Estate Administration: Rachel Donnelly's Story

[00:00:00] Sanjay Parekh: Welcome to The Side Hustle, the Small Business Podcast, powered by Hiscox. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. Throughout my career, I've had side hustles, some of which have turned into real businesses, but first and foremost, I'm a serial technology entrepreneur. In the creator space, we hear plenty of advice on how to hustle harder and why you can sleep when you're dead.

[00:00:21] On this show, we ask new questions in hopes of getting new answers. Questions like, how can small businesses work smarter? How do you achieve balance between work and family? How can we redefine success in our businesses so that we don't burn out after year three? Every week I sit down with business founders at various stages of their side hustle to small business journey.

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[00:00:55] Hi, and welcome to The Side Hustle to Small Business Podcast. Today my guest is Rachel Donnelly. Rachel, welcome to the show.

[00:01:02] Rachel Donnelly: Thank you so much, Sanjay. Thank you for having me.

[00:01:04] Sanjay Parekh: So, as a means of introduction, I'd love for you to give us a little bit about your background and what got you to where you're today.

[00:01:10] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah, so, um, I'm actually from Atlanta, which nobody is from Atlanta. If you live here, um, and I think to understand how I got to where I am, it's important to sort of give a little bit of background. I'm not gonna bore you with all the stuff, but I grew up in a very sort of Mayberry sort of lifestyle in the down, um, south side of Atlanta, and my dad was the only doctor in town and I grew up with people who were sick and dying knocking on her door in the middle of the night.

[00:01:39] And so I was used to being around sick people growing up. And fast forward, I had a lot of deaths in my family. Unfortunately, my dad died when I was 16. And fast forward, my mom passed away. And I was, you know, at the early start stages of my career, had two small kids and was dealing with, uh, the administrative logistics of losing a loved one. Which nobody really talks about. No, they don't. And I was, I had just started a brand new job where I had no time off in the first 90 days. I was starting a job at Shepherd Center, which is a spinal cord and traumatic brain injury hospital here in Atlanta. And the day before I started, my mom found out she had cancer and needed surgery and she was diagnosed, had surgery, and died within the first 60 days of my employment. When you're really supposed to be wowing people, right? The time when you're supposed to be on your A game. And I was completely overwhelmed by what was the logistics of not settling my parents estate. Right. And taking over the care of an aging loved one, my mom's brother, who she was his healthcare proxy, financial power of attorney, and all of the things.

[00:03:00] And now I was, I had this, um, just huge task list of administrative burdens that had dropped in my lap. Yeah. And I thought, wow, this is, nobody talks about this burden. Right. And I ended up trying to tow the lawn for about eight months and I finally had to quit and I took a year off to settle my, my mom's estate, which they left me a giant flaming dumpster fire, as I like to say. God love him. Um, but, um, it was just completely overwhelming. And I got another job after taking a year off, and then my uncle died and I was now settling his estate. Still, I was still the executor of my mom's estate and now the executor of my uncle's estate.

[00:03:48] So you were, you were paralleling both of these? I was, I was tandem, yes. Oh, wow. And I had been at the Chase Bank for six hours one day, um, trying to open up an estate bank account for my uncle's estate. And that just kept hitting red flag or snag after snag after snag. And I wanted to drive my Honda Odyssey through the bank lobby.

[00:04:09] I decided not to because I was so frustrated. Yeah. And I thought a light bulb went off in my head and I thought, why isn't there anybody out there? To help shepherd people through Right. This administrative burden. I picked up phone and I called my husband and I said, I, I'm, I just had an idea. I am going to create a business.

[00:04:29] Yeah. To help overwhelmed executors or those who are grieving and lost of loved one manage this, these unavoidable administrative logistics. Right. And so my business was born as a side hustle.

[00:04:47] Sanjay Parekh: And so you're still doing a fulltime job?

