A finance professional explains how she built her business with eight figures -
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Dominique Broadway, owner of Finances Demystified and Hero is aware of this since the very beginning. Her thought has always been that she was an entrepreneur at heart, which is why the list of email addresses that she began building on an event several years ago is now the most valuable asset she has as a creator. "Because I think of my company as a business, I need to operate it as such. I never would like to be dependent on Facebook as well as Instagram as well as TikTok. I'd like to email my followers or send out a text immediately and continuously engage my followers."
Keep reading to find out the tactics and the mindset Dominique employed to build an efficient and sustainable knowledge-based business of eight figures beyond social media.
If you want to see a short version of the interview take a look at Dominique's responses to our Rapid-Fire Questions & A series below!
Note: The responses are lightly edited for clarity.
Let us know a bit about the story behind you and how you got started in the finance industry.
As a young person, I started trying to figure out how all wealthy people made fortunes and building wealth. It was pretty much either the stock market or real estate. I decided that I would teach myself how to invest in the market for stocks because I wasn't able to come up with enough funds to start buying houses. It was from there that I began - I taught myself how to invest. I graduated from school and studied in the fields of finance and banking. Fast forward and I had worked at a few firms like United Capital, which was bought by Goldman Sachs. At the last firm that I worked for I made a call to my mentor and asked, "Hey, I think I'd rather quit my job to do something different." Then he said, "What are you going to do?" Then I'm like "I don't have any idea. I'd like to educate people about finance." I had to figure out the best way to accomplish that. I had no clue. The booth I was looking at was For Sisters Only. I called my good friend to say, "Hey, I got the booth during the next event, so I need you to create an online landing page where I can gather emails. I'm in need of advertising materials as well as a banner. Can you do it?" Then he's like "Yeah." That's why I'm running my booth. I have approximately 90 or so visitors who signed up to my mailing list. It was my very first activity to build a list. I ended up making roughly a third customers, which is when the process began.
I look up one year or so later, and I'm dead broke. Dead broke. I was offered a position at a financial literacy nonprofit in the early days, and I realized I had to figure out how to increase my income. It was then that I decided to create my first course that was called the Finances Demystified course. Eventually, I heard about . Our first million-dollar month only six months later. We did about $8.5 million during that first year. We've now earned just over $13 million over the past two years.
What drives you to do this?
I think the interesting thing is that it is not something people discuss all the time, is that what it is which drives you, and the reasons for doing it can be changed. When I started my own business, there were no kids. There was only me. I simply wanted to make some money to help others, to travel and have food. My current passion is to help other people create generational wealth and transforming their financial paths as well as, with my children I'd like to educate my children to be financially confident. For myself, it's about fostering financial security.
Why is it such a challenge for anyone to make a living as a creator?
It's difficult for anyone to earn income due to a variety of reasons. First, I never consider myself to be a creator. I'm of the opinion that at times my experience with the "creator syndrome" is very similar to the artist syndrome. What I am referring to is that as you grow older, you'll are told, "Oh, so and such wants to become an artist." "Oh man, they're going to break for ever." This is just the way it goes however, that's not always an actual fact. It's true that some people adopt that attitude and say, "Oh, I'm a creator. The things are somewhat more complicated for me. It's not a real business. This is just something that me doing." I've never considered it in that manner. It's always been my thought to think of my business as a company. I feel like I'm a CEO at first, and after that a creator and talented person second. And because of that, they [other creators] are not focused on monetization; they're not spending any time or effort in the creation of products. Or, into figuring out what products people actually prefer however they're not focused on advertising.
Therefore, if you think of your venture as more of a business, you would have the ability to begin monetizing it better. It is a matter of having an effective marketing plan. It's about knowing what your ideal customer is. Since right now, for a lot of creators, what they're doing is accessing TikTok, getting on social and doing some shaking and dancing or whatever and pointing at some things, and no one's buying any product. There's not a real call to action, so the people aren't sure what to do. You don't even know what you're selling.
How important is it to build community as part of your enterprise?
How do you get the people who follow you on social media to become part of your community? What does that bridge look like?
