I was born in the Highlands of Scotland, right next to where the Loch Ness Monster lives. I am lucky to have grown up with all my family, grandparents, uncles (and later Aunties and cousins) within a few miles of me. Our family is crazy, but the fact that we all take the time to see each other and catch up with a “Big Sunday” dinner every month shows that family is important to us all.

My First Test Of Leadership At Age 8

I went to a fairly small school, and by the age of about 8 was causing a stir by collecting signatures of other children in a petition for girls to be able to wear trousers in school (and BOY did I get in trouble for this!). Try going through winter in a skirt and no indoor play area….hahah…let’s not even start this debate again! I used to take trousers in my bag and swap into them in the toilet once my mum dropped me off and encouraged the other girls to do the same! It took me til I was about 14 (and in another school) before the change was made and my youngest sister was still there to carry on my protest and see the day the change was made.

I guess this was my first taste of how persistence and not being afraid to stand up to someone in “authority” can really make a change. I now live close to that school, and can smile when I see girls going to school in trousers in the minus 5C weather.

So next was what we call Secondary School. Here I learned that I do not like school, in fact if you ever want a heated debate about the school systems around the world and the way they limit a child’s growth, pop round for a cup of tea!

Learning For FUN

While on summer break, all my friends were on holiday so I took to our new, massive computer with dial up and started learning how to put together a website. I think it started with me wanting to make a newsletter and sell it for 10p. Then I saw that there was a program called Frontpage that could make websites. I thought this was so cool so I made my first website called Chillpills, hahaha! My dad used to say “Take a chill pill ‘shill” (Shill short for Rachael) so I thought it was totally innocent. I bet there were some very disappointed people looking for some different kind of pills that came across this site. Anyway, I packed it full of things like funny stories, pictures of dogs and song lyrics. It was great fun because I was creating something for others. I think I even managed to get it published in a girls magazine called “Sugar”.

Entrepreneur At 14

So a few years later at the age of 14 I started making these websites for businesses in my area (while my school had JUST realised the internet existed) and was charging £300+ per site. Not bad for a hobby but I liked creating, not being told what to create!

The next few years of teenage-hood moved fast with lots of hairstyles, crushes, my first love (who I dated for 4 years) and trying to figure out what I wanted to “do and how I could become a grown up faster. I hated being dependent on my parents and always had some kind of part time job, including delivering catalogues in a UK network marketing business – hated that!

Leaving Home

At the age of 18 I moved to Glasgow to take web design in college. I moved down two months earlier to get a full time job and I was in HEAVEN. I had always wanted to be independent and that first night, sitting in my new flat, alone, with a cup of tea and a little box of Marks & Spencers chocolate orange biscuits I was on top of the WORLD. It makes me tear up to think of that feeling.

The next year was the biggest learning experience of my life and made me realise that school teaches you nothing in comparison to LIVING. I broke up with my first love, quit college because I realised I did not want to work for a big web design firm in an office all day, got in store card debt (Topshop clothes were so tempting!), added a lot of piercings and tattoos to my collection, partied hard, went on a lot of crappy dates, and just started to love life and it’s unpredictability.

Living In The USA

My next step, just 11 months after moving to Glasgow, was to go and become an au pair, which I ended up doing in Portland, Oregon where I met Duncan my husband. We met at a party and at first I thought he was messing me around, pretending to have a Scottish name just to make fun of me. I made him show me his drivers license and sure enough, this red haired American boy was called Duncan Macgregor. We had a good night, I had a few drinks, and we chatted for hours and hours. Funnily, the next day I didn’t remember just how much I had enjoyed talking to him, so for two weeks I kept saying, ‘not right now’ when my friend asked if he could give him my number…hehehe. Finally I gave in and within a few dates realised I was going to marry him, took him a bit longer to realise!

So a year went by, we had done a long distance relationship between Portland and New York, then had an AMAZING trip to Duncan’s home town in Colorado, then done another 6 months long distance between the USA and Scotland. That Christmas, 2007, we realised that we couldn’t be apart any more, it was going to kill us, so we got engaged and then married 6 months later in Urquart Castle on Loch Ness.

This was all before I was 21! People think I’m young but wow, I’ve done ALOT.

I then went to University in Edinburgh to become a midwife which I absolutely LOVED, but all the babies got to me and about 6 months later I found out I was pregnant. Haha, be careful what you wish for. Duncan and I couldn’t see ourselves raising a child in our tiny flat, with him working bar shifts (who said a degree would get you a good job, huh?) and no family around, so we moved back to Inverness.

After a wonderful homebirth (another thing I am passionate about, like girls being able to wear trousers to school!) of our daughter Kaelyn, I spent the next 8 months just looking after her at home. I totally loved it but hated that my husband was missing out on this time too. I looked at joining a network marketing business again (I had actually been in already at the age of 14, 18 and 21) to make enough money to not only stay at home, but to be able to afford the trip back to the USA to see Kaelyn’s grandparents.

Finding My ‘Why’

That first trip over there cost us £2500 and was a real eye opener to what was going to be possible with the kind of income we had at that time. Would we only be able to come over once every 2 years, would we just have to visit one Grandparent a year? Would we EVER be able to afford to build our own earth sheltered house, which is a huge dream of ours because they are so fun and stay nice and warm even in places like Scotland. The thing that really got to me was the little stool in the bathroom that Duncan’s mum had bought for Kaelyn to stand on to brush her teeth. She was only 8 months at the time, so it was obviously for future visits…which we weren’t even sure we could afford. It broke my heart!

When I got home from this trip I realised that something had to change and started network marketing, first going around all my neighbours dropping off catalogues. After making about £12.50 and feeling totally humiliated when only 2 people (one of which was my mum) turned up to my first launch party, I took to the internet and started learning about how to build a business online.

I left my previous company to find something more suited to online and focused on branding myself, especially with blogging and social media. With in my first 30 days in the new company I had replaced my family’s income and my husband handed in his resignation so that he could be at home with Kaelyn, allowing me to take by business even further.

Time In Hospital…

About a week after he left work I got struck with an appendicitis and was in hospital for a few days after having it removed. It was pretty exhausting but gave me time to reflect on the last 2-3 months and really think about where I wanted to go. I started to imagine being able to help anyone, in any company to reach their goals so they have more time to spend with their families, just enjoying life. At that point I knew nothing would stand in my way of helping people become successful online.

Where’s It All Going?

It has been an amazing journey, and in a totally cheesy way, it’s only the beginning! It has been crazy, with so many ups and downs each day, but I know that if I keep going, focused on the goal of helping as many people possible and building a strong business that will allow my family to live an amazing life together, in our crazy eco house, traveling to see people we care about when we want, having the money to help causes we care about and being FREE from a boss that I WILL get there.

Six months ago I didn’t know that this would be my story, just like you don’t know what YOUR story will be. Fortunately….you’re holding the pen…