Going Full Time With Your Side Hustle and Setting Boundaries with Rachael Maestas

Transcript

[00:00:00.600] - Rochelle (Host)
Hi, everybody!

[00:00:01.230] - Rochelle (Host)
Welcome back to Compassionate Side Hustle Strategy. My name is Rochelle, as usual, and I'm here to help you work on your side hustle in a more compassionate way and to give you some ideas, some coaching and some really good examples of what it's like to infuse a little bit more kindness and self compassion into the way that you run your business. And I'm super excited because today is my very first-- our very first interview of this season.

I'm going to be talking with Rachel Maestas. And it was a really good conversation with her talking about her transition from working corporate to now having a full fledged, like, fully booked, thriving PR and communications company of her own. So, yeah, I'm really excited.

So just to let you know about Rachael, I'm going to read her bio right here and then we'll go right into the into the interview.

Rachael is the owner and operator of R.M. Communications LLC, an Albuquerque based public relations firm she founded in twenty nineteen that provides PR communications and digital marketing services across a variety of sectors.

Rachel's experience reflects almost a decade of creating, developing and supporting media and marketing campaigns in government, economic development, progressive politics, tech startups and nonprofits.

A lifelong New Mexican, Rachel attended the University of New Mexico, graduated cum laude with a B.A. in American Studies. She began her career volunteering for local progressive organizations and continues to offer her time and professional communications experience by serving as a board member for the New Mexico chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and to women preparing to run for office through Emmerge New Mexico.

[00:01:49.950] - Rochelle (Host)
And we'll get right into it right now.

[00:01:52.230] - Rochelle (Host)
Hey, Rachel, thank you for coming and joining me.

[00:01:56.510] - Rachael Maestas
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

[00:01:58.940] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah, so tell us what you're aside side hustle is or is it a full time gig now?

[00:02:04.580] - Rachael Maestas
It is a full time gig now, but I do still have some side hustles, which is crazy. But I am a full time communications and marketing and PR specialist consultant. I started doing freelance work after I left my full time job. This is something I've been doing for several years now, but I recently, in the past couple of years have left full time employment and made this my full time gig being self-employed.

[00:02:34.880] - Rochelle (Host)
That's wonderful. That's like, the goals.

[00:02:37.760] - Rachael Maestas
Yes, it really is.

[00:02:40.970] - Rochelle (Host)
And everything's going well so far. How long has it been, by the way?

[00:02:44.810] - Rachael Maestas
It's been... So I left my last full time job in 2019. So about the spring of 2019 was when I had it. I needed a break, I was burnt out. I left and really, with the intention of taking a break. Like I really want to do that, but I'm not very good at resting apparently.

[00:03:08.690] - Rochelle (Host)
Same!

[00:03:09.410] - Rachael Maestas
I lasted about a month. So after that I'm like "Okay, well time to start looking at what's next and exploring other options."

[00:03:16.550] - Rachael Maestas
So I just started freelancing. So kind of doing what I had previously done in all my other roles, but just doing it here and there for clients and kind of expanding things. I wasn't sticking specifically to just communications, but yeah, really just trying to continue to do things and stay busy and earn a little money because that was very important too. And when that was going well and clients were coming in and I was feeling good about the decision. And the thought of going back to full time work somewhere, just like totally scared the shit out of me.

[00:03:50.480] - Rachael Maestas
I did not want to do it. I was like, "Let's do this for real."

[00:03:53.720] - Rachael Maestas
So I started an LLC and officially my business later that year in the fall of 2019, and I've been doing it ever since.

[00:04:03.590] - Rochelle (Host)
Wow. So that's a that's a pretty rad story. So was communications and PR and stuff -- was that your day job that you had quit?

[00:04:13.100] - Rachael Maestas
It was, yes.

[00:04:14.870] - Rochelle (Host)
Okay.

[00:04:14.870] - Rachael Maestas
And I yeah, I worked in non-profits and government and had really sort of stayed in that realm. But, you know, as you'll hear from plenty of other people who work in non-profits and even within progressive spaces, it's still really exhausting and can still be really toxic in a lot of ways. So it had just all caught up with me.

