Personal finance educator Dana Miranda's first target audience wasn't one she felt. However, after she made the change, she began to increase her audience. |

If Dana Miranda shifted her target clients to offer educational resources and education training to educators and non-profits she noticed more alignment and fulfillment in her work.

In the two years Dana Miranda worked as a personal finance journalist, she noticed the growing trend. "Most of the financial content that is available there, most of the advice and education, is taken from a single point of view, which is usually white, male heteronormative and coming with a middle-class upbringing."

"I have a middle-class heritage," Dana shares. "I'm a queer woman. It was clear to me that there was a lack of representation and understanding of the subtleties of the different experiences that people have in relation to money."

Instead of re-creating the same story which everyone else had shared, Dana decided to change the narrative.

Today, Dana Miranda is a personal finance teacher and co-founder of Healthy Rich , an online platform that provides inclusive, budget-free financial education. Here's how Dana built her online business and ensured that her work was seen by as many people as possible and even using a route that wasn't traditional.

The fact that a strategy for monetization is popular doesn't mean it's appropriate for your business.

Healthy Rich started as a hobby for a friend which Dana ran while working as a writer for a company that was freelance.

"I created Healthy Rich as a project to share different personal financial tales. The blog was a mere website with no revenue coming in. I wasn't sure of how it would take to make money However, I knew that eventually, I wanted to grow it into an enterprise."

"I decided not to earn money through advertising and affiliates," Dana explains. "That's really common in the world of personal finance however I was not happy with what I had seen on websites I had worked on for. To make sure we were offering value to the consumer, I wanted eliminate ads from the equation."

Dana enjoyed the curriculum she developed. She also enjoyed talking to her students, hearing the feedback and answering questions. But something felt off about selling to her customers.

"I was a bit naive about the whole launch. I resented the whole selling procedure of convincing people they have some pain point and I have the solution-none of it felt right for me," Dana remembers.

Offering products only to specific users was not the way forward and this was a major problem. While this was Healthy Rich's plan for monetization, she wanted her followers to be able to access the details for free. She needed to bring in cash, but didn't want that cash to go into the pockets of the people she wanted to aid.

When creating products for the market you are targeting feels off Try shifting the audience

To gain a wider perspective, Dana had conversations with the community's organizers and educators. After these discussions she realised that there was an enormous demand for a personal finance curriculum and she was the right person to help provide it.

"The need for personal finance education is increasing," Dana explains.

"There are several states with mandates to must take the class in personal finance before you graduate from high school but the vast majority are unfunded and there's not any specific education path for someone to become a personal finance teacher. The educators who enter the field typically are told to teach a personal finance course, but they don't have the confidence to teach it."

Similar issues were encountered by non-profit workers and the ones who provide services to vulnerable groups.

"People employed by a non-profit organization may help people in another aspect of their lives however it's always tied to money. People are asking questions about their finances that they don't feel comfortable answering. I'm trying to assist people to understand the subject so that they are able to answer those questions with confidence."

Dana realized that she could avoid selling her products to consumers and instead serve educators and trainers with more of a broader reach. Dana's message would reach many more people, her company could earn money, and she could feel good with her contribution.

"I like to give material to people who need it for free whenever I can. Helping community-based organizations and educational institutions is a means for me to make these classes available to people who need it because the people who attend these classes and programs for free," she shares.

"This created a whole new market for my company because I was able to help instructors and facilitators. I have the ability to collaborate on both sides of the table without offering classes to every single user."

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

"My initial course launch was a great test. I'm glad that I learned the lessons I learned, however I'm also glad I was able to learn quickly and was able to move onto the next section."

" gives me the flexibility to design what I like. I am in love with it this way."

The possibilities are endless or your tools should be either.

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

"People like to talk about the work they're doing. Keep track of the companies you'd like to collaborate with, and check out what they're up to," Dana notes.

"It's helped me to know the niche which I'd like to collaborate with, which is educators and non-profit organisations. I'm from Wisconsin which is why I'm beginning locally with organizations in the local community. I'm able to contact 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 could work together.'"

Reimagining the audience she wants to reach and the products they need, Dana transformed Healthy Rich to become more than just a website for financial advice for individuals. Today, it's an opportunity to transform the conversation in our society regarding money.

"The manner in which we discuss about money can be a challenge, and I want to change the way we talk about money. I'm looking to offer resources that educators need as well as ensure that the lessons are taught using a a more inclusive and nuanced approach, not just regular spending and paying down debt that I was seeing."

In shifting her audience from individual people to educators as well as non-profit employees, Dana stayed true to her beliefs and discovered an easier way of sharing her wisdom with the people needing it the most.

Discover new paths and beware of the temptation of comparing your travels to other people's

Dana warns writers that "there's no one perfect way to go about how to pursue this profession. You have to just experiment and discover what's working your best."

Part of finding your own path means not comparing your work with other artists. Instead, Dana recommends looking to your past to discover the extent to which you've gotten better.

"Everyone is always at one stage wanting to be at the next one. What's really helpful for me is to look back at my life five or ten years ago," she says.

"When I started freelancing, I wanted to be an author. I began taking on writing and other freelance projects in the first few years, I made very low pay. When I am frustrated by where I am in my work, I think back on my career and think about what I've accomplished."

"I had the opportunity to obtain a full-time job as a staff writer," the writer reveals. "In the past couple of years, I earned six figures freelance. Now I'm pivoting into the next phase of my career where instead of the majority of my income coming from freelance writing, I'd like it to come through my own business .

"It's frustrating figuring out how to get it done, but if you said twelve years ago that this was the position I would be in, I'd not think that this could ever happen. I'd be really astonished."

In the final analysis choosing to pursue your passion is an enormous win and it's likely that you've come a lot further than you think.

"I believe that following such a dream is an incredible thing to be proud of no matter what phase you're at."