What is it that Casey Richardson is bringing access to community, knowledge and funds towards Black female entrepreneurs

Find out how Casey Richardson used her experience with tech-related funding to establish BLAZE Group and empower a group made up of Black women entrepreneurs.

In the year 2000 it was a different world. Ariel Richardson was from the California's Bay Area and worked for Bank of America, structuring huge loans for tech firms. It also turned out that she could be the sole Black female member of the team in all decade employed in finance, she could not get funding from any Black firm.

"It made me realize that there wasn't any way to getting there, the money wasn't distributed to my communities," Casey recalls.

In the month of October, Casey decided to change her methods of working.

In light of her experience working in tech finance and business She decided to quit her 9-5 job and set up BLAZE Group. BLAZE Group"Building leaders and taking no excuses for providing guidance, training and support for the previously under-served group of Black women entrepreneurs.

The year 2023 is here: BLAZE Group offers online courses through Blaze Knowledge Academy. Blaze Knowledge Academy, group coaching along with an online community called the app, retreats held in person , a bi-annual summit and exclusive research. The entire operation is under the supervision of Casey and her global team of experts.

What is the way she could have achieved this in just two years? It was a combination of offering solutions that meet the unmet needs as well as a planned creating of audiences and finding the most effective ways and methods.

From finance professional in corporate to revolutionary businessman

Before becoming an entrepreneur full time, Casey was a finance professional who arranged multibillion-dollar loans for tech companies. Always up to date with technological advances, she also noticed an inequity between her team and the companies they supported. "I was never the only Black female on the team." on the staff. I was able to see my educational levels, my experience and my experiences were not available for my local community."

Black females are the most effective segment of entrepreneurs across the United States -- but just 3% of them have "mature" businesses, whereas most entrepreneurs fund themselves with the startup capital. There is a huge gap regarding the amount of funding and other resources that are available to Black women entrepreneurs compared to those who are white men.

In the early part of the summer of 2000 Casey participated in the demonstrations against police brutality. The community she felt as well as the energy was something she never felt when working. "I discovered that I was more motivated and engaged during protests than I have felt throughout the time I've been working on the sexually sexually explicit issues," she says. "I discovered myself sharing the same space as those who were brave enough and bold enough to speak out in matters that were important."

In October, at the end of the month the month, she had finished while working as a financial manager at an enormous company. Not in spite of her success and was, but because that it. What else can she use her talent for? What could she do to utilize her experience in technology and financial advancements in helping other Black women reach their goals?

"I'm very comfortable within the four walls. Yet, I'd be willing to have money in my purse any day in order to believe that I'd take over more of the earth. So I quit."

Her job was cut and she then moved to Africa to start creating BLAZE Group, a location-independent business that allows Black women from all over the world to do similar goals.

BLAZE The Group is a special focus on entrepreneurs in the initial three years of starting their business, which Casey refers to as"the "entrepreneurial period."

"BLAZE helps clients understand the best ways to run their businesses to ensure that they ensure that their businesses are running smoothly. We accomplish this through providing technology-enabled solutions. We're in the group," she says.

In order to serve this specific audience, Casey had to build real relationships with them.

The motivations behind building emails (and the steps you have in order to start)

Casey realized that she'd want to develop a top-of-the-line business online course at the beginning and was required to determine a market before she launched her first course.

Casey wanted to ensure that this wouldn't happen with the announcement of BLAZE's first product. So, she took the first steps to build an audience, with the purpose that was obvious that was to create an email list of subscribers.

Why do people select people who opt to join send emails to users of social networks? "I was aware that I needed to build relationships with people I know," explains Casey.

"On Instagram, you don't have the right to manage your relationship. You don't know that they have an email address associated with their account or when their handle changes You'll need to be aware of what their new handle is," Casey says.

"I would like to establish connections , and to be present in front of them on regularly to increase that image recognition and increase confidence."

Making contact with her contacts in her current

15 minutes discovery call with her target public

1. Contacting her contacts currently

There's plenty of information available on how you can improve your visibility, and many creators think that the first customers they will have are individuals who did not have the chance to check out their site through social media. If you create with your initial group of followers You're not getting the most powerful source of help that is your friends and family!

Casey sent an email to all members of her network to inform them she was launching an Entrepreneur Newsletter and asked that they sign-up.

"I began by looking through the text messages I had sent, Instagram DMs, Twitter and Facebook... I set the alarm and was sure to send all messages that I could in five-minute chunks," she says.

A large number of family and friends have reacted to Casey on the subject. She began creating an email database, which will expand until the time of her launch.

2. 15 minutes discovery call her general public

One of the most efficient methods to connect with the people you want to get to know is by talking to them.

Casey posted a post on Facebook and announced the creation of a class to aid Black women better understand the working environment. "If you'd like me to talk to the group for 15 mins, and there are any issues you should let me know," she added.

The people who called to arrange a time with her were her ideal clients: Black women interested in the business world.

Instead of focusing on the content or even selling herself, Casey asked questions like, "What keeps you up in the late at night? What is your biggest anxiety? Within a single year, where would you prefer to have been?" This was the time for teachers to make the women feel loved and valued. In turn, she realized the importance of incorporating into the classes she taught.

"Just offering them a helping hand and making them feel welcomed is one of the factors that makes the impact."

"By the time they had completed the majority of their conversations, students were inquiring "Can I buy this course right now?" Casey recalls. The course was in the process of being built. The course had been completed, however she'd already collected their email addresses and said she'd inform them that the course would be accessible when it was launched.