[00:04:35.210] - Rochelle (Host)
Yes, I totally understand that. And and it really just has it all, in my experience, has to do with, like, what everyone's intention is for being in that organization and what what's actually being implemented, what the what the goal actually is versus what it is like written out and what, you know, we tell people it is, so, yeah.

[00:04:55.880] - Rachael Maestas
Absolutely. Yeah, very much. A lot of different dynamics. And, you know, I'd also want to recognize, like being a young woman of color too definitely played its role. And I saw that with the other young women that I worked with, too, because at this point I was in my early twenties doing this work and I definitely saw the impact of that in my work, relationships and dynamics.

[00:05:19.880] - Rochelle (Host)
Did you find that the relationships were -- are you still in contact with those people?

[00:05:25.340] - Rachael Maestas
I... Some of them I am. Actually I probably, well, I make all of my friends at work pretty much like the ones I have been growing up and from high school. But I have some really, really amazing people I worked with that I stayed in contact with and then also some really not great people and have even lost friendships that just became toxic through work.

[00:05:47.480]
So, yeah, it's been a very interesting thing to kind of look back and dissect some of those experiences, especially with some of those people I was working with at the time. Definitely a lot of similarities among us.

[00:06:01.070] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah, yeah. I feel the same way. Like I think some of my closest friends are the ones that I had from work. And it was just that that experience in common that we had that brought us closer. And now being able to look back and be like, "Wow, what we were going through at the time."

[00:06:18.650] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah!

[00:06:19.190] - Rochelle (Host)
We had no idea, but we kind of knew. We kind of knew.

[00:06:22.190] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah, yeah. We knew something was going on but like yeah I didn't know how to pinpoint it. And still being fairly new to a certain work environment.

[00:06:30.710] - Rochelle (Host)
Right!

[00:06:30.980] - Rachael Maestas
Like is this just how things are? Yeah. Very gaslighting at times. Felt like

[00:06:36.380] - Rochelle (Host)
For sure. Yeah. And oh my goodness. I just totally relate to that. So did you want to. Did you want to dig into that like you kind of transitioning out of your job and what that experience was like maybe quitting?

[00:06:48.800] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah, definitely. I think yeah it was like that was a lot of the catalyst for it.

[00:06:53.050]
First of all, I think I'm just like, I hate being told what to do. I of like my attachment style. I am dismissive, avoidant. So I don't want to deal with anyone when there's conflict. Like, I just have 10 million things. We'll get into that too. But just. Yeah, work. Just feeling like I'm coming up against a wall and just like I was having this, which is really I don't know, I just was so burnt out.

[00:07:20.870] - Rachael Maestas
I think when I started working I was so eager and so excited I was working. And what I really consider to be my dream job. I loved working in progressive political spaces. I was working within the reproductive rights and justice space. And like everything kind of came together at this moment that was just so perfect. I was so excited about the work I was doing about the people I was doing it with. And that led me to be really eager.

[00:07:49.490] - Rachael Maestas
I was really eager to please. Saying yes to everything. I wanted to just do it all. And I think that it was good and fun. And of course, people loved that. My bosses loved no take it as much.

[00:08:02.870] - Rochelle (Host)
They eat it. They eat it right up.

[00:08:04.670] - Rachael Maestas
I like to be like this all the time. And as I was going through different jobs and just growing up and learning more and really just learning more about myself, more about my working style, working -- about the places and environments I was in, it was like, okay. I'm getting tired. Like, I don't want to always be saying yes. I can't be constantly available. And you know, just life changes like I was single at that time. Like I didn't have a ton of obligations.

[00:08:35.330] - Rachael Maestas
I was able to be there and have that energy and not really worry about other things. And then, you know, things change. I met my partner. We live together,like just priorities and demands shift.

[00:08:48.950] - Rachael Maestas
And also I'm realizing I'm tired. Like, I don't want to be just constantly, you know, doing everything. And at this point. I had left the nonprofit world, I was working in city government, appointed by the mayor to do communications work, which was amazing.

[00:09:11.260] - Rachael Maestas
It was an excellent job, super good for my career, really a really good thing for me to have done.

[00:09:17.950] - Rochelle (Host)
On paper.

