We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Hague recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
In 2021 I Moved to Austin Texas from Las Vegas Nevada. At the time it was the peak of COVID and I had been a solopreneur for years (at the time I was running a social media marketing agency) during this period as many entrepreneurs experience business felt very isolating. As an entrepreneur, you are going against the grain of what society tells you to do, go to college, get a secure job, etc. It can be easy to be locked behind your computer screen putting out fires, making things happen but when you look up from your computer screen you have nobody to share it with or relate to. I had been in this season for a while feeling like I was going at business all alone as a lot of my peers were not going the entrepreneurial route. When I moved to Austin I felt a deep desire to bring entrepreneurs together, people who were open to vulnerably discussing personal development, and living a healthy lifestyle both mentally and physically but I had no idea what that would scale into.
Shortly after moving to Austin I met my now business partner Sam Conaway together we thought up the idea of what is now the #1 Community for Female Entrepreneurs in Austin Texas. We sat on the floor at a local gym and brainstormed up this big vision on a ripped-out piece of notebook paper one night, having no idea how we were going to make it happen but knowing that we were meant to bring female entrepreneurs together to connect, grow and support one another because nobody is meant to do business alone.
It started with Sunday Coffee Shop meetups where we invited women to join us co-work and chat about business and life, the first couple of meetings ups only 4 women showed up but the conversations that we were having were beyond transformational, we watched as women came together and met their new best friends, their new business partners, new investors and collaboration partners and it gave us a deep clarity of our purpose within our vision. Before we knew it 10 people then 30 then 60 then 100 ladies were showing up to these weekly coffee shop get-togethers (so many people that coffee shops started to kick us out because it was too much business) we hosted 50+ of these events back to back every week for a year and just like that KonnectHer was born we decided to go all in, close out our other businesses and make KonnectHer (it was called Austin Boss Babes at the time) our main focus, we expanded from just being a vision on a sheet of paper to a community of over 10,000 women our first year with zero paid ads just word of mouth marketing!
On the backend of this Sam and I worked long hours, each day/ night tweaking the overall experience, getting more and more intentional with every event experience up until this point everything we had done was out of pocket. There ever many moments we felt burnt out, putting our absolute all into the business, mentally, physically, and financially, although we kept our eye on the vision and the ripple effect of impact that was happening at each event. For women growing up oftentimes you face alot of “sisterhood wounding” jealously, drama, and bullying from other girls. Our main focus was to create a space were this narrative was changed, a safe place for women to come together, support one another, and feel like they have a business family at their back, and with each event we saw that mission grow more and more.
Jan of 2022 we ran our first-ever conference for women in business, and shortly after expanded into hosting educational workshops, studio content days, networking events, and our VIP exclusive community. It was an ever-evolving journey of growth and then going back to the drawing board to consistently make sure we were providing the absolute best community experience, fast forward to 2023 we hosted our largest conference yet of 350+ female entrepreneurs, have a leading mastermind for online coaches that are ready to build a community around their business, launched our podcast that has now expanded to over 45 states and various countries, have an incredible team of 4 working towards the KonnectHer vision and most importantly an incredible community of women that collaborate and support each other along their business journeys.
Building KonnectHer has taught me so many beautiful lessons, and things about myself, this community is not just built by us it is built by every single woman a part of it. I’ve learned that in order to lead you must be willing to be led and there is so much that can be learned from every mentor and woman within our audience, my goal as a leader is to be a guide to help women through the most challenging parts of business building, find connections that change the trajectory of their lives and guide them to find the most beautiful versions of themselves along the way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up as an athlete, I am a 3rd-degree blackbelt, former taekwondo instructor, and 1st-place NPC bikini body-building competitor learning a lot of the life skills, habits, and routines that have helped me reach success from the sport of Martial Arts and bodybuilding. I believe that personal development is the foundation of a successful business and overall just being able to connect with others is exactly what we encourage within the Konnecther community. From our Events to our mastermind, every experience with us is about growing personally as an entrepreneur and getting deeply aligned with your business goals, who you are, and the lifestyle that you want to live as well as Sam and I have taken our combined knowledge of Social Media Marketing, Community Building, and Sales to help the online coaches in our community scale their businesses lead generation and revenue.
I like to say that although I’ve faced so many obstacles, pivots, and lessons while building KonnectHer it has been the easiest company to build because Sam and I are so passionate about our mission of helping other women build the business of their dreams while being surrounded by a great support system. We have women of all industries in our community and every woman’s story, every niche, every mission lights us up because we know just how powerful the ripple effect of an impact is when we help one of our clients scale their business so that they can serve more people.
One of my deepest WHYS that keeps me going is living in honor of my little sister Danielle Hague who passed away from Lymphoma PTLD Cancer in May 2021 at the age of 17 years old. My sister was the biggest “girls girl” you could meet, she loved cheerleading, dancing, and having a big group of girlfriends. Growing up I was the opposite, a complete tomboy martial artist. I see my sister in the work that I do every day, her memory carries me through the tough times and the good times and I know she is proud looking down from heaven of the supportive community I’ve built over the past couple of years and the leader I’ve become along the way.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One thing you are told over and over again as an entrepreneur is you must be resilient and go ALL INN on your business aka do whatever it takes, be ambitious and persistent each and every day to make your vision happen. Although this is true, what isn’t talked about enough is that going all in doesn’t have to mean putting yourself on the back burner in the meantime. This is a lesson I had to learn along my journey and am now very passionate about helping my client implement as well. Building a business takes sacrifices, however many entrepreneurs event up building another job for themselves over time and wake up one day and realize they have none of the lifestyle qualities that made them want to go the entrepreneurial route in the first place. I am a firm believer that you can build a successful, profitable business while also having the freedom of time to spend with your loved ones, as well as putting your health and wellness as a priority by doing the things that fill your cup daily.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Our name is KonnectHer for a reason because we truly value REAL raw relationships and connections, we believe you are always One connection away from a relationship that can change the trajectory of your business or your life, this is something we’ve implemented into our marketing over the years to grow almost 100% without any paid ads just word of mouth marketing. The world of Canva flyers, cold DMs, and cold calling is OVER! We tried that in the beginning and we fell straight on our faces (that was when only 4 people were coming to our events and our posts were getting crickets and 0 engagement) that style of marketing just doesn’t work anymore! What the world wants to see is more genuine connection, relatability, and community this is the marketing strategy that we’ve used to grow so quickly we call it magnetic marketing.
For any new entrepreneur starting their social media personal brand or building a brand personality for their business, we recommend focusing on relationship-building marketing, storytelling, and sharing your vision genuinely with your audience. When you take this approach your vibe will attract your tribe and your audience will grow organically and QUICKLY!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.konnecther.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachellhague
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/konnecther/?mibextid=oMANbw
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-hague-195b96160/
- Twitter: rachellhague
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUj2D-a4-4P1cUz6BVXf9A
- Other: KonnectHer Instagram: www.instagram.com/konnecther KonnectHer Podcast: https://konnecther.captivate.fm