Growing up, Akeiva’s family didn’t talk about money. Her parents were immigrants still trying to figure out how money worked in the US, and thus, it was never much of a topic to be discussed. Today, money is a hot topic for Akeiva— she’s a financial planner and educator, and the co-founder of The Bemused.
Akeiva is a financial planner by profession, and at just 24 years old, she’s a bit of a unicorn in the financial planning world. In her 9-5, she provides financial advising to ultra high net worth families.
While working with clients worth millions in her 9-5, Akeiva wanted to find a way to share her knowledge with regular people, just like herself…and thus, The Bemused was born.
Akeiva’s website: https://www.thebemusedtv.com/
Take Akeiva’s Quiz: How’s your financial health?
Jessmyn:
Welcome to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast. Interact is the easiest way to convert curious people into loyal and happy customers by using a lead generating quiz. On Creator Stories, we get to hear the entrepreneur’s journey. This is a podcast about how those creators took their knowledge and experiences to carve out a place in the world, owned what they know is special about themselves, and turned it into a successful company. Today, we get to speak with Akeiva Ellis, who is a financial planner and educator. She is the co-founder of The Bemused, a financial education brand for young adults. Together with her husband, she promotes financial literacy, and the financial planning profession through YouTube video content and online course, and speaking on personal finance topics under the brand. All right, let’s get started.
Hi guys. And welcome back to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast, so excited to be with Akeiva Ellis today. Akeiva, thank you so much for being on our show.
Akeiva Ellis:
Of course. Thank you for having me on, I’m super excited about this.
Jessmyn:
Of course. And for those of you who don’t know who Akeiva is, she’s a financial planner and educator. She is the co-founder of The Bemused, tongue twister, a financial education brand for young adults. Together with her husband. She promotes financial literacy and the financial planning profession through YouTube video content, an online course, and speaking on personal finance topics under the brand. But besides that Akeiva I’m going to pass it to you. Do you want to go ahead and tell us a little bit more about you and your business, what everything entails and then take us back to the beginning and how you got started in it all?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, absolutely. So as mentioned, I am the co-founder of The Bemused, which is a financial literacy program and platform for young adults, specifically, the young professionals college student market. And the origin of that really is that I’m a financial planner by profession, that’s what I went to school for, have my degrees, and certifications, and a whole host of other things, and financial planning and was working at a financial planning firm, and the clients that this firm in particular serves are ultra high net worth, and high net worth clients. So in my day job, I was working with families with average net worths of $100 million. And so, it was fun. I learned a lot in that role. I’m still with the company currently, and it’s a fun gig, but also I wanted to find a way to impact people like me, right? Regular people, especially young adults, because I feel like there’s just so much potential that we have. I’m 24, by the way, right now, so I am not very old, and so, I am not far removed from that stage of life. And I really just was thinking about the impact that I wanted to have on that demographic specifically, based on the experiences that I had.
I grew up in a family where we didn’t talk about money at all, growing up, and my parents were immigrants, and so they were still trying to figure out how money worked in the US, and these were just conversations we didn’t have. And so, I really launched into my adult life, my young adult life, not knowing anything about money, and that’s really what spurted me this passion for helping people in that stage of life, in stage of life that I still technically am currently in. Right?
And so I went to my then boyfriend, now husband, with the idea of starting a YouTube channel as our outlet, as our way of sharing more down to earth, financial information, just information that we also felt our community me needed as young people of color. And so, that’s really how we started; we started as a YouTube channel. Over time, we grew into other areas. We now have an online course that we offer. We do speaking engagements, and workshops, and podcasts, and fun things where we’re able to share our knowledge even more. And so, that’s really what we do. We’re really transparent out our finances, because that’s something we didn’t have growing up, just people talking openly about money, so we wanted to be the change for others. So we share a lot of financial information, yes, but also information about our personal finances. For example, we do quarterly net worth updates on there. So I tell people all the time, my finances are publicly available information at this stage. If you want to know how much I make, want to know how much you paid for our house, you want to know any of that stuff, it’s out there on the internet for you to see. And that’s just our way of giving back and really being of service to our community.
Jessmyn:
I love that. I think that’s so cool. There was a couple things that I caught in there, first just kind of being how your parents were immigrants, and you didn’t talk a lot about money because I think that’s sort of a shared experience; it was kind of similar in my situation. A little bit different in the fact that my dad just always said we didn’t have any money, but we lived pretty comfortably through that whole time. And it was sort of this kind of like, “Yeah, but you still need to budget.” And I was like, “Well, what does that mean?” And to me now, budgeting is just saying all the time, “I don’t have any money,” thinking, “Oh, I can’t go do that because I don’t have money. Oh, I can’t do this because I don’t have money.” But in reality it’s like, I actually don’t really, not that I don’t have money, but I also don’t really know what I’m doing, and I’m too scared to spend that money. So I love that you guys are doing that. I think that’s great.