[00:04:50] Rachel Donnelly: I'm working at Georgia Tech, yes. So, so you're still working fulltime and do I'm still working fulltime and do a side hustle. And I started my business in February of 2020. Yeah. So great timing. Perfect timing. Great timing. Timing. I know. Yeah. Great timing. I know, I know. I really a chef's kiss, you know? So I started my business and, which it was good timing and it was a bad time, right? Yeah. I was working from home, had two kids in virtual school.

[00:05:15] Right. Which, that was fun. But with that, you know, I was able, I wasn't commuting, so I had a little bit more time in the evenings and things to, to try to grow my business. And one of our best friends, he is a business attorney, said, I'll help you get everything set up. Yeah. Um, and my business was born and, uh, I never looked back. I, I probably did everything wrong. I did zero market research. 

[00:05:43] Sanjay Parekh: Okay. I mean, but people are gonna pass away like that. Right? Exactly. But there is a market for this. People need help. And, and as somebody who has had to deal with this a little bit. Only once now, um, it, it's unimaginable like all the nuances of stuff and, and like the legal side of things and everything else. So I've gotta ask you, like, un unlike other businesses, normally when you sell to a customer. There's some happiness there. You know, like, oh yeah, we got the sale. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That's not the case. No. In your situation. So how do you deal with that? That's, that's a hard thing to do, I think. I'd imagine.

[00:06:19] Rachel Donnelly: It is, and I think, you know, that's where I sort of prefaced it and I sort of feel like my entire life has been leading up to this sort of, yeah. Being around, being in that sort of world of being around people in really tough times and maybe at the end of their life. I mean, I used to go with my dad to the hospital all the time. When I worked at Emory School of Medicine, I did tours of the cadaver lab. Okay. I know, I know. My number was one number off from the body donor program at, at, at Emory when I worked there.

[00:06:48] Um, so I think, but, but what really drove me is my grief process. And that I was really hamstrung by my, my experiences and I wasn't able. To focus on my grief, and that really drove me and inspired me and compelled me. I like to say I didn't want other people. To have to go through Right. What I went through.

[00:07:13] Or maybe you're going to go through grief. Right, right, right. Yeah. That's, you can't, you, you can't, you know, sidestep that. Yeah. But I wanted to be a beacon and maybe a, a quarterback. Right. For those, so. It gives me joy, I'd say, to help people. Yeah. At some of the, sometimes when they feel like they don't know which direction to turn.

[00:07:34] Yeah. So, so yeah. It's not necessarily a happy time. Right. But I, I, I have so many of my clients tell me, my God, I don't know what I would've done without you. Yeah. You've made this process so much easier. You're my new best friend. Uh, so that while, yeah, it's not rainbows and ponies. Right. Um, I think that that's, um, that's the real lesson though here.

[00:07:59] Yeah. Is that we, it is so hard because we don't lean into death.

[00:08:03] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Yeah. So when you were getting started with this, so, you know, coming outta the bank and being like, ah, somebody should help with this. Yeah. And, and starting this as a side hustle. How did you get the word out? How did you find clients?

[00:08:17] Yeah. So it feels like, you know, you don't wanna be like, like an ambulance chasing person. No, exactly. Yeah. You don't wanna show up at the, at the funeral hall and be like, hey, I 100% can help you. Yeah.

[00:08:27] Rachel Donnelly: You don't wanna set up, you know, your van out in front of the.

[00:08:29] Sanjay Parekh: No, doesn't seem like the right approach. So, how, how did you think about marketing and how did you think about getting clients?

[00:08:35] Rachel Donnelly: You know, I really thought about, you know, where, where's my ideal client avatar going to be? Right? Who is, who's gonna be the best connector? When I first started, I very much had sort of a Cheesecake Factory type menu, right? I was like, what is the market demanding? What do people need help with? And sort of like, I'll do anything. So my first client, they were like, we need help. Uh, it was, um, one of a good friend of mine, it was his mom, his mother-in-law's funeral, and he's like, we need help blowing up pictures to have at the memorial service and we need you to help connect with, um, a caterer for the memorial lunch and you know, we need to help you write a program.

