We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Renee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It’s the age of the entrepreneur and I wanted to create a unique platform that would cater to them. Today people sell online courses, consultations, in-person services and products. For an entrepreneur to sell all of their services they would need to sign up on at least 3-4 different platforms. Amazon to sell their products, Fiverr to sell digital services and Yelp or a Google listing to display their physical location.

On the Goat Moves Marketplace platform you have a completely synchronized experience that allows you to sell ALL of your services in ONE location. This reduces your platform fees and makes It easier for the customer to find different features of your business. We charge 10% flat fees to our sellers on the product and digital service side and we offer weekly payouts.

I am very excited about this! My team and I have been working so diligently to create the ultimate platform for the entrepreneurs of today. I was granted a provisional patent for the unique feature- I named it “The Chameleon” because it adapts to what the users (both seller and customer) need for a seamless experience. “The Chameleon” is what separates the Goat Moves Marketplace platform from every other e-commerce, digital marketplace and service platform.

Speaking of the customer, they too will enjoy a synchronized experience and have access to all of their everyday needs and leisure purchases without having to continuously platform hop or google search.

So, at this point I’m sure you’re wondering how I thought of this. We started off as a drug testing company in Kansas City, MO and in order to conduct business with other businesses we would CONSTANTLY have to sign up on all these various platforms and it simply became overwhelming. So I thought to myself “why don’t service providers have a unified platform like Amazon where everybody can go to and find any and every service, wouldn’t that make more sense?”

It took 7 months to find the right team of developers to help me cultivate this idea. I contacted developers all over the country until I found my tribe that understood my vision. It took 7 months of “we can’t do that” “I don’t understand what you’re trying to do” “this doesn’t make sense, we don’t have those capabilities, but good luck”. Once we were locked in, we went from Goat Moves Drug Testing to Goat Moves Marketplace!

I’m so thankful for my business partner and my team. When I tell you I have a solid gang, I mean it. Every player plays their position and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for their belief in me, support and joint creativity. Having people that support you and share your vision is a blessing-especially when you are pioneering a completely new idea.

I’ve always wanted to be a CEO and invent something. When I was younger I would always wonder “who just said these people can run companies and make stuff up, who put these people in charge?”
So I put myself in charge and am thankful to be able to fulfill my purpose while creating a utility that is beneficial to the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am originally from Kansas City, MO, the oldest of 3 and the grand daughter of an immigrant from Lagos, Nigeria. Growing up in the midwest Bible Belt with African influence and the product of teen parents…it was something. Discipline and having a purpose were traits that were instilled me young. I danced, played outside, read books on the outliers of society and I have always been a self-study. I can honestly say that I never felt like I couldn’t do anything I wanted in life.

In 2003 we moved to Los Angeles, CA. It was a complete and necessary culture shock. To go from the east side of KCMO to Brentwood was a different world. I experienced a new tax bracket of living and it influenced me for the better. I was motivated by the hustle and bustle, wealth and entrepreneurial spirit that LA has. Although the city can be very pretentious at times, nobody can deny the electricity, the energy and the vibe when you get here. Everybody is always trying to break into or do something and I love that. “Woe is me” don’t fly out here, you have to get out here and play ball.

As far as my work experience , I’ve worked a lot of places. Retail, food, bartending, accounting, billing, warehouses, call centers, big businesses, small businesses, franchises, mom and pop shops, maternity, bridal etc. EVERY single place I’ve worked, even if it was only a week, I made it a point to learn something because I knew that I was going to need that intel later. The blessing in starting off as a worker is it teaches you the processes and how it affects the people on the ground, the customer experience and it’s easy to work your way up to the top because you’ve been in the trenches…nobody can tell you nothing. I wouldn’t trade my time as a worker for nothing. I was able to people watch, listen and soak up all this information and identify why certain businesses succeeded and why others didn’t. My time as a worker is invaluable, no school could’ve taught me what I learned in the world and from people.