Another thing that caught my year was how you, you were like, “We’re pretty open online, and all our information is on there.” And I think that’s super cool because you’re kind of showing people like, “Hey, it’s attainable. Here is exactly how we do it.” So, what is that like being open like that with, I guess, finances are such a personal thing, and you yourself are like, “You know what, in order to do this as a business, I do have to be sort of vulnerable in that way to show this kind of stuff.”
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it builds relatability, one, connection, further connection with the people that we serve. And like I said, we just wanted to be a resource. So not necessarily to say like, “If we did it, you can do it too.” We definitely don’t subscribe to that model that people kind of say that all the time, like, “Well, if I can do it, you can do it too.” We understand that every person’s financial journey is just that. It’s called, “Personal finance” for a reason. Everybody’s journey is different. Everybody has different circumstances and factors that they are working with. For example, one important piece to our financial puzzle, especially as people of color in the United States, is knowing the history behind the inequities, and the legislation and things that were put into place intentionally to keep certain people back from building wealth.
And so, once you hear that, it’s not just a me thing, it’s not necessarily just about my tendencies or the fact that I like to spend money on coffee every day or whatever people like to say, that there are some systemic factors that play as well. And that’s a message that I feel like not enough personal finance, “Experts” talk about, or even know about in a lot of cases. And so, we just like to make financial literacy and inclusive endeavor, and that also starts with sharing our personal journeys and our personal stories.
Jessmyn:
Oh, I love that a lot. I love that. So when you’re kind of going through your own business messaging, and even just kind of figuring out, “This is the kind of business that I want, this is how I want to serve the people that I want to serve.” How did you come up… I don’t know. That’s not the right word, but for lack of better word, how did you come up with that sort of messaging of, “Okay, I see this problem and I know it’s common amongst the people that I’m serving, but they don’t know that problem?” Can you walk me through all of that?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. It’s a work in process, if I’m being very honest. This is really me coming on here and sharing my journey, but not necessarily like, “Look at all the things she’s done.” We are still in the grind. We are still in the throes of trying to build so even bigger than it is now. And so, I would say messaging is one of those things that have really been a challenge for us, because you kind of want to serve everybody, but you have to learn that if you try to cast a wide net, you end up with no one at all. And so, figuring out what does the right way to position ourselves to really get that message across, when, like you said, it’s a problem that a lot of people know they have, but some people don’t really know that they have.
It’s like, “Okay, well, as long as I focus on just budgeting, I’ll be okay. I don’t need to really know anything else.” Or, “Why can’t I just focus on investing?” It’s a really common thing that we hear. “I just want to learn about that, and everything else fall into a place,” or some people who think, “I just need to make more and money. That’s the problem, and once I have more money, it’ll all fall into place.” So it’s also trying to position ourselves where it’s not just saying, “Hey, we are here to help you as a college student, as a young professional, just getting started in your adult life, really make those wise decisions from now because of the impact that will have exponentially on your life down the road.” It’s also trying to convince them that there is a gap in knowledge to begin with. And so, that’s one of the innate challenges of our business, I would say. It’s having people recognize the issue, while also trying to position and message ourselves appropriately. So it is a work in progress; I feel like I’m tinkering with our website copy, and we have a quiz with Interact that we I’m tinkering with the quiz copy, and tinkering with everything on a constant basis, but I think that’s all part of the process. You learn as you go, and that’s really what entrepreneurship is about, in my opinion.
Jessmyn:
Yeah. I love that you mentioned that, because I think we talked about this last time we spoke too, was you guys are in this place in your business where you know you can grow, you know you want to grow and, you know kind of the position that you want to end up at, it’s just, you’re in that hump of trying to get there, and testing things out to kind of see what we’re works and what doesn’t work. So, in this sort of transition that you guys are going through, I guess, besides the strategy, besides figuring out what works and what doesn’t work, how do you kind of stay on top of it mentally, and make sure that you don’t burn yourself out, and when times get super hard, you don’t just kind of give up and quit?
Akeiva Ellis:
So the great thing about being in business with my husband is that we are kind of each other’s checks and balances. So I’m definitely the visionary of the team. I’m the one that’s constantly coming up with the ideas, and the content, and setting strategy and those kinds of things, and my personal downfall is that I really can go down a rabbit hole real quick on whatever it is I’m looking at, at that moment. And so, my husband’s really great at pulling me out of that, helping me be more methodical, and really setting boundaries around the things that I do sometimes. And so, that has been really helpful for me as kind of having that personality about me, is having someone else who’s really there to hold me accountable and to say, “Hey, maybe you might want to take a break? Or maybe we should just, let’s call a quits for the day. Let’s go out, let’s get some fresh air, let’s do whatever we need to do to also establish those healthy boundaries.” So it’s a day-to-day battle, it to day-to-day struggle, but I would say having that accountability has helped a lot, as well as just personal faith and prayer, and those kinds of activities that help to keep me grounded as well.
