Member Spotlight: Rachel McDonough
Kingdom Driven Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs of faith who don’t want to do “business as usual” and seek to truly impact lives and advance the Kingdom of God through the marketplace. It’s our aim to inspire and connect the Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur community and one of the ways we do that is by profiling our members!
This week’s spotlight is on Rachel McDonough, a Certified Financial Planner and CEO of Make Your Money Count LLC.
If you would like to be considered for a future spotlight, be sure to connect and engage with our Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur community on Facebook.
Tell us the basics: Your name, where you’re from and where you live currently, your family, etc.
I’m Rachel McDonough, CFP, Financial planner, author, and speaker living in Minneapolis, MN with my amazing husband and daughter. I was raised by missionary parents, so spent much of my childhood in Kenya, Africa.
Tell us briefly about your business and when you started.
I combine my insight from years living among some of the world’s poorest people in Kenya, with my professional experience as a Certified Financial Planner™ to offer a unique and refreshing perspective on money. I believes that the best way I can help her clients be truly successful is by helping them make financial decisions that reflect their personal values. In addition to speaking and writing on the topic of money and values, I work with clients one-on-one for financial planning, investment management, and financial coaching. Having started out my career at a large brokerage firm as an employee, I launched my own independent firm in 2009 called Make Your Money Count, LLC. My vision is to help each client use their resources in a way that reflects their values and their calling.
What are you currently working on, launching, or just generally excited about in your business?
I just had my first book published in March of this year, so I’m excited about that and the speaking opportunities that I hope will come with that to give me a platform to touch more lives with my message (which is really God’s message) about destroying the fear and greed influences in our financial decision making so that we can be free to live out our calling and destiny. The book is called, True Treasure: Giving, Saving, and Spending According to Your Calling and it is very seeker-friendly. I felt the Lord wanted me to write this book for people who are searching for truth, both inside and outside of the church.
What does it mean to you personally to be a Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, and how are you “walking that out” in your business endeavors?
While I do not position myself to work only with Christian clients, I do pray that in all things the life of Christ will shine brightly in me. I find that the Holy Spirit guides me in encounters with clients or during speaking engagements to help set people free from the bondage of fear, greed, debt, or lies they may have been believing. He also has put it on my heart to bring his healing into the workplace, so it’s not uncommon that he shows his compassion for the hurting and lost during what was scheduled to be a routine portfolio review. It is always an adventure to follow Jesus!
What are 1 or 2 of your favorite scriptures that inspire you?
2 Corinthians 5:20 “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!””
This verse reminds me that I’m always qualified to represent Jesus to the world around me whether I’m leading worship, praying for someone, or running a retirement projection. I hope to live my life following the Holy Spirit so that in every opportunity that comes my way, I can make Christ known.
I also love Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
As implied by the subtitle of my book, “Giving, Saving, and Spending According to Your Calling,” I believe each of us has a calling: the works that were created in advance for us to do. I love to see people using their money wisely so they can effectively live out their calling.
What are 3 books that have inspired you or helped you with your business?
The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn changed my perspective on wealth forever, as did the extensive training I did throughKingdom Advisors (books and materials were written primarily by Ron Blue). Also, somewhat of a surprise as it has nothing directly to do with money or business, but I was impacted by Dr. Verna Price’s book, The Power of People, as it gave a framework for making decisions about how to steward our relationships and I found many of the concepts translated into other areas of life.
How can your fellow Kingdom Driven Entrepreneurs help you?
Pray for me to have courage and boldness to follow Jesus off the map and do new things as he opens new doors in speaking, writing, and other media arenas. If you check out my website and the video clips of me speaking and think I have something to offer that the world needs to hear, then please help me connect with speaking opportunities for: nonprofit donor events, Christian conferences, or women’s business groups. I’m also looking for publicity opportunities to help promote the book and the message God has given me to steward.
What else would you like to tell us?
I value you all already! Thank you for investing your time in reading about me. I look forward to returning the favor and I encourage you to reach out to me personally if you believe you have a need that I could help meet. I would be honored to be of service.
Connect more with Rachel McDonough:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Blog
