In this episode of the Business Blast Podcast, host Tyler Wagner interviews Rachael Hunt, founder of glutenfreedominc.com and creator of the Freedom School. Rachael shares the pivotal moment when she was fired from a corporate job, which forced her to re‑evaluate her side‑hustle blog and transition it into a full‑time wellness business and coaching practice. She discusses the common belief that the wellness industry is saturated, arguing that there is room for everyone and that limiting beliefs are the real barrier. Rachael offers practical business advice, emphasizing the importance of starting immediately rather than waiting for perfection, and highlights the value of taking action to learn and iterate. She reflects on personal growth lessons, such as listening to her own instincts and caring less about others’ opinions. The conversation also covers her favorite book, You’re a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero, and the insights she gained about money mindset. Rachael shares her personal branding mantra, “Your vibe attracts your tribe,” which underpins her podcast Vibe Tribe Wellness. Finally, she provides listeners with her online touchpoints: Instagram @freedomrach, the Freedom School website freedomschool.co, and her health‑focused blog glutenfreedominc.com.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I got Rachel Hunt with us. Welcome, Rachel.
Thank you for having me. I'm super excited. It's fun to be on the other end of things.
Yes, yes. For people like me and you that do podcasts, I agree, it's always— fun to be on somebody else's show, especially because me and you are both always on the other side. So before we dive in, I'll give you a little introduction to Rachel. She's the founder of glutenfreedominc.com and creator of the Freedom School. And aside from being a wellness blogger, she also works with people who desire to turn their side hustle into their main attraction to achieve more freedom in their life through the Freedom coaching methods. So I'm sure we'll hear more about that. And Rachel, I'm going to hit you with a big one. The first question we ask on the show is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, like this is a really good question. I'm happy I asked for these questions in advance because like I was stumped last night really trying to think about this. And it's a great question and really thought-provoking. So thank you for asking. But I think so, when I thought about it, I think one of the best stories I can think of, um, so a few years ago before I, uh, started pursuing my business full-time, I was actually fired from a job. And at that time I had placed so much of like my identity, and I had my business as like, or like blog and everything at the side hustle, but I had placed so much of my identity in that job. And I thought getting fired, uh, was like the end of my life. I'm like, oh my Oh my God, like I got fired. Like, I, it really like was a blow to my ego. But in that time of like getting let go from that job, I mean, there was multiple things leading up to it. Like it wasn't aligned with where I wanted to be and what I wanted. So getting fired was like this blessing in disguise. It allowed me to kind of just reevaluate where I was, start to consider my blog a business and start to just consider what I was doing in general, like looking at the different business opportunities that were before me that I was just overlooking and just being lazy about, and just really forced me to put my head to the ground and just pivot from being, oh, I'm a blogger, to I'm running a business and I'm, yeah, seeing the potential for it. Had I not been let go from that job, I think I would probably be somewhere in the middle trying to figure it out still and try to find that balance. But being let go, I was like, All right, girl, pull up your pants and get your shit together because it's not working. And clearly the universe is giving you a big sign right now and you need to just go for what you're dreaming of. So yeah, that for me, the lesson was not seen at that moment. Yeah, looking back a couple of months later, I was just like, holy shit, that was the best thing that could have happened for me.
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's how it happens a lot of times that way. For me, I dropped out of school 2 years in. And when I first dropped out, I had no clue what I was doing. And I was really pissed because I was like, "I spent 2 years." My major was accounting, which would have been awful. But I was like, "I spent 2 years. I wasted 2 years of my life." I think I was 20 or 21 when I dropped out, 20, I think. And thinking back, I'm like, "That was such a crazy thing to even be mad about. I'm so young." But I almost didn't drop out because I felt like I had wasted 2 years studying accounting. So either way, it was hard at first, but the blessing— it was a blessing in disguise for sure.
There's always some sort of underlying blessing.
Yeah, absolutely. So the next one I got for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Hmm. Well, I think the first thing that came to my mind when I was looking at this question was that there's actually room for all of us to fit in where we're at. And a big thing that I get from my coaching clients before, like, before I actually onboard them as clients, is that they feel like there's so much saturation in my— well, in the wellness industry, and that, you know, they're starting too late and that there's, there's not an opportunity for them. And I always stop them and I say, that's absolutely not true. That's a belief you have, sure, but I truly believe there is room for each and every one of us to fit in And that's kind of what I help a lot of my clients kind of work through is that, and it doesn't even, it's not even industry specific. I think based on what I've experienced and what my expertise is, it's like to pull that out of people and to allow them to recognize that we all have this amazing potential. And if we've got a dream and a passion and we have this desire within us to pursue it, then we can do that. Like there's, you're the only person who's limiting yourself and seeing the barriers as competition or that other people in the industry as competition. Absolutely not true. And, you know, there needs to be more people as they're pursuing their passions, in my opinion. So yeah, valuable information is, is to just recognize and understand that you are, you are lucky to even know that you have a passion or a purpose, and that you have some sort of direction you want to go down. And there is room for each and every one to fit in, because what I want as my outcome for my business is different from what yours looks like, and it's different for a lot of people. And I think that's something we forget as well that we think that everybody wants the same, has the same end goal, that everybody wants the same thing. Not everybody does. In fact, most people don't actually want the same thing at all. Knowing that even if we are in the same space, we're going to be doing things a little bit differently and coming at it, sharing our message in a different way. So I think that's really, really important for people to understand and know.
Definitely. Yeah, I think there's like two viewpoints and it's weird because I've kind of always seen it the other way, like you're saying, where it's like If I see something working for a lot of other people, I'm like, oh, I can do that too.
You know?
Like, it's so true. Like, that's how I've always thought.