Jessmyn:
I think that’s awesome, because you guys are able to sort of separate the two, but because you have a relationship with each other, like a personal relationship, you’re able to still tap into that and say, “Hey, we need to take a second and we need to bring it back a little bit.” And I don’t know when I think of sort of support in business and I guess in life too, when you’re going through sort of different types of transitions and struggles, it is nice to have a sort of support system to kind of know, I guess, when you’re getting into that place of doing too much, it’s getting too crazy. Versus if you were in just a regular community of other entrepreneurs, they don’t know you personally, or well enough to be able to see like, “Hey, are you okay? What’s going on here and do you need to take a second?” Right?
Akeiva Ellis:
Right. And I feel like it’s a common trap that a lot of entrepreneurs also fall into, especially at these early stages when you’re just trying to build, you’re trying to grind. For us, this is something we’re doing on top of our 9:00 to 5:00s, respective 9:00 to 5:00s, plus we each also have part time jobs, so it’s a lot going on. And so I think, especially when you’re in that situation, having that person who knows what’s going on, but also knows you, like you said, is really helpful because I feel like if I was just in a support group of other entrepreneurs, it may not be as impactful, because there may be a higher chance of people having that same mentality or those same weakness is that I have as well.
Jessmyn:
Right. And I think that, I don’t know, even sometimes when I’m in Facebook groups, and I see people kind of coming to issues with whatever they have, there’s people always in the comments who are like, “Well, why is this? Why do you feel that way?” I remember I’m in this podcast group, and I had asked a question and people were in there just like, “I just want to understand why you’re even asking this question.” And I was like, “Now I feel weird asking.”
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah.
Jessmyn:
And it could shut you down real quick, and it took me actually talking to somebody that I was comfortable with, a friend of mine who was like, “Yeah, I saw that in there, and I think I they’re doing a little too much.” So it’s nice to have sort of one person who can keep you accountable, who knows you well enough to kind of know, I guess like, what your buttons are, and then also when to kind of tell you step back a little bit, or, “Hey, let’s go do something fun.” I think that’s awesome.
Something that also, I thought of when you were to talking right now was how you guys both have part-time jobs on top of doing your business, and something that I don’t know, I feel like when I hear people talk about having a job on top of their entrepreneurship, they generally call it a side hustle, and I notice that you don’t actually call it that, which I think is really awesome because you kind of see them as equal. Can you walk me through sort of how you’re able to balance both and, yeah, why don’t you call it a side hustle?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. That is a really great question, and something that I don’t even think I consciously realized until you just said it. And I think that it’s been a continuum because at first of course we were calling it our side hustle, and I think it’s honestly pretty recently, I would say as recent as this year, that I really started seeing them as two parts of my life that are equally as important. I used to introduce myself as, “Yeah, I’m Akeiva, the financial planner. I work at this company, this wealth management firm, and I have a side business called The Bemused, and we make cute little YouTube videos.” I try to downplay my own business, but I think over time as I’m seeing, one, the impact that this little business is having on people, as well as, as we expanded to include other areas, for example, when we created the course, that was a game changing moment for our business, as we started growing and getting more opportunities because of the work that we were doing with the business. I think all of it, all of that really just created a sense of, “Okay, this is a real thing. This is as important as my day job.”
And as well as the fact that we got to a point where my day job was also really impressed with the work that I was doing through my other business, that they really created a new kind of role for me within my day job, that more suited the stress and the things that I was doing outside of the firm anyway. And so, I think it just became this really symbiotic relationship, and really helped me see them really as true, true businesses. I don’t necessarily need to lead with my day job; I’m both. I’m equal parts both, and they’re both important to me. So, it was really a continuum, but I’m glad that we’ve arrived here now.
Jessmyn:
Yeah, because I love that a lot. I think something that I’ve seen, at least even in our own community to at Interact is, a lot of people are in a place where they have a day job, a regular 9:00 to 5:00, but they are starting up their business, which they’re calling currently their side hustle because, at some point they don’t want it to be their side hustle, right? They want to fully leave their 9:00 to 5:00, and then they want to start this new thing, and make it a full on business. So my question for you from that is really just, if you are working in both, and you’re able to kind of see both as true businesses, I guess, how can you have the best of both worlds, is really what I’m getting at?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. I think a major thing is making sure that both sides of you are playing nice in the sandbox, right? One thing, especially in the financial services industry, there’s a lot of contracts, and you can’t do this on the outside, especially when it relates to something else having to do with personal finance or money. And so, having that relationship where everyone knows what’s going on, it’s a symbiotic relationship, there’s no secrets being held on either end, something that you’re comfortable just being in both, I think that that was really important. Specifically, more so in the context of really legalized and stricter fields like those. But in general, I think that, like you said, that mindset is really important, of treating both as equally, giving your all when you are on your 9:00 to 5:00, giving your all there, but also giving your all to your business at the same time, and not having one kind of fall to the wayside.
