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A special date at the airport changed Marcey Rader’s life forever. As a senior corporate training specialist, she was away from home to lead another big session in yet another city. Although she had spent a decade traveling up to forty-eight weeks per year, her clinical research company didn’t agree to fly her home during a three-week stint.
Instead, Rader’s husband came to meet her for a whirlwind fifty hours in San Diego, after which she would get back on another plane and head to the next health system. When she saw him waiting at baggage claim, she knew something had to change.
It wasn’t just the insane work schedule that filled Rader’s days and nights. The high-energy, high-performing executive was constantly putting herself in high-stress situations. When she wasn’t working, she was training for whatever marathon, triathlon, ultramarathon, or cycling event she could find—and it was all catching up to her.
Rader was succeeding at work but losing in her health and relationships. She had been to see five medical specialists and, at age thirty-nine, had been diagnosed with three autoimmune diseases and early-onset menopause.
Photo by Kevin Seifert
Rader and her husband spent the next day walking the white sands of Coronado Beach, and as they took in the sun and the surf, she made an announcement. She was ready to quit her job. There was just one problem: Rader was her family’s main income earner. She needed a plan.
As Rader prepared to leave her job, she had an epiphany. Her highest-rated corporate training session, on time management and productivity, could help other busy leaders and entrepreneurs navigate the challenges she faced in her own life. “I never found a way to pause, create boundaries, or let myself stop because I was so driven,” she explains. “I was ready to take ownership of my life and help others do the same.”
With that, the idea of a new company and new endeavor was born. Rader signed up for a productivity certification course and started putting as much of her earnings as possible into a “freedom fund.” In six months, she would use whatever was in the account to launch Rader Co.
“I never found a way to pause, create boundaries, or let myself stop because I was so driven. I was ready to take ownership of my life and help others do the same.”
Marcey Rader
At first, Rader Co. was a small but ambitious one-woman firm that focused on equipping business travelers and road warriors to organize their days, set up important boundaries around their personal lives, and increase their focus and attention. Rader started landing clients. Soon, she became the spokesperson for a national hotel chain, hired a virtual assistant, expanded her services, and started to zero in on her former industry of pharma, biotech, and healthcare.
Rader knows how to battle common issues that plague others working in the space. Besides productivity and health behaviors, she and her team specialists use keynotes, coaching packages, and workshops to address leadership, career management, crisis counseling, emotional skills, nutrition, and meditation.
“People working in healthcare and other fast-paced fields often need help to break the terrible habits we all pick up along the way, and that’s what we aim to do,” she says.
Two years ago, Rader Co. launched its Work Well. Play More! Masterclass, based on Rader’s book by the same name. Participants follow recorded webinars one month at a time to learn about improving health, reducing physical and digital clutter, and increasing productivity. They also get access to Rader herself once per quarter for group coaching and live Ask Me Anything office hours.
Rader Co. takes a unique approach to training. Clients match with a primary productivity coach, who pulls in specialists as needed with different areas of subject matter expertise. Rader coordinates strategy and oversees all milestones associated with three- or six-month packages in addition to coaching her own clients.
In June 2021, Rader added another title to her résumé—podcaster. Her team started publishing Health-Powered Productivity, a series of short episodes of less than fifteen minutes each that give listeners “bite-sized tips,” life hacks, and actionable steps that can be implemented immediately after hearing. Some teams even listen to episodes before meeting and discuss how to update a process or change a behavior.
“People working in healthcare and other fast-paced fields often need help to break the terrible habits we all pick up along the way, and that’s what we aim to do.”
Marcey Rader
It’s been almost ten years since Rader Co. began, but for its owner, this decade has been much different than the previous one. Life is still fully scheduled, and starting a business requires hard work. Rader still sometimes logs long hours, but her life is balanced and her drive comes from a different place.
“I get a lot of satisfaction because I know that I’m liberating the greatness within our clients every day through our programs,” she says. “I’m healthier than I’ve ever been.” Rader gets to spend each day doing what she loves—and she actually gets to see her husband, as well.
