What is it that Casey Richardson is bringing access to community, knowledge as well as capital Black female entrepreneurs

Learn the ways Casey Richardson used her experience with tech-related funding to create BLAZE Group and empower a group of Black female entrepreneurs.

Two and a half two years ago, Richardson's world was different. She lived in the Bay Area and worked for Bank of America, structuring large-scale loans to tech firms. She discovered that she was always the only Black woman on the team -- and during her ten years being in finance, she didn't see any funding allocated to an Black firm.

"It taught me that not just was the knowledge not getting there, but the knowledge wasn't reaching my community," Casey recalls.

In October 2020, Casey decided to change her mind.

Based on her experiences in tech funding and business, she decided to quit her 9-to-5 job and founded the BLAZE Group -- Building leaders and accepting no Excuses -- to provide information, guidance and a community for the previously under-served communities of Black women entrepreneurs.

Then, 2023 is here: BLAZE Group offers online courses through Blaze Knowledge Academy, group coaching courses, an online community, the app, retreats in person and a biannual summit, as well as proprietary research that is led by Casey and her global team.

What did she accomplish in only two years? It was a result of providing the services that address a particular unmet need, a deliberate development of audiences, and selecting the right tools and team.

From corporate finance specialist to an entrepreneur who can make a difference

Before she became an full-time entrepreneur Casey worked as a financial professional in the field of structuring billion-dollar loans to tech companies. She was always on the cutting edge of technology advancements. However, she was also aware of the disparities between her colleagues and the businesses they were funding. "I was the sole Black woman on the team. This showed how much education, my knowledge as well as my experiences were not available in my communities."

Black women are the largest category of entrepreneurs in the United States -- but only 3percent of them own "mature" enterprises, and the majority of entrepreneurs self-fund startup capital. There's a huge gap in the funding and resources available to Black female entrepreneurs as compared to those of white men.

In the summer of 2020, Casey joined the protests against police brutality. Casey found community and strength that were missing from everyday work. "I felt more alive protesting than I had in all of my years of doing those sexy deals," she says. "I had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders the brave enough and brave enough to make decisions that actually have a bearing on the world."

By October, she was finished with the limits of her corporate finance job -and not because of her success, but because of it. What else was she able to use her talent for? What could she do to use her knowledge of technology and finance to help other Black women be successful?

"I'm extremely comfortable inside the four walls. Yet, I'd put money on myself any day to believe that I'd take over more space in the world. So I quit."

She took a break from her job, moved to Africa, and started building BLAZE Group, a location-independent company that is empowering Black women around the world to accomplish the similar thing.

BLAZE Group is specifically targeting entrepreneurs during their first three years of business building in what Casey calls the "entrepreneurial phase."

"BLAZE exists to really help people understand how to manage their organizations with a way that keeps the company going. This is done by providing solutions that are tech-powered, and we're one of them," she tells us.

To reach out to this group, Casey had to build real relationships with them.

What are the reasons you should create your own email lists (and what you can do to get started)

Casey decided to design a high-end business online course from the jump -- but it was important to build an crowd prior to when she even launched her initial product.

Casey did not want this to occur with the release of the first BLAZE product. Thus, she approached her first activities to build an audience with a clear goal that was to create an email list.

Why do people choose email subscribers over social media followers? "I was aware that I needed to establish as well as maintain my own connections," explains Casey.

"On Instagram, you don't have the right to manage your relationship. You're not sure what their email address is, and when their handle changes then you should know what the name of the new handle," Casey says.

"I wanted to own relationships , and reach them regularly to create that brand awareness and confidence."

Reaching out to her existing contacts

15 minute discovery calls to her intended public

1. Reaching out to her existing contacts

There's plenty of information online on how you can grow your audience, and most creators believe that their first customers are strangers who discovered them on social media. If you create with your first audience it's missing a huge potential resource of support Friends and family!

Casey approached everyone within her circle to let her know that she's launching a newsletter about entrepreneurship and asking if they'd like to subscribe.

"I began by looking through the most recent texts, Instagram DMs, Twitter, Facebook... I put a timer on and then sent as many as I could, in five-minute segments," she describes.

Many friends and family took Casey and her idea She began to build a solid email list leading up to her product launch.

2. 15-minute discovery calls with her target public

One of the most effective ways to get to know them is by talking with them.

Casey shared a post on Facebook, where she announced that she had created an online course that would aid Black women better understand the business world. "If you'd like me to speak to you for 15 mins and ask questions, let me know," she added.

She was aware that those who made a phone call with her were her target audience: Black women interested in entrepreneurship.

Instead of discussing course content or marketing her own, Casey asked questions like, "What keeps you up at late at night? What's your most feared fear? In one year, where do you wanna be?" She used the time to make the women feel seen and understood. In turn, she realized what was the most crucial issue to consider in her course material.

"Just making space and making them feel comfortable it's an important element of the magic."

"By the time they had finished most of those calls, they were asking, "Can I buy the course now What do I need to buy?" Casey remembers. The course was in the process of being developed. course, but she gathered the email addresses of those who signed up and promised to let them know when it launched.