I mean, there will be seasons where maybe your day job gets super busy, or maybe you’re going into a big launch for your business or something like that, where there will be imbalances from time to time, but really trying to keep yourself in check, and also creating a schedule, for lack of a better word, for yourself where you know that, “Okay, as long as I am really getting things done in both areas,” and also not biting the hand that feeds you at that moment, if you are still on the stage where your business is not necessarily cash flowing, as well as your day job, just making sure you keep that in mind as well, but really just being true to both sides of yourself, and doing the best you can in both areas.
Jessmyn:
Oh, I love that a lot. I think what you’re doing is incredible because people see sort of their business while they have a 9:00 to 5:00 as, I don’t know, there’s always one that has kind of a negative connotation to it, right? Either, it’s the side hustle of like, “I don’t know why I’m doing this, it’s taking up all this time. I’m up late every night, and I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere.” But then there’s this other side of it where people are saying, “I just don’t want this anymore, that’s why I am doing this side hustle. I want to move on from it.” But what you’ve done is keep both sides super positive, and it’s working, and it’s working really well for you. And I know you mentioned that having a set schedule and making sure you get things done. For those who are maybe not very time management savvy, how do you separate both businesses and making sure like, “Okay, I want to make sure I give a good amount of time to each, because I have things that I need to accomplish. I have things I need to get done, but there’s only so many hours in the day?”
Akeiva Ellis:
Absolutely. I think, I’m a big proponent of working smarter and not harder, right? So I think that goes a long way when it comes to having limited time with working on your business, especially when you are giving your 9:00 to 5:00 to your 9:00 to 5:00, and then what I call, I call it my 5:00 to 9:00, because that’s kind of the after hours when I’m really working hard on my business. So I think when it comes to that, it’s working smart and not hard. It’s looking into the tools, the systems, the practices maybe that you really need to do before you work on these types of activities, that will help you to get more done in less time. And I know a lot of us, they’re starting from zero, we need to bootstrap a lot of things, and that also adds to the time that things sometimes take in order to get done. Because we can’t afford the $500 software, and the $600 this all the time or even sometimes honestly the education and the training that we might want, in order to supercharge us to the next level.
So, I think it’s a matter of making smart decisions as best as you can, not saying, you’re not going to get it right every single time; you might make a mistake here or there with what’s worth investing into at certain points in your business, but really investing in those tools that you know will move the needle substantially, so that you’re able to really make your workflow more efficient and get you to where you need to be, faster. If that makes sense?
Jessmyn:
Yes, definitely. My next question from that was as now that you’re in this stage of, “Okay, we’re going through a transition, we’ve had experience already on what’s worked and what’s not worked.” What would you say are maybe the top three or top five things that you either wish, or you were glad you invested in, in order to get you to this point?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, I would say hands down, the one thing that… I’m always an ROI person, so that’s what I’m looking at is the things that I’m happy I invested in. One would be a course that I took that taught me how to create my course. That was hands down the best business decision that I think I have ever made, because of the ROI that I was able to get as a result of putting what I learned in that program into practice, right? So I’m definitely not a course junkie by any stretch of the imagination though. My husband would probably say something differently, but I like to invest in things that I think are going to get me an ROI. That’s really what I believe. So that was one thing because that was really the basis of creating the course that kind of leveled up our income at that point.
The second thing, I would say is equipment related to filming our YouTube videos. We bought a teleprompter a few months ago, and it has just made our workflow again, limited time, right? We don’t have time for the mess up, and the losing the train of thought, and all of that stuff where now you have 45 minutes of footage that you need to cut down into a 10 minute video. At some points, it just doesn’t make sense, and so we decided to invest into a teleprompter, because we thought it would make our workflow more efficient with filming videos, as well as we were recording videos for our course at that time. So we were like, “Yeah, this makes sense. We’re going to buy this.” And it has. It definitely has sped up our workflow so much.
And so, those are the things that I think are probably my best investments in my business, so far. I would love to put Interact on the list. It’s still really, really early, but I did invest it-
Jessmyn:
Getting there.
Akeiva Ellis:
Exactly. Because I do think that over time that is really going to be a really big part of our business and we’ve already had a couple hundred people go through our quiz, and we’re just going to keep making it better. And we’ll hopefully reap the fruits of our labor as time goes on. And so, I would say those are some of the best business and my investments that I’ve made so far, personally.
Jessmyn:
I love it though, because what I heard was, just making sure you get a return on investment on it. And then, also does it help with efficiency? So does it help you kind of get what you need to do, especially if you are in a place where you are and your husband are in, where you have to have your day job, you have to get that stuff done. And you still also have to do everything else, right? Like eat dinner, you have to maybe exercise, or you want to have some sort of relaxing time. And maybe even just something as simple as, “I need to take a shower.”
