Millennial Entrepreneurship: Why Your Life Should Have A Mission Statement

First of all I have to say, I have been thrilled to speak to and be inspired by a bold and innovative bunch of millennial entrepreneurs while preparing for this series. I really couldn’t be more proud to have met these people and be a part of this generation that is pioneering change in the way we think about work, careers and entrepreneurship.

Mushy stuff out of the way, meet the stunning Rachel Ritlop.

Rachel is a career and business coach for the multi-passionate millennial, running RachelRitlop.com; but you may already know her as The Confused Millennial. She’s been featured in Forbes, Daily Worth, Fast Company, Brit + Co and Levo, and she just so happened to grow up in Delray Beach, Florida, just like Chelsea Krost!

Needless to say, I was thrilled to have a chance to chat with her.

*Note: This conversation is summarized and paraphrased to communicate the essence of the ideas & topics discussed. Quotes from Rachel are highlighted in italics with quotation marks.

CW: So thrilled to be able to chat Rachel! Tell me a bit about your business and how The Confused Millennial fits into all of that?

RR: I’d been in business since 2014 as a life and career coach, meeting and working with almost anyone, from CEOs in their 50s to housewives to new college grads and coaching on all aspects of life. The more I worked with clients, the more I realized I enjoyed working with millennials. I found that it was easier for me to speak to my own generation because of our shared experience and that I enjoyed those coaching moments a lot more. So in January of this year, I decided on the definitive direction of business & career coaching for millennials. The Confused Millennial came a bit later as I began sharing about my millennial-entrepreneur-life journey.

CW: Tell me some more about deciding on helping with millennials. How was that transition for you?

RR: I made the transition in January, like I said, and it was really slow going for the first three months. I got a significant amount of media attention from Forbes, Brit + Co, etc. but I found I wasn’t connecting with my audience. I’d lost my brand voice and really started to get discouraged. I started The Confused Millennial as an outlet – a lifestyle blog on the life of a multi-passionate millennial – and that really helped me hone in on what connected with my audience.

“So much of our business comes out in the way we live our lives.” Our life decisions really impact our business and vice versa. Writing The Confused Millennial helped me hone in on my brand voice and integrity, figure out how I wanted to interact with my community and the promise I would always be delivering on for them. I’ve really seen significant community growth around my brand since then.

CW: That bit about so much of our business coming out in the way we live our lives is really true. Especially for us millennials who want to bring our whole selves to our work and not have our lives segregated – a work self, a home self, a family self, etc.

RR: Exactly. I always encourage my clients to write out a Life Mission Statement, documenting what they want their lives to look like and why. Then build a work life and career that supports that Mission Statement and vision.

CW: Awesome! Do you think that the experiences of millennial entrepreneurs is different from that of Gen X & Baby Boomer entrepreneurs?

RR: I don’t think the experiences are necessarily different, but the strategies and skills needed definitely are. There’s so much more tech, it’s a lot to keep up with on a day to day basis, in addition to keeping up with all the ins and outs of running a business.

CW: What do you think are some of the main challenges facing millennial entrepreneurs?

RR: I think finding their brand voice and narrowing their focus is huge. “It’s so easy to lose our identity when we are consuming so much of other peoples content. When I started to see real growth in my business was when I cut back on reading a ton of other blogs and newsletters.” Also, keeping up with the day-to-day of running a business, especially when building out a team. It can be difficult to introduce a team, even if it’s just one person, to your business when the systems in your business are not clearly defined.

CW: Yes, I’ve found that it can be easy to run your business by yourself, but having your systems clearly defined saves you in the long run, for sure.

Big question here – if you could sit down with three millennial entrepreneurs, or just any expert entrepreneur, at the top of their game what would you ask them?

RR: *laugh* I’ve been trying to think about how I would answer this question!

I think I’d want to talk to Mark Zuckerberg, Chelsea Handler and Ellen DeGeneres. I’d ask them how they found and defined their brand voice and integrity, how they coped with the challenge of maintaining that brand voice and integrity as their community grew, and what has been their greatest embarrassment as a business owner.

CW: Haha, great questions! We should get you on The Ellen Show!

RR: That’s a life dream of mine!

CW: Anyone with an Ellen link reading this?

Seriously lovelies, if any of you have an Ellen link, hook Rachel UP! If not 🙂 check her out on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!