A finance professional explains how she built her eight-figure business --
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Dominique Broadway, owner of Finances Demystified and Hero is aware of that from the start. She's always thought of herself as an entrepreneur first, which is why the list of email addresses that she began building on the booth several years ago is now one of her greatest assets as a creator. "Because I view my business as a business and I have to run it as such. I don't wish to feel dependent upon Facebook as well as Instagram as well as TikTok. I want to be able to email my followers or send out a text directly and constantly talk to my fans."
Continue reading to discover the tactics and the mindset Dominique employed to build an eight-figure business that is sustainable independent of social media.
To get a brief version of the interview check out Dominique's answers to our Rapid-Fire Q & A series below!
Note: The responses were lightly edited to improve clarity.
Please tell us more about the story behind you and how you got started in the financial industry.
At the age of my youth, I started trying to find out how wealthy people made fortunes and building wealth. The answer was either the property market or the stock market. I decided I would teach myself about the stock market because I wasn't able to come up with enough funds to go out and begin purchasing houses. It was from there that I started - I started teaching myself to invest. I graduated from college and majored in banking and finance - fast forward and I had worked for a number of companies, like United Capital, which was acquired from Goldman Sachs. The last company I was employed at, I went to my supervisor and said, "Hey, I think I'd like to leave to do something different." Then he said, "What are you going to do?" And I'm like "I don't have any idea. I'd like to educate people about finances." I needed to find out how to do that. I had no clue. I got this booth at For Sisters Only. I called my dear friend to say, "Hey, I got this booth at an event next weekend and I'm looking for you to make me the landing page I need so that I can get emails. I need some business cards and a banner. Can you do it?" And he's like "Yeah." That's why I'm running this booth and I had approximately 90 or so visitors who signed up to my email list - that was my first list-building activity. It turned out that I had around a third clients, and that's when the process began.
When I check back a year and a half about a year later and I'm broke. Broken and dead. I got a job at a financial literacy nonprofit in the early days, and I realized that I needed to determine how I could stabilize my income. That's when I decided to create my first course, which was the Finances Demystified Boot Camp. Then, I learned about . The first million-dollar month six months in. It was $8.5 million that initial year and now we've generated just over $13 million over the past two years.
What motivates you to take action what you do now?
I think the interesting thing is this, and this is not something people discuss all the time, is that what it is about what drives you and how your reason for being. When I began my own business, there were no kids. There was only me. I simply wanted to make cash and assist others so I could travel and consume food. My current passion is to help other people create generational wealth and transforming their financial paths, and now with my kids I'd like to help them teach them. But for me, it's all about building financial confidence.
What is it that makes it difficult for individuals to make money as a creator?
I believe it is difficult for people to make money for numerous reasons. First, I've never thought of myself as be a creator. I think that sometimes my experience with the "creator syndrome" can be very similar to artist syndrome. What I am referring to is growing up you are told, "Oh, so and so wants to be the next artist." "Oh the man, they're going to break forever." It's just an idea but that's not true. I think that sometimes people get that mentality and think, "Oh, I'm a creator. The things are a little bit more difficult for me. There's no real company. It's just something that is what I'm currently doing." It's never been thought of that way. I've always considered my business as a company. I feel like I'm a CEO first and after that a creator and talented person second. Because of this, other creators don't have a focus on monetization; they're not spending any time or effort in the creation of items. Or, into finding out what people actually prefer, and they're not advertising.
So I think if you considered your company as a type of business, you would have the ability to begin monetizing your business more effectively. That means having a marketing strategy. This means knowing who your target audience is. Because right now for a many creators, what they're doing is just joining TikTok, getting on social and doing some dancing and shaking, pointing to some stuff, and no one's buying any product. There's not a real call to action, so users don't know where to go. They don't even know the products you offer.
How crucial is it to create a community for your company?
What can you do to get your followers on social media to sign up to your social media community? What would that bridge look to you?