[00:09:13] So I was like, okay. So I was really sort of testing the waters of what do people need help with and then who we're gonna be the connectors who are finding those people. So at first I was meeting with bankers. With, I was trying to re meet with, you know, funeral home directors, with attorneys, financial advisors, those sort of ancillary professionals that people are going to, right? That first line of defense after someone passes away, it took it, I kissed a lot of frogs at the beginning of really had very much a wide net right of networking. And then over time I just narrowed and narrowed, narrow it down to be like, okay, where, where is my client?

[00:09:56] Where are they gonna be and who's gonna be the best connector to them? So it, it took, it took a lot of time to figure it out.

[00:10:03] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Okay. So now you're, you're four-ish years in 5, 5, 5.

[00:10:08] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. This is my sixth. This is my sixth year. Okay. Yeah. Five, yeah. Six years in. I'm starting my sixth year. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:13] Sanjay Parekh: So, how are you managing this? Still doing it as a side hustle still?

[00:10:18] Rachel Donnelly: Uh, well, so I, I should have prefaced that. So I left Georgia Tech. Okay. Um, I finally left and said, you know what? I've either, I felt like I was riding both sides of the fence.

[00:10:27] Sanjay Parekh: So how long ago was this that you left?

[00:10:28] Rachel Donnelly: So I left, um, it'll be four years. Okay.

[00:10:31] This year. So I did it for about 18 months where I did it as a side hustle. As a side hustle. Okay. And then my husband and I had a very, um, in depth talk Uhhuh about what it would look like because I left a great job. Yeah, with a great retirement account, great time off, benefits, the whole thing. Yeah.

[00:10:48] Benefits, right? Yeah. A steady paycheck. Steady paycheck. Yeah. Um.

[00:10:52] Sanjay Parekh: All the reasons why people are like, well, I don't know.

[00:10:54] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. And he said, you know, he really wanted to know that that I was, was going to be in for this fight. Yeah. Um, and that I knew what it was going to take and that I really wanted it.

[00:11:05] Right. So I left and said, you know what? I'm gonna, I need to put all my eggs in the basket and just go for it. Yeah. And see how this is going to pan out. Yeah. And so, and I'm now almost four years of doing this full time. Yeah. And I doubled my revenue from 2023 to 2024. Okay. So I've just slowly and slowly grown. My business over time because I've gotten so much closer to finding out those connectors to my ideal client avatars. Right, right. And just then getting super tunnel vision. Yeah. Of where are those people going to be?

[00:11:41] Sanjay Parekh: What, what, what made you nervous about making that leap? I'm sure there were things that, that kept you up or, you know..

[00:11:46] Rachel Donnelly: Oh my God. I mean, everything. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you are basically just throwing away and I felt like I was throwing away into my entire career. I'd been in higher education, uh, nonprofit, you know, fundraising. Right. And I'd been it for 18 years and boy, I was just completely non-profit to business. Right, right. Like you couldn't make a sharper left turn.

[00:12:09] And so yeah, it was so scary to give up benefits and retirement. And that safety net health insurance, right? Yeah. Um, and just really go out on a limb. It is scary, right. It's super scary. Um, but when somebody tells me I can't do something that fires me up. Even more so, um, I was like, you know, hell hath no fury, like a woman who's told no in my, in my opinion.

[00:12:41] But yeah, I just really just said, I'm gonna go for this. I'm gonna give it everything that I got. Yeah. But it, that is not to say it is not without sacrifice, blood, sweat, and tears. Right. Um, but yeah, it's, it was extremely unsettling to leave that safe.

[00:12:58] Sanjay Parekh: Have you, have you had like bouts of self-doubt, have you like, worried about like.

[00:13:02] Rachel Donnelly: Every single day.

[00:13:03] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. How do you, how do you deal with that for yourself?

[00:13:05] Rachel Donnelly: You know, you've, you're resolved to make this work has gotta be stronger than your self-doubt and your imposter syndrome and the, that little devil on your shoulder, right. Um, it's just gotta be stronger. It's gotta be, you know, whether it's 51%, 49 one day and it, it shifts. But you've just got to keep, keep going.

