Three Things I Wish I Had Known in My 20’s: Rachel Katz-Galatt

I might have mentioned this before, but a common thread I see from doing this blog is that most business ideas come from a personal experience.

Rachel Katz-Galatt’s, founder of healthy mama, entrepreneurial journey started through tragedy. During her first pregnancy, Rachel experienced several ailments, but when she took a trip to the pharmacy to find a remedy safe for pregnant women, she came up empty-handed and frustrated. Even the pharmacist couldn’t guarantee a 100% pregnancy-safe remedy for Rachel. To resolve her immediate symptoms, she decided to take an over-the-counter medication.

At only 24 weeks, Rachel suddenly went into labor with her twins. She gave birth to her daughter, Mia, weighing in at a tiny 1.7 ounces. Mia’s twin sibling, Maxx, tragically did not make it. Five months later, when she was able to bring Mia home, she had a “eureka” moment.  She came up with the idea to create a complete line of over-the-counter remedies developed to provide pregnant and nursing women with the safest solutions to their common ailments.

Now, a few years later, Rachel has turned healthy mama into a multimillion dollar business. So, what has she learned along the way?

Confidence: Confidence is one of the most powerful attributes a woman can have, potentially even more so than intelligence.  Don’t get me wrong, being smart helps, but confidence will get you where you want to go.  Even the smartest woman without confidence can be held back.  I moved ahead, maybe well ahead of my time, due to going after what I wanted.  My motto is you don’t ask you don’t get.   Dressing with confidence is an important element too- dress like you have that corner office already, and you’ll get there!

Be financially savvy:  I consider myself lucky that I progressed in my career and began to make a reputable salary- with that came more spending and was then a vicious cycle.  I thought I should be spending more because I was making more.  In hindsight, I wish that I created a financial plan that forced me to save and prepare for my future.  Having a savings is empowerment and you never know when you will need it.  Whether a job doesn’t work out or, like in my situation, you want to start your own company, having that backup allows you options.

Be a long-term thinker: When I was in my 20’s (it feels like it was 20 years ago… oh yeah, it was!) I made decisions for the immediate gratification.  Instead of thinking through what would benefit me in the long-term, my chess game was flawed.  I didn’t think ahead.  I had to work much harder to get to where I wanted to go because of those decisions.  I think the best example of this is when I moved departments because I would get a larger salary- it wasn’t going to get me to my dream job, but put more money in the bank for the near future. I backed myself into a corner and had to work really hard to get back on track to where I wanted to ultimately be.