Bola is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), Money Coach, Business Strategist, and founder of Clever Girl Finance, a platform that empowers and educates women to make the best financial decisions for their current and future selves. Her goal is to inspire women to pursue their dreams of financial independence so they can live life on their own terms.
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Entrepreneur Interview Q & A
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1. What is your business/Business Name? What does your business do?

My business is called Clever Girl Finance. It is a financial empowerment platform to help women take charge of their finances and lay a solid financial foundation for their future. It has two main objectives. The first is to provide women with financial guidance, tips and budgeting tools to inspire them to pursue their dreams of financial independence. The second is to provide aspiring and established female entrepreneurs with advice, tips and tools on running a financially successfully small business. In addition, I offer financial coaching and accountability for individuals and small businesses to help them create and execute a solid strategy for financial success. I also have a product side of things where I have books, worksheets, weekly life planners, and weekly business planners.

2. Why did you get into this field? What opportunities did you see?

Bola Onada Sokunbi

I’ve always been very passionate about personal finance, which goes back to the way I was raised watching my mother take over paying for my college education after my father went through a financial downturn. I wanted to be like her, and I wanted to do the same for my children.

I got into this field because as I got older, I realized there is a big need for financial guidance specifically for women. We live longer than men but earn less, we put our careers on hold to raise children. We give so much of ourselves, but we tend to shy away from the topic of finance. Society shames us for not doing well financially and we think we are supposed to have it all together, and so we don’t seek the help we need when it comes to our finances. This needs to change.

My whole intent with Clever Girl Finance is to help women understand that money does not have to be difficult or scary. There is no shame regarding past money mistakes. Real financial success is completely attainable with the right guidance.

3. What have been your biggest challenges?

As a business owner, my biggest challenges have really been fear of failure, and the fear of putting myself out there, being the introvert that I am. Fear is crippling, and fear puts you at a standstill. But as I’ve progressed on this journey of mine as an entrepreneur, I’ve realized my passion and my purpose are so much greater than my fear, and so I force myself to just do it. And I go, and I learn, and I tell fear to take a seat.

My business is also very young and very much in its growth and awareness stage right now. So one of my big challenges is letting women know I exist. Although I’ve grown very quickly, I still have a long way to go. I am not a marketer or sales guru and I acknowledge that; so I have a marketing coach helping me power through.

4. What has been your greatest reward?

My greatest reward has been helping women achieve real results with their finances, from paying off or paying down their debt to meeting their saving goals. This is what motivates me to keep going – knowing that I’m helping people change their lives and plan for their futures, and knowing that I’m making an impact, in my own way, in the world.

5. If you could change something, what would it be?

To be honest, I’m not sure yet. I am still growing and learning. I would put more of myself out there right away though. It’s taken me a while to do this and I’ve done it slowly.

6. If you could give a new entrepreneur advice, what would it be?

Don’t give up. Stay passionate about your business and do the work. It will be hard, but just keep powering through. Also do your due diligence, create the business plan, create the finance plan, and review them often. As you grow, your plans will evolve and you want to make sure you have an up to date strategy to succeed.

7. Social Media. Yay or Nay?

Absolutely! Social media will introduce you to audiences you would ordinarily not have access to. It also helps you quickly see what’s really happening out in your industry and helps you identify with people in different niches and different parts of the world. It drives engagement and in turn, sales. Social media is the foundation of any business that wants to be successful online.

8. How do you market your products?

On my website and on social media. Instagram and Facebook mostly. And I’m starting to warm up on Twitter and Periscope. I don’t do direct marketing though. I engage with people, and then people organically lean towards my services and products. I’m also still growing and learning in the marketing aspect – hence the marketing coach.

9. Is your business a service or a product? If you are a product, how do you handle production?

My business does both. For my physical products, which are my weekly planners (both life and business weekly planners), it’s basically been trial and error to land on the right vendors, but the one thing that has saved me has been investing in samples before bulk ordering so I know what I am getting before I spend a ton of money. Also, I do pre-sales to help cover initial production costs.

10. What is unique about your business?

Me – I am my brand. I believe in my brand and what I represent.

11. Sell me your product/service.

It’s not about how much you earn, it’s about what you do with what you have. It’s not about your past financial mistakes, it’s about moving forward with the lessons you’ve learnt. It’s about realizing you are more than capable of success and it’s about creating a solid strategy to win big with your money for the long term.

I empower you to turn your dreams of financial success into reality by giving you financial guidance, budgeting tips, free eCourses, checklists, and a ton of other amazing content – and also through my financial coaching & accountability programs.

If you can dream it, you can do you. Are you ready?

12. How can people get in touch with you? What’s your website/Contact information?

• On my website at http://clevergirlfinance.com
• Via Instagram @clevergirlfinance
• On Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/clevergirl
• On Twitter at http://twitter.com/clevergirlCGF