In today's episode, Dr. Derricka Harwell shares how early success without the right systems and people in place can be costly.

She tells what she learned, how she figured out what didn't work, and the successful decisions she made the second time around.

https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/derricka-harwell-haste/

We can build courses and do webinars, but these actions don't guarantee success.

Adrienne Taylor speaks with Michelle Jackson about the need to be authentic and vulnerable with our audiences and the importance of seeing people and not just sales.

https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/adrienne-taylor-wells-purposelessness/

Notes and summary from this episode

Adrienne-I’m the founder of Tailored Wealth Saver and our goal is to help Millennials live a life on their terms. I help people figure out their financial intentions while reaching your financial goals.

Michelle-How did you get into this space?

Adrienne-When I was in college I was a chemistry major. I transferred schools at the end of freshman year in 2009 during the Great Recession and was an interesting time to be in finances. Personal finance has always been pretty interesting to me.

Michelle-How did you grow your brand and what your intention was behind the type of work you were looking to do?

Adrienne-Every week I recorded on YouTube. I cringe at those videos now. Right before COVID started I moved to Houston and I noticed that Instagram Reels was starting to pick up. I started making Instagram posts and stayed consistent with that. I would do fun money reels. “How to fly first class without paying” went viral

Michelle-How did you translate that traction into paying clients. We’ve heard the stories of folks unable to convert their followers to purchases.

Adrienne-I actually had a failure like that. I launched the Wealth Saver Planner. A lot of people booked consultations with me (10 minute free consultations) out of the free consultations I may have converted 20% of those people who became clients (I didn’t have clear intentions behind it) when I launched the planner I actually didn’t have a lot of sales. What I realized was that the audience wanted to learn about flying first class, I didn’t have the intention to convert them into understanding the financial content (and the “why”) behind what you’re talking about. The importance of finances. I had to get a marketing team for the planner because it wasn’t selling.

Michelle-Why do you think your audience didn’t understand what you were trying to do. How do you share what you’re doing without being disingenuous?

Adrienne-I still struggle with this because I don’t like selling. I realized that everything we do we’re being sold to. One of the greatest things we can do is have authentic conversations. Sometimes we forget that people are people. Let people know that you actually care for them. When we first talked about intent I thought about compassion.

Michelle-How did you know that your product was a product your audience wanted? There’s intention, purpose and service. Sometimes a content creator designs a product with purpose but it may need to be repositioned.

Adrienne-The planners at first were a failure. I thought I would sell thousands of units of this planner. I laughed at myself. What I did was I realized that the planner could be used as a supplement and offered it to my clients. You can buy them separately but I focus on the planners being a supplement to what I’m working with clients on. Once I stop working with clients after 3 months they still have a tool to use for their goals. I was one of the winners of the Plutus Grant and because of that I was able to reposition the planner.

Michelle-What are some tips that you would share with other content creators building out their brands in relation to intent. This is a BROAD question

Adrienne-Be intentional about your purpose with your audience, be vulnerable. I had emergency surgery in May. Be vulnerable about some of the things you normally wouldn’t share. Your audience will connect with your authenticity. Also, do market research. Ask your audience-What do you want from me. Follow Adrienne

Tailored Wealth Saver

Podcast-The Wealth Saver Podcast

It is hard to know what areas to focus on when building your brand. One thing is clear, you can not do everything! Felicia Gopaul shares with Michelle Jackson how trying to do everything hurt her brand and what focuses allowed her business began to thrive.

https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/felicia-gopaul-misalignment/

Felicia-It’s funny, we talked about how we make mistakes when building out our online brand. In the beginning I was everything. That was the biggest mistake I made and not taking the time to understand who I was online. 

 

Michelle-If someone was to ask you what your online brand is could you share how you began positioning yourself online?

 

Felicia-I like to talk and to educate. I’m not ok with clients just taking what I say, I want to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. I’ve always spoken, done workshops, etc. When I say I’m an economic catalyst because I’ll educate you so you understand exactly why you should do what you’re being educated to do. 

 

Michelle-We’re talking about the sins that content creators can make as they’re building out their brands. One of the things that I realized was that these sins don’t exist separate from each other. Could you share how inconsistency showed up in your brand and what you did to change that?

 

Felicia-When I first got online I had a hard time articulating who I was. I would invest with various different mentors. I would invest with Facebook, etc. and was an early adopter and can’t articulate who you were and what you do so I wasn’t able to get the traction that I was hoping for with those investments. 

