Building Strong Relationships Is Key

By collaborating and networking with other people in your niche, you are building relationships that will not only help you and your biz, but you may even get a great friend out of it! I have made so many friends through building relationships with others and we are always happy to share each others work and help support each other in our endeavors.

Visibility + Engagement Are The Dynamic Duo

Without being visible or engaging with your audience, you will have a very hard time getting noticed among your target market. You want to constantly be putting out great valuable content and engaging with your audience asking them questions, providing value, answering their questions and so on. A great way to increase your visibility and engagement are in Facebook groups filled with your target market! Check out my post on Facebook groups HERE!

Systems + Strategies Need To Be In Place

Many of us are solopreneurs and we wear many hats. Systems and strategies help us manage our business and ease the stress a bit. Some of my favorite systems include Google Apps For Work, Hootsuite, Mailchimp, Adobe Creative Suite, Asana, and Evernote. You also need to put in place strategies for email marketing, social media, blogging, etc. This helps put together a workflow that you can follow so you can be prepared and not have to reinvent the wheel every time.

Taking Time Off Is Important

Last but certainly not least would be taking time away from work. As a creative entrepreneur it is extremely easy to get stuck in a rut and work nonstop. By taking weekends off, turning the computer off after a certain time and taking time to really pamper myself, I have become less stressed, have increased my creative flow and have felt less cluttered. We all deserve some time away to breathe, spend time with loved ones and get back in touch with our purpose.

To help celebrate our first birthday, I will be giving away a branding package including the following:

Brand Style Guide (Logo, Color palette, Inspiration board, 2 Fonts, 2 patterns)

5 custom graphics

30 min brand strategy session

Happy Friday lovelies! Today I am interviewing the gorgeous Bola Onada Sokunbi from Clever Girl Finance! I absolutely adore what Bola is doing and how she is educating women to take charge of their finances!

Tell us a little about yourself, your business & why you started it!

Hi there, my name is Bola Onada Sokunbi and I'm the founder of CleverGirlFinance.com. It is a platform I created that is dedicated to empowering women to make the right decisions for their current and future selves. I created this of a passion to educate after several experiences with women who were afraid to talk about money, didn’t know what to do with their money situation and were struggling with debt even though they were very successful in other aspects of their lives.

What made you jump into the world of finance?

I love personal finance and financial planning and have done it for myself and informally for friends for years. My educational background is in technology and business strategy. Being a strategist, planning ways to achieve an end result or goal directly relates to all aspects of my life, including my personal finances. As I've gotten older, the one reoccurring theme I see with many women is that we tend to shy away from the whole money conversation or we don't care as much as we should. So when i was thinking of what next step to take with my life and career, creating awareness and educating women about their money made the most sense - I'm passionate about it!

What is your favorite aspect of this type of work?

I get to do what I love and I get to see how simple money habit changes can make huge differences in people's financial situations which in turn makes them happier. I love that fact that with my writing and services I am able to make a difference in someone's life.

What inspires & motivates you?

I'm inspired and motivated by my husband and children - they make me want to be my best self. I look at my children and realize that I choose what legacy I create for them and I want them to have the best of everything I never had.

I'm also inspired and motivated by my circle of influence - my friends and my mentors - these people challenge me every day to be better, they pick me up when I have those days when I feel like I'm not doing good enough and they keep me accountable.

What has been one of your struggles within your biz that you overcame?

One of my on-going struggles as a new business is being the jack of all trades. I am my secretary, social media expert, brander, accountant, content creator - you name it, i'm doing it. The way i overcome this is to prioritize and go step by step day by day. The women I'm reaching come first and then the content and service I provide. I also want to make sure I'm doing all I can to create awareness about Clever Girl Finance and keep my business relevant to my audience. So prioritization is super important!

What has been your biggest accomplishment thus far in your journey?

My business is fairly new but so far my two biggest accomplishments are -

1. The fact I'm reaching women and they are staying engaged and talking to me about their money!

2. I've actually stepped out in faith and I'm pursing my dream - CleverGirlFinance.com. This is me putting myself out there in the world saying hey look at me - getting this far is huge to me.