Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Florence Myer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Rachel Florence, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Growing up, I lived in a rural town in southwestern Pennsylvania and was a super quiet, reserved kid who was often labeled as “shy”. (I’ve always despised being called this. It’s actually an idea I’ve had for a new book!)
Thankfully, through the encouragement of others and various life experiences, I’ve learned that confidence grows through taking risks and trying new things. For me, I had to push through the initial anxiety and say “You know what? I’m just going to do it”. I had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable (and still continuously work on this).
The first big anxiety-inducing event for me was attending a challenging college in the city. This doesn’t sound that impressive on the surface—it’s something tons of 18-year-olds do every day, but for me at the time, it was a big deal. It was here that I really started to break out of my shell. I decided to take an entrepreneurship class on a whim, volunteered to captain my ‘team’ in class and ended up winning competitions and acing the course. I successfully auditioned to minor in jazz vocal performance, which resulted in improving my stage presence and comfortability with being in front of large crowds. I pursued various internships to determine my ideal career trajectory, including a development position in the nonprofit world, investigative reporting for a local news channel and marketing communications.
Other notable life experiences include moving across the country for my first job, buying my first house at the age of 26, and choosing to move from Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico three years ago, being six months pregnant at the time.
All these decisions made me uncomfortable at first, and there were plenty of failures along the way. But, there were also positive experiences and successes. I hold on tight to the successes—they give me the fuel to keep saying “yes” to new things. I also try my best to learn from the failures—because I navigated through them and came out OK on the other side, I now have increased confidence to continue to tackle new challenges.
In terms of self-esteem, I like to remind myself that absolutely EVERYONE (even the most looked up to) has imperfections and insecurities. And if I don’t value and believe in myself, there’s a slim to zero percent chance that others will.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a children’s author and publisher—finally living out my childhood dream in my mid-30’s. My debut picture book, Pip the Bird: For Early Speech & Language Development, launched in October 2024 and my second book, Mommy-Son Day, will be released in early summer 2025.
I’ve always, always loved to write. Poems, short stories, song lyrics—you name it. My grandmother (Florence) was the main person that encouraged this passion of mine, and today I have a set of folders that contain hundreds of stories that she both wrote down for me and collected from my childhood. They’re some of my most cherished possessions.
When it came time to choose a college major, I chose the one thing I knew I enjoyed: creative writing. However, as time went on and I had no clearer picture of my post-college career, I knew I needed to shift gears a bit. I ultimately decided to stay at Carnegie Mellon to obtain a master’s in professional writing and pursued a career in marketing communications.
Fast forward 10+ years after college graduation and I took on the role of stay-at-home mom after my second son was born—my most demanding, tiring job to date. I wasn’t dying to get back to the corporate world, but I knew I wanted to pursue something on my own.
The inspiration for my first book, Pip the Bird, initially came to me in Spring of 2023 after attending weekly speech therapy sessions with my 2-year-old for some time. We read many books in these sessions, most notably Little Blue Truck and Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. After seeing how well he responded to the rhyming and anticipatory repetition—both in plot line and key words or phrases—I thought “I need to write a story that’s (above all else) entertaining for kids, that also pairs proven speech development tactics with functional words to learn and vocalize”.
After pointing out birds in the sky with my son one day, I sat down at our kitchen table and wrote the first draft over the next six to eight hours. That day I rediscovered my love for creative writing. And in the months that followed, after a ton of research, rewriting, editing, rewriting again, seeing the story come to life with illustrations, etc. etc., I fell in love with the entire process of publishing. I decided I had the main things I needed to be successful: the skillset, two little inspirations running around, a marketing background, and most importantly, the passion. So again, I decided that “I’m just going to do this. I love it and I’m going to go for it”.
Today, I’m the owner of Inspire Publishing LLC, and am focused on creating fun, engaging picture books that inspire. There’s something so magical about seeing an idea in your head become a physical book in kids’ hands, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be pursuing this dream of mine.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I have learned a tremendous amount thus far and am still learning every single day. To quantify it a bit, since starting this journey under two years ago the ‘Children’s Books’ folder on my computer has grown to 472 files.
Looking back, I think the first thing working in my favor was that I didn’t come in naïve. I knew that this space was incredibly crowded, meaning there’s a ton of competition. There is (thankfully) a huge variety of children’s books available, that includes both new releases and classics that have been around for years and years and aren’t going anywhere. So, I knew I wanted to create something that offered a unique perspective and value-add.
I also have a 2 and 4-year-old at home and read them multiple books every day. I find it helpful to be in this stage of life, because I see what stories are capturing their attention.
Finally, the importance of marketing can’t be overstated. I knew this would be the biggest challenge going in, and am constantly thinking about, planning and working on new ways to get my books in front of relevant audiences.
My first piece of advice for anyone considering self-publishing as a business would be to do your research and take your time. Have a story idea or a first draft written? Before investing money, make sure you have a solid idea of how well that idea might sell. Are people actively searching for books like yours or better yet, purchasing books like it? It’s so easy to lead with your heart and get swept up in an idea, but there’s a lot of money, time and effort put into creating a book, so make sure your head gets a say as well.
It’s also tempting to rush the process to finally see the completed book. However, developing a well-written, cohesive story takes time. Great illustrations and formatting take time. You want to be proud of the completed product, so make sure everything is as well done as possible and don’t rush the process.
Build your community and put your pride to the side. Need help with something? ASK. And ask again. There are a ton of available resources to build a community. Join relevant Facebook groups or join a local writer’s group. Besides your friends and family, no one else will be more willing to support you than others walking the same path.
And finally, comparison is the thief of joy. (My sister-in-law says this all the time and I love it!) Your journey won’t look exactly like anyone else’s and that’s OK. Depending on your life circumstances, you need to determine what goals are feasible and what success looks like to YOU.
I still remind myself of the above daily and hope it’s helpful to some just starting out or considering this path.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My biggest challenge at the moment is determining what book #3 will be, and finding the time to sit down and write.
It sounds a bit counterintuitive, but between the business side of things and the hectic yet wonderful nature of day-to-day life with two small children, it’s challenging to find time to actually ‘put pen to paper’ as they say.
In terms of what comes next, it’s a bit of a heart verses head conundrum for me. I’ve always envisioned Pip the Bird as a series, but (taking my own advice) I don’t want to haphazardly charge forward with this route if it doesn’t make the most sense. I’m a self-proclaimed realist, and the chances of an author’s first book being a big success are slim. However, I’m thrilled with the response thus far, so I remain cautiously optimistic.
Whatever book #3 ends up being, one thing’s for certain: it won’t be my last!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rachelflorencemyer.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelflorencemyerauthor/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-florence-myer-70ab6012/
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