[00:09:18.670] - Rachael Maestas
It was super demanding and it was just such a toxic workplace and just so many ways. And at that point, I was like already over everyone's shit. Like I'm like, "I left the nonprofit world because it was too much of this. And like now I'm here again, same shit." So I'm like, I need out of this situation.

[00:09:39.010] - Rachael Maestas
So I'm trying to figure out what to do.

[00:09:42.720] - Rachael Maestas
And opportunity comes to go back to basically what I was doing before, which was not ideal. I was just like, I think, very desperate and just didn't want to be involved.

[00:09:50.970] - Rachael Maestas
So I was like, fine, I'm going to get out of here. Here's the opportunity that seems like a natural fit, a natural transition. So I go back and it's just like it's just so dramatic and like the same stuff from before, but somehow even worse.

[00:10:03.780] - Rachael Maestas
And like it was just not that I think because I was so desperate to leave my previous situation, I was just ready to step into anything. So it ended up just not being the right thing. And thankfully, I think at this point I was really able to understand what that it just wasn't serving me and it wasn't right. And I knew it wasn't right. But at this point, you know, you hear that there's never going to be a perfect time to start the business, to do that, to make the change, whatever.

[00:10:36.810] - Rachael Maestas
There's never going to be a perfect time. So you just have to do it.

[00:10:39.960] - Rachael Maestas
But I remember one morning just so frustrated with whatever weird experience and interaction I had had with my colleagues, with people who literally weren't even my bosses, but somehow still telling me what to do.

[00:10:51.690] - Rochelle (Host)
Oh, that.

[00:11:22.980] - Rachael Maestas


[00:11:23.280] - Rochelle (Host)
I had saved up a ton of money when I was working at the city because that was another thing, as I had gotten a huge raise from my nonprofit job and was making the most I ever had and had luckily saved up a bunch of money.Yeah, I like why is this happening? I remember sitting in my kitchen because at that point it was, you know, far before the pandemic. But I still had a little bit of flexibility and I could work remotely. So I remember I'm sitting in my kitchen at the counter and just frustrated and thinking like, I don't have to do this anymore. I know exactly what I'm doing. I know enough people and I've had enough experience that, like, I could definitely do this on my own.

[00:11:35.070] - Rachael Maestas
And I was talking to my partner and telling him, like, I'm just so frustrated he could see my frustration. He could feel miserable. I was. And I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.

[00:11:45.210] - Rochelle (Host)
Like, I'm just so out of it and so over this.

[00:11:48.270] - Rachael Maestas
And, you know, here's what I'm thinking of doing. Like, I I think I'm just going to leave and try to figure something out. And I think he knew that it wasn't a good situation. And so he just basically was like, "I'm going to support you will figure it out. We always have before."

[00:12:05.640] - Rochelle (Host)
That's awesome.

[00:12:05.640] - Rachael Maestas
Which I was so grateful for. Yeah. Like the stars totally aligned.

[00:12:10.350] - Rachael Maestas
And I'm like, you know what? Fuck it. Like, I don't have to do this anymore. And yeah, I think that week I probably wrote my resignation letter, submitted my two weeks. Of course it was very generous, and I was like, you know, I'll stay as long as you need, like up to a certain point. But they were like, "No, like, we know." Thankfully, I had a really, really awesome executive director at the time who was very understanding.

[00:12:35.630] - Rachael Maestas
And she's like, yeah, I get it.

[00:12:38.730] - Rochelle (Host)
Uh-huh.

[00:12:38.730] - Rachael Maestas
Whatever. She wasn't she wasn't like, "Oh, yeah, thank God. You know, this isn't working." But she was just like, "I see... I see the struggle you're having with these other people. And I think this is. Yeah, like I'll take a look at this."

[00:12:52.260] - Rachael Maestas
So that was that. And it felt really, really good to be able to just like have that honesty and clarity and have the support things in place to be able to act on it.

[00:13:06.810] - Rochelle (Host)
Was it a hard decision for you to make?

[00:13:09.370] - Rachael Maestas
It really wasn't. That was the thing. Like it was scary for sure, but I think it's because I knew. Like I knew that this wasn't working and I'm like, even if I have to just quit my job and just hang out for a couple of months, like, that's why I have money saved. That's why, you know, my partner is here to support me and he's on board with what is going on.