[00:13:32] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Um, okay. Let, let's talk about, uh, kind of balance. Yeah. Because those things become, I think, a lot harder. Um, well they were probably hard when you were doing the side hustle. Yeah. because you basically had two jobs. Now it's, it's all your thing. Right. So how do you think about balance in terms of family?

[00:13:50] And you talked about having young kids when you know Yeah. Your, your first losses happened. Like how do you deal with, uh, the time. And, and managing that between these things.

[00:14:00] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. You know, I'll be honest, it's still very much a struggle and something that I always, that work life balance. I don't know what that is. You know, I wonder, sometimes I wonder if it's like, you know, a myth, um, because you've, you've just got to always find time, um, whether I'm getting up at four or five in the morning to, to answer emails and to work. Um, you've just always gotta find those pockets of time to just keep things moving. But then, you know, last week I went on a ski vacation with my family and I tried to really unplug. So taking those times and slowing down right to speed up Yeah. I think is, is super important. And you've just got to tell yourself, you know what? I can't do this all the time, all day, every day. 

[00:14:47] Sanjay Parekh: And you've got a team now as well, right? So it's not just you.

[00:14:50] Rachel Donnelly: I'm growing, growing a team, right? Yeah, yeah. I've got some, um, several team members who, who helped me out. Um, but yeah, so it's not on me. But then you're still. You know, my, my virtual assistant just told me she's, she's leaving, right? So now, oh my God. Um, so yeah. So it's when then you, it's all on you. From taking out the trash to Yeah. Right. Doing social media, to networking, to biz dev, to accounting, to, yeah. All the things.

[00:15:19] Sanjay Parekh: This, this is the big shift of being an employee versus being the boss. Right. Right. That you've gotta think about all of those things. Right. Right.

[00:15:27] Adam Walker: Support for this podcast comes from Hiscox committed to helping small businesses protect their dreams since 1901. Quotes and information on customized insurance for specific risks are available at Hiscox.com. Hiscox business insurance experts.

[00:15:48] Sanjay Parekh: Had you ever done anything like this before, like when you were a kid? Anything entrepreneurial or anything else like that?

[00:15:54] Rachel Donnelly: You know, not really... I loved to work in my dad's office. My dad was a, a family practitioner and I loved to be in his office and just help. I would, I would, um, help with charts and putting shorts back and I just loved it and would restock the, you know, certain rooms. And so I loved that. I loved the idea of owning your own business, so it always intrigued me. The variety, the, the, the being your own boss and being the one who's sort of in charge of where this ship is going to go. Yeah. Is really intrigued.

[00:16:26] Sanjay Parekh: Has, has that always been something that's been in your mind of wanting to be an entrepreneur?

[00:16:30] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I just always thought, my gosh, I, I am going to be so remiss and so upset if I don't ever take the opportunity to to start my own business. Yeah. That's great.

[00:16:43] Sanjay Parekh: Okay, so, uh, you've got the business now, you've been growing year over year. What kind of plans do you have kind of in the future? Because I think the, the one thing that I think about with your business is you know, unlike a lot of other business, there's really not recurring revenue. Like you're doing one project, right. Pipeline. Hopefully there's not Yeah.

[00:17:02] Rachel Donnelly: Pipeline is, is the biggest issue.

[00:17:04] Sanjay Parekh: Right. So how do you, how do you think about that and how do you think about growth for the business?

[00:17:08] Rachel Donnelly: Right, right. Well, you know, and I've also started a second business. Okay. because why I have one when you can. Of course. Yeah. So, um, people started to find out about me. I found other women who were doing similar things to me, and then people started to come to us and say. Can you teach me how to do what you do?

[00:17:24] Okay, so we created the industry organization. It's called Professionals of After Loss Services. And we now have a proprietary training program where we've taught people from all over the world how to do this. Yeah. Um, so I think that that's one part of that parallel process of my, me growing my business.

