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 Adrienne Taylor and she shares how what turned out to be an epic fail with a product ended up being a huge win for her clients.
Adrienne Taylor – The Sin of Purposelessness: Tailor Your Products to Your Audience’s Needs
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
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