In 4 years, Jamila Souffrant took @JourneyToLaunch from nothing to a six-figure personal finance business.
Her podcast has over 2 million downloads.
This is the story of how a bootstrapped entrepreneur is building the media empire she wants to see.
Jamila had no plans to make Journey to Launch (JTL) a business until a regular commute brought on an existential realization.
She and her husband Woody saved $169,000 in 2 years, with a growing family, so that she could leave her corporate job and focus on JTL full time.
Jamila first got into personal finance through the #financialindependence movement.
She set a goal of aggressively saving money and retiring at 40.
In 2016, she and Woody saved $85,000.
In 2017, they saved $84,000. (h/t @RyanDerous for Forbes).
During this period, Jamila tried several side hustles, from digital magazines to a vending machine business to real estate.
They failed, but she was learning.
“I could fail and I would be ok,” says Jamila (h/t @behindherempire for @dotLA)
Jamila’s ‘big idea’ for JTL came in 2017.
She’d seen from experience how the personal finance space lacked diversity at the time.
She wanted to create a space that shared successful Black and female financial stories.
She began JTL as a blog that year.
JTL stayed on the side until 2018, when Jamila was pregnant with her third child.
During one long commute, she realized how burned out she was from juggling her job and her passions.
She decided to form an exit strategy and focus on JTL full-time.
Jamila and Woody created a fund to bridge the gap until JTL brought in revenue.
They stopped adding to retirement accounts, built cash savings, and got a home equity line of credit for emergencies.
It covered JTL’s first 2 years of operations.
Jamila made JTL official quickly. She...
• Created an LLC and filed her trademark.
• Opened up business bank accounts.
• Read @MikeMichalowicz’s Profit First for guidance.
Then, she got down to making the best personal finance-driven podcast she could.
How did Jamila grow JTL to 2 million downloads in 4 years?
1. Great content - “At the end of the day, you need your audience to like what you say.”
2. Consistency → she’s posted every week since she began
3. Collaboration with other creators, like Bola Sokunbi of @CleverGirlCGF
In those four years building her business, Jamila has created multiple income streams for @JourneyToLaunch.
Here’s the breakdown of her 2020 revenue:
• Affiliate income - 42%
• Brand collaborations - 35%
• Products - 18%
• Speaking + Writing - 4%
• Sponsorships - 4%
Journey to Launch has experienced its challenges.
On JTL’s 4th birthday, Jamila announced the end of her membership product.
The challenge of bringing in members and battling subscription churn was out of alignment with Jamila’s priorities.
It had to go.
Now, Jamila is focused on launching high-quality products, including a book she’s pitching to publishers.
Jamila’s advice for people looking to make the leap into solopreneurship?
“Find something you want to see and create it.”
Enjoyed the Jamila's story?
Working on an idea of your own?
Join the Heyday Creator community.
Every week experts like Jamila share how they got their independent businesses off the ground: links.heyday.xyz/slack-community
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.