[00:17:43] If there are other people out there, who are doing this and who are trained, then the word's going to get out. Right. That, that we are here, this is a service. You know, I sort of think of it as like, professional organizers were maybe 20, 30 years ago. Yeah. A very niche, um, new cottage industry. And now, you know. Your, your pantry is a mess. You call a professional organizer to help you go to the container store and do all the things, right? Right. And so it's, it's way more mainstream. So the more people that are out there doing this, who are Yeah, have a code of ethics and who are trained, um, then I think that that's going to more open the, the window for me to continue to grow. But you know, I see, I'm looking at this as, is this sort of an enterprise enterprise model? Uh, do I have an afterlight. That's the name of my business, an Afterlight of Georgia, and then an Afterlight of Florida. Right.

[00:18:37] Sanjay Parekh: And because, because those are really very localized things. Correct. Like you can't be here and be dealing with some other state.

[00:18:42] Rachel Donnelly: I do have clients all over the US.

[00:18:46] Sanjay Parekh: But it makes it harder, I would imagine, right?

[00:18:47] Rachel Donnelly: It does, because, you know, I know, not that I'm, I am very clear. I'm not an attorney. I will not help with any of the, the legal aspects right. But the majority of my clients come from attorneys. Because I'm helping their clients with the homework. Right? If you've ever lost a loved one and you have to go through the probate process, the attorney gives you sort of a laundry list of things you need to go do, right? And it can be over a hundred tasks. Yeah. Go out and do all these a hundred things.

[00:19:12] So we're helping these clients with their homework. So building those relationships with those referral partners where you hang your hat is super, you know, super important. But now that I've built my SOPs, I've sort of built the process from soup to nuts, right, of onboarding and offboarding a client. I feel like that that process could be picked up and replicated.

[00:19:34] Wherever, um, wherever you know someone, someone is, because I think that's the hard part of losing a loved one is not knowing where to turn. Right. So if there's somebody like me in Poughkeepsie, right? Yeah. And they know the attorneys, the financial advisors, the accountant, uh, uh, an appraiser. In that area to help them with all those logistics. That, that really built what I like to call the continuum of care. 

[00:20:02] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, so you, you said something that I, I want to dig into a little bit. You, you started up this program to help train other people. Now, for a lot of our, our podcast listeners and other entrepreneurs, they'll start thinking about that like, well.

[00:20:14] You're just training up competitors essentially, um, by doing this. So how do you think about that? Because I, we've had other people on the podcast before that have done a similar thing, but tell me how do you think about that and, and how do you kind of make justify that, like this makes sense in terms of my business as well.

[00:20:32] Rachel Donnelly: This is a service that everybody needs. Yeah. And I'm only one person, right? I'm, I'm now people who are going through the training program, I'm, they sometimes come on board with me to, and bring in clients and help clients. There's enough sand in the sandbox, right? Um, and I don't wanna be the only game in town.

[00:20:51] I shouldn't be the only game in town. Yeah. That's gonna, that's gonna compel and inspire me to do better, to be better, and to be a leader in this space was super important to me. So, yes, while I am in essence creating my competition. I think that, that, like I said, that only helps build, um, this industry.

[00:21:11] Yeah. Right. And if, if I'm just one person, how is anybody gonna know that, that we're even out there and then Right. Where are those checks and balances? Yeah. Um, so, and then what happens when I retire? Right. And there's nobody there. Right. Um, because I feel so strongly that this is something that needs to continue to build as the baby boomers are aging and passing away.

[00:21:34] As we have an older sandwich generation Yeah. Right. Who are raising children and they don't have the bandwidth to perhaps, to settle their parents' estate. They, you know, they need that help. The millennials are outsourcers. We live further from family. Um, we have more assets, more stuff than ever, and I think that's sort of creating this perfect storm for after loss professionals. That's what we called ourselves to come in and help be that shining beacon.

[00:22:04] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, it's an interesting approach. I, I, to me it very sounds very much like, uh, Henry Ford and how he thought about the automobile because he was like, well, if I'm the only one making it, that's. Not gonna Yeah. Work, right, right. We're not gonna get this series of roads and, and everything. It doesn't make sense to do it that way. You've gotta expand, uh, expand the market by also creating or helping create competitors essentially.