[00:13:29.500] - Rachael Maestas
And, you know, it really... That was what was interesting about it. It really wasn't a hard decision. A lot of... I definitely thought about it, considered it. Wasn't made on the fly.

[00:13:39.460] - Rochelle (Host)
Right. Right.

[00:13:40.940] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah. I knew it was the right thing.

[00:13:42.400] - Rochelle (Host)
That's wonderful. Like that... what a nice thing to have that be, like, crystal clear. You're like, it's just really it's just a matter of you saying "Okay" to yourself, like, "Okay, yeah, this is what I want and let's do it."

[00:13:55.210] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah.

[00:13:55.600] - Rochelle (Host)
Me and myself are going to do it.

[00:13:58.210] - Rachael Maestas
Exactly. And like listening to myself, trusting myself and yeah. Giving myself the permission to like prioritize myself and my own sanity and mental health and and just my whole-- yeah, the whole future because there was no way I could have continued on in that space.

[00:14:16.950] - Rochelle (Host)
So I know you're big on boundaries. And of course, we would all love for the fairy tale ending to be like, so you quit your job and then you started a business! And it's been wonderful since then. No problem! And yeah, it solved all of your problems that you're having, right?

[00:14:36.060] - Rachael Maestas
Yes.

[00:14:36.960] - Rochelle (Host)
You want to talk about that?

[00:14:38.610] - Rachael Maestas
Not quite. Yes. So and it's so interesting too. So I was I just in a way, my family dynamic was we had zero boundaries. We had no idea what that meant. Like my parents divorced when I was younger. So there's just like a whole like, I don't know, my childhood. It's like my whole healing process right now.

[00:14:59.058] - Rochelle (Host)
Same! Are we the same person.

[00:15:02.350] - Rachael Maestas
Oh, yeah. Uh huh, yeah. It was just stuff I had no idea I was impacting me as an adult and especially in my work situations, because, like, my work is so important to me, like my job.

[00:15:16.440] - Rachael Maestas
And it's really a huge part of my identity. And I I'm like I've struggled with that a little bit where I'm like, oh, do I really want to be this workaholic or whatever?

[00:15:24.300] - Rachael Maestas
But that's where the boundaries come in, because ultimately the answer is like, yes, I love my work. I want to make it so that I continue to enjoy my work because it is always going to be a big part of my life and part of my identity.

[00:15:36.900] - Rachael Maestas
So I want to make sure it's functional and making me feel good and supporting me and all of those things. That is where boundaries come into play.

[00:15:44.730] - Rachael Maestas
Because I have to have those if it's going to continue to be something I enjoy doing and something that's going to be fun for me, still. So learning more about boundaries as an adult is very strange and it feels very weird because it's literally like I didn't know how to say no to things.

[00:16:04.470] - Rachael Maestas
And especially in work, that was really... That's what led to my super eager, like people pleasing, "Rachael always says yes" type of reputation.

[00:16:16.350] - Rachael Maestas
Which, you know, is awesome for a while. But it was because I just didn't know. I didn't know I could, first of all. But it was even once I knew I could, it was still hard to do. And it's interesting, too, because that was what was starting to contribute to some of the tensions I was having in my previous jobs, was I was starting to say no or, you know, push back.

[00:16:38.010] - Rachael Maestas
Or just like, you know, put some boundaries on things or it's like, you know, I'm not going to answer calls at 7:00 P.M. anymore or do all this crazy weekend stuff.

[00:16:45.930] - Rachael Maestas
Like there are some things I had to like that was a part of the job description. But like it's possible to say no or like I action plan. So I cannot do that. It's it was just like mind blowing to know I could do that. And once I started doing it, I saw shifts in my work relationships and in my work dynamics. People were really not excited that I saying, "No" to them. And again, it was even people that I didn't even work for, which was crazy.

[00:17:12.330] - Rachael Maestas
So, you know, that definitely contributed to the frustration I was having anyway. But I was like, forget it. Like, I... This is really important to me. I need to continue to do this.