 

Michelle-The journey of trying different things isn’t that you’re inconsistent, you were testing things out. How did you recognize what worked for your audience? 

 

Felicia-I took time off to take care of my father for 7 years and when I returned I realized that what I was doing before wasn’t working. What I would say to other entrepreneurs is there is a common theme or thread throughout your business that you’re comfortable doing within your business.

 

Michelle-Once you figured out that speaking was in alignment with your business how did you create products how did you build in consistency?  

 

Felicia-I had to find a company that was in alignment with what I was trying to do. Recently, though, I found a company to work with that is consistent with the type of education/resources that create a synergy with my customers as well. I had a focus on creative affective content

 

Michelle-I want to know more. What’s a day in your life look like for you? How are you getting enough people to connect with who you are and your message?

 

Felicia-I have a team. When I’m doing quarterly events with the company I’m partnered with I direct them to their events. I’m constantly talking to people about what I’m working on. 

 

Michelle-You’re doing ongoing messaging?

 

Felicia-Not an affiliate though. It’s an ongoing education company. I look at what’s coming up and then invite folks to those upcoming events. I know in general up to a year in advance the different events that are coming up on an annual basis. I also take the months of July and December off. I build into my schedule these breaks. 

 

Michelle-What has the impact been scheduling those breaks? Sean DeSouza “The three month vacation” Podcast 

 

Felicia-I started with working 4 days a week. But, that’s not enough of a break. I realized that I needed a longer break and I’m married to a gentleman who gets 6 weeks off a year. If he gets six weeks off I need to take 6 weeks off too.  I also didn’t want to work too much in December and want to play and relax at the end of the year. 

 

Michelle-What was the impact for your business (taking those breaks) 

 

Felicia-I was very worried when I first did it and I didn’t announce it-I just did it. I wasn’t going to ask permission to do this. I was unwilling to do that. In terms of the revenue it means that I have to get the revenue within 10 months versus 12 months. I’m willing to do that because I get 8 weeks off during there.

 

Michelle-What’s your number one piece of advice for a content creator in this space? 

 

Felicia-I admire that the younger entrepreneurs are open to trying stuff vs. worrying about reputation. They’ll just strike out and try stuff and it may not work but there’s a learning that comes from that. Know who you are and move forward. 

Follow Felicia

 

• Felicia Gopaul (everywhere)

When you are unclear and confused about the direction of your business, others will be too. Terri Huggins-Hart and Michelle Jackson discuss clarity and intentions in business and how ownership develops in a freelance career.

Show notes: https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/terri-huggins-hart-vagueness/

Marcia Armstrong joins us to talk about the sin of inconsistency. Marcia shares how too many zero revenue months forced her to look at her business and the steps she took to turn things around in a little over 30 days.

https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/marcia-armstrong-inconsistencty/

Fear and perfectionism are the constant enemies of a creator.

Today, Michelle Jackson speaks with Amanda Page about how creators can overcome these obstacles and take risks in developing projects that may feel out of reach for them.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/amanda-page-perfectionism

For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/rahkim-sabree-hubris

 

Welcome to Series 6 of the Plutus Awards Podcast hosted by Michelle Jackson. Our community is filled with hundreds of stories from creators and entrepreneurs just like you. And through this show we share these stories of challenges and successes from bloggers to podcasters, from writers, speakers, and more.

In this season we talk about a somewhat taboo topic — the deadly sins that personal finance (and other content creators) can make. We share lessons learned, how to avoid these mistakes, and the fact that we’re all human, putting our creative work out there into the world. This season’s conversation is about the inherent risks we’re taking in developing online brands, our own hubris, and the impact that how other people perceive us can make us or break our online brand.

Today’s guest is Rahkim Sabree and in this episode we talk about hubris. Just because we built something doesn’t mean that our audience wants it. Learn the lessons learned from the mistake of building out a product without talking to your audience. We’ve all done it before and how Rahkim is avoiding making that mistake in the future.

Rahkim Sabree – The Sin of Hubris: How to Use Insight From Your Audience Notes and summary from this episode

Rahkim-I’m Rahkim Sabree, I’m an author, columnist, speaker and financial coach. Got into financial education about 10 years ago. I talk about financial empowerment, financial trauma and financial mindset.

