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 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.
LaTisha Styles – The Sin of Pride: No Shame in Backtracking
Notes and summary from this episode
LaTisha -My name is LaTisha Styles and I am the founder of “You’ve Got Clients” I’m a marketing consultant helping clients recognize their subconscious blocks so that they can raise their rates and create massive profit.
Michelle-I would love to hear how did you end up in the personal finance space?
LaTisha-Well, because I was broke. I was living with my parents, I graduated with a Finance degree during the great Recession. I overheard my mom talking to someone saying Tish has 2 degrees and I’m not sure what she’s doing with them. Then one day I shared a personal story about my student loan debt and I transitioned my blog where I shared my personal story
Michelle-You create this project where you get paid from what you were doing? Did you have a side-hustle?
LaTisha-I was a brand new blogger and I wasn’t making anything. I started delivering sandwiches from Jimmy Johns. It took 11 months to get a job.
Michelle-Was that humbling for you?
LaTisha-100% when I was delivering sandwiches I would go to these high rise buildings with my hat and uniform and I would think I should be working here versus delivering. I had a chip on my shoulder. I decided to make my own job so that this wouldn’t happen again.
Michelle-How long did it take for your business to sustain itself?
LaTisha-I started in 2010 and it took until about 2017 to make an income that sustained itself.
Michelle-I really appreciate you sharing that timeline. I think it’s not shared often enough how long it takes to gain traction in an online business.
LaTisha-It also depends on the story that they want to share and their goal for what they’re trying to sell. Look behind what’s behind the scenes and read between the lines.
Michelle-This season we’re really talking about the sins you could commit in your business accidentally or on-purpose. I’ve noticed that sins don’t exist separate from one another. I would love for you to share what the sin is that you would like to discuss and why that story is important.
LaTisha-The main story that I share, I am a person who talks about “here’s how to make money” one of the no=nos is to talk about how to support yourself. When I first started I wasn’t full-time. I had the pf blog in 2010, I left that full-time job on Friday, 13 2014. I had 6 months of cash saved up. I remember my boss saying “You picked a hell of a day to quit.” I also had a co-worker who said if it doesn’t work out you can always come back. A couple of months later, one of my affiliate partners closed their program. That was a large chunk of change. I went to my husband (who was under the impression they’d have a dual-income household 7/15) So, I got a job and I cried everyday for 3 days straight because I felt like a failure and felt like nothing had changed. I’d run through my savings and nothing was left. I decided to try again and this time I quit without any savings.
Michelle-I didn’t know that!
LaTisha-At the time we had very low-expenses in Memphis. I’d gotten one client, someone who had contacted me and needed help with brand strategy. That one client covered the previous salary. My husband was like-don’t lose that client. I got a couple additional clients and I’ve been self-employed since 10/15 but the full-time income was in 2017.
Michelle-What lessons did you learn during that process? What are the things you want other entrepreneurs to consider as they build out their brand?
LaTisha-I know that the recommendation that you should always have “a savings” the second time I had a better business model.Understanding what is a business model, how do I deliver ? It’s ok not to be the perfect personal finance guru. The entire time I had student loan debt and didn’t pay that off until last year (2021) People give you recommendations for what you “should do” . You have to learn how to trust yourself.
Michelle-Could we talk more about products? Did you get tripped up with a product?
LaTisha-I had a product called “Design Your Launch” and I got zero sales.
Michelle-How is this possible?
LaTisha-I thought that maybe people want ME to design their launch. I’m going to do 2 products:
Teach you
Design for you
And, I couldn’t figure out why people weren’t buying it.
Michelle-One of the things that I’ve noticed with successful content creators, they have their own products. Why has product development been a key part of your business (without investing too much time and money)
LaTisha-I’m a huge student of marketing even though I don’t have a marketing degree. One of the people I love learning from, Jay Abraham, the first purchase is generally the hardest for someone to buy from you. I’ve developed my products with that in mind and have products at a lower price point which makes the next purchase easier. I’m also thinking about what is the thing that someone is really excited to learn and then what are the foundational aspects customers need.
Michelle-If you were starting over, what would be the one piece of advice you would give a content creator in 2022?
LaTisha-Understand that people are very, very, very jaded with what’s out there. Remember that it’s ok to sell your own products and services.
Michelle-That cynicism makes people look for authenticity. I’ve designed a very admittedly progressively leaning business with a focus on social good and have changed the pricing of products.
LaTisha-As I’ve started looking at what I really want to do, I’m a teacher at heart. It’s an “ELF” business: easy, lucrative and fun. It’s important to understand that there’s lots of different ways to bring in revenue.
Michelle-I wish we could eliminate the talking point that businesses are built quickly.
LaTisha-There’s a low-barrier to entry now. There’s a lack of understanding on the foundational elements.
How to Follow Latisha
YouTube-LaTisha Styles
Instagram-LaTishaStylesTV
Fair warning I’ve done some fitness modeling.
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