[00:22:25] Rachel Donnelly: Absolutely. And like I said, it only makes me stronger and, um, like I said, creates that sort of ethics and like those checks and balances and industry awareness.

[00:22:34] Sanjay Parekh: Has, has there been things that you've learned going through that process of training other people that you've then implemented in your own business?

[00:22:40] Rachel Donnelly: Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, just every time we, we have a cohort of trainees mm-hmm. We, I learn something new that I need to go back.

[00:22:48] Sanjay Parekh: And Are these in person virtual?

[00:22:50] Rachel Donnelly: Both. We have both, yeah. Okay. We do in, we actually have an a spring training cohort coming up, and then we'll have an in-person training cohort in Atlanta this fall. Okay. Okay. Um, but yeah, absolutely just different people's perspectives, where they're coming from, where they are, are they adding this as an ancillary service to an existing business, or are they propping up?

[00:23:09] I got it. A new business such as I did, yeah. So you're learning new things. They're having different client engagement and questions that come up and I think, oh goodness, I need to have some sort of protocol in place. Right. Should that come into play? Right. Yeah. So it's, it's always, I'm creating like a data bank of different companies. Oh, I had, I talked to this company and they told me that we need to do this when someone, a client passes away. Right, right. So it's, it's helping us sort of really create the buzz and around, um, the, the, the industry and what we're doing. Yeah. Yeah. The practice of work. Yeah.

[00:23:48] Sanjay Parekh: Interesting. Um, okay. Last couple of questions here. Um, first, if you were talking to somebody else that, uh, was thinking about starting a side hustle, or, or going all in on their side hustle like you did and, and launching it into a full business. What advice would you give to those folks?

[00:24:05] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah, you know, um, I'd say pace yourself. I sort of liken myself to that, um, that mo or that show Alone, you know, where they go out and they're all by their, all by themselves and they have to find food and shelter. Yeah. And the people who don't make it are the ones that try to build like a log cabin in the first week, and then they completely deplete all over their calorie, you know, resources. And then they're exhausted.

[00:24:29] Sanjay Parekh: Don't, don't try to boil the ocean in the beginning.

[00:24:31] Rachel Donnelly: Right? Yeah. You've got to do this. I wanted full world domination in a week. Right. Yeah. Not that you've got to pace yourself or you will burn yourself out. Um, so taking the time, um, people, our trainees will come to us and they'll say, but I don't know how to talk to a client.

[00:24:50] I don't know how to talk to an attorney and tell them how you're not going to know everything. Right? So that's the thing is you've got to be comfortable. With a discomfort Yeah. For a while. Yeah.

[00:25:02] Sanjay Parekh: I, I think that's one of the challenges oftentimes with people that want to be entrepreneurs is that they feel like they need to know everything. Yeah. And don't understand the fact that most of us that become entrepreneurs don't know most of it and we struggle to figure it out as we go.

[00:25:17] Rachel Donnelly: I didn't know what a p and l report was, or, you know, professional liability insurance, or, I didn't know any of this stuff. Right, right. You. You, it's muscle memory the first time of you learning it.

[00:25:28] Yeah. And you've just gotta go through the hard things. Yeah. And the discomfort to get to the other side, and you're like, oh, okay. Now I know. Yeah.

[00:25:37] Sanjay Parekh: Everybody was a first timer at some point. Right.

[00:25:39] Rachel Donnelly: Everybody was, you know, we all learned to walk the same way. Yeah. So pace yourself, it's going to be hard.

[00:25:45] You're gonna have a ton of self-doubt and you're going to be uncomfortable.

[00:25:48] Yeah. Um, you've gotta always be marketing ABM. Always be marketing.

[00:25:53] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Is there anything, um, now that you're into it a few years, is there anything that you've learned now that you wish you would've known back then? Like this..

[00:26:02] Rachel Donnelly: It sort of is along the same lines.

[00:26:04] Sanjay Parekh: What's the one big thing?