After the course was complete, she tweeted it to her email list she built with these two tactics. "There was already this anticipation among all those who had signed up. They were ready to enroll."

The result? 80percent of women she talked to in the initial call converted to clients.

After more than two years, Casey still offers free discovery calls as part of her sales procedure. For potential clients who have concerns about this Blaze Business Intensive, they may schedule an free perfect Fit phone call in with Casey.

"On average, you need five follow-ups in order to conclude a deal. There aren't enough entrepreneurs who are aware of this," says Casey. "I use those calls to really make the sale."

Working with the appropriate equipment and the right people can help Casey expand her company

Presently, BLAZE offers online courses and masterclasses and group coaching programmes, an online community, webinars and the TablexTribe app for mobile devices  and a biannual online conference (a 2022 Webby Awards winner for the Best in Business and Finance), and proprietary research.

How does she manage these things all with so much intentionality and love?

Casey is putting together an international team to help her grow different aspects of her business, including:

Blogger and content marketer located in Nigeria

A junior consultant with a base in London

Production and brand manager (her fiancé!) who grew the BLAZE Group Instagram from 1,300 followers in May 2022 to 70,000+ at the start of 2023

A executive assistant from Kenya

An analyst in research who writes research paper across industries. He also assists BLAZE discover new clients through consulting

A production assistant to the semi-annual Blaze Virtual Summit

Her approach isn't simply hiring people to join her team and hires the tools also.

"I hire tools with a speed," Casey laughs. "And I love that because there's scale."

An increase in revenue doesn't necessarily mean that your company has grown, particularly when you're putting in more effort or are spending more money for that increase.

"The increase in revenue should not be the primary goal," explains Casey. "If you're increasing costs at the same rate that your revenue increases, your bottom line doesn't change."

"Scale is when you are able to raise revenue while the cost and amount of time you spend are not affected."

Experience in the tech industry taught Casey the power of no-code tools as well as integrations and automations can be. In the process of establishing BLAZE Group, she leveraged low- and no-code solutions such as and Zapier to keep everything running smoothly.

How Casey uses for her courses Community, downloads, and community

" was the very first program I had to use for offering things in a large scale" Casey shares.

Techniques such as these allow Casey "more space to complete deliberate things" like the one-on-one discovery calls she offers potential clients.

Casey built her first digital product, called the Blaze Business Intensive online course. It includes . It's a self-paced, six-week program covering "Business Building, Business Management and the Business Excellence for today's Black Woman."

"It was made with no code. I built it when was doing the 14-day free trials," Casey remembers. "I built the entire course within that window and started selling it after the trial expired in order to make it immediately profitably."

(Want to follow in Casey's footsteps? Join a free plan  and take the time you'll need to have your course material setup, then you can upgrade as you're ready start selling.)

The course is part of the Blaze Knowledge Academy  which is a set of educational resources for businesses Casey created on her website. The Academy is also home to:

Many entrepreneurship masterclasses, many of which she offers for free

Her online community, the Blaze Women's Network , with nearly 7,000 members

"People have the option of joining to the Blaze Women's Network absolutely free," Casey explains. Virtual coworking is what we do, I host webinars, after which we funnel people into the paid courses."

Alongside introducing clients to products that are helpful and services, the Casey's Community provides members with a an inviting and welcoming space to connect with other founders.

"It used to be that 'content was king,' However, things have changed to 'community is king.' People are looking for communities-focused programs... and ones that aren't perceived as spam appear to be genuine."

The results of her experience with it have given Casey a rubric for what you should look for when choosing the tool for creating no-code. "You are a highly flexible system that's allowed me to do some end-to-end solutions right from the system," Casey explains. "And I've used the exact scorecard in evaluating software because I'm hoping to grow to it."

"It truly is gorgeous to utilize solutions like to impact the entire world with ways that are affordable and very accessible to people who are marginalized today."

Do not try to accomplish everything at the same time

With all the accomplishments Casey has achieved within just two years as the CEO of BLAZE, her advice to novice creators could come as a surprising: Try to do less -- at minimum, at the time you get into the game.

"Keep the primary thing in mind primary, which is what you should be doing," she advises. The Hustle culture informs entrepreneurs who are just starting out that there's never enough work done or the content that's produced. However, Casey is a reminder to fellow creators "There's only one limit to what you can accomplish regardless of how great you may be."

"You don't have to do all of the things outta the box, and it's going to be really, really hard to perfect several things at once when you're just beginning."

She recommends starting with an initial signature offer before building up on that. "I began by taking the Blaze Intensive, my first course. That is my main course. Entrepreneurs should spend time figuring out what their signature service should consist of, what they want to be known for, before adding a whole bunch of things."

There's lots to think about in the beginning: your messages and target audience, marketing, technology, customers' satisfaction. Once you've mastered it? It opens the door for so much more.

"I believe we've got the capacity to accomplish many things. In 200 years, maybe. Because Blaze is still around. However, that shouldn't have to take place today."

We're thrilled to be an integral part of Casey's story, and we can't wait to see what's next for her and BLAZE Group -- this year, 200 years down the road, and all the time in between.