Michelle-How would you describe what your business is to other online entrepreneurs?

Rahkim-It evolves part of me feels like I act like a consultant and stepping into an influencer role. My business model is definitely digital media.

Michelle-This season of the Plutus Awards Podcast we’re talking about the 7 deadly sins that creators need to be aware of making in their businesses. We’re definitely talking about this with a lot of empathy. How did you even get into this space?

Rahkim-I fell in by accident. A happy accident. I spent 10 years in the banking industry. And one of the things I realized was that there was a lot that I didn’t know about money. In my banking career I had to learn about the products in order to sell them. I realized what I wasn’t exposed to growing up. For example-the idea of homeownership. It didn’t occur to me that homeownership was available to me. I shared my knowledge with my friends and family because they also didn’t know.

Michelle-What’s interesting around your brand and mission is that it’s positioned around firing your boss.

Rahkim-The best decision I’ve ever made and the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I had to figure out how I was going to move forward and figuring out how I was going to survive. It’s been a liberating experience, but the biggest takeaway for me is that my mental health has improved significantly. The idea of “I fired my boss” is to take back your power.

Michelle-What are some of the ways your building out your brand and components of your business?

Rahkim-I like this question. When I first started I didn’t know what to do. A lot of the growth I’ve experienced is based on a combination of things. Being active on Twitter, reels, etc. But, what solidified my credibility was contributing to publications and being featured. People look at you as a thought leader.

Michelle-You’re talking about building up your authority. What about building out how you’re making money? Let’s deep dive into the product’s conversation and the deadly sin related to product.

Rahkim-Most of my money comes from solidifying that credibility. I do a lot of writing and the writing brings in income. I wouldn’t have gotten paid for my writing if I was writing for free first. I also do some social media management, get paid to speak and one-on-one financial coaching. Going into products I was approached by a coach to build out a course. I was like “oh, ok.” I’d never thought about creating a course and this should be easy. I was convinced to do it and paid the coach to help me with it. I drank the kool aid. I thought I was going to pay a high ticket price, etc. Then, I would invest in Facebook ads. I spent 4 figures in Facebook advertising no sales, 4 figures in retaining the ad agency, 4 figures for the coach. And the thing that I learned in hindsight I didn’t ask my audience is this what they actually wanted (from me). The difference between my content and the course is that it’s not sexy. It’s not “I’m going to bring your credit score to 850 in 30 days” I was advised to market it differently and I knew that I couldn’t because the content was about abstract topics and the psychology of money. Not sexy. I really didn’t test the market and I assumed that I knew best and that they would buy.

Michelle-That’s a hard lesson especially because you developed a course and you have to factor in the time that you took to do that. I think a lot of content creators make this mistake. It’s hard to hear from people to pre-sell a product. It feels weird to make sales on a product that doesn’t feel real.

Rahkim-The coach did give me the advice to run a pre-sell and it didn’t really work. The coach and I even worked out what the revenue would like for pre-sells vs. post sales. The coach and I were friends prior to this and I trusted that their expertise was aligned with what they were articulating based on our friendship. This did have a negative impact on our friendship. There was very minimal involvement with the coach; they were theoretical versus on-hand. In hindsight I should have asked for a case study showing their results with other clients.

Michelle-You’re in the process of developing new products and how does this experience influence that process?

Rahkim-There’s definitely trauma associated with it. I haven’t abandoned the course and it lives in two places and rebranded the content and repriced it. As far as moving forward, I have a better pulse on what my audience resonates with. My favorite platform to test content on is Twitter and then Instagram is a close second. And then launching a pre-sell around these products to see the pace of buy in versus engagement. Because someone likes an idea on a post doesn’t mean that they’re going to buy something. There’s so much momentum with the Great Resignation and Work From Home because of the Pandemic. It doesn’t just mean quit your job.

Michelle-What types of products are you looking at and why?

Rahkim-I am working on a book. That’s the biggest product that has gained a lot of momentum. I’ve started some pre-sells around that. The process of emptying my mind of all of those experiences and the real, raw things about being in corporate America (has been hard)

Michelle-I know that a lot of people in the PF space write books as a way to get in front of other people and launch your brand. Are you prepared for some of the energy around the book and the reception of the book? What are you doing to get the book out there?Are you worried about missing out on this wave of interest?

