How Rachel Rodgers became the first millionaire in her family after being on the edge of poverty

Rachel Rodgers, an intellectual property attorney and business coach, is the founder and CEO of Hello Seven and the author of “We Should All Be Millionaires.” The company provides business training, legal services, and mindset coaching to help individuals achieve their financial goals.

“Our mission is to help you make more money. Period. We teach you how to increase your income, build wealth, and earn 7 figures per year—without sacrificing your family, health, or sanity in the process,” the company says.

Rodgers said most of the company’s clients are women of color, in addition to a growing community of clients who identify as non-binary, pangender, genderfluid, or another gender identity. “People who typically don’t feel seen, respected, or welcome in other business communities—they come to us,” she told Forbes.

Rodgers grew up on the edge of poverty and vowed to break the cycle of poverty in her family. According to her, one unexpected medical bill or car repair wiped out her family’s savings when she was young. With this background in mind, she carved out her own path out of poverty leading to the founding of Hello Seven, whose aim is to help women become millionaires.

“Women are 80% more likely than men to be impoverished in their retirement years. And, even though women run 51% of all the small businesses in the U.S., we only generate 4.2% of the total revenue,” said Rodgers.

Prior to starting her business, she worked for state and federal judges, nonprofits, and even Hillary Clinton. She worked as an attorney.

“Those early days taught me a priceless lesson: it’s a lot easier to change laws and change the world when you have the funding to do it. If you want to spread a message and create massive societal change, you need money,” she told Forbes. “That website, those flyers, the audio and mic system, the tour bus to get across the country, that stuff’s not gonna buy itself. You can do more, faster, and reach even more people with some money in your pocket.”

In 2021, she opened her own law practice primarily motivated by freedom and flexibility. At the time, she had kids at home so she needed the flexibility to pay attention to the children. According to her, she grew her law practice to $700k in annual revenue after going through certain challenges including how to find clients and be her own manager.

As an attorney specializing in intellectual property, the majority of her clients were small business owners who wanted financial and business advice. This led to the launch of Hello Seven, with one goal: “to help every woman I meet become a millionaire,” she told Forbes.

Today, Rodgers is not only providing solutions to people but she is also teaching them how to become millionaires. She told Forbes that the “seven” in Hello Seven refers to “seven figures” because “we teach people how to scale their business revenue to seven figures (at least $1 million) per year. We love that lucky number seven!”

The response to Hello Seven has been phenomenal. In 2017, the company generated seven figures for the first time, making Rodgers the first millionaire in her family.