Born in Turlock, California, and raised in Livingston, California. She moved to Cashmere, Washington in highschool. Rue Shokar is a 24 year old businesswoman, mental health advocate, and health care worker. She is using her talents to merge the fields of entrepreneurship and healthcare. Rue has curated a lifestyle for herself centered around her passions: helping others both financially and physically. The ones who are dying and the ones who are living. Rue has helped countless individuals not only find a path towards financial stability but also achieve a new means to pursue their own passions and goals. Rue is here with us today to share her journey of entrepreneurship and her advice for anyone looking to get started on a new path to success.
Rue, let’s start at the beginning of your journey. What first inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
It’s a long story but it started after I lost everything and just had my medical license left. I was working in the medical field and I saw a lot of neglect that was going on with many of the patients. I work with elderly folks and just didn’t like what I was seeing. A lot of the residents would come up to me and complain about how much they were paying per month, the kind of things they were dealing with and not getting the care they needed. So I decided In Home Care would be the best option. Families had been asking me to come take care of their parents and I just ended up becoming an entrepreneur through that. I’m able to make my own hours while still making things personalized for the families; for example taking care of the mental health of the families of my patients and making sure that they’re okay with the changes that their loved ones are going through as they come to the end of their life. While working on this as my main business and passion, on the side I’ve become part of a second business that I became aware of through a girl that I followed on social media. She had a similar story to me – she was in foster care – and I saw the type of success she had created for herself and I reached out to her to learn about what she was doing. That’s when I became involved with this business that has helped me to learn the skill set of trading in the financial markets. Before then, I had no idea about investing or how to go about doing it, and it just blew my mind the amount of opportunities that are available online.
It’s amazing how you’ve found a way to shift from your 9-5 job to being your own boss. Can you explain a little more about the concept of the business that you have today?
Thank you. The main focus for my online business is to build and accumulate wealth to help fund my other passions and projects while helping others achieve their financial goals as well and making a real impact in one way or another. Ultimately the goal is to help others achieve financial freedom specifically, for those who still want to keep their 9-5 jobs or want to do what I do full time, because it is possible. One of my ultimate goals is to create a successful system that focuses on the care elderly folks receive in different aspects that some people may not even think of. I want this to be a resource for people to be able to work in a medical type setting while becoming entrepreneurs themselves by providing more personalized care that can be tailored to their own time and schedule. I want to grow and expand this business because after seeing what patients in hospitals and nursing homes experience, I want to be able to provide them with a more comfortable and affordable option. When the elderly are mistreated it just really breaks my heart. They are like my extended grandparents. That’s why I’ve dedicated myself to this. Ultimately I am working towards helping individuals create additional streams of income and then use that income to fund other businesses that allow them to become entrepreneurs and follow their passions.
What a great way to merge entrepreneurship with your passion for healthcare! How are you helping people with your business and how do you stand apart from your competitors?
I can empathize with others no matter what age you are and can help provide solutions. With the online business we are different from others because you’re essentially investing into yourself and into education. So you’re given access to the resources required to help you learn the skill set of trading and investing to make your own money work for you on your own time with full control. It is the opportunity to learn something new that can be very profitable if you’re willing to work for it. Your hard work will be the reflection of what you achieve.
Right now our world is becoming more and more digital. Every single day you are seeing the changes that are happening. For example these are trending, Crypto, NFTs, Metaverse, Web 3.0, so much more if you are following along. We are growing at a very fast pace. There are so many people out there who still don’t know what all is going on, don’t have the access to the eduction or have misconceptions revolving around these topics. If you have been following along NFTs for example, people are selling their work like art or music for millions of dollars. So I definitely feel like it’s really important to be part of a company that is keeping up with all of the trends of the digital age, because if you’re not getting that education, you’re going to get left behind and wish you had started when the opportunity was new. It’s never too late to learn a new skill, but it’s good to be on track with guidance from real professionals and leaders in the industry that are involved with the business. The whole point of the platform is to learn by the experts. I am just showing you this amazing opportunity. About 85% people who join are just customers and that in itself shows a lot about the value of this company, their products and the partnerships.
Rue, tell us about your goals for your future. What do you hope to achieve personally and for your business?
After a suicide attempt in May of 2020, I was in the hospital for about three months and I ended up falling into debt of about $30,000. I was finally able to get out of all of that and I’m now a huge advocate for mental health and I use my social media as a platform to share my experience with others and help anyone who reaches out to me who might be going through something similar to what I was. I want to show that you can hit rock bottom many times, but still change the course of your life. Like what a phoenix symbolizes, it’s the rebirth of the new you and death to the old you.
I come from an Indian background and if you are Asian you will understand this, but for a while my parents disapproved of what I was doing. They had a certain path for my life that they wanted me to follow and that can be very hard to have that pressure to please others while also wanting to pursue your dreams. Especially if you were wanting to become an entrepreneur and not a doctor.
My main goal is to show others that you can struggle with mental health or you may not have support from friends or family with your career and life choices, but that doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. You have this vision for your life for a reason, so people around you will not understand it, because it is not meant for them. I want people to know that there are so many different options, there is no right answer. You don’t have to go through the traditional route where you go to college, get a degree so you can get a job in a field that you don’t even like. There are so many possibilities and opportunities especially in this digital age. You can change the course of your life if you want it bad enough. I know this because I’ve done it and experienced it myself. So I’m just continuing to promote and help to provide resources that are useful not only financially but mentally that can help people accomplish their goals.
That is truly inspiring, Rue. What kind of challenges and adversities have you faced growing up and growing your business?
I have a long history of abuse. When I was growing up there were a lot of challenges amongst my family and I was put into foster care. As I got older I dealt with other types of abuse as well. I’ve been doing therapy and I think that is really important because it’s helped me to heal from a lot of things and also cope better with stressful situations in my personal life and work life. Another difficulty when becoming an entrepreneur was a lack of support from my parents who wanted me to work strictly in the medical field but I made the decision to follow my own passions and pursue entrepreneurship while still maintaining my work in healthcare so that I can have more control over my outcomes and make sure that the people I work with are getting the help they need and deserve.
Thank you for sharing your inspirational journey with us Rue. In closing, please share your best advice that you would offer to an aspiring entrepreneur?
My first piece of advice is to surround yourself with good people who have the things that you want in your life or who inspire you to be the best version of yourself. People who make you get out of your comfort zone to get you to that next level and understand you. If you don’t have that get yourself a mentor. You become like the people you spend the most time with. For me, if it wasn’t for my decision to completely detox my social circle and remove a lot of people from my life, I wouldn’t be in this healthy position that I am right now. My next piece of advice is to work on personal development. Listen to podcasts! There are so many good ones out there. Read books. If you are not a reader get an audio book app and listen to it. Make it a priority in your life to build healthy habits. It takes 21 days to make and break habits. So stay consistent. Consistency is key, because motivation will not last. Even if you don’t feel like it do it anyway. Work out at the gym or home at least for 30 minutes. It’ll make you feel better moving your body. This also builds confidence, helps with your physical and mental health. Journaling. Write down what you will like to accomplish. Have a goal card. On a piece of paper write down what you will like to do and the date when you will like to accomplish it. Read it when you wake up and go to sleep. If you don’t accomplish that goal on the exact date do not beat yourself up for it. You are closer than you think. My last piece of advice is ask for help. Do not be afraid to. You will be surprised about how many people are willing to lend a helping hand, give and support you. Strangers have supported me so much and I am so thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with me.
For more information, Rue can be reached on her Instagram @rue_shokar
