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 Facebook makes money off of the groups that are hosted on the platform.
- I ask about the initiatives that they've undertaken in the group
- A focus on women's reproductive health-The ladies set up a reproductive health fund
- Gifting memberships-Annual members vs. a free month
- The conversations in the Women's Personal Finance group move me on an emotional level. I love seeing the uniquely specific financial conversations about women's money.
- What does the future look like?
- Where is the premium community currently hosted? Discord
- I circle back and ask about why Twitter worked so well for them? They share how.
- Content creator connections happened via Twitter
For more information, visit the show notes at https://plutusfoundation.org/2022/angela-regina-mission-driven-brand
