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Meet Reshauna Striggles, a strategist at MSNEWSWORTHY. Welcome to “How I Escaped.” This Discovery Sessions interview series probes inspiring individuals who successfully ditched the rat race to inspire readers just like you. 

 

Where are you from or where do you feel local to?

Reshauna Striggles: I’m from the southern heat of Arizona, where I first began my freelance career in college. I started out offering PR and social media marketing in Phoenix for local small businesses and influencers. Back then, if you were to ask my friends about me, they’d tell you, ‘Reshauna will move anywhere for a few months.’ This personality trait, along with moving from state to state during my childhood, has always made me feel more like a U.S. citizen than a state resident.

 

 

How did you escape the rat race? Tell us the backstory of your former profession.

RS: My journey to location independence started in 2019. In search of more PR job opportunities, I made my first solo move to California. Once there, I was contracted as a PR and communications manager, providing community engagement in Los Angeles for some of Hollywood’s finest. It was awesome. I found fulfillment in changing my environment and conquering a new place.

 

In 2020, I moved back home during lockdown and my nomad dreams were put on hold. During this time, I discovered a knack for providing crisis management for small businesses. From launching COVID-19 press releases to strategizing new processes for my clients, I loved it and excelled at it. I went from part-time freelancer to full-time brand management professional. 

 

I took these skills beyond the office, using them for activists during the BLM protests. In the summer of 2021, after my first music press tour and about a year of full-time activism, I experienced the dreaded CEO burnout. Despite doubling my professional growth each year, working with contractors to satisfy clients, and being fully present at home, my body decided to put the business on hold.

 

I finally left the rat race with a few swift strokes of my keyboard in October. While watching an inspirational video online, the speaker posed a statement about designing the life we want and acting as the CEO of our lives. He encouraged us to “hire and fire as necessary.” After watching, I quickly wrote down the things I loved and hated about my life, including material possessions like my car. I realized that it cost me money rather than making me money. I disliked the weather where I lived and how the heat affected my hair. I didn’t enjoy providing PR services on the West Coast because, despite waking up early during the week, I was always later to assignments than a publicist in New York. More than that, trying to save money and make it in one of the most expensive places on the globe was a constant struggle.

 

I knew I wanted to travel farther from home and stay away longer than a few months. To do that I had to downsize. I proceeded to ditch my apartment and most of my clothes and reduce my book of business. Such a big move also meant my car and its payments, which were the only things anchoring me, needed to work for me, not against me.  So, I decided to put my Toyota Corolla who I call Katie, on Turo.com and book a flight to Puerto Rico. It was the best decision I could have made. I had a customer within 30 minutes of uploading the listing on the app.

 

 

What advice would you give someone looking to become a remote brand strategist? 

RS: My biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to jump into brand management is to specialize. Find something in the industry you love to do or are the best at and start there. In the past, I felt like I had to do it all to be special in my craft. What I found was that being spread so thin can cause confusion with your clients and community. I now find it easier to have three signature services and run with those. For anything else, don’t be shy about collaborating with your peers.

 

 

What does a typical day in the life look like for you (if you have one)? 

RS: When I was on the island, I finally had mornings to myself. My routine included showering, packing breakfast, and heading to the beach. With an extra three hours, I focused on healing and letting go of years of survival mode stress. My afternoons were for client work and business planning. The open time allowed me to plan better processes for my comeback to brand management on mainland US. I had kept two virtual clients from my book of business and found another on the island, working only 2 to 3 hours three times a week. With Katie my car doing her part back home making payments through Turo, I could afford fun activities after work while exploring the island.

 

I often ended my day on the balcony, listening to the sounds of happy animals and celebrating locals. There was always something to celebrate on the island, whether a holiday or simply being alive and free.

 

These days I am working as a remote brand strategist in Phoenix. I spend my mornings jamming to Loc’d Hive on YouTube while I type up press releases and brand strategy from home or wherever I’ve traveled to. In the afternoons, I take gigs or work taking care of Katie. She has her own regulars now that rent her for trips. 

 

 

What’s the biggest challenge of life as a remote brand strategist? 

RS: As a brand strategist, a goal of mine is to run a global PR and communications firm fully supported by digital nomads doing remote work. I want to create a diverse place of work without confinement. The biggest challenge for me now is scaling and securing business funding. To start, with AI coming out, our industry has folded over onto itself and created a completely unique playing field. This comes with navigating both a learning curve and new benefits. With funding, African American entrepreneurs typically receive less than 2% of venture capital (VC) funding each year. In 2022, Black entrepreneurs saw our biggest loss in VC funding at a 45% decrease. These are the challenges I am up against when pursuing my goals.

 

 

What’s the biggest reward of life as a remote brand strategist? 

RS: The biggest reward is time, space, and opportunity to be where I am needed or wanted. Whether that’s for others or myself. Last summer, I was able to help a friend with her newborn for two weeks. I was also able to spend time bedside my great-grandmother before she passed. Moments like those, make the challenges of work worth it. 

 

 

What does freedom mean to you? When do you feel the most free?

RS: Freedom to me means work with compassion, as well as the ability to choose which clients I serve. As a woman, being able to move things around if my cramps have taken over instead of having to work through the pain. I feel the most free having the ability to give my clients and family the best of me instead of what is left of me, is freedom itself. 

 

 

What advice would you give to someone wanting to become location-independent, work online, and maximize their freedom?

RS: For anyone looking to free up their time or create passive income, start small. Do it scared. Do it alone. Do it now. Turo was where I started but it wasn’t where I ended. Starting alone and not being afraid allowed me the time to grow as an entrepreneur and to attract a community of others doing the same. The support and community will find you. 

 

My next piece of advice is for anyone who may not already have a passion or freelance career. Although, I can’t claim it as my own. It comes from Dana Chanel, owner of Sprinkle of Jesus and Instagram influencer. She said, “Choose one day and spend it the way you want to. Throughout the day write down each activity you participate in. Then, find a way to monetize each activity.” This is what worked for me and this is something you can do on the weekends while still having a 9-5. 

 

Don’t be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone. When I first took the advice from Dana Chanel about monetizing my day I found myself modeling, driving for Uber, and planning blogger meet-ups, etc on the weekends. I did all the things I wasn’t used to or the best at, but it was these opportunities that propelled me forward into developing well-rounded skills and a diverse group of contacts.

 

 

What do you wish you did differently (in work or life)? 

RS: I wish I would have started traveling sooner and I definitely would have backed up my iCloud account when Siri told me to.