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Angela and Regina are co-founders of Women’s Personal Finance, a massive community that is a safe space for women to talk about all aspects of how money shows up in women’s lives. We talk about monetizing a community like this one, the purpose it serves and being able to lean deeper into the brand mission through intentional monetization. Regina is a pharmacist by background, Coast FI and is not really working as a pharmacist anymore. They both shifted Women’s Personal Finance into becoming a business entity about 13 months ago. The ladies have been friends for quite a few years. Regina shares how she got into the personal finance space via Twitter. She wasn’t blogging but wanted spaces that gave her the opportunity to talk about money. She purchased a property in her 20’s and her financial trajectory was unique and she wanted to connect with other people that had a similar experience. She wanted to create a place where she could share more content (rants) 2017 Angela remembers the details. Regina kept her blog anonymous which would allow her to speak freely about her interests and connected with Angela when she reached out to write a post on “Prepper FI” on Angela’s website. Angela was a lurker in the personal finance community for YEARS. Was a completely passive consumer of that content. She decided to start blogging after joining Twitter. Meet the Women of the Personal Finance Community Post that went viral. Decided that Women’s Personal Finance be an inclusive space and not niche down to only being a FIRE group. I ask why Angela and Regina were the ones to create this community? They didn’t need a list but an actual community What surprised them about creating an online community (I disclose that I’m a member of the community) No longer letting things “happen” in the group and have become protective of the group. Surprising realization that the group isn’t for everyone. Initially it was uncomfortable to do but now it’s clear that it’s a part of how they protect women in their space. Could you talk about the tensions that have arisen as you’ve monetized this project? Regina talked Angela into monetizing the project Why was Angela reticent about monetizing the community? There were things not showing up in the Facebook feed and Angela was sent to Facebook jail because of saying “Smelly potato” and they can’t rely on Facebook They decided to add a premium community and this leaned into their community building and advocacy work offline. They wanted to really make a community that wasn’t ABOUT them vs. the community Neither Regina or Angela have added content onto their website and focus on elevating other people with their platform. I note that Women’s Personal Finance, Elevate Community and Plutus Foundation When you began selling products what was the response like? They definitely got pushback about the products. The first thing they monetized was paying the moderator using Ko-Fi and realized that there was something “here” with the community though Angela has had to work through the tension of getting paid for a passion project. I share why I rebranded my project to “Michelle is Money Hungry” and how someone was offended by the name and I wanted to have a conversation about money There is a lot of work that goes into content creation. If we’re not getting paid what are we modeling to our communities and the people that we serve? They found that higher earners who don’t want people to earn money and are unlikely to pay for what they’re producing. 52,000 members in the group and a ton of moderation work, ego and emotion Paying writers and speakers-a focus on compensating people for their work as soon as money is available “Paying Women for their Work” The first year they made $50,000 I ask about grants, they do have a Plutus Grant What have been the most impactful conversations that they’ve seen in the group Angela makes the point of how

Jillian Johnsrud is the author of Fire the Haters, a book that isn’t about the FIRE movement, but is all about creating content online and the challenges that may impact your brand. We talk about how different seasons of life influence her business, the pushback on content creators positioned in the FIRE space aren’t they allowed to make money too? And why Jillian has decided not to attend any events in 2022 Jillian writes and creates at Jillian Johnsrud.com, wrote a book, coaches, course creator and event host. I wonder how Jillian is able to do all of the things that she’s doing. Jillian is candid about how she doesn’t have a 9-5 job and that her husband also doesn’t work a 9-5 while outsourcing everything possible. How did Jillian know when it was time to outsource different aspects of her business. She shares that she started off by doing things the wrong way. I share my Virtual Assistant onboarding experience-I was the problem. Most entrepreneurs are behind the eightball when they hire. Choose the uber professional-who is more expensive Or, the person who you have to train Hiring is an important part of the monetization conversation Jillian shares her financial story and how she wanted to have a different financial experience. Became financially independent when she was 32 years old How does she make FIRE relatable to people? Create financial freedom and flex that freedom I ask a weird question: “When did you notice that you’d become a financial brand?” She started writing a few years before FIRE became a “thing” and wasn’t planning on creating a brand. She asked herself: Am I hobbyist Am I myself Or, am I a company? Jillian shares that she’s opted to become a personal brand Her season of life influences the type of content creator that she is. What is going on with the pushback on FIRE content creators making money? Does FIRE actually work where you DON’T need income in the future Jillian designs her business differently because the purpose of income in her business is to funnel money towards the projects that she’s passionate about vs. optimize profits. What defining moment influenced the writing of Fire the Haters? About 4 months into her writing career and the title of her post was changed by the editor on a large curation site. Readers were pissed off and Jillian was trying to defend herself. She reached out to Jay Money and asked “How do you deal with this? I’m not sure if I’m cut out for creating online” Jay Money laughed “Oh, honey, you don’t read the comments.” FIRE the Haters has three main content sections How do we deal with creating content online? What are our boundaries? The internal critic What to do when things go wrong and how do we regroup? What has the feedback been like for the book? Very good and that readers who aren’t content creators are able to apply the lessons in the book to their lives. What has it been like incorporating this book into her FIRE focused brand since it’s an online business book vs. FIRE? It’s ok that the book isn’t for everyone in her audience? There are different points in a content creators journey and the challenge of splitting your focus/branding and clarity issues How did Jillian find an audience for her book? She was super passionate about the book and the content and was ok with it taking longer. “I didn’t write this for year 1 sales, I wrote it for year 5 sales” I ask Jillian to share the different parts of her brand and I wonder why she said “yes” to the projects/products she said “yes” to Trying and working on products is the only way to know if something works. 2022 no conferences-Event free year as a way to see if she misses. My VA travesty was influenced by my travel to events This year I’ve decided to only attend 3 events. How is Jillian maintaining relationships and how have her relationships impacted her brand’s growth? She and her family have been traveling a lot and be