[00:17:21.720] - Rachael Maestas
So it's totally shifted now that like I am the... I own my own business. I am like one hundred percent responsible and accountable for everything that I do. For my time, for like money I make, and the clients I bring in what I do for them.

[00:17:37.860] - Rachael Maestas
And it's, you know, I've had to have boundaries around that, too, because now it's like what I was doing. But it's times four or five, you know, I'm doing it for multiple people, multiple clients.

[00:17:47.790] - Rochelle (Host)
Yup.

[00:17:47.790] - Rachael Maestas
And I was so afraid of that thing where we're self-employed, people end up working way more than, you know, when you're traditionally employed.

[00:17:57.690] - Rochelle (Host)
Right, right.

[00:17:57.690] - Rachael Maestas
And I didn't want that to happen. Like the reason I chose to do this and continue to choose is because I really value my freedom and my spare time and I really want to prioritize my my personal life and social life.

[00:18:13.170] - Rachael Maestas
So I don't... I have to have boundaries to make sure those things all can exist together. Because I didn't want to be like, I don't want to work 50 hours a week. I don't want to work 40 hours.You know?

[00:18:22.530] - Rochelle (Host)
Exactly!

[00:18:23.430] - Rachael Maestas
That's why I do this.

[00:18:24.270] - Rochelle (Host)
It's like that meme that they have or where it's like, "I became self-employed so I could quit my forty hour a week job to work eighty hours for myself per week."

[00:18:33.960] - Rachael Maestas
Yes. And like that's my greatest fear. Right. I don't want to be just like totally consumed with everything all the time. So yeah. Having to put boundaries around clients and time, like work time, client time.

[00:18:49.260] - Rachael Maestas
One thing I've really had to uncouple in my own brain is like client time and work time are very different things. Like the time I'm working on clients stuff is its own set of things. And that includes like the admin and the finance stuff that goes in with the business.

[00:19:04.320] - Rachael Maestas
And then work time is it can mean so many other things. I can mean like stuff like housework or doing chores or running errands. Like I'm having to, I don't know, shift all these ways I conceive of time in my brain.

[00:19:16.790] - Rachael Maestas
And then there's like me time and then there's a personal time and then there's like partner time and friend time, and it's exhausting. But really having to... Navigating, you know, the client time has been something I'm still working on, but.

[00:19:29.900] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah, definitely.

[00:19:31.382] - Rachael Maestas
But yeah.

[00:19:31.940] - Rochelle (Host)
And then you get into the whole like pricing and packages and all that. Like I'm not hourly, but also I do need to track my hours internally.

[00:19:41.360] - Rachael Maestas
It's been yeah. It's a whole learning process. Like I never thought I was going to be doing this. This was not something I had necessarily like a goal of. But yeah, you really have to learn so much and do everything when you're running your own business.

[00:19:56.190] - Rochelle (Host)
But thankfully, you know, it keeps being worth it because like, I'm like, "Okay, do I want to get a full time job and have to be totally beholden to somebody else at a a time?" Which, you know, times are changing. It doesn't necessarily have to be like that. "Or am I just going to suck it up and do all my own invoicing?" Like it's a good tradeoff.

[00:20:16.610] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah. Is it just in the moment, kind of like, "Agh, I don't want to do it?" Kind of a little like adult tantrum by myself doing my own tasks and then going, "Okay, I've gotten it out of my system. I'll just press the buttons now."

[00:20:29.370] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah. I'll just do it.

[00:20:30.720] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah. But knowing the difference between like when it's some big existential thing that really needs some deep work and is really leading you down a path of like maybe it needs to be something else? Which like sounds like you went through with your day job and and quitting it.

[00:20:48.020] - Rochelle (Host)
Or is it just so that they were like, "Well no actually this isn't too bad. I think I can work. I think I can wear this hat for forty five minutes and I'll be fine."

[00:20:57.260] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah definitely. Like I'll just do it. I know I have to pay taxes tomorrow and I'm like, ugh! But that's just what we have to do.

[00:21:04.430] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah. Until you get to the point where you can, where you have a team. And you have another brain that you've hired to, to remember things.

