Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Van Kluyve.
Hi Rachel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
“The American Dream,” it’s a term I’ve heard my whole life; a term is loosely thrown around by individuals usually with a sarcastic undertone – a tone denoting the activity or circumstance they have found themselves in. “How’s life?”… “Oh, you know, I’m living the American Dream.” Insert eyeroll. But we don’t take it lightly in our family. To me, the American dream does still exist. It existed for my grandmother in 1946 when she made her way across the Atlantic after WWII as an Italian war bride forging her way to freedom, and it still exists today.
Hardworking individuals do still have hope to become what they’ve dreamed of becoming and can achieve their heart’s desires. American dream success stories have always been near and dear to my heart. There is something about working hard and building your own success that sparks a fire in me and now I feel I can truly relate because you guessed it, I find myself fitting in that category.
Here’s my story.
I met my husband, Richard, at church when I was 15 and he was 18. After dating for 6 years + finishing college we tied the knot in 2006. While I maintained a 3.9 GPA, Richard, well – he graduated and brought home a diploma … and the debt of an education. He found a decent job out of college making around 24k a year (It was a big deal to have a salary with benefits), while I carried various cash jobs for cash to bring more income into our home. We learned to be very good with our money. We had a mortgage on our first house but implemented a “system” to get our outgoing bills to the lowest possible price point. It was a game for us. How low can we get our bills + spending each month? We pride ourselves on living below our means and saving as much as we could (we owe this understanding of saving to our mama’s – they knew how to save well!)
Eventually, Richard got his real estate license and we began learning that world on the side. He quit his sales job, and we went forward with faith into real estate. In 2010, we started a conversation around opening our own brokerage. We didn’t like the way most brokerages worked + we want to create our own model. This took mounds of faith. But with our savings to fall back on, we took the leap.
In 2010, our real estate company was born out of a small one-room office space in a local business park. Oh, the pride I took in decorating that space + seeing our company name on the wall was thrilling. Our leap of faith and mound of hope grew to a 2000 square foot office space with 60 agents. And through all the mistakes and failures, we continued to pursue the dream. The limb we climbed out on, was worth it. Our small savings grew over the course of 10 years and became the foundation for purchasing 20 acres to build our dream, forever home.
But in the midst of it all, I battled postpartum depression after the birth of our first son. I had lost hope in a lot of things. But this led to Instagram: where I started @crateandcottage. It started as a place to document our home build, as a creative outlet, and to create a “job” for myself each day outside of motherhood. It gave me just the purpose I needed.
In the first few months of my digital journey, I pitched my small Instagram account to a not-for-profit outside of Liberia, Africa to host an online fundraiser, and they were ecstatic. Deeply wanting to prove that social media could be used for good, I gathered 10 women on Instagram (those with a much larger following than my own) and headed up a “loop” online. We each shared – aka looped – a part of the organization’s platform across our own, and in a four-day period we raised enough money to get 28 girls off the streets of Liberia, saved from sex trafficking, and into the schools, we were representing for a year! All from initiative, organization, and a little thing called Instagram. The feeling of helping a community world away and raising that money for girls I will never meet is what sparked my drive to keep sharing. I always knew that if I ever were to be given a platform of any kind, I would use it for good.
Social media gave me a sense of purpose. Little did I know that hitting 500 followers was just the beginning. Slowly but surely my account grew, and it eventually grew into a business. Say, what? I can share my home, my love for decorating, things I am passionate about … and make money? Well, yes. Yes, you can. Social Media is the newest form of advertising. As I grew within this platform, I started to realize that my opinion and what I was sharing carried worth. My platform (humbly!) grew from 500 followers to 150k followers, but more so it grew into a source of income for my family.
Within three years of having this account, I have had the privilege of working with amazing brands like Kirkland’s, T. J. Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Bed Bath and Beyond, and so many more. Our home has been in magazines, I have written countless articles for wonderful companies, and I have hosted Cracker Barrel and Kirkland’s in our home for holiday photoshoots. Richard and I have now shot three sizzle reels for large production companies and have been pitched to HGTV and major networks for our “Design/Real Estate” lifestyle.
I guess you could say my love of decorating and décor fell right alongside my husband’s passion for real estate, and our worlds collided, in the best way possible.
Then in 2018, my childhood dream came true. I was approached by Harper Collins Publishing to write a book, simply because one of the lead editors was a follower of mine on Instagram. She saw potential in my voice + joy in my message of creating a home of purpose; promoting the idea that home is so much more than the walls you live in. My book and my podcast launched during the worldwide pandemic in March of 2020. Despite the challenges of this year, it has been the biggest achievement of my career. A career, that I might add, was one I never saw coming.
Today Richard and I have opened two vacation rentals, one in the hills of TN (@crateandcabin) and one near the ocean in Florida (@crateandcoastal). We also have shifted our traditional real estate work into that of buying property around us and building/designing homes to sell. We have now built and sold half a dozen in our area and enjoy the process together.
Where do I foresee our journey going? Sometimes I see the TV show coming to fruition. Sometimes I see a home décor line at local retailers. Sometimes I see a design firm. And sometimes I see it all fading away, with us living a much simpler life.
I think that’s the reason for success: You work hard regardless of the outcome and sometimes what you get along the journey will blow you away.
We are all living the American Dream. A positive perspective, faith, and a whole lot of initiative are keys to truly living it out. I don’t share my accolades to gain praise. I share them to give hope that you too can achieve beyond your wildest dreams.
So, the next time someone asks “How are you.” Do it with me. Shout it out. “I’m great. I’m truly living the American Dream.”
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Struggles have been the constant pressure to change with an app to change with the “worlds” newest social platform. The struggle is performing well enough for companies to reach out to you and the struggle is balancing wanting to achieve dreams and goals with also wanting to be a good wife and mother.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work as social media “Influencer” but I would like be known as an author podcast house and content creator. I love to encouraging women to make intentional choices in the home whether that is budget-friendly design or how to create a loving intentional memorable home life. I’m most proud of my first book and fulfilling the dream of becoming an author and seeing my book on the store shelves. What sets me apart from others is my budget-friendly ideals and my passion for being honest and true about learning from the struggles and making our dreams come true.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
We have learned that the home market is booming and renovations design and decor is skyrocketing. I think Covid has made people more aware of their surroundings and that they want to love their homes even more. People are making design changes and moving to better love where there are considering we were stuck in them for so long. The importance of home and loving where you live if what I’ve learned during Covid!
Pricing:
- 12.99 (my book on amazon)
Contact Info:
- Email: crateandcottage@gmail.com
- Website: www.crateandcottage.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crateandcottage/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crateandcottage
- Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdbyxxFt/
Image Credits
Grace Rowe
Leslee Mitchell