[00:26:05] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. I really wish I would've paced myself. Yeah. A little bit more. Yeah. Um, and given things time to work. You know, when you're in a business and you're not seeing the revenue come in, you're like, well, maybe I should do a digital course. Maybe I should do a workshop. You know, and then Right.

[00:26:20] You sort of got spaghetti on the wall. And I think that really distracts you from the laser focus you need to have, you need to give products and services, time to work. Yeah. And then, then it's then the, from the exterior somebody can say, well, wait a minute, are they, are they doing this or are they doing that?

[00:26:38] They're confused, right. As to what you're bringing to the marketplace. Yeah. So when you're not bringing in clients, you just gotta keep saying the same thing, keep what you're doing, and then not Bob and wave. Yeah.

[00:26:52] Sanjay Parekh: Did you get to the point where you thought you might burn out because you were doing so much at the beginning?

[00:26:56] Rachel Donnelly: Yeah. Oh yeah. 100%.

[00:26:57] Sanjay Parekh: How did you deal with that? Um.

[00:27:00] Rachel Donnelly: I just had to stop, you know, I had to say I, my, um, mantra this year or last year became do less care less. And what I mean by that is do less of the things that weren't bringing me money. Yeah. If I'm networking with someone and they don't bring me referrals.

[00:27:18] I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go to that networking meeting. Right. I'm gonna care. I really, I used to post on social media every day. Uhhuh burned me out. Yeah. It wasn't bringing me closer to my ideal client. Right. So I just, I'm gonna care less that I'm not gonna have those vanity metrics. Yeah. You've just got to get laser focused. About where your client is, where they're showing up, and how you're going to speak to them. Yeah. And then everything else is just noise. That's great.

[00:27:49] Sanjay Parekh: Um, Rachel, this has been fantastic. Yeah. Tell us where we can find and connect with you online. So, and also tell us about the book that you're in the process of writing.

[00:27:57] Rachel Donnelly: So you can find me online at myafterlight.com on LinkedIn Rachel Donnelly, I'm on the Insta @myafterlight. Um, and I had had this book swirling in my heads, uh, for years, and my best friend, Claudia, I was talking about it, she said, for God's sake, Rachel, you keep talking about this, do it.

[00:28:17] She's a therapist. And she just said, you've got to do this. So I said, okay. So a year ago I just started writing and I had all of these stories in my head of clients, of my upbringing. And my real goal in writing this book was I'm seeing the same things over and over again with clients. The same mistakes of people saying, oh, I've got, or their, their loved ones said, oh, I've got a will. I've got my affairs in order. And I was seeing the same dumpster fires right over and over and over again. And we actually have less people writing a will now than we did three years ago. Mm-hmm. It's now done, I think 26% of Americans even have a will or have done any estate planning. So I thought, Houston, we've got a problem.

[00:29:02] The messaging that we've got out there is not working. I'm gonna com take, I'm gonna take a completely unconventional approach. Um, so my book is sort of an estate planning and reverse book with humor, with stories of, of flaming dumpster fires and to tell people this is what happens. When you do nothing. So the name of my book is Late To Your Own Funeral, how to Leave a Legacy and Not a Log Jam. It'll be off of presale on March 18th, it'll be on Amazon and all of the things. Um, and I hope I, as I like to say, I put the fun in funeral. So, um, you know, I, I want to add a little bit of levity. And maybe a little bit of humor to this process, that can be completely absurd.

[00:29:50] Yeah, so this book is for Gen Xers, millennials who need to talk to their baby boomer parents, even for baby boomers. It's, it's for everybody.

[00:29:59] Sanjay Parekh: Perfect. Thanks so much for being on today.

[00:30:01] Rachel Donnelly: Thank you so much for having me

[00:30:05] Sanjay Parekh: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Side Hustle to Small Business podcast, powered by Hiscox. To learn more about how Hiscox can help protect your small business through intelligent insurance solutions, visit Hiscox.com. And to hear more Side Hustle to Small Business stories, or share your own story, please visit Hiscox.com/side-hustle-to-small-business. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. You can find out more about me at my website, SanjayParekh.com.