This is something I'd definitely not say we've mastered--getting the people you follow on Instagram into your email list. One of the biggest things, and I tell my staff all the time, "I don't care how my followers are on my social media the email list I have needs to be higher than that." So right now on social, I think that I could have as many as 125,000 followers. This is quite a bit. Everybody has a million followers, however our list of email subscribers is more than one quarter of 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 which bring them to. So I'm like, "Hey, we need to create at minimum one IG daily story that tells people to come to the masterclass." Also, get them into the texting community. Sometimes, we'll even offer activities where I'll add a few thousand dollars on the Starbucks card. For instance, "Hey guys, there's free coffee, just text in to receive the coupon." The little hyperlink in your bio which directs them into my website, or connects them with my contact number--that's literally how you bridge it. Most people do not offer their audiences a way to get into the other house. They're inside this [social media] house. But I'd like for you to join me in the house and join this celebration too. This to me has been the easiest approach to achieve it. It sounds simple, but it is important to provide people with the opportunity to make a decision however, most don't take action like that.
Why should an email list that is bigger than your following so important?
The reason why my goal is to always have a bigger email list as compared to my own is because I want to own the information. My main concern is making sure that I own all of my contacts and information. I'd like to control every single piece of information including the demographicsand number of my contacts. If one of these other platforms shut down or decide they want to cease operations or something else, I'll be able to access all my contact information. I always think about MySpace. Some of my friends created their entire business on MySpace only to find that all of suddenly MySpace was gone and their business is lost. As I see my business as a business and I have to run in a business manner. I never want to feel like I'm dependent upon Facebook or Instagram as well as TikTok. I'd like to email my followers or even text directly and talk to my readers. And so that's why I'm focusing on building my email list as well as the current focus is the text.
What advice would you give the smaller-scale artists who use social media in order to communicate with their audience?
The advice I'd give creators that are only using social networks is to get off of them. Social media is wonderful, but it can't be the sole lead source or lead magnet. When you think about your business, you should think about it literally as the heart. It's always the heart, it's what I'm trying to get everybody into. When I think of all the blood flowing. Where does it come from? The source of the issue isn't the same place. If leads are coming from one location it's dead. If you're only getting leads from one place, it's not going to succeed. Focus on getting people into your universe. You don't own the people who use social media sites. You have to get the people into your own [businessworld in order to make money from these people because it's difficult to make money on social media platforms. It's a creative process But you're not only an artist. You are an entrepreneur.
A lot of creators believe that brand or affiliate agreements is the best way to earn cash. What would you suggest to that they should start from the perspective of the monetization vehicle?
Brand deals and affiliates can be my source of income part-time for me however, what I like about my company is that it's not just a once-off hit. It's still a good thing, particularly because we've shifted to a membership-based community our new focus now is MRR which is a term used to describe monthly recurring revenue. I'd like money to flow into my account even when I decide that I want to wake up early and go to the beach. When it comes to affiliate deals and brand partnerships usually, they're just going to last for a few days. Then, every month, you have to figure it out again and again. So put more energy and energy into creating an item that pays your consistently and provide steady revenues for your company.
What role does play in keeping you in control of your life as an artist?
It is actually the center of the company. Everything kind is flowing through it. In terms of being the one in charge of my life, I think it becomes that central hub. I can get a clear idea of how the business is running through the use of analytics. I'm able to see how my email lists are growing. And for me, when I think about my future, we all want to be in control. It's not like we're in charge, but we want to feel like we have some control. This is that is what I'm feeling. I'm able to log into the platform and I can check exactly what's happening. I can see how the company's doing the month of this, or even this month, or last month. For myself, it allows me to feel a little bit of control in an uncertain world. I'm confident that I'm in control of my destiny.
The lesson Take control of your audience
Social media platforms are the ones calling the shots, but you are still in control of your business's destiny by taking steps to ensure that you control your customers in a way that isn't social media-related.
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