Dana Miranda is a financial educator who teaches personal finance. Her initial audience was not a good fit. However, after she made the move, she saw her audience increase her audience. |

If Dana Miranda shifted her target customers to deliver training and resources for educators as well as non-profits, she discovered more alignment and fulfillment in her company.

In the two years Dana Miranda worked as a personal finance journalist, she noticed an underlying trend. "Most of the financial content that is available there, most of the advice and education, is taken from a single perspective, and that tends to be male, white, heteronormative, and from a middle-class background."

"I came from a working class heritage," Dana shares. "I'm a queer woman. It was clear to me that there was a deficiency of awareness and representation of the subtleties of the different experience that people share when it comes to money."

Instead of reproducing the same information that everyone else was sharing, Dana decided to change the story.

Today, Dana Miranda is a personal finance instructor and creator of Healthy Rich , which is a website that offers inclusive, budget-free financial education. Here's how Dana developed her own online venture and made sure her efforts reached as many people as is possible, even if that meant going a nontraditional route.

Just because a monetization strategy is popular, doesn't mean that it's right for your business

Healthy Rich began as a side hobby which Dana operated while she was a freelance writer.

"I started Healthy Rich as a project to write about different personal finance experiences. The site was just a blog but there wasn't any money being made. I wasn't quite sure what it would take to make money, but I knew that I would eventually want to make it an actual business."

"I did not want to make money through advertising and affiliates," Dana explains. "That's really common in the world of personal finance however I was not happy with what I had seen on websites I had worked for. To make sure we were offering value to the consumer, I wanted remove ads from the equation."

Dana loved the course content she created. Dana also loved talking with her students, hearing feedback, and answering questions. There was something that didn't feel right about selling her products to fans.

"I disliked everything about the launch. I hated the whole sales process of convincing people that they're suffering and I've got the answer. Nothing was a good fit for me." Dana remembers.

Offering products only to specific viewers wasn't the best way to go, which was a big problem. Even though this was Healthy Rich's strategy for monetization she wanted her followers to have access to the content for free. Her goal was to make money but didn't want that cash to go into the pockets of those she wanted to aid.

If creating items for your target market feels wrong Try shifting the audience

To gain a wider perspective, Dana had conversations with teachers and community leaders. After these discussions she realised that there was a huge demand for a an individual finance course and she was the right person to help provide it.

"The necessity for financial education is increasing," Dana explains.

"There are a lot of states that have mandates that say you must take an individual finance course before you graduate from high school however, the majority of them are unfunded and there's not any specific education path that allows someone to be an instructor in personal finance. Educators coming into the space usually are instructed to teach a personal finance course, but they don't have the confidence to do it."

Similar issues were encountered by employees of non-profit organizations and also the people who work with vulnerable populations.

"People who work in an organization that is not for profit may be helping people in another aspect of their lives but it's all inextricably connected to financial matters. People are asking questions about their financial situation that they aren't comfortable to answer. I'd like to help them to understand the subject so that they are able to answer those questions with confidence."

Dana recognized that she was able to skip selling goods to consumers and instead serve instructors and trainers to an even larger market. Her message could reach more people, her business would earn money and she could feel good for the impact she had made.

"I love to offer material to people that need it, for free in any way that I can. Helping community-based organizations as well as schools is an opportunity for me to provide these classes available to those who are in need because the people who attend these classes and programs for free," she shares.

"This has opened up a brand new audience for my business as I was able help instructors and facilitators. I am able to work with both audiences without directly offering classes to every single customer."

When Dana began to design her own educational program , it clicked.

"My first course launch was a good trial. I'm glad that I learned what I did, but I'm also glad that I learned quickly and was able to move into the next chapter."

" allows me to be able in creating what I'd like. I love that it allows me to create what I want."

The possibilities are endless, and your technology shouldn't be either.

To meet potential clients to connect with potential clients, join LinkedIn via shared work

"People are keen to share their thoughts on the work they're doing. Follow the organizations that you would want to work with and find out the things they're working on," Dana notes.

"It's been really helpful for me to understand the market which I'd like to collaborate with, which is educators and non-profit organisations. I'm a resident of Wisconsin, so I'm starting locally by working with local organizations within the community. I can reach out as an acquaintance to say that I care about what you're doing in my community. We can discuss ways we could work together.'"

Reimagining the audience she wants to reach and the goods they'll need, Dana transformed Healthy Rich into so much more than a blog about tips for personal finances. Now, the blog has a chance to change the way we talk around money.

"The manner in which we discuss about money can be a challenge, and I want to approach it in a different way. I'm hoping to supply the teachers with the resources they need, and ensure that the lessons are taught using a a more inclusive and nuanced perspective, rather than the same old financial planning and debt repayment that I was seeing."

By shifting her target audience from individual people to educators and non-profit workers, Dana stayed true to her beliefs and discovered an easier way of sharing her knowledge with those that needed it most.

Explore new routes and stay clear of making comparisons with others

Dana warns writers that "there's there isn't a perfect formula for how to pursue this profession. It's best to experiment and discover what's working for you."

The first step to finding your personal way is not to compare your work with other artists. In contrast, Dana recommends looking to your past to discover the extent to which you've gotten better.

"Everyone has been at some moment, aspiring to get to the next stage. For me, the most beneficial thing is to reflect on myself in the past five or ten years," she says.

"When I started freelancing I was aspired to become an author. I took on a few blog posts and freelance jobs, and for my first several years, I earned very low pay. If I'm feeling frustrated about where I am in my career, I glance back on my career and reflect on what I've done."

"I was able to get an employment as a full-time staff writer," She explains. "In the last couple of years, I've made six figures freelancing. Now I'm pivoting into an entirely new stage where rather than my earnings primarily being from writing freelance, I want it to come through my own business .

"It's challenging to work out the best way to achieve this, but if you have told me 12 years ago that this is my position in, I wouldn't think that this could ever occur. I'd be really astonished."

The end of the day making the decision in the direction of your own creativity can be a major win and you've probably come farther than you thought.

"I consider that having this kind of dream is a huge thing to be proud of no matter what stage you're in."