Episode 6: Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Power Up Your Life podcast. I'm Mandy McAllister.

And I'm Kelly Resendez.

We are so excited to have doctor Rachel Gainsbrew here. Doctor. Rachel, originally from Haiti, possesses an unwavering drive to make a difference. As a doctor raised in Miami and burdened by over $500,000 of student loans, she embarked on a relentless journey to pay them off.

Discovering the immense potential of Airbnb, STR, and MTR investing, she has achieved a remarkable return through short term real estate rentals. Today, doctor Rachel adeptly balances her roles as owner manager of 18 STR MTR luxury rentals, a devoted wife, mother, real estate coach, and I'll add friend.

Her passion lies in helping professionals create a fulfilling life through lifestyle real estate investing, believing that just two properties can make a significant impact. Her expertise and captivating story have even landed her a feature on Netflix showcasing her remarkable achievements.

The multi talented, incredible Doctor. Rachel Gainsbrugh in the house. Thank you so much. Tell us you know, let's start from the beginning. You know, just tell us in your words a little bit about you.

Well, thank you first and foremost for having me on this amazing show. I am just so excited and inspired to see what we put together here. So if you're listening right now, guys, shout it out to your friends. Share it everywhere in all the places.

Without further ado, though, let me dive in. Haiti born little girl, raised in the inner city of Miami, got the straight a's, did the right things, graduated with a doctorate with half $1,000,000 in student loan debt. Crushing. Crushing. Had to figure out my way out of that.

So, first, I start off with Dave Ramsey. I was like, gung ho, Dave Ramsey. No Starbucks coffee. Just like a life of deprivation. And towards the end, I started thinking to myself, you know what? I'm halfway through this student loan debt payoff journey. What's at the other side of it? Is it a a net worth of $0? Well, you know what? That didn't really entice me.

So I found myself taking off my Dave Ramsey hat, putting on a bigger pockets hat. I started listening to real estate investing podcast, and I was hooked. Fast forward to today, was able to, start with one property and then a second. By the time we got our second property, we were making great strides, was able to retire my husband at the age of 43, and then I retired at 41.

And so got picked up by Netflix for a TV show, one part of an episode of a series on Netflix TV show. And now we have the opportunity to help a lot of burnt out women in medicine launch their first short term rental.

From that one episode on Netflix, you have leveraged this incredible impact. It has been such an honor to to watch you grow into this and see all of the lives that you've touched.

And I I feel like the Dave Ramsey piece, that's real important to talk about too, because, you know, what got you here won't get you there. The offense and defense of money, a thing that we talk a lot about at GoBundance Women is what is your, percentage or what percentage of your life is covered by passive income and you you are a testament to that.

So I, one thing though, like you, you've become this incredible version of yourself. You, you have such impact. You have, you know, been on Netflix, you are touching all of these lives, but you weren't always that, right? So you, you had this messy middle of this, this kind of coming up to become this incredible version of yourself.

When you were stuck, when you felt stuck in that middle, talk to me about some strategies, some things that you did to get yourself unstuck to become who you've become today.

I love that question. For me, the main idea that kept bouncing around in the back of my head is I get to choose my reality. Right? So if I'm in a particular situation that I'm in, I get to choose to stay there or to get out of it and to make that change.

And so the messy middle for me was actually in my marriage. I remember and there are a lot of messy middles. I'm gonna be transparent. There are so many messy middles. But let me share this particular one in my marriage. When I, my husband and I, we did our budget for the very first time after all of the student loan payments came to fruition and we realized, oh my gosh. The monthly payments on these student loans are five x our mortgage, which in America, your mortgage is supposed to be your largest. Right? Yeah. So a lot of people are facing that, and I'm I'm sure of it inside of the medical community, and it's something that I don't think we talk about enough.

Yeah. And so when he saw that, he comes from more of a, I would say, a little bit of financially conservative perspective. He's got the financial literacy in the his background. I didn't. There were no finances to literate upon when I was growing up in the hood. Just saying. So it has been a learning curve. But just watching the reaction that he had, he had a visceral reaction. He turned almost like a green power and went to the bathroom and got sick when he saw that.

And so that level of, oh my gosh. This is impacting him terribly. If I'm going to save my marriage, and he's a phenomenal guy, very worth saving this marriage for. If I'm gonna save my marriage, I'm going to have to make some shifts. And and for me, that was one of the messy middles that made me realize, okay. I I gotta get a a hold of this financial literacy. I I've gotta start figuring out what it is, that that I need to do to move the needle forward.

And so and we did. We moved the needle forward from there, and we continue to, make strides to impact whether it's our finances, whether it's our health and wellness, whether it's the way we're raising our children. So all of those categories, I would hope that, the listeners are thinking about what are those categories, those pillars in your life, and know that you have the ability to impact change. And if you don't, it's because you're choosing not to.

