Personal finance teacher Dana Miranda's first audience wasn't a fit. When she decided to make this change, she began to expand. |

If Dana Miranda shifted her target customers to deliver training and resources for educators as well as non-profits, she discovered an increase in satisfaction and harmony her business.

Within the time Dana Miranda worked as a personal financial journalist, she observed a tendency. "Most of the financial content that is available there, most of the information and advice, comes only viewed from one point of view, which is usually white, male heteronormative and coming with a middle-class upbringing."

"I came from a working class background," Dana shares. "I'm a queer woman. and I was constantly seeing there was a lack of awareness and representation of the nuances of these diverse encounters that individuals have when it comes to money."

Instead of repeating the same data shared by everyone else, Dana decided to change the story.

Presently, Dana Miranda is a personal finance instructor and founder of Healthy Rich , which is a website that offers affordable, cost-free financial education. The following is the way Dana built her online business and made sure her efforts could reach as many as she could, even if that meant going a nontraditional route.

Just because a monetization strategy is popular, doesn't mean that it's the best choice for your company.

Healthy Rich began as a hobby for a friend that Dana operated while she was a freelance writer.

"I created Healthy Rich as a project to write about different personal finance tales. It was just a blog and there was no money being made. I wasn't sure of how it would take to make money however, I was certain that in the end, I'd like to grow it into a business."

"I didn't want to monetize through advertising and affiliates," Dana explains. "That's quite commonplace in the world of personal finance however I was not happy with the way I was seeing it on sites that I'd worked for. To make sure we were providing value for the end customer, I decided remove ads from the factor."

Dana was awed by the content she developed. She also enjoyed talking to her students, hearing comments, and responding to questions. But something felt off about selling to her fans.

"I disliked everything about the launch. I resented the whole selling method of convincing people that they're suffering and that I can help. None of it felt right for me." Dana remembers.

The idea of selling products directly to viewers is not the right way forward and this was a major challenge. Although this was part of Healthy Rich's strategy for monetization she wanted her readers to be able to access the content for free. She needed to bring in money but didn't want that cash to go into the pockets of the people she was trying to help.

When creating products for your target market feels wrong, try shifting your audience

For a better understanding, Dana had conversations with teachers and community leaders. From those talks, she realized that there was a huge need for an individual finance course and she was the right person to help provide it.

"The demand for personal finance education is growing," Dana explains.

"There are a lot of states with mandates to need to take a personal finance class in order to be able to finish high school, however, the majority of them are not funded and don't have an educational path specifically designed for someone to become a personal finance teacher. Educators coming into the space typically are told that they must teach a financial course, but they don't have the confidence to teach it."

This same problem was also present among employees of non-profit organizations and also those who serve vulnerable populations.

"People employed by an organization that is not for profit may assist people in a different aspect of their lives but it's all inextricably connected to money. There are questions they have about finances that they don't feel at ease to answer. I want to help people to understand the subject so that they're able to provide that information with confidence."

Dana realized that she could skip selling goods to customers and instead help educators and trainers with a much wider market. Her message could reach more people, her business could earn money, and she would feel great with her contribution.

"I prefer to provide content to the people that need it, for free whenever I can. Giving back to community groups as well as schools is an opportunity for me to provide this education available to the individuals who require it since the people who attend these classes and programs for free," she shares.

"This has opened up a brand potential new customer base for my company since I was able to empower facilitators and instructors. I have the ability to collaborate on both sides of the table without selling classes to each individual person."

When Dana started to build out her brand new program for educators , it clicked.

"My first launch of the course was an enjoyable experiment. I'm pleased that I learned from my mistakes, but I'm also happy that I learned quickly and moved into the next chapter."

" allows me to be able to create what I want. I am in love with it this way."

The possibilities are endless or your tools should be either.

To find potential clients to connect with potential clients, join LinkedIn through shared work

"People like to talk about their work. Follow the organizations that you'd want to partner with, and check out what they're up to," Dana notes.

"It's extremely helpful to me to know the niche I'd like to work in, which is education and non-profit organisations. I'm a resident of Wisconsin, so I'm starting locally with organizations in the community. I can reach out as an individual community member and tell them that I am concerned about the good work you're doing in my community. We can discuss ways we can work together.'"

Reimagining the audience she wants to reach and the goods they'll need, Dana transformed Healthy Rich into more than a blog about tips for personal finances. Now, the blog has a chance to completely change societal conversations regarding money.

"The way that we talk about money can be a challenge and I'd like to do it differently. I'm looking to offer education with resources needed by educators and also make sure that they are teaching it with the most inclusive and broad lens, instead of just regular spending and paying down debt I've been seeing."

In shifting her audience beyond individuals, to educators and other non-profit professionals, Dana stayed true to her beliefs and discovered an easier way of sharing her expertise with people who needed it most.

Discover new paths and beware of making comparisons with others

Dana informs the creators that "there's no one perfect way to go about how to pursue this profession. It's best to experiment and discover what's working your best."

The first step to finding your personal way is not to compare you to others who have created. Instead, Dana recommends looking to your past to discover how much you've grown.

"Everyone is always at one point in their life, hoping to reach the next stage. The most helpful thing for me is to look back at my life five or ten years ago," she says.

"When I first started freelance I envisioned becoming writing. I started taking on some freelance gigs and blogging during my initial couple of years, I earned extremely low wages. When I am frustrated by what I'm doing in my career, I glance at my past and remember what I've achieved."

"I managed to secure a full-time job as a employee writer" she shares. "In the past couple of years, I've made six figures freelance. This time, I'm moving into a new phase where, rather than my earnings primarily coming from freelance writing, I want it to come from my own business .

"It's challenging to work out the best way to make it work, but if you have told me 12 years ago that this was my future position in, I wouldn't think that this could ever be happening. I'd be awestruck."

At the end of the day making the decision to pursue your passion is an enormous win and you've probably come farther than you thought.

"I consider that having this type of goal is something to be proud of no matter what stage you're in."