Akeiva Ellis:
Exactly.
Jessmyn:
You kind of make decisions where, okay, how can I do this more efficiently? Or in a sense where like, it gets the same result done, but it doesn’t take as many times? And I can actually attest to, if you’re recording something, I will record stuff for Interact, and what I’ve been doing is typing everything out on a teleprompter, like your bio that I just did… Sorry, not a teleprompter, on a Google Doc, and had it been on a teleprompter where it’s kind of moving for you, you can stare at the screen, but also read the teleprompter at the same time. It would be a total game changer if this was something I was doing over and over again, right? Whereas right now, of course it works for me because it’s just a Google Doc, but it’s wild. It’s too much.
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. I feel you.
Jessmyn:
But I think that’s awesome, and I think that’s great. Something that also kind of came up as you were talking was just sort of, as you’re going through this, and figuring out I know you’re going through a transition, what are some of the ways that you’re able to kind of work through the challenges that you have during this transition? So that could be either, kind of similar to, are you looking at other products that you think that would make life easier? Or is it something a little bit more personal? Like, “Okay, I need to take at least two hours to myself a day?” What does that look like for you?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, it’s really a combination of both. I’ve really spent a lot of the past couple of weeks, recent weeks, both researching different things, different solutions that I think might be beneficial for the business, while also take intentional time to step away. Because it can be overwhelming at times, right? It’s kind of like you’re knocking at a door that’s not opening, no matter what you try. And that’s kind of how it’s feeling at this moment where, you know you have a great offer, you know you have a great product or solution that has sold before, and now we’re going through this transition of offering it through a different means, through a different funnel, where we’re having a lot of roadblocks with it. And we’re getting to a point where it’s like there’s but so much money you can spend, and invest and not get anything back in return.
So, it’s trying to see how we can get the most bang for our buck right now, at this stage in our business, while also knowing when to step away, take time for ourselves, and not really get bogged down by the whole thing. Because I’m just a very go-getter type of personality, very I have big dreams, and big goals, and nobody’s going to stop me kind of personality. And so, when you come upon opposition like this, it can be really hard. And so, it’s knowing myself, knowing my triggers, having that faith that in the end, it’s all going to work out, we just have to find another way around. We just have to find another path, and keep trying, and keep innovating, and keep trying different things, and knowing that eventually, when the time is right, I’m also a big believer in what’s for you is for you. Whenever God opens that door, it’ll be opened, and in the meanwhile, you just have to listen and act. And so, that’s kind of where I’m at right now, while also researching different methods, and tools, and talking to people, and having conversations about how to improve, and alter and tweak the things that we have.
Jessmyn:
Right. I think that’s awesome. Do you ever feel like, because you have you a 9:00 to 5:00, that you’re able to sort of step away and have something else to occupy your mind? Like, “Okay, because I have another responsibility, I can come kind of let that kind of take over my mind while I’m trying to figure this out, and step away,” or do you feel like it makes it harder?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, I feel like I’m just always having ideas about the business, always doing something. And I’m the type person where, when I have an idea, I need to write it down right then and there, because I surely will forget matter of about two minutes or if I have the time, if I don’t have anything else going right now, I’m down the rabbit hole already, researching whatever that idea is. And so, whenever I need to work on my 9:00 to 5:00, it’s more so of a like, I had an idea for the business, but I really need to get this thing done for my 9:00 to 5:00.
And so, that’s what I’m trying to weigh in my head where some days, I will have my to-do list and this is the stuff that really needs to get done today, whether it’s for the business or for my 9:00 to 5:00. And like I said, sometimes, it ebbs and flows, right? Where I might take an hour, and work on something for the business because I just really wanted to research it, and tack that hour on to the end of my day for my 9:00 to 5:00, or something like that. So, there’s different ways that you can kind of go about it. I just know it works for me, individually, but I think everybody else has to find their rhythm, and their flow, and organize the messy brain of ours up here into something that’s going to make sense, but also move the needle for both of areas of your life.
Jessmyn:
I actually heard, I forgot where I read it, but it was kind of something similar where it was saying, as soon as you wake up, I mean, don’t do this on the weekends because that should be your rest day, but as soon as you wake up ready for work, write down all the things that you need to get done, and then from there, kind of figure out like, “Okay, where is this placed in my day?” And so, that way you physically are crossing things off your list. So it’s really interesting that you already do that, and it’s kind of something that I think a lot of people probably already do, but I had just read this in a blog or something. They were like, “This is what we recommend doing to get the most productivity out of your day.” And I was like, “Oh, shit, that’s kind of cool.”