Today's guests are Julien and Kiersten Saunders of Rich and Regular. We talk about the importance of knowing how to talk to your audience vs. at your audience. How they decided on a monetization strategy that allowed them to stay out of the pockets of the community that they serve with their content and the goals that they have for their upcoming book. Julien and Kiersten Saunders introduce themselves “Rich and Regular” and their upcoming book “ Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game By Walking Away” They share how they got into the personal finance space-they were content consumers and got excited about being involved They soon realized that a lot of people that they knew weren’t interested because they didn’t see themselves in the content. How to resonate with specific audiences became a driving question in the creation of their brand. I ask them to expand on what they do as content creators and I wonder why they decided to lean into video in the way that they did. What does it take to get their financial message to resonate with their audience? It had to stand out and be approached in a different way. Rethinking the design of their content and decided it had to be entertaining. Found a videographer that they paid and designed their content Why are so many personal finance content creators staying on the surface vs. digging deeper? Instructor vs. Connecting via story and role modeling The nuance of expression, questions, etc. communicate story better-but, might not be good for social media algorithms Creatives who don’t view themselves as creatives who are unclear about marketing Why vs. How to (do it) Why did personal finance content switch from story brands to SEO driven only? I ask “Is blogging dead?” No. Kiersten breaks down why this is a silly belief Were there concerns around your monetization strategy and the impact on your brand and community that you’re serving? They decided that they didn’t want to be a line item in their community’s budget. So, the Rich and Regular monetization strategy had to be approached in a different way. They focused on creating compelling content that attracts brands vs. monetizing directly from their community Brands reach out to Rich and Regular because it’s clear who they’re connecting with their content Recognizing the middle point in a business’s life cycle which needs different types of connection and content I ask Julien and Kiersten about what they invested in with their business specifically-editing their Money on the Table, etc. Julien points out that brands appreciate the level of investment that they’ve put into their personal content and that it will translate to the content that they would create for a brand. Be so unique you couldn’t unsee it In 2022 Julien and Kiersten are publishing “Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away” We discuss their upcoming book and what does “winning” look like in a 9-5 career? I share a story about how people’s beliefs may influence their ability to accept the message that Julien and Kiersten are sharing with their book Kiersten makes the point that the majority of retires are retiring early based on data 97% of Black employees do not want to return to the office How did Julien and Kiersten decide that they should be the ones to write their book “Cashing Out Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away” Having thousands of conversations helped inform Julien and Kiersten on what content actually resonates with their community I ask about how they decided to be on the cover of their book? Because Black people on the cover of a book like this is so rare I share that I would have missed seeing them on their book as a fan If you want to sell your book take the actions that will get likely buyers to actually buy your book. What is considered success for the book? Readers reaching out or is it sales? Or, a combination of the two metrics. The Black Experience at work as a welcomed critique within business spac