Yeah. Wow. That's amazing. You know, Rachel, first of all, again, I'm so impressed with you as well. I just I absolutely adore you, and I'm so proud of all you've done to help other people. You know, a lot of us can choose just to to become financially free ourselves, but you've really been able to to make a bigger difference within the medical community. So kudos on that.

So one of the things within GoBundance Women especially that some of us have struggled with is a little bit of loneliness or actually feeling like we're too much because we we are a little unconventional when it comes to some of the things that we do simultaneously. Right? So what would you say is a, you know, an opinion or an unconventional strategy that you believe has really helped you get to this next level in your life?

I've got quite I've got a lot of opinions.

Yeah. Let's go get used to your I know. Love an opinion.

I I think that sometimes we are looking for that perfect thing, whether it's a perfect investing strategy, whether it's a perfect, you know, community or whether you know, perfection will paralyze you. And I can't emphasize enough, we got to get into action. We got to get into action.

And so for me, having the GoBundance community, if I'm allowed to speak to that Absolutely. Dig it. Hang on, girl. Dig it. It has been an absolute absolute game changer. I'm gonna be fully transparent, guys. It has been an absolute game changer. There are some times in my lives where where in my life where I am I have wins. Sometimes I have setbacks. And there is no other, person or community where I can transparently share outside of this community.

And so my mission and my I would I would call it, I I forget the word. English is my third language or my fifty sixth language according to Mandy. So so my, advice to you would be to find your community, find your tribe, find your micro group, find that person, find that group of people that you can share with transparently without any judgment, without having to edit who you are. Find them. Find them. And that's what I found here.

So, I shared the wins when we made our 7 figure year or a $300,000 month. Yeah. Who who else can I share that with? Like, there's no one else I can share with outside of this network of women. And so I'm willing to invest in myself to to be in the rooms. Sometimes you have to pay for a conference to be in the right room, to find your community, to find those folks that, you will resonate with. And that's a a game changer.

So So one month, I'm saying, woohoo. We just, you know, had a huge win. Next month, I was like, oh my gosh. What a setback. You know? And Mhmm. Either way, I'm getting cheered on. No one's looking at me with, side eye. There's no stingy energy. If they're curious, they're like, oh, Rachel, could you do a Loom video? How did you do that? And and we're able to share with one another Yeah. With which is full transparency with a an open heart. And it's amazing. There's nothing quite like it because being an entrepreneur, it's amazing, but it it can be lonely. And so that's really important.

Being fully seen is so incredibly important and so freeing. And especially as an entrepreneur, as a leader of an organization, you it you you are the one at in the front. Right? And if you don't have an opportunity to have water cooler moments Yes. You you really lose some of that too.

But let me share real quick on our girl, Rachel. The the level of branding this girl put together, talking about her willingness to give. Like, she has brand kits and doing all of these things that she doesn't even realize is a zone of genius. This girl put together some incredible stuff for our community, and I just can't say enough about her heart. So thank you, my love.

I I do wanna know too. So our goal for this is actionable ideas that can help any of our listeners kind of try to create an additional level of success. And one thing that I love and getting to be shoulder to shoulder with brilliant women like you and Kelly and GoBundance is the opportunity to learn some patterns, to learn some recipes or rituals or things that help you recreate success time and again. So talk to me a little bit about your daily rituals or recipes that help you find success.

So I I love to share my GEMS framework. That's part of my brand Short Term Gems, and it starts with g. It's it's setting your goal, setting the clearest goal that is possible for you. And for me, full transparency, my biggest goal when I was working fourteen hour shifts was to be able to pick up my kid from school on Thursday. That was the goal. That was the goal. Fast forward to today, thank goodness, we have impact related goals. We have goals to feed hungry children in Haiti, but we didn't start there. We were just trying to survive. So wherever you are, set that goal, make it crystal clear. And and with goals and what I love about Go Abundance, we're we're taught to create these smart goals, these actionable goals, just really, really important.

From there, once you set your goals, that is g. E stands for education. Get the education, get the tools that you need to make that happen. I'm obsessed with listening to podcast episode. I'm obsessed with the master classes that we have in GoBundance. I'm obsessed with consuming as much information as possible. However, once consumption is completed, we gotta take action.

So, m, we want to get our hands dirty and get into some of the mastery. How do we master what it takes to achieve that goal? So, m, we wanna master what it is that we're passionate about. So that takes a whole lot of of execution. I'm so sorry. I forgot my s.

Hey. I'll just leave it That's usually the last Yeah. We just talked about how perfect is, like, the enemy of action. Right? Right. And then even the moments in life where it's like, man, we have so much on our plates. Like We do. We do. Absolutely.