This is something I'd definitely not say we've mastered--getting these people on Instagram on your list of email addresses. One of the biggest things is that I remind my team constantly, "I don't care how the number of followers I am able to have on my social media the email list I have needs to be higher than." So right now on my social media, I'm thinking I may have 125,000 followers. That's an insignificant amount. Everybody has a million followers right now. But our email list is over half a million. That's more important to me.
How do you get them there? There are a variety of calls and actions. You have various intentional activities that draw them in. Therefore, I'm saying, "Hey, we need to create at minimum one IG daily story that encourages people to join this masterclass." or bring them into the community of text messages. Sometimes, we'll even offer activities where I'll add a few thousand dollars on the Starbucks card. Like, "Hey guys, there's no cost coffee. Just text in and you get the code." Having that little link in your bio which directs them directly to the landing page or directs them to my phone number is the way to bridge the gap. But most people don't give their users a method to enter another house. They're inside this [social media] house. But I'm asking for you to join me in this house, come to this event too. And that to me was the most effective way to do it. This may sound easy, but it is important to provide people with the opportunity to make a decision, and most people don't take action like that.
Why is having your email list be bigger than your following so important?
The reason I aim is always to build more email addresses than my following is that I would like to control all the data. I am obsessed with making certain that I control all of my contacts and data. I'd like to control all the data, the demographicsand telephone numbers. If one of these platforms go down, or decide to shut down or something else, I'll have the contacts. I always think about MySpace. Some of my friends built their entire businesses using MySpace only to find that all of suddenly MySpace was gone and their business is disappearing. Since I view my business as a business, I need to operate the way it is. I never want to think that I'm dependent on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. I want to be able to mail an email or send out a text direct and speak to my audience. That's why I'm focusing on building my email lists, and now the big focus is text.
How would you advise smaller creators using social media to connect with their audience?
What I would tell those who are solely using social platforms is to stop. Social media is wonderful however it shouldn't be your sole lead source or lead source. If you are thinking about your business, think about it as an individual heart. The one I often refer to is the heart, it's what I'm trying to bring everyone into. It's a thought that comes to mind about the blood that's flowing. What's the source? The source of the issue isn't only one location. If leads are coming from one place then you're dead. If leads are only coming only from one location this won't succeed. Make sure you are bringing them into your universe. It's not your responsibility to control the users who use social media sites. It is your responsibility to bring the people into your own [businessspace in order to make money from the platform because it's extremely, very hard to monetize on social media platforms. You're a creator But you're not only a creator. You are an entrepreneur.
A lot of creators believe that brand or affiliate agreements is the best way to make money. Which is the best place for the creators to begin in terms of the best monetization method?
Brand deals and affiliates can be my source of income part-time for me and what I enjoy about my business is, it's not a one-time hit. Even now, especially because we've shifted to a membership-based community our current focus is MRR which is a term used to describe monthly recurring revenue. It's my goal to have money come into my account even when I decide I'd rather wake up and be on the beach. With brand deals and affiliates usually, they're only going to be around for a short time. Then, every month, you'll have to work it out and again. So put more energy and focus into creating something that will pay your consistently and provide more consistent revenues for your company.
What role does play in aiding you in retaining control of the direction you take as a creator?
It is actually the center of our company. Everything kind is flowing through it. And as far as being in control of my destiny, I think it becomes an important central point. I can have a good idea of how the business is doing through analytics. I'm able to see how my email lists are growing. In my case, when I'm contemplating my life's path We all wish to be in control. It's not like we're in charge and yet we'd like to believe that we're in control. some control. And I feel like is this to me. I can log onto the platform and I can know exactly what's happening. I can see how the company's doing the month of this, or even this month, or last month. And so for myself, it provides me with a piece of control in the unpredictable world. It allows me to be confident that I'm in control of my destiny.
The message Be aware of who you are speaking to
Social media platforms call the shots. However, you still have control over your own destiny as an entrepreneur through taking the necessary steps to make sure you have your own audience, outside of social media.
If you're feeling that the traditional creator economy isn't working for you, join the Creator Challenge, and launch your company with the help of creators and entrepreneurs that are making today's creator economy be more effective for their businesses.
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