45: "Assess Yourself & Immerse Your Self" with Rachel Mae Furman, Leisure Expert
For self-proclaimed Leisure Expert, Vibe Specialist, and Home Enthusiast Rachel Mae Furman, waiting for permission or getting a degree have never been pre-requisites for going after a job she wanted. Other than making up badass titles for herself, Rachel has spent her career boldly following her intuition and creativity from one industry to the next, all while remaining true to herself and her core personal brand.
On this episode, Rachel talks about the importance of incorporating leisure and small daily habits into your life, how to make the worst parts of your job fun (even expense reports), and how being the most YOU you can be in everything you do will lead to a happy life.
About Rachel:
For Rachel Mae Furman, the love of detailing her life in photos began back before the digital age. Obsessed with nostalgia yet unable to ever keep a good journal habit, Rachel thought it would be fun to take one photo per day with her film camera to remember her everyday adventures. Way before social media, she loved the feeling of anticipation dropping the film off at the drug store and remembering what she did in photos.
Around this time, Rachel began a marketing and PR company with bars and restaurants as clients. Bored with the idea of traditional ads or press releases, she started her own website called Rachel's Guide, a where to go and what to do in the city. Paid on retainer by her clients, she created what they called a "manipulatable template website" on a new thing called Wordpress. Rachel got paid to go out and take photos, then post them on her website in fun stories. She coined this term "Reality Marketing."
Soon after, this word called "Blog" started floating around, Friendster got overshadowed by a new app called MySpace, and Facebook thereafter. Once everyone and their mother started posting every detail of their life and their dinner, the whole "template website" things wasn't quite as dazzling anymore.
So, bored with everything, Rachel did the only thing that made sense... she sold all of her furniture, bought a 1973 Airstream camper, traded in her Jetta for a Ford F150 and traveled around the country solo for a few months. (Because, duh.) That love of freedom and adventure has never stopped, and Rachel attempts to live her life in California as a never-ending road trip.
After 15+ years of building brands in between (or during) travel adventures, Rachel considers herself a Brand Documentarian, building a brand look and lifestyle through stories, photos, and experiences. She now lives in the little mountain town of Idyllwild, creating brand content, hosting branding retreats and helping clients figure out what the hell they’re doing and how to project it with her Personal Brand Coaching program BRAND x SPIRIT.
Website: BRAND x SPIRIT
Instagram: @RachelMaeFurman (check out #TheLeisureLodge for all her beautiful mountain cabin photos!)