I love it. That's a message. Right? Keep it at m. M is mastery. We're gonna execute. Because here's where I think, the biggest disconnect happens, guys, is sometimes we think that by listening to 27 podcasts, we actually did something. We didn't do anything yet. Right? It's time to execute, and and I will leave it at that. I love that. Confuse busyness with action.

Oh. Absolutely. So from a from a daily perspective, Rachel, I know for you, really taking care of yourself is important too, because you show up with so much energy in the world. Like, are there any couple of daily disciplines that you do to put yourself first?

Yeah. So I have on my calendar what's called Tiger Time, and I learned that from another mentor. And that is that protected time of day that I get the things done that will move the needle forward for my goals, whether my quarterly goal is to, really enhance my health and wellness. So I have that tiger time prescheduled out in my calendar, and everyone knows don't talk to me, don't look my way during tiger time.

So much like a mom tiger lion. You're protective of that time. I don't take meetings during that time, and that time is really reserved for me to get the things done. Because thirty days from today, I wanna see my goals,

coming to fruition. Yeah. That's awesome. Alright. Next question for you. So, you know, a lot of us can feel stuck in our life where we're trying to think our way into clarity. Like we were just kind of waiting to know what to do next. If you're feeling that way, if you're feeling a little stuck or or maybe unmotivated, what what's your strategy to be able to know what your next action is?

I have a couple strategies, and I think one of which I'm trying to audit for this year. I usually I used to do a lot of, I would say action by committee. I would reach out to 18 people, say, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? And I'm learning more and more in business. I have to trust my gut. Right? I I feel like I I have the tools. And just by taking action, I'm able to to get information.

Do all the action steps that I take, they lead to the huge win at the end of the rainbow. No. It doesn't. But those setbacks that some people would call failures, they provide me so much valuable information as far as what's kinda resonating with my ideal client that I'm looking to serve and so on and so forth.

So I get into action. If I feel stuck, I get into action. I'll fail potentially, quote, unquote, or learn, but I wanna do it as quickly as possible to get that information so that I can take corrective action.

No, that's absolutely amazing. So, well, you have shared so much amazing wisdom with us. So we've got a few more things. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna rant on a couple of the things that really resonated with me before Mandy gets to, to the last big question for you.

So I think for anyone listening, I mean, it is that reminder that it is about execution and action. You know, we can all have audacious goals and a big vision for our life or, like you said, consume next step forward and be willing to fail, that's a big one that you said.

The other thing is is the perfectionism that so many women carry with them that we are, you know, you know, how do I look? Did I is my video right? Is this good? And then and then we do nothing. And that's not how we're gonna power up our life. Like, I mean, we've gotta power up our life by, like, just going after it and and be willing to, you know, to fail, like you said. So thank you so much for that.

I think especially as a physician of a perfect little girl who got all the right grades and did all the right things and spoke 50 56 languages, It must have been difficult to to lean into failure, but I I really applaud the that you're using that to pivot instead of of being consistent.

How to speak pig Latin, Mandy. Like, I'm like one language. Like, I'm feel, you know, but you know what? Hey, we're all worthy. No comparison here, ladies. Preach. I love it.

Well, doctor Rachel, I you do so much to impact the world, the the people who are part of your short term gems community to to, you know, impact your sisters at GoBundance for which I am eternally grateful and I've learned so much from you. But one thing that I wanna make sure that we do because you are such a giver is to ask you this, You know, what is something that would change the ballgame for something you're you're working on? An introduction, a resource. Let us know. Let all of our listeners know so we might be able to help you.

Oh, I love that. Thank you so much for that, Mandy. For me, for 2025, my goal is to increase my impact by getting on as many medical stages as possible, just speaking opportunities, connecting with those burnt out doctors and sharing with them a little bit of our story and what our community is doing, because ultimately it all leads to building that legacy and making that impact.

That's awesome. And and one of the definitely the strategies that I would tell you is gonna help you power up your life is to ask for exactly what you need. So thank you for that. And anyone listening that maybe is out there in the medical community, you know, please reach out. We've got her contact information here in the in the, podcast notes as well.

So you have been an absolutely amazing guest. Just so grateful that you've been here with us on on the Power Up Your Life podcast. We look forward to having you back at some point in the future, and congratulations on all your success, not only as a real estate investor, but also in building community to help other people, you know, build their real estate portfolio as well.

Thank you so much for having me. Puerto Rico.

Yes.

So excited. So excited. So thanks again everybody for joining. If you love the episode, please share it with your friends. We need your help to reach more people empowering up your life, and we will catch you on the next episode. Bye, everyone.