Meet Rachael Annabelle Yong | Founder of Gullie, Ex-Googler & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rachael Annabelle Yong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachael Annabelle, what do you attribute your success to?
Gullie is a lifestyle relocation assistant enabling anyone to move effortlessly and make any city feel like home. This free-spirited lifestyle is something I have adopted while building the company, and with the remote work culture today, I’ve learnt that it is possible to grow aggressively on a professional and personal level, while experiencing the world. It is also something many people aspire to do and hence resonate with our mission of making any city feel effortlessly like home.

For both my Gullie and my personal life, I’ve found success by being bold, comfortable with instability and failing upwards. Along the way, I have worked in Singapore, New York, London, Lisbon, Miami and more. Being able to know how to quickly get plugged into the right communities at the right time has been pivotal in my ability to build, iterate and grow quickly. It’s also been an exceptionally fun and fulfilling journey and made it so much easier when you have peers alongside you.

I’ve never been afraid to experiment with things myself, talking to and learning from strangers, which has helped me expand my luck surface area. With a really dynamic network with people from various backgrounds and countries, I realized it has exponentially increased the rate at which I learn and get opportunities. Since life is also often about who you know, you can really make your own luck by doing what you love, and surrounding yourself with people who celebrate your successes as much as you do.

The most important factor though, would be adopting the mentality that “Poverty is an anti-productive mindset” – figuratively, not literally. This does not mean rich people vs. poor people, but rather adopting an abundance mindset instead of a poverty one. A poverty mindset is a fear-driven mentality that learning, growth or social mobility is not within your grasp, and so people are just content with what they have. An abundance mindset helps you stomach risk better and execute on opportunities (even if they create temporary anxiety or inconvenience). It means building a momentum so you can eventually get a flywheel spinning for yourself.

What should our readers know about your business?
Gullie is a lifestyle relocation assistant enabling anyone to move effortlessly and make any city feel like home. It has definitely been a long journey. I started as a solo, non-technical founder with just an idea. I decided to write into a software engineering class in college to join it and meet people who could build the initial product which I used to join and eventually win some startup competitions and grants. That was what allowed me to start hiring and building more aggressively, and we are finally launching in London this coming March 2022. We will be present in New York, Miami, Singapore, London and San Francisco by the end of this year. Some of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is to be more aggressive and always set audacious goals.

Another thing I have learnt is not to let money be a limiting factor – while it is often a limited resource, I like to think of it as a tool for growth, and something that can help you earn more money / time / opportunities if used wisely. Being prudent is wise, but also having the appetite for risk and using the resources you have to pursue opportunities more aggressively is something that is definitely that can help you accelerate your growth.

I’m truly excited to show the world what we have to offer – we want the world to know that it is possible to travel the world and live your best remote-worker / nomad life without having to compromise on your career. We will shorten the time it takes for you to break into a new city and make it feel like home, by connecting you to the right people at the right time, and the resources you need to integrate effortlessly. As a solo female, asian, non-technical founder, I have been extremely blessed and have worked really hard to be able to get to the current stage I’m at now, and I hope this encourages many other female founders / non-technical founders to chase their dreams and do the same, against all odds they may face.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m currently based in between London and New York, and am huge on flying drones, photography, picnics and eating good food. I would definitely encourage them to just walk the whole city in two days, which would help them get familiar with the area and look for fun events they can potentially join. I’d take them to some of my favourite spots for food such as Bao (@ Borough Market) for a simple Lunch, or Hutong if they are feeling fancy. In New York, some of my favourite spots include Raku and Sake Bar Decibel, and definitely a walk through Central Park. I meet interesting people everywhere by keeping an open mind – it could be off dating apps, facebook groups, at a bar, or just on the streets! I’m relatively spontaneous and generally do what I’m feeling, which has worked out pretty well for me thus far 🙂

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a shoutout to all my friends, family, housemates and mentors who has been a tremendous pillar of support during my entire journey – be it investing in my company, buying me a meal, sporadically checking in on how I’m doing, running through my business documents or buying me shots when I need a break.

Something I’ve learnt along the way is that you can have it all – have an exceptional career, a great social life, stay in shape, travel the world and even support others around you at the same time. The people that surround me have proven that with mental toughness, faith and discipline, it is possible to achieve that. It is not a matter of whether I’ll make it, just a matter of when 🙂

Website: https://www.knottedbrains.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knottedbrains/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelannabelle/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/knottedbrains

Image Credits
Gullie (gullie.io)