Welcome to another episode of the Plutus Awards Podcast. 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 today’s episode I share how and why I decided to monetize my personal finance brand. It wasn’t an easy decision and for those of you making the decision my monetization story will highlight the fears and concerns I had about the process leading with the following question that I needed to answer “Will monetizing my brand impact the authenticity, brand mission and purpose of my project and negatively impact the community that I serve with my content?” 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. The Beginning I started blogging about money in 2012 and honestly, what I put out for the first couple of years was messy. I started with Blogger, a free blogging platform until eventually I decided that I liked blogging enough to tackle using Wordpress. I’ll never forget sitting in Eric Rosenberg’s apartment in Denver wanting to use his turntables on Christmas Eve and hanging out with his girlfriend who would become his wife as he transferred my website to Wordpress. Something that I couldn’t afford to pay for at the time. I wasn’t a prolific blogger, but I was passionate about the space, the community and the content that I was putting out there and my hope was that if I could help at least one person by sharing my story-I’d made a difference. 2012 soon became 2013, 2014, and then 2017 arrived. It was around that time that I was really having some deep private conversations with myself about the value of my time vs. what I was putting out. I still had debt that I was paying off, I had made the leap into self-employment and was navigating what I enjoyed doing as an entrepreneur and I was increasingly asking myself the following question “Does it make sense for someone in the personal finance space to say “no” to money…especially when they needed it? They… meaning me. And the other question that I literally spent years working through is how can I make money, still be authentic and still advocate for the financial changes and empowerment that I talked about on my platform. I didn’t want to make money with credit card sign ups, I loved affiliates but hadn’t yet found many affiliate programs that were a good fit and “lit me up” At the heart of the conflict that had over monetization was how to do it in such a way that I could still share what I believed without having the products or services that I partnered with negatively impact my brand? Finally I figured out how to monetize authentically while staying true to my brand. I became incredibly clear about the overall mission of my brand which is to empower Black and Brown communities while educating and partnering with allied communities to increase access to financial tools, products and opportunities that were previously inaccessible to these communities. This looked like sharing free content in the form of podcast episodes, leads for projects

Can your business succeed if making money isn’t its guiding factor? Perhaps in the most successful businesses, creating monetary value isn’t the primary objective -- or, at least, owners have another purpose in mind. In this episode, Sarah Li Cain has a candid conversation with J.D. Roth, founder of Get Rich Slowly. J.D. discusses the benefits of getting away from the idea that money is the primary goal in business, how to blend your business and personal life together and enjoy meaningful and successful work, and why he is not fond of search engine optimization (SEO). Episode highlights J.D. discusses different types of goals when making money is not top priority in your business How its ok for your purpose to change for your business and personal life J.D. expresses the importance of creating meaningful work How pivoting Get Rich Slowly from a blog to something meaningful to J.D. For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2021/money-business-purpose

Success is not necessarily defined by how much money you make or how many subscribers you have. You can create your own vision of success, and your metrics may be unique to you. It helps to know what’s within your control and what’s beyond your control, and define your success accordingly. In this episode, Sarah Li Cain speaks with Candice Latham, brand business owner of Latham Agency. Candice shares what it means to own your own version of success, how she shifted and pursued her goals in her business and life, and how you can work backwards to capture the feeling of success in your business. Episode highlights         Candice describes what success meant to her in the past         How seeing other people’s success changed her definition of success         How to deal with the competing versions of success         How to pinpoint what habits you need to accomplish your goals  About Candice Latham  Candice Latham was born and raised in the inner city of Boston. She started using her skills from her nine-to-five ad agency job to start her own design business on the side which later became her full-time hustle. Candice documented my journey of paying off $47,000 of debt and investing, going from a negative net worth to a positive one.  She believes that even if you grew up in an environment where you didn’t see opportunities & possibilities, you can still defy the odds, build wealth, and think differently for yourself and your family.

You love the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, but without some of the struggles that past generations have faced. Passive income can play a role in taking some of the obstacles away from creating a life where you have options. Acquania Escarne, wealth strategist,and host of The Purpose of Money, went deep in conversation with our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss how she discovered her own path to entrepreneurship by watching her mother’s journey, the importance of creating passive income, and how she manages incoming cash flow for the day she decides to leave her 9 to 5.  Episode highlights   Acquania discusses why she wanted to become an entrepreneur She walks us through the steps on how she grew her network How she is focusing on other arms for creating passive income Acquania explained her strategy behind having passive income About Acquania Escarne Acquania Escarne is a Wealth Strategist who helps clients across the country build and maintain generational wealth through saving and investing. With more than a decade of experience, Acquania follows a step-by-step system that helps individuals and families maximize their income and leverage money they are already spending to produce residual and tax-free income. Her Podcast and Blog, “The Purpose of Money,” teaches Women of Color about saving, investing, and building wealth through real estate, investing in the stock market, life insurance, unique savings strategies, and more. Acquania’s guests are working women and entrepreneurs that have found ways to build wealth and create more freedom in their lives today.

