In 2016, we’re continuing to share a different story every couple of weeks of how a past student has been able to significantly grow their freelance business by applying the concepts they learned from Double Your Freelancing (check out our last one, a follow-up with QuHarrison Terry).
If you feel your story would be a good fit, share why.
LaTanya White is the entrepreneurial expert behind the innovative and cutting-edge business success platform, LaTanyaWhiteBiz (LWB). LWB is home to several empowering programs focused on supporting today’s entrepreneur with the resources and knowledge essential for long-term success.
Tell us about yourself; who are you and what do you for fun?
I am a brown girl nerd, lol.
I have always loved to read and I absolutely love to learn. As an educator, I feel that I can only teach as much as I know and have experienced, so I tend to make my decisions about what information I consume based on how I can share it with others.
One of my big goals is to visit all 196 countries in my lifetime – I have 190 to go! I have a toddler at home that I want to see and share the world with – I believe that travel truly makes us more compassionate and I want her to know how fulfilling it is to serve others. I have found that to be the most rewarding way to find yourself.
What got you into freelancing? Was it what you expected?
In my adult years, I guess I have always had a problem with authority.
“I don’t like people defining what I can do, when I can do it and what MY success should look like!”
Freelancing gives me back the power and control over who I spend my time with, who I pour into and how I am compensated for my time, talent and expertise. Once I began to understand the system, it has totally become everything I expected!
Tell us about your hardest moment as an entrepreneur to date.
Wow. My hardest moment as an entrepreneur to date goes back to around 2008 when I was just starting my bartending business, 71 Proof. I shake my head just thinking about how hard I was working to generate revenue for the business.
I was also in school four hours away from where my business was based, but instead of understanding the underpinnings of how to build relationships with new prospects, how to qualify them as the right type of client and how to charge for my services, everything around me buckled under the pressure. My credit, my character – I compromised so much simply because I did not have a system in place.
The E-Myth literally saved my life… literally. To this day, I use that lesson, as embarrassing and heart wrenching as it is to recall, to share the importance of have systems and workflows in your business.
On the flip side, what’s been your biggest success so far?
My biggest success so far has been accepting my role as an expert and leader.
Visibility had been a challenge for me after how I faltered at the beginning of building my first business. Unknowingly, I have used my story of 71 Proof, my struggles, challenges and triumphs to build a platform as a business development expert in communities of color.
I resisted building a for-profit business around business coaching and development and really just wanted to serve my community, but when I got burnt out from overworking myself and stopped hosting community workshops, the community almost demanded the change to a paid model, so that I could continue serving those that needed to leverage my experience and expertise. It’s been exhilarating!
What were you struggling the most with when you ran into Brennan’s material?
I serve as an entrepreneurship educator at a local University and just being able to balance my excitement with my growing business and the demands from students, colleagues and administrators had been a real struggle.
I do love to teach and thankfully, my full-time salary has created the capital I needed to grow my business, but I had really been feeling like ‘working’ was taking too much time away from growing my business.
Brennan’s material helped me see that I actually hadn’t been spending enough time on the *right* type of clients – I hadn’t been qualifying any of my leads, so it was natural that I felt like I was just treading water.
Between the Independent Consulting Manual and DYFR, I have freed up a TON of head and heart space and I am more engaged with my students and colleagues than ever. I really feel like all pistons are firing.
I am in a really, really good place, because I know how to find, court and close the sale with the right customers.
What are some specific tactics, strategies, or pieces of advice that have really helped you grow?
Definitely “The Ultimate System For Automatically Qualifying, Scheduling, and Preparing New Project Leads.“
I was already using some pieces of the system (You Can Book Me, Drip and Zapier), but had no clue just how easily getting them to talk to each other could be AND how easily it could automate my sales process. Just peachy!
What are you most excited about for your business in 2016?
I am most excited about truly changing lives as a part of my business this year. I focus on serving professional women of color who are creative, innovative and yet unfulfilled in their current jobs.
My goal is to help them organize their business ideas in a way that optimizes the likelihood of creating financial freedom and independence from doing something they love. 🙂
LaTanya White is the entrepreneurial expert behind the innovative and cutting-edge business success platform, LaTanyaWhiteBiz (LWB). LWB is home to several empowering programs focused on supporting today’s entrepreneur with the resources and knowledge essential for long-term success. LaTanya is driven by helping minority entrepreneurs, and women of color specifically, create the business and life of their dreams by doing what they love.