I don’t do that at all. I mean, it’s funny that you talk about what works for you. I feel like I’m always trying to figure out what does at actually work for me. I’ll like something for a period of time, and then one day I’ll wake up and I’ll be like, “This isn’t working. I hate it.” But for me right now in this season, what I’m doing is mostly just, I like to kind of write down everything that needs to get done in the next, whether it’s week, month just in the list of, “Okay, this is this week, this is next month,” and then, whatever that looks like, and then putting it into the week, into different time slots. But what’s crazy is I feel like things always come up, and then I have to move it. And it’s wild. I’m in that place where I’m like, “Maybe I need to figure out something else. That’s a little bit more of efficient than this?”
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. I mean, I understand I’m the queen of breaking my own deadlines, right? If I am putting a self-imposed deadline, high probability that I will actually not make that deadline. So, that’s also part of the struggle, and part of why having that other person that really keep you in check, it’s like, “Nope, we are not moving that again. You need to get it done.” So, that’s been helpful for me.
Jessmyn:
Oh, I like that a lot. It’s sort of like, I mean, because if you were the only person, the only founder of this business, it is easy, right, to always just kind of be like, “Okay, well maybe I could push that to later. Maybe I could push that to later,” but then you kind of forget all the things that you do need to get done, whereas now you kind of have somebody else who’s relying on that getting done. And so, it does do what you said; that sort of checks and balances of like, “Okay, you need to get this done because we’re relying on it,” and then you kind of forget, your audience is relying on that to get done as well, even if they don’t know it yet.
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. Especially when you have different facets of your business, and different arms, where it’s like, we have YouTube videos, but also we have students in our course, and we’re also trying to relaunch this course, and then, you also have your speaking engagement, especially in the fall; it’s conference season, and people are reaching out to you to speak at this place, and that place, and all kinds of things. So it’s just keeping it all straight when you have so many different things going on under one brand that it becomes hard to keep track.
And I’m the type of person where I also like to work wherever my energy is in that moment. So I might wake up and feel like scripting my next presentation, or I might wake up with a great YouTube video idea or I might wake up with the latest software that I wanted to research to help host the course or something. So, I also like to work according to my energy, because I also feel like I’m not productive at all when I’m working against how my energy is for the day, because I’ll just sit there and five hours will pass, and I will have gotten nothing done because I’m trying to force myself so hard to do this thing that I really wasn’t in the mood to do, while I could have been crushing it at this other aspect that I really felt like doing at that moment. So it’s a mix of working to my energy, because I know that’s where I’m most productive, while also sometimes really just getting done what needs to be done in that moment. So, it’s a struggle, but-
Jessmyn:
But it’s a great idea because if, just like you said, you probably could have gotten something else completely done, it would’ve been awesome, had you listened to your energy and was just like, “All right, this isn’t something that I can put enough into right now, so I should refocus over here.” But if you do force yourself kind of into finishing something that is just not going to work, now you’re just kind of wasting more time figuring that out, rather than directing your attention towards something else and just going for it. I think that’s super smart. I feel like that’s really interesting, because it kind reminds me of my own task list, like I was saying, where I try to fit things in, and then I end up pushing things aside, and I wonder if it’s because, if you don’t listen to your body, and you don’t listen to your own needs, then that kind of stuff happens, and you do have to push stuff back, because you’re not being as productive, I guess, as you could be.
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. I mean, the downfall of that though is what sometimes happens is, okay, well when is your energy actually going to shift to that thing that actually needs to get done? And then, you find yourself at a point where it’s like, “Mm, that should have been done like two weeks ago, and I still haven’t gotten to it.” And so, there’s a downfall to it as well. But for the most part, as long as I have the ability or the capacity to work according to my energy, I definitely prefer to do that.
Jessmyn:
Right. I love that though. I think, as long as it’s balanced, it’s a really great idea, but I see what you’re saying. Something that came to mind as you were talking right now was just kind of, so you guys have this plan of where you want your business to go, how you want it to launch, what are some of the ways, or I guess, how do you shop yourself from kind of getting too far before you get there, if that makes sense? So say, you’re at point A, you want to get to point D, and before you get to point D, you need to figure out B and C, but you’re already at C, or something like that, or you’re already want to be at D. So how do you stop yourself from like, “Okay, I know I’m going to get there, I just need to do all this other stuff first?”
Akeiva Ellis:
Yes. That is a fabulous question, because I definitely can fall victim to that quite often. And so truthfully, in my head, I’ve already thought of two other offers that I’d love to create. However, we’re not even past offer one right now, you know what I’m saying? And so, I’ve done a pretty good job of putting those on the mental back burner. Sometimes when I have a really great idea; I have a notebook that I just have a continuing list of ideas around that particular offer, whether it’s a cool piece of copy I just thought of, or something else, like a personal achievement or anecdote that was related to that particular offer. So things like that, I’ll just write them down. But I also feel like with this one offer, there’s already so many moving piece, and so many things I still have to figure out that it’s easier to kind of put those other things aside.
