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

Hi Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

I was an “accidental entrepreneur”. Growing up, I never thought that I would run day run a business. I was the art kid who studied design in art school, hoping to be one of those cool designers who worked in a hip creative studio — drinking lattes, pushing pixels on the newest iMac, and building my career as the creative genius behind all the big brands that everyone knows.

Needless to say, my path took a turn when I got my dream job and realized that it didn’t check off the boxes for me. What was supposed to be a creative dream ended up being a boring, assembly line of work that didn’t give me the opportunities I was looking for to stretch my wings as a creative.

I knew that I wanted more variety, and didn’t know any other way of making it happen other than picking up small, freelance projects outside of my full-time job. I tried a little bit of everything, and quickly realized that I liked my side projects a heck of a lot more than my job, so I made the rash decision to pull the plug on my job at the start of 2019 and dive head-deep into full-time freelancing.

In hindsight, I had no idea what I was doing, or what I was getting myself into.

What started as a naive thought that I would somehow be able to make a living if I was good at what I do, quickly turned into a mad scramble when I realized that I needed a bunch of skills (that I didn’t have) in order to create the opportunities that I needed to pay my bills.

I had no business coach or community to support me at that time, so I ended up doing what most people would do in that kind of situation — I looked around at the people in my industry who seemed to be “successful” at what they do… and I copied them. I modelled everything from their services down to the way they they packaged and presented their brand.

None of it felt natural to me, but I managed to get something going with the janky, rag-tag way that I build my business. The problem was, I wasn’t happy with the way it was built, or how I felt about the way I was showing up. Everything was so serious and suit-and-tie, that I found myself in a position where I couldn’t bring myself to show up for networking events because I wasn’t showing up in a way that felt natural to me.

I felt like I was lying to people, and knew that I needed to change everything in order to make this sustainable… so I burned everything to the ground in 2022 and decided to do something crazy — I decided to rebuild my business under my personal brand, and show up in a way that most people would consider to be “unprofessional”, but felt like ME.

I showed up to calls in snapback and cat headphones. I had a giant pikachu in my Zoom backdrop, and dared to send emails and messages in a casual tone (gasp)… WITH emojis (gasp again). I wasn’t doing anything revolutionary, but it was terrifying because I knew that there was a chance that I would scare off any potential opportunities I had at the time if I played my cards wrong.

That said, I ended up receiving an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, and an abundance of amazing opportunities that I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of having. It opened up doors for me to collaborate with big influencers, get featured on various publications, and build a business that not only supports me financially, but I feel DAMN proud of showing to the world.

All of this happened because I decided to say, “no, I’m going to do this my way”, in an industry full of copycats and people pleasers…. and I couldn’t be happier to say that I now get to help other entrepreneurs do the same with their personal brand.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Choosing to build my own business and doing it in a very atypical way has resulted in this journey feeling like a roller coaster ride from hell where you have no seatbelt, and there are parts of the track that are missing. I’m not going to sugarcoat it because there are a LOT of people will would tell you that it’s easy to make money online, and it’s not — especially if you want to do it sustainably.

I learned this the hard way because I had serious shiny object syndrome coming into the world of business. Everyone (and their dog) kept telling me they had the solution to building a successful business, so I ended up investing an absurd amount of money into coaching, courses and programs in the hopes one of the many things I invested in would help me figure out how to do this business thing the right way.

I eventually got to this point where I was $130k in debt, and had no solution in sight because all of the things I learned from my investments weren’t enough to help me keep my head above water with my bills. I remembered being REALLY frustrated with my business, and wondering if everything I was working towards was a lie.

The weight of my debt, combined with the pressure to make my business work (when it clearly wasn’t working), pushed me to a breaking point where I ended up making the tough decision to declare bankruptcy, and wipe the slate clean to start over again.

In that moment, I faced off with a lot of my internal demons that told me that I had failed. But you know what happened afterwards?

I managed to bounce back within a few months and ended that year with $10k work of savings in my bank. After many years of living with negative dollars in the bank account, I was able to prove to myself that everything that I had invested in WAS worth it because I was able to use that knowledge to rebuild quickly, and lay a proper foundation for my business in the years to come.

It’s been a helluva ride, but I couldn’t be more thankful to be in the position that I am today!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I’ve always loved tattoos, graffiti, and bold, edgy designs. As a kid, I dreamed of being a tattoo artist, and adapted the bold look of tattoo designs to the work that I do now with personal brands. For me, personal branding is about being LOUD about who you are, and choosing not to censor the parts of yourself that other people might not like.

The work that I do reflects this where I’m the only person who works with dualities in the world of personal branding. I help my clients nail down the various parts of their brand that feel like they don’t mix (such as being fun but edgy), and helping them craft a signature style that captures ALL of that in perfect harmony.

I don’t believe that we are JUST fun, or JUST serious, or JUST nerdy. We have many layers, and the way we choose to present ourselves on the internet should reflect that!

Outside of my work, I still draw and continue to explore different styles as I evolve as an artist. I want my work to inspire people to live their lives boldly, and not be afraid of showing people who they really are. We’re all weird in some way, and I believe that the world becomes a better place when we all learn to celebrate that!

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?

If I were to turn back the clock and give myself ONE piece of advice, it would be this: be careful about who you choose to take advice from.

In my earlier years of business, I had the right attitude of being an adaptive learner, but I neglected to pay attention to WHO I was learning from… because it matters.

If the person you’re taking advice from DOESN’T have the exact type of business / results that you’re looking to get, and if their values (as a person) don’t align with yours — there is a 100% chance that the advice they give will not help you get to where you want to go.

(It’s like taking relationship advice from that one friend who’s never been in a relationship, or is constantly bad-mouthing everyone around them. You know what I mean)?

There are infinite ways to get to your end destination, so don’t just settle for the one bloke you meet on the street who promises you the keys to the kingdom just because they drive a nice car or say that they have a 7-figure business.

Trust your gut when you make these decisions, and please for the love of god do your research before you decide to commit to something. It’s always ok to ask questions, and know that saying “no” is ok because it just closes the doors to the wrong opportunities, and creates space for the right doors to open.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://racheltylee.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/racheltylee/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/rlee.ayrie/
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/racheltylee/