ways that this could apply for so many people in my life. Here's an interesting stat that I want you to consider. 78 % of moms say that they would prefer to work part-time or not work at all.

54:13And there's so much pressure on parents these days, but even if you're not a parent, this is an amazing opportunity. It's just a space that I've never really explored, but after listening to Stephen and Chelsea share about it, I am so curious. If you want to learn more, again, go to jennacutcher.com slash rainmaker family, all one word, jennacutcher.com slash rainmaker family to learn more from Chelsea and Steven. I absolutely loved today's episode. And if you are someone who is disqualifying yourself from even considering that this could work for you, just think that there's someone out there selling earring backs and likely driving$25 ,000 a month.

54:55I hope that's enough of a point for you to take even the first step of action and go to jennacutcher.com slash rainmaker family. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the gold digger podcast. Of course, until next time, gold diggers, keep on digging your biggest goals. I'm over here giving you a virtual high five because you just finished another episode of the gold digger podcast. Did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, head over to gold digger podcast.com for show notes and all the discount codes from today's sponsors. And if you're looking for a new crew of movers and shakers like you to bounce ideas and ask questions, be sure to join my exclusive community for gold diggers on Facebook.

55:36The link's waiting for you at golddiggerpodcast.com.