And so, right now the focus is, this one funnel already has, it feels like it’s A to Z and within this one offer, so it’s like, I feel like as long as we are working on some portion of this, then we’re going to be okay. And so, that’s where I’ve kind of focused my energy now. There’s a lot of things vying for my time and my attention that, at just some point, you just can’t literally do it all, or think about it all. So, trying to keep myself on focus, on target, and also having that accountability through my husband to keep on target.
Jessmyn:
I think that’s great. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, it happens all the time, even in the tech space for us, where we just throw out all these ideas, we’re so excited and we’re like, “Wait, weren’t we working on a project that we were excited about and totally forgot we were doing a week ago?” And I’m sure in entrepreneurship, that happens all the time, especially if you’re in this space of, “I have all these ideas. I know it could be big, and we’re kind of in this space of, we’re starting to gain traction, I just want to get it all out there.” But if you get too excited, and you push everything out, you could deal with things like burnout, or it won’t launch properly, or maybe you’ll have to push something else, or you didn’t finish this other thing before you did launch that, and it could get really crazy, real quick.
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, for sure.
Jessmyn:
So from here, I guess, while you guys are in this transition, what is next for you? Where do you see your business going?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah, I definitely see us really trying to… Well, not trying to, we’re trying to now. I see us scaling this particular offer that we have, the transition that we’re we’re in. And I guess I should probably be more clear about the transition that we’re in, we keep saying, “Transition,” but not really defining exactly what that transition is. So, we launched our flagship course in May of 2020, and we have since launched it a couple of times successfully, through purely organic means; just people in our network, social media followers, et cetera. And they, like I said, went really well. And so, now we got to a point where it was like, “Okay, now we want to put this on demand,” because also running a course live over and over, again, time constraints. Just cannot physically do that, keep doing that. And we also wanted to scale it to a point where we could have more people become a part of the program, and so that’s the transition that we’re referring to; we’re taking our course from live to an evergreen funnel. And it’s been a struggle, right? We relaunched it using our evergreen funnel at one point, and crickets.
So, that’s why we are really trying to brainstorm and see where do we need to make improvements? It’s our first time, of course, using an evergreen funnel, so understanding there will be some learning curve. But also because there are so many moving pieces, really trying to hone in on each piece, and make it as optimized as it can be. So that’s where we are, but I know we will crack the code. Eventually, we will crack the code, and it will be a super success, and we will offer our course, and we will scale our course. We are also opening it up to colleges and universities who to license it for their college students, and so that is something else that we have on our radar that we kind of started the process already, but then kind of fell back a little bit on, and so we will be reaching out more to different colleges and universities to license that program as well. So, that’s where I see it, I think over the next year, is really just focusing on growing this thing, and making it as successful as it can be before we move on to anything else.
Jessmyn:
How exciting. I love that, I think that’s great. Well, as you’re going through this, again, I’m going to say, “Transition.” Now that you caught me, I feel like I’m saying it so many times. But as you are going through this process, and as you talk, I could see your excitement, for those of you who are listening and not watching video, I could see how excited you are about this. How do you figure out what that next step is? So say, you are in this place where you’re like, “Cool. My courses are doing great, right? Every time I launch it, we have some good traction going,” how do you figure out what that next step up is?
Akeiva Ellis:
Next step, as in once the course is thriving, or next step as in right now?
Jessmyn:
Just in general of, when you’re thinking of where your business is going. So for those who are listening, whether they’re doing a course for skincare, or maybe they’re a coach, maybe they have products, and they’re like, “Okay, cool. Yeah, my business is doing pretty great. I did X, Y, Z. What’s next?” But they don’t know what to do next. So how do you figure out, “All right, here’s where I want to go with this,” and how do you know that that’s going to end up working out?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. I mean, to answer the second question, you never know if anything’s really going to work out, right? But in terms of, “How do I figure out where I want to go next?” It’s, “Okay. This is done. Checkbox. Everything is good.” I think about, one, what is having the most impact right now? And what are some ways that we can provide further value in that area? And then, there are other times where I just get really fun ideas, and maybe I just want to look into this a little bit more, because it just seems fun to me, or it seems like a natural use of my passions and energy. And so, I think it’s a mix of both things; it’s what do we enjoy doing? What do we have the capacity to do? While also thinking about what is the most impactful for our audience, right? That’s really who we’re here to serve. We’re here to serve them and provide value, so it’s really thinking about all of those things together, and that really helps shape what the next step is.
Like I said, I already have two other offer ideas in my mind, based off of the things that I’m hearing from the community, the things that I also had to experience in, in a different format. And so, those are the things that I know will come next and I’m sure we’re talking years down the road for those things, right? So there’s not going to be a shortage of things for us to work on for the next several, several years, but that’s really how I kind of come about with these different ideas.