I am most proud of my ability to maintain who I am and still operate from a place of empathy. I’ve suffered a lot of heartache, betrayal, isolation, financial hardships and failures in my life. To come out of the wars I’ve fought and still have a full heart, a clear mind and strong moral compass is what I am most proud of. Money can come and go all day but the experiences you give to other people, how you treat them and make them feel is what you take with you. I’m not perfect but I’m always pure of heart and intentions. I’m a Capricorn with several Capricorn placements….I know a little something about Karma.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I got really sick in October 2020. I had Epsteins Barr Virus (EBV). Everything I had suffered in life came to a head when my uncle died in Nov 2019, followed by my grandpa in July 2020. Years of stress, poor eating, minimum sleep, heartbreak and isolation brought me closer to death than I had ever been. I suffered from seizures, chronic vaginal bleeding, chronic diarrhea, eye bulging, severe weight loss, incontinence, dizzy spells, bone pain, edema, hair loss, chronic nausea and chronic fatigue just to name a few symptoms. Mind you, during this time I was laying the foundation for my business- that was all I could do. We were still in the midst of covid-19 (the initial panic) so working was not only physically impossible but my field was hiring like that.

After conquering that near death experience, I was very hesitant to get out there and network because I felt like people would be able to see that I was sick. Even though I started getting better in spring/summer 2021, I still looked in the mirror and saw gaunt features and illness. I honestly didn’t see a CEO or a strong willed person. I saw a broken person that was holding on to the last thing I felt I had—my business.

My very first networking event at the ACA Business Club in Overland Park, KS is where I met Isaac Wambua. It was a very brief encounter but a genuine connection. I told one of the owners of the club that I was of Nigerian descent and because we were like 3 of 5 black people in the whole club, I was introduced to him because he was from Kenya. He joked with me and told me that he was from a village in Kansas to which I jokingly responded “I’m part Nigerian, it’s KC, I know where all the Africans are, there ain’t no village in Kansas”. We just laughed and he asked me what I did for business and who I wanted to work with. After that he had to go. It was literally a 3 minute interaction, but I was happy because once again, I was still pulling myself out of the darkness and I felt like he didn’t have enough time to notice that I was still very fragile.

We scheduled a phone meeting about 2 weeks after that and I literally told him “I’ve never ran a successful business, I don’t know everything and I will be learning a lot as we go, but if you roll with me, I’m going to take over the world. I’m quick on my feet, I got a lot of life experience and I know how to listen” he said “Oh I know, im going to be carrying your bags when you’re rich and famous” and then I said “I’ma make Jeff Bezos come find me, I’m not playing” and we laughed but that was literally the beginning of our working relationship. He had already established a successful consulting business (Dynamo Methods) but he agreed to be my partner and we’ve been thuggin’ ever since, pivoting, brainstorming , solving and bootstrapping this company. He didn’t look at me and see a sick person, a person with no money, no sales, no traction, no experience. He looked at me and saw the best in me and I’m forever thankful, that’s why he’s my Co-Founder.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

So funny thing, I really just got on social media as of July 2022. I had instagram when I had my first business in college (Bitchee-a clothing a line) and then after that failed, I was off. I never felt the need to have social media if I didn’t have a business. There are literally so many jokes and memes that I don’t pick up on because I wasn’t on social media for several years….I’m young old.

Now that I am on it, I throughly enjoy YouTube and TikTok. That is how I am currently growing my audience. I relate to people through my life experiences. I am “The Peoples’ CEO” , I’ve been where you’ve been and I understand. My advice to people just starting out is to be operating in your purpose. If you’re operating in your purpose, it will conquer any fears or insecurities you may have, Part of my purpose is to help people understand that they are not alone in their experiences.

When you are navigating the darkness, it feels like you can’t see, think or breathe, let alone be creative and pursue your passions. You have the systems of the world working against you constantly and opposing spirits are activating people against you regularly—you start to feel insane. That’s where I come in. Be authentic, be yourself and keep It real. You don’t have to be perfect and there are tons of people in the world that need to hear what you have to say—you could save somebody’s life in more ways than one just by being YOU. YOU are enough.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.goat-moves.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rchl_renee/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rchlrenee/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rchl_Renee
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4F-PjLgjAAWtsl-riCfxSQ
• Other: services.goat-moves.com marketplace.goat-moves.com Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rchl_renee