Like, that person can do it, I can do it too. Like, when I started a blog, like, when I was in my corporate job, I spent like years just like, you know, mindlessly scouring the internet for like blogs that inspired me. I never saw them as like, oh, they're bloggers and they live this best life. Like, I was always like, I want to be a blogger in some capacity. Capacity, how is that going to look for me? Like, I can achieve what they achieve. Yeah, it was never like— of course, there was moments where I yearned to be where they were at. I wanted that freedom. I wanted to live that lifestyle. But also, I never once said like, oh, I could never do that. For me, I'm just like, how am I going to do this? I need to figure out how to do that.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I think there's just so much opportunity. I was talking to somebody the other day. They were even talking to me about the book publishing business, about how it's like a lot of people are starting to come into it now and they're like, do you feel like it's getting saturated? And I'm like, dude, I don't view it as competition. I just view it as a lot of people want to write books and it's like if somebody connects with my company and our vision and they want to work with us, great. And if they don't and they— with somebody else, that's fine. There's like 8 billion people on the planet. It'll be okay.
People that are meant to work with you will come to you if you believe that.
For sure.
Yeah, like, I mean, same thing. I launched my coaching practice like 6, 7 months ago, and I never envisioned— and actually it was through my coach, she was like, you need to be a coach for what you're— yeah, there's so many influencers and bloggers out there who are, or people who aspire to be an influencer or blogger who have no idea how to start. You've got this knowledge that you can share, uh, but I never at any moment thought, oh, I can't be a coach because there's so many coaches out there. I was just like, hell yeah, I'll be a coach. Doing so, I'm helping people achieve what they've only once dreamed of. And had I limited my beliefs— and for a long time I did, I had very, like, a lot of self-limiting beliefs in different areas. But for this, I was just like, hell yeah, like, I can absolutely do that. And I'm going to attract the people who are meant to work with me.
Absolutely.
There's a coach for everyone. I'm not going to align with every single person and I don't want to align with the people that don't align with me.
Totally. Yeah. So, my next one for you then, and I think it can definitely tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So, not necessarily industry-specific.
To just start. Don't think about it.
I like it. Yeah.
Like really just start. You have an idea, you have a vision, a dream, a goal. Just go for it. Don't wait till everything's perfect because it's never going to be perfect and there's always going to be something you can work on to improve it. So kind of just improve upon it while you're navigating through it. And I think those are like the best lessons that come from it.
Yeah, I agree. I think it's like just by like action, you learn from action and then you can pivot and build and switch or whatever you want to do. But without the act, you can't it can't all be in the mind. Like, and I think that's where people get lost is they try to craft the perfect pathway, which never— even if you did craft a perfect pathway, it will break, always breaks. So yeah, I agree. So next one is, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I think it would be to listen to myself more and care less about what others may think, because what I think people might think usually isn't real. And if I just trust my instincts and just trust my gut, you know, in so many instances I can think of, yeah, I think I would have propelled myself further earlier on.
Absolutely. So then this next one's a little bit different. So in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
I think for me, when I understood that happiness came from within and that I couldn't look at external factors, you know, looking for the best job or the newest clothes or whatever, whatever it was, going on fancy trips. For me, like, I had to look within. And sure, I had all those things at one point. I'm still grateful for that. But yeah, I had to work on my inner, my inner happiness. And when I felt happy within, things just in my life, everything was just speaking that much better.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what's the number one thing you learned from that?
Okay, so I would say one of the best books I've read recently that I like always talk about and rave about would be You're a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. And what I just loved about it is like her no bullshit approach to taking charge of your money and your finances. And I think what the biggest thing I learned from it is because I found that I had all these like blocks around money, about making money, about making more than my parents, weird things were coming up. And what she— one of the things that stands out the most is that she really forced me to like think back to like my early stories about money and where that was shaping my current ideas about money. And it was just like she's got all these awesome exercises for each chapter that I actually took the time to do. Sometimes I just skim over the exercise, but I actually took the time to do it. And that was one thing. And when I realized that the story that had been crafted in my mind about money from way, way back, probably from parents and probably from my upbringing, it actually really pivoted and shifted how I valued myself here and now. And I've been able to break through those barriers. And it was just eye-opening for me. Like, oh, shit.
Awesome.
Yeah, that's where that came from. That's why I feel this way.
Yeah.
For me, really awesome. The book's awesome too.
And then so the next one is what's your favorite quote and why?
I'm going to say I love the quote, "Your vibe attracts your tribe," because I really, I mean, A, that's the inspiration behind my podcast, which is Vibe Tribe Wellness. And I really just do believe that the energy that you put out there. And we were talking about this before we recorded, you know, good vibes bring good people into your life, whether it's a podcast guest or it's a business opportunity or it's just, I don't know, a new friend in your social circle. Like, your energy will attract the best types of people, clients, friends, partners, etc., that you deserve. And that you—
yeah, yeah, I agree. And it goes back to the point where it's like even if there's a lot of other people in your industry, you are— you specifically as an individual are different. So like, it is different even if it's the same exact business. Just you being you makes it different.
And you being you, like, that's what's going to set you apart from everyone else. And some people might like that, some people might not. Yeah.
Exactly. So, thank you for coming on. My last one for you because I'm sure our audience wants to know is where can they best find and connect with you online?
Yeah. So, I'm sure that the most common place people are going these days is Instagram. So, you can find me @freedomrach and there's two Hs at the end. My last name's Hunt, so Rach H. And then also, I've got freedomschool.co which I actually just launched this week.
Nice. Gluten-free.
If you're into all things health and wellness, my blog is glutenfreedominc.com.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on.
Thank you so much.
Boom.
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