Jessmyn:
I love that. And for those who maybe are just starting out, and they have sort of an idea, but they don’t quite know what to do with it. And from your own experience, how did you go from, “Okay, I work in finance, this is the field that I’m good at. I know what I’m doing. I know I want to start a business, and I know these are the people that I want to serve.” How do you go from having that idea, to actually putting something into place that you can use to help them?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. Again, I think it’s a mix of what do you do well, what comes naturally to you, and also is that thing impactful on your audience? So for us, it was a YouTube channel, right? That was our start because at that point, YouTube seemed cool. YouTube also seemed like a place where people can come for years and years to get information; it just suited the type of content that we wanted to create, versus something, let’s say, like starting a blog, or a podcast, or writing a book, or whatever other method, or means, or just doing public speaking or focusing on that. The different means that you can get your same message out there, YouTube just seemed like the right home for what we wanted to do.
It was also a challenge to myself because a lot of people, when I tell them this, they’re surprised because they’re like, “You seem so bubbly and extroverted, and I always see you at conferences and stuff like that, very public events, or speaking,” or whatever, but I’m a very introverted person, with a healthy side dose of social anxiety. And so, it was also a challenge to myself at the same time to really push myself out of my comfort zone, and have people see me on camera, get comfortable being vulnerable in that way as well. So it was a mix of, this is a way to reach more people. Also, we know YouTube is a massive search engine; it’s a way that we can impact more people, it’s way we can reach more people. It is a challenge also on a personal level, and we just thought that would be a great way to get started.
Jessmyn:
I love that. I think that’s awesome. And I like how you use the words, “This would be a great home for the information that we wanted to give to people.” I think that’s really great to think about. Love it. So I have two questions that I’d like to close out with, if you’re game for it. Second to last question is: what are three things that most people wouldn’t know about you?
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah. So I guess I may as well circle back to what I just said; it’s probably number one, because people are so surprised by it. It’s like, “Nope, not extroverted, not one ounce, not 1%. I am a very introverted person,” which a lot of people who know me just being in the public eye, will assume about someone who’s constantly flapping their gums on the internet, or at conferences, or at different places, but that’s something people might not know. The second thing is that a lot of people in my professional life, people in my personal life know this, but in my professional life, a lot of people don’t know that I have been singing basically since I could talk. So, music is a huge part of my life. Yeah, it’s a huge part of my life. I’ve been singing in all forms and fashions since I’ve been a child and sad that I don’t really get to sing as much these days, but still a very big part of my life. So that would be the second thing most people don’t know. And then, hmm, what’s a third thing people don’t know. I don’t necessarily consider myself that unique of a person, but I’m sure there’s something out there.
Jessmyn:
There probably is. There probably is, but you don’t know that people don’t know it.
Akeiva Ellis:
Right. It’s like, what do people actually not know? I feel like most people know that my family’s from Trinidad and Tobago; it’s not that big of a secret. I talk about it from time to time, but let’s just throw that in there for good measure. Is that, yeah, that’s where my peeps are from, that’s where my family’s from, and that’s where most of my family is. So yeah.
Jessmyn:
I think it’s so funny because now that you mention, it’s interesting when you’re an entrepreneur, and you do have a really open book and you’re like, “I kind of say everything, everywhere,” but there I’m sure, are things that people are like, “Oh wow. I had no idea.” Hopefully we’ll get some people calling and being like, “Oh yeah, I didn’t know that she did that.”
Akeiva Ellis:
Yeah.
Jessmyn:
And then last question: What is a single piece of advice that you would give to yourself at the start of it all
Akeiva Ellis:
“Be patient.” That’s what I would tell myself at the start of all. “It’s all going to work out. Just be patient.” Just with my personality, I know that I can get ahead of myself. I can get very bogged down into things, and be very impatient, and want things to work out right away, or to be a success right away, so just telling myself to slow down, and be patient, it’s all going to work out.
Jessmyn:
I love that. Well, thank you so much Akeiva for being on our show with us today. Where can people find you online?
Akeiva Ellis:
Of course, yes. You can find this on our website, thebemusedtv.com. That is bemused is spelled B as in boy, E-M-U-S-E-D, the bemusestv.com. You can find us on YouTube at The Bemused, that’s where we live. We have our Instagram, of course, where we are also very active. You can find us @thebemused on Instagram, on TikTok @thebemused, if you want to find us on there. You can connect with me personally on LinkedIn, my name is very SEO friendly, so if you type in Akeiva, honestly, you’d probably only be my first name, I promise you, you’ll find me. But Akeiva Ellis, anywhere on the internet promise you, you’ll find me, connect with me on LinkedIn, reach out, DM us, we’d love to talk to you, I’d love to talk to you. So yeah, that’s where we’re at.
Jessmyn:
Amazing. And we will link some of those in the show notes for you guys to check out. And that is all. Thank you guys for listening and we will see you next time.