Ep. 77. Creating boundaries is crucial to any sport. You can’t play football or soccer without the referee reminding you to stay inbound., but what about creating  boundaries in a business or a side hustle. Is this something a business should have in place? Yes, creating boundaries within a business not only helps your business grow but helps your mental state remain healthy.  Whitney Hansen, the host of the award-winning podcast, The Money Nerds, had a detailed conversation with our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss the importance of setting boundaries around her business, and how having boundaries keeps you from creating identities solely around the business.  Episode highlights   Whitney discusses the importance of creating boundaries She walked us through the steps on how to establish boundaries in your business Whitney touches on giving yourself permission to take days off She lists the benefits in creating boundaries About Whitney Hansen I’m Whitney Hansen.  I’m a personal finance coach and entrepreneur. I teach overwhelmed millennials how to pay off debt and be financially independent by giving them the tools to have more fun with money and sprinkling in a little silliness. Some of my accomplishments are paying off $30,000 in 10 months, buying my first home at 19, and paying $472 for my master’s degree.

To expand any business, you must be open to change. Some businesses are afraid of change because they don't know what to expect. They are afraid of the unknown, but without change how would your business grow. Growth requires change! Harlan Landes, the founder and executive director of Plutus Foundation, had a detailed conversation with our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss when to know when to quit a business or side gig even when things are going great, and he digs deep into the types of self-awareness that is needed to find both personal and outward success for professional projects.  Episode highlights Harlan discusses the ideas of prioritizing a business He explains the challenges of making tough decisions How to pivot around situations when things change course Harlan expresses the importance of reflecting on your business For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2021/identify-priorities-pivot-business

There’s nothing inherently wrong about keeping it safe when writing and creating other content about personal finance. Many who do want to provide actionable and interesting information that gets the job done and helps their audience. But maybe, just maybe, you can have a bigger impact by breaking some of the rules and not playing it safe. If your audience sees your authentic self in the insight you share, even if it pertains to personal finance, you will have a better chance at connecting with and growing your audience while influencing them to take action. Piggy and Kitty, the founders and writers of Bitches Get Riches, had an exciting conversation with our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss how they grew their blog with being true to who they are, why they believe it's a disservice to the finance industry if people delivered the same content, and steps on how you can monetize your blog without relying on corporate dollars.  Episode highlights Piggy and Kitty discusses their ideas on breaking the rules They share how they collaborated choosing their brand They touched on how monetization can cause you to stay in the box with content How they grew their audience with being who they are

A book deal is a writer's dream but writing a book with your business partner may seem like a daunting task. You both have great ideas, but how will this work? What organization tool will you use, and how will you divide the work between the both of you? Don't worry, we have the answers for you. Vicki Cook & Amy Blacklock, co-authors of Estate Planning 101, and co-founders of Women Who Money, joins our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss how they got a book deal, how they were able to complete the writing and editing within three months, and why Twitter DMs helped them be more productive in completed their book.  Episode highlights Vicki and Amy discuss the logistics of writing their book together They share the tools used to organize in helping writing the book Amy and Vicki share how they navigated boundaries within their personal and work life How the content on their website paved the way for the content in their book

Everyone wants that instant stardom within the social media world. Selfies after selfies are what people think will increase their followers, but can you grow your followers with content such as illustrations or stories? Listen on for the answer to this question. Alyssa Davies, the founder of Mixed Up Money and content specialist for Zolo, joins our host, Sarah Li Cain, to discuss the turning point on why she switched to illustration content on Instagram, and how she uses stories as her main way to increase followers on social media. Episode highlights Alyssa’s transition into illustration content on social media. How Alyssa pivoted her posting to gain followers Alyssa discusses how she schedules and plans her content Alyssa talks about the challenge with Instagram community About Alyssa Davies Alyssa Davies is a content specialist for Zolo and a published author living in Calgary, Alberta. She is the founder of the two-time award-winning Canadian Personal Finance Blog of the Year, Mixed Up Money that has over 40,000 followers across social media. Through her work, she has been featured in many notable publications, including The Globe and Mail, FLARE, Global News, and more. Her first book, The 100 Day Financial Goal Journal, was published in 2020. For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2021/illustrations-social-media/