Once the course was completed after which she announced it on her list of email addresses she compiled using the two techniques previously described. "There already was a keen anticipation from all of these people. They were all set to join."

What did they learn? A majority of the women she spoke to on the initial phone call later became customers.

In the past 2 years of service, Casey continues to offer no-cost consultations on her marketing and sales strategies. For potential clients who have concerns regarding Blaze Business Intensive, Blaze Business Intensive and Blaze Business Intensive, they are able to make an appointment for an appointment for a no-cost perfect fit calls to Casey.

"On average, you'll need five follow-ups before closing the agreement. It's unfortunate that so the majority of business owners do not know that," claims Casey. "I call these people to close deals."

Making use of the appropriate resources and individuals can help Casey build her company

In the present, BLAZE offers online courses and masterclasses in addition to groups coaching programs and an online community. webinars and TablexTribe, the TablexTribe mobile application as well as biannual summits on digital technology (a 2022 Webby Award winner to recognize the best in business and Finance), and proprietary research.

What is she able to do to handle this all with so many care and attention?

Casey has assembled an international team that will help expand different areas of her business, including:

A content marketer and blogger with a base located in Nigeria

A junior consultant located in London

Production and brand manager (her husband!) who grew the BLAZE BLAZE Group Instagram by 1,300 users in May 2022 and grew to 70,000 followers by the time of its launch in 2023.

Executive Assistants from Kenya

Analyst in research, who writes research documents for various fields. She helps BLAZE in identifying new clients for its consulting services.

Assistant to the production team for every Semi-annual Blaze Virtual Summit

Her approach isn't simply the hiring of people to join her group. She hires equipment as well.

"I use tools that I hire with speed," Casey laughs. "And I love it since it's huge."

Growth in revenue may not always mean your business is scaling, especially when you're in the position to work harder or spending extra money to support expansion.

"The growth in revenue should not be your primary objective," explains Casey. "If you're increasing expenses at the same time that your revenue increases the cost of doing business won't alter."

"Scale happens when you can raise revenue and also the price and time your expenditure doesn't drastically change."

The experience she had as a technologist has shown Casey the power of no-code tools like automations, integrations as well as integrations, are. When she was creating BLAZE Group, she leveraged tools that were low-cost and without code like Zapier to ensure that everything ran efficiently.

What Casey makes use of in her class Communities, downloads, and community

" was the first app I ever used to provide products of a huge scale" Casey shares.

These instruments give Casey "more the time she requires to concentrate on what she can control" such as the one-on-one session with customers who are keen to become clients.

Casey has developed her first online course,"the Blaze Business intensive online course, which comprises . It's a self-paced, six-week curriculum focused on "Business Building as well as business Management in addition to Business Performance for people who identify as a Modern Black Woman."

"It was non-code in the least. The course was developed in the trial period of 14 days free of charge," Casey remembers. "I created the entire course within the timeline, and later began to sell it prior to the date of expiration, so that it could earn a profit."

(Want to be able to replicate Casey's success? Register for an absolutely free plan and then take your time to have the course materials put in place, and upgrade after you're ready for selling.)

This course is part of the Blaze Knowledge Academy which is an educational collection of resources for businesses Casey has created on her website. The Academy additionally contains:

Numerous entrepreneurship masterclasses, most of which are offered at no cost to the participants.

Her internet-based community is called"the Blaze Women's Network has a membership of nearly 7,000.

"People have the option of signing up to the Blaze Women's Network absolutely free," Casey explains. We host virtual meetings for coworking and also host webinars that guide attendees on paid classes."

As well as introducing consumers to useful items and services, Casey's Community provides members with an enjoyable and warm place to meet other founders.

"It was the norm that content was reigning king of the hill. Now, the trend is shifting towards the culture of community as the supreme King of the Hill. People are searching for community-oriented applications... and also those which don't seem to be untrusted. They are considered to be genuine."

The experience she has had with it has provided Casey an idea of aspects to be looking at within the software to create zero-code. "You have a very adaptable platform which has enabled me to create end-to-end solutions with your tools," Casey explains. "And I've employed the same scoring system to assess the software as I'm hoping to be equipped to expand using your platform."

"It truly is lovely to use solutions like to transform the world in ways that are cost-effective and accessible to everyone who was left out in the past."

Do not attempt to finish the entire task simultaneously.

With all Casey achieved in less than two years as the CEO of BLAZE and her advice to new creators could seem like a shock to the system Make fewer errors in the beginning, at the point that you are able to begin playing the game.

"Keep the most important things first. That's precisely what you should take care of," she advises. The Hustle culture encourages those just getting started to recognize that it is impossible to create everything and produce content. However, Casey encourages other creators to "There's just one limitation on how much you can achieve regardless of how talented you may be."

"You should not be required to do everything right out of the box. However, it will be extremely difficult to perfect many things all in the same moment at the starting out."

It is recommended to start with a particular course for further development. "I started with the Blaze Intensive, my first course, and that remains my favorite course. Entrepreneurs must figure out the uniqueness of their offering to be, their goals for becoming famous, prior to adding various alternatives."

There's a lot to think about initially starting with your messaging and the target audience along with your marketing technologies and customer service. What happens once you're finished with the above? There are many possibilities to investigate a whole lot more.

"I think we've got the capacity to achieve many things. In the coming 200 years. Because Blaze will still be around. This doesn't mean it has been happening right now."

We're grateful to have been in the journey of Casey, and we are eager to find out the next steps for her, as well as for the BLAZE Group -- in the coming year, 200 years from now , as and in the years between.

This post was posted on this site.

Article was posted on here