EP #138: From Broke Theater Student to Financial Advisor - Stefanie O'Connell (Entrepreneur, Author)

In an age where everyone can pick up their smartphones and become an instant "expert" on any topic, how can entrepreneurs market their knowledge to their consumers? Millennial money expert and author of The Broke and the Beautiful Life, Stefanie O'Connell thinks it has a lot to do with packaging. No, she isn't referring to big bows or pretty wrapping paper. She poses that while information isn't propriety, experiences are.  Instead of hoarding knowledge, entrepreneurs should find a way to package their experiences in a way that's meaningful for other people. In 2008, Stefanie was a recent college graduate, utilizing her degree in theater to travel the world and live her dream. However, due to the late 2008 recession, she was forced to return to New York. "I got a job that paid $225. While it was very fulfilling, it wasn't exactly financially viable. I was the epitome of a starving artist," she recalls.  After taking up a friend's offer to read Suze Orman's The Young, Broke & Fabulous, she became enthralled with the idea of money management. She ended up becoming a resource for her friends and began sharing her money management advice on a blog. This turned into a book (The Broke & Beautiful Life). "Financial advice is pretty straightforward and some view it as boring," says Stefanie. However, she paired her own experiences with age old financial advice to develop a platform that was both relatable and helpful. Instead of telling readers to start an emergency fund, she details the time when she broke down in tears at a dentist's office because she was unable to pay $2000 for a necessary procedure. "By tapping into the details, you evoke an immediate emotional response from a reader or consumer. I create the urgency by sharing my experiences," Stefanie says. Balancing information and experiences can often be tough, especially when entrepreneurs find themselves in situations where they're not driving the conversation. Stefanie likes to have "talking points with a point of view" for these situations. She draws on her drama background to pair words together to drive home certain points for her audience. "The aspect of storytelling is very valuable, no matter what industry. No one is going to care what you know if you're not coming across in a way that's relatable," she says. Stefanie also stresses the importance of knowing the audience and finding ways to add segmented value.   Being relatable and changing the conversation from a monologue to a dialogue means doing research to discover your audience's needs. Stefanie spends a lot of time dialoguing with her audience in order to do just that. "I even look up Amazon book reviews to see which books in my sector have received two or three stars and check to see what was missing," she says. Additionally, as a financial advisor who specifically focuses on women and millennials, she takes caution to only listen to feedback which will add value to her audience. "If someone begins to tell me that I need to focus on providing Baby Boomers with retirement advice, I typically shy away from that because it doesn't speak to my niche," she says. For entrepreneurs that worry they will run out of experiences to share, Stefanie says that she hunts down other experiences by simply taking interesting people out for coffee. "I know that the first thing financial advisors typically say is to cut out coffee from your budget. But I have enjoyed an incredible ROI from that tactic," she laughs. And, when talking about what experiences she plans to share in the future, she started doing a dream bio exercise, where she writes up her dream bio then compares it to her to-do list. "It's very important that I'm intentional about that alignment," she notes. What are some ways you can package your experiences into something that's helpful for your audience/customers? Tweet us with your answers at @WiseNapkin!