[00:21:13.720] - Rachael Maestas
Absolutely, and that's definitely the headspace I'm in right now. It's like, okay, I've been doing this, I'm doing fairly well on my own and that's exciting. But what's... What's next?

[00:21:26.350] - Rachael Maestas
Like, there is a part of me thinking about the next process and growth and scaling or whatever, and it is literally terrifying me. I'm like, "Is this really what I want to do?"

[00:21:37.780] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah!

[00:21:38.540] - Rachael Maestas
Just all the things, you know. Because I didn't go to school for this, I never really planned to be doing this line of work.

[00:21:43.600] - Rachael Maestas
It just happened that I started it. I love it. I'm good at it. I've built up a strong reputation and clients. And it's been really... It's been going well. And I'm just learning to trust myself. And trust that things are going to line up and happen as they do. I mean, obviously, with my input, I'm not just like totally leaving it--

[00:22:06.310] - Rochelle (Host)
Of course.

[00:22:07.030] - Rachael Maestas
-- up to, you know, whatever. But, yeah, it's it's been very interesting thinking about that next step and, you know, working with collaborators, growing a team. But, yeah, it's it's definitely taking up some space in my brain.

[00:22:22.720] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah. For sure. Like when you think about the future, have you thought about what kind of boundaries you might... You you're going to have to set? You know, pretty soon, that you haven't quite set yet?

[00:22:36.460] - Rachael Maestas
Oh yes. I set... Within the business I set a lot of boundaries with clients around communication. Because that is where it gets really tricky for me. So... And even with myself. So I don't want to be always on, always available. I try to make it seem. The appearance of constant responsiveness, but like actually I take breaks and I'm not constantly on my email, I'm not constantly on my phone. I really try to make sure that clients communicate with me in the way that is best for me.

[00:23:09.850] - Rachael Maestas
So for me, that email I check it set hours during the day. Like if they text me, they can text me like an emergency, but like I don't work in emergency situations. So that's like very dramatic like this thing --

[00:23:23.680] - Rochelle (Host)
Actual emergency.

[00:23:25.390] - Rachael Maestas
Yes. An actual emergency. But having a definition of an emergency that I share with that client is super important. That was always something that was coming up within the other spaces I worked where it's like, you know, things are so urgent and end of the world. But like, they really weren't. People weren't hurt. You know, a typo in a tweet is not something I'm going to wreck my weekend for. That kind of stuff. So, yeah, having that shared definition has been super helpful.

[00:23:55.240] - Rachael Maestas
On my own side, I had to really limit how I interact with my email and that work and the client stuff. So I took my email notifications off my phone completely.

[00:24:09.910] - Rochelle (Host)
Ooo, yes.

[00:24:09.910] - Rachael Maestas
So I don't get incoming emails. Which I actually did that before I left my job, I think. I was just like, you know what? This is just --

[00:24:18.610] - Rochelle (Host)
It's ridiculous.

[00:24:19.100] - Rachael Maestas
I hate looking at my phone.

[00:24:20.590] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah!

[00:24:21.100] - Rachael Maestas
I'm like, anxious. I'm like, oh my God, what's coming in?

[00:24:23.660] - Rachael Maestas
Like, I can take that anxiety away. So I removed it. It felt like a really big deal at the time. And I remember telling my colleagues, like, I just took my email notifications away. And they were like, "Oh, wow, yeah!"

[00:24:37.960] - Rochelle (Host)
We can do that!

[00:24:39.250] - Rachael Maestas
You can do that.

[00:24:40.990] - Rochelle (Host)
No one's checking our phones to make sure that our notifications are on.

[00:24:44.440] - Rachael Maestas
I know. And I used to have like a work phone, too, which was even worse. But that yeah, it just it's boundaries. I'm not looking at it every second. So that was super helpful. Notifications in general. I try to manage because it is just so intrusive.

[00:24:58.870] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah.

[00:25:00.790] - Rachael Maestas
But and working, you know, I do some work with social media which is totally exhausted and overwhelming. So just limiting what is like physically coming at me on my phone and in that type of way has been a really good boundary I set just for myself.