Rahkim-That’s a good question. But, I got burnt out. I got to a point where I felt like I was done and then I looked at the word count and it wasn’t enough. I took a pause and in taking a pause to take the time to decompress and heal. I’ve been able to reflect and let those experiences marinate. I’ve asked my audience for some grace. I just continue telling my story. My audience has grown during this time due to viral posts and national television coverage.

Michelle-It’s an evergreen topic. I think that you’ve tapped into a feeling and sentiment that had really good timing with millions of people (in the U.S.) quitting.

Rahkim-When I hit a one year mark having made that decision and people congratulated me.

Michelle-What’s your goal for next year?

Rahkim-To continue to be free. Continue the momentum, continue to find ways to make income as an entrepreneur. It’s a little scary. Making smart choices financially to allow me to sustain this lifestyle.

Welcome to Series 6 of the Plutus Awards Podcast hosted by Michelle Jackson. Our community is filled with hundreds of stories from creators and entrepreneurs just like you. And through this show we share these stories of challenges and successes from bloggers to podcasters, from writers, speakers, and more.

In this season we talk about a somewhat taboo topic — the deadly sins that personal finance (and other content creators) can make. We share lessons learned, how to avoid these mistakes, and the fact that we’re all human, putting our creative work out there into the world. This season’s conversation is about the inherent risks we’re taking in developing online brands, our own hubris, and the impact that how other people perceive us can make us or break our online brand.

Plutus Awards Podcast - LaTisha Styles Headshot

Today’s guest is LaTisha Styles. In this episode, we talk about the sin of pride. LaTisha shares how she bet on herself to never have to return to her 9-5 and then ended up working a 9-5. She shares why the second time around was different.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/latisha-styles-pride/

 

 

For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/natasha-scott-omission

Welcome to season 2 of the Plutus Awards Podcast hosted by Michelle Jackson. Our community is filled with hundreds of stories from creators and entrepreneurs just like you. And through this show we share these stories of challenges  and successes from bloggers to podcasters from writers, speakers and more. 

 

In this season we talk about a somewhat taboo topic-the deadly sins that personal finance (and other content creators) can make. We share lessons learned, how to avoid these mistakes and the fact that we’re all human putting our creative work out there into the world. This season’s conversation is about the inherent risks we’re taking in developing online brands, our own hubris and the impact that how other people perceive us can make us or break our online brand.

 

In proposing this series I wanted to touch on our shared vulnerability and humanity. We’re not perfect and sometimes I’m frustrated by the narratives shared online that content creators never make mistakes. Because a lot of what we do is failing forward. The other part of the conversation related to the 7 deadly sins to avoid making in the content creation space as personal finance creatives is figuring what’s the fine line between making a mistake (and resolving it) or committing an actual sin with no understanding of why it’s a sin and no intention to resolve it.

 

The goal with this season is not to shame anyone because of the mistakes that they’ve made, Instead, it’s to have authentic, empathetic conversations around what can go wrong when running an online brand, share how people address different situations so that you have ideas of what to do if you find yourself dealing with the same issue and try to answer the question “Are some mistakes unforgivable?” And what role does the greater personal finance space play in a creator’s redemption?

 

I’m about to share some of the Deadly Sins and one that I committed as well 

 

• Omission-Are there aspects about building an online brand and business that you could be more transparent about? In the next episode my guest Natasha and I talk about this at length. 

 

• Reputation-This refers to how the greater community perceives you positively or negatively. Interestingly, you may be perceived negatively and still be a pretty influential content creator.

 

• Consistency-Life happens and sometimes you may end up disappearing for a moment. How consistent do you really have to be before hurting your brand?

 

• Money-There are so many different angles that we can talk about from the money angle. There’s an endless number of possibilities where actions around money can impact your brand.

 

• Products-Developing unique to you products is a great way to earn money. But, what if something goes wrong? People hate your product, you don’t deliver on the premise of the product or maybe YOU hate YOUR product. 

 

• Lack of Connection-This one is tricky, lack of connection could relate to the greater personal finance community or how your circumstances change and how those changes impact how the community you serve views you. I’ve noticed this in 3 different situations:
  • When personal finance content creators earn more
  • When their interests change and they fail to realize how this change impacts their community
  • When a personal finance content creator seems to be out of touch with what their community actually wants from them

 

• Pricing-Developing and creating products and services is a scary and exhilarating process. But the pricing process can go bad very quickly. How? By under or overcharging what you’re selling and how your clientele perceives your pricing.

