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Rachel is an indie game developer, consultant and coach for business development, and content strategist. An experienced entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and general business writer, Rachel's consulting business is tailored to professional development for indie developers and other creative professionals.
In addition to serving clients in need of professional development and work-life balance, Rachel also works with companies who wish to do business with game developers and professional sector workers who need assistance in acquiring and retaining game developer clients. She has helped tax offices, attorneys, and insurance brokers sell several thousand dollars worth of services through both her sales and writing skills. Having formed the business curriculum at Playcrafting NYC, the tristate area's hub for education and business development for interactive entertainment professionals, Rachel teaches courses on general business, taxation, growing a fanbase, and career development. Her Basics of Business course sold out on its first run, breaking 2014 sales records.
Rachel has written content for gaming industry rags, user acquisition firms, companies trying to do business with game developers, tax offices, lifestyle blogs, and much more. In addition to her work teaching at and writing content for Playcrafting as well as her own blog and newsletter plus private clients, she has the distinction of making the front page of noted industry rag Gamasutra virtually every time she submitted content.
Prior to taking up the game development and writing hustler life, Rachel worked as a tax advisor. She still retains an Enrolled Agent license for tax law writing purposes. Rachel has 10 years of tax practice experience ranging from retail tax preparation to white-shoe firm, and solo practice. She worked with Prometric and high-ranking IRS directors in developing the Enrolled Agent exam for three years running, determining minimum competency requirements for Enrolled Agents along with creating and editing exam content. She also worked with Pearson to develop educational tax law content for use in online adult education programs.
Upon leaving the tax associate track behind and wanting to help other game makers, Rachel wrote the very first taxation guide tailored just for indie developers with full citations for tax and legal professional use, The Definitive Guide to Taxes For Indie Game Developers. Her classes, writing, and books have received strong praise for explaining high-level tax and financial concepts in an accessible and often humorous matter that the audience relates to.
Rachel has also made her debut on Udemy with Content Strategy for Indie Game Developers, a webinar that explains how to use both content marketing and content strategy to help game developers beat the indiepocalypose.
Tax professionals and their clients are two distinct audiences, and tax law experts inadvertently get lost in familiarity blindness and use terms that are meaningful to their peers but not their clients. This guide contains tips for writing content tailored to tax professionals opposed to current and potential clients.
In the face of the indiepocalypse, game developers clinging to the dream need flexible work arrangements to make games and have the time to market their work. It's even better if these freelance and part-time opportunities are in or related to the games industry. This guide explains how the unique flexible work site FlexJobs can help indie developers live the dream.
https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/how-indie-game-developers-can-benefit-from-flex-work-options/
Going freelance can be extremely rewarding but not without challenges. Learning about the different types of freelance work arrangements, and how people offering work tend to define "freelance", is crucial to making more money than you would at a traditional job. Freelancing 101 explains what you can expect to see on the market.
https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/freelancing-101-different-types-of-freelance-jobs/
Tax professionals tend to make many assumptions about indie game developers that are far off base, and end up dispensing incorrect advice on the R&D credit or getting game developers' hopes up that they will get thousands of dollars from the government to fund a new game with. This guide explains what an independent developer can reasonably expect to see if they claim the credit and whether their projects qualify.
4K streaming has arrived for games. Here's what you need to know about reaching the optimal connection speed for 4K gaming and digital media streaming whether your device is 4K-native or not.
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/the-optimum-speed-for-4k-videogaming/
How does players' ISP performance affect the development process for creating online games and their architecture?
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/a-game-developers-view-on-isp-performance/
Do you think it's too early start marketing your game? Contrary to popular belief, it's never too early. Here's some misconceptions about game marketing and why you need an early start, and how to rethink attracting and retaining a fanbase.
The farming simulator RPG that swept the indie game world by storm has been lauded by game devs, critics, and streamers alike where the latter have an incredibly strong community surrounding this game. But what was Stardew Valley's "X factor" that made it so successful? From a game dev's perspective, it's quite simple: so many choices and things to do yet the player doesn't get cramped with decision fatigue.
Sonic Toad Media and Consulting offers writing for hire and business consulting services tailored to the independent game development sector, and freelancers in creative professions seeking career development.
Company: Sonic Toad Media LLC
I worked there from 3/2015 until now
Playcrafting NYC is the hub for the creative, front-end and back-end development, and entrepreneurial needs of the Metropolitan Area's pool of interactive entertainment professionals. Rachel developed Playcrafting's suite of business workshops and seminars for indie developers wherein my Basics of Business talk became a top-selling class in the organization's early years. Rachel has also taught courses on crowdfunding, sales and marketing, tax law, and career development tailored to the needs of indie developers, and contributed articles to Playcrafting's developer blog.
Company: Playcrafting NYC (formerly GamesForum)
I worked there from 8/2014 until now
Primary duties are the financial and tax planning aspects of gaming software development, and designing games; maintenance of all external banking, financial intermediary, and regulatory relationships. Develop budget schedules for games; determine games' profitability postmortem, and tracking of sales and R&D spending statistics. Responsible for the entity's accounting and tax functions, construction and maintenance of accounting information system, cash management, reporting requirements for international workers and officers, and external business relations including capital raising, IP licensing, and sourcing.
Company: Himalaya Studios, Inc
I worked there from 1/2011 until now