[00:25:15.370] - Rachael Maestas
And, you know, I, I don't miss things. I still have a zero inbox every day and. Well, you know, the important ones and it's yeah. Still totally somehow manageable. And I'm hoping --

[00:25:29.320] - Rochelle (Host)
Nothing exploded. Nothing's on fire

[00:25:30.370] - Rachael Maestas
Nothing. Yeah, I'm. I'm just way more at peace with it.

[00:25:34.910] - Rochelle (Host)
That's great.

[00:25:35.570] - Rachael Maestas
So, yeah, that's that's been a big one. And yeah, boundaries with myself has been definitely one. And that includes having the boundaries and the discipline to get my work done too because it's so easy to sort of go in and out of the work, in the client time and the personal time. And I love that. But there are times where it's like, "Okay, this is a work day. This is work hours. You know, you really have to focus and get it all done."

[00:26:03.200] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah, totally relate to that. Well, we're coming up on the end of our session today. Do you want to bring up anything else or where can we find out more about you and work with you?

[00:26:15.400] - Rachael Maestas
Oh, that is an excellent question. So I I don't have a website. That is one of those things as I'm pondering my growth. I'm going to have to get one. But I am so super grateful that all of my clients that I have have been through word of mouth and recommendations. And I am totally at capacity right now! Which is very exciting, very scary. But I would love for people to follow me on Twitter or Instagram. My handles are @raechelsews.

[00:26:45.670] - Rachael Maestas
That's Rachael with R-A-C-H-A-E-L sews like sewing, S-E-W-S. Which we didn't talk about, my other side hustles. But I also dogsit and I sew. I was sewing face masks like crazy during the pandemic.

[00:27:00.230] - Rochelle (Host)
Oh, I bet!

[00:27:01.010] - Rachael Maestas
So that was... Those were my other side hustles, which now, as I'm getting busier, just seem crazier and crazier that I still do them.

[00:27:10.280] - Rochelle (Host)
Well, when you love your work and you love all of the things you do and like, you know, it's just it just hits different, I think.

[00:27:16.640] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:17.060] - Rochelle (Host)
It's not the same as someone who is like, you know, working a ton of jobs that they don't want. Like, no, you actually want to do these things, so.

[00:27:23.450] - Rachael Maestas
Yeah.

[00:27:23.960] - Rochelle (Host)
Go with it.

[00:27:23.960] - Rachael Maestas
Oh, it kind of... I left the hustle. Oh, that's the other thing too. I'm very anti hustle and grind culture. I think we all are sort of getting to that place now. I think the pandemic has just shifted work so much.

[00:27:37.340] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah!

[00:27:37.340] - Rachael Maestas
Like I'm so grateful because a lot of how I approached my business and how I wanted other workplaces to shift it like... That happens during the pandemic. So I'm just super grateful. I was talking about it before then. And it seems folks are really starting to awaken to that. You know, we can be functional, we can be "productive." We can get our work done while still taking care of all these other parts of ourselves. And I'm really grateful that that's happening.

[00:28:08.420] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah, and also acknowledging it within other people. Like, oh, you have all of these things going on, too. And we see that now. Seeing each other's homes and working from home. Like the idea of working from home, like remote work? No one even knew what that was before. And now it's like, you know how what you're doing? That.

[00:28:26.580] - Rachael Maestas
Exactly. Yeah. I tell people, you know, I was working from home since 2019 before we had to, and it was a huge adjustment. But I loved it. And in fact I actually --during the pandemic, because my partner started working from home too, I went and rented like a coworking office. Because I just was like, "I can't do this. I need to get back into my own working space." It turned out to be an amazing decision. I still rent it today. And it's yeah, it's been a good choice.

[00:28:55.460] - Rochelle (Host)
Oh, that's awesome. I'm so excited for you.

[00:28:58.070] - Rochelle (Host)
Like, I know that you're you're at capacity right now, but I feel like there's just a lot of nice things kind of glittering on the horizon for you.

[00:29:05.630] - Rachael Maestas
Oh, thank you! I'm very hopeful.

[00:29:08.150] - Rochelle (Host)
Yeah. So am I. I'm really grateful that you took the time to talk with me and thank you for being here.

[00:29:15.350] - Rachael Maestas
You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me. This was great.