 

• Intentions-Sometimes your community doesn’t understand what your intentions are and things can go badly pretty quickly if this type of miscommunication isn’t addressed fast.

 

Michelle’s Mistake-Related to Money and Reputation

 

This mistake happened several years ago and I’m still a little embarrassed by this even though the issue I’m about to discuss has been resolved for many years. When I first got into course creation, I loved it and I had the opportunity to share my course in some communities. In one, the sales went well and the creator received affiliate commissions. Now, I had been paying affiliate commissions as they were trickling in and then my income dropped. It dropped to the point where I couldn’t afford to pay the last pending affiliate commission that ended up being a fairly significant one to me at the time. And, instead of speaking to this content creator about what was going on.

 

I avoided it. 

Similar to some of the financial behavior and financial anxiety that had gotten me into the financial mess that I was digging myself out of at the time. This creator has done VERY well for themselves. And, they weren’t chasing after me for the money. In fact, it took quite a while before their team member reached out to me about it. 

 

It would take another 1 year before I took care of it. Again, they never bothered me about the commission. This person is a 7 figure earner but my delaying and avoiding this payment because of the stuff my head had the following consequences:

 

• Paranoia-I was wondering if people were talking about me behind my back and discussing the situation. 

 

• Impacted my course sales-I just couldn’t put myself out there to sell the course even though a relatively small number of courses would have taken care of the problem.

 

• Negatively impacted how I felt about myself and the work I was doing in the personal finance space. While I never give financial advice and I’m fairly candid about the financial mistakes that I made, I felt horrible that I was unable to address this faster on an emotional level.

 

• It took up a lot of head space-I spent a lot of time thinking about this problem versus taking care of the problem.

 

And it was this issue that made it clear to me that there were underlying issues with money that I needed to address and maybe it would be a good thing for me to work with a financial therapist. By the way, it was just $600 dollars. 

 

You’ll notice that with my business now-I don’t use affiliates and if I were to ever do it again, I would have someone designated to manage that aspect of my business. 

 

The other sin that I avoided had nothing to do with me or my actions. Instead, it was related to another content creator in an adjacent space (not personal finance) who I know as an acquaintance. This person lives in Colorado, had started a Meetup group and seemed like a nice, ethical person. 

Then, one day, I was randomly on Twitter and saw entire threads about this person and people’s very legitimate concerns about how they were running their business. In fact, legitimate publications in the state had written articles about this person. I would have NEVER known about this if I hadn’t seen those threads. 

 

What was concerning was that they said that every 6 months this type of thread comes up and it’s not a big deal. Now, I never let on that I had seen these threads. Instead, I stopped attending the Meetup group and am no longer in contact with this person which wasn’t difficult to do given that we were acquaintances. Part of why I made that choice was that it didn’t seem like this person was addressing the issues that people were bringing up. Maybe, I would have made a different choice if that had been the case. 

 

But, being in the personal finance space even though I never give financial advice. And I don’t call myself an expert, reputation takes a long-time to build and a few minutes to kill. And while it’s possible to rebuild your reputation, you’ll forever have issues. Proximity to questionable people with questionable business practices would reflect badly on me. 

You’re often judged by the company that you keep. Remember, people have receipts on what you’re doing and who you’re connected to. 

 

I hope that you enjoy this season and the conversations that we’ll be having. Again, the goal isn’t to shame anyone. It’s to show that we’re human and make mistakes and also to shine a light on the actions that can irreparably  harm your brand and hurt the good work that you’re doing as a content creator in the personal finance space.  

In the first episode of this season I spoke with Harlan Landes, founder of the Plutus Awards, Plutus Foundation and Plutus Voices events. It’s a great conversation about the evolution of the Plutus ecosystem and what motivates Harlan to do the work that he does.

The main question that the Plutus Foundation will be exploring this season is the tension that content creators in the personal finance space feel when deciding whether or not to monetize their brand. I absolutely felt this tension and nervousness at the time that I decided to monetize my brand partly because I had to ask myself if I was being inauthentic, greedy or disingenuous as a person in the personal finance space.

I thought it would be interesting to share what I thought about, what I was afraid of and how and why I ultimately decided to say “yes” to making money as a personal content creator.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/monetizing-personal-finance-brand