Ellie Diop worked doggedly through adversity, picked herself up, and built a 7-figure digital empire with a $1200 stimulus check. Married at 20, she wanted to organize her family life early having found a man with the ‘right talk at the right time.”
They built a life together with her taking most of the responsibility since the husband did not have enough income at the time. However, just as America was getting into the pandemic things got worse and she was forced to face three challenges at almost the same time. She was laid off from her sales director job and was going through a divorce. Additionally, she was expecting twins.
Move from LA to Texas
Briefly, Ellie decided to move to Texas, in a bid to find her footing. However, things took a turn for the worse when in February 2020, two months after giving birth, she was forced to ask for a divorce. She gathered herself up, with no job, and left with her 4 kids back in the arms of her mum in Los Angeles.
It was while in her mother’s house a second time that she went through a deep soul-search for how to recover her life. With four young children looking up to her for care and support, her options had to be watertight and her mission urgent.
Like in the Biblical story when God asked Moses what he had in hand, Ellie thought of what she had that she could use to earn a living.
At last, a seed was planted. Because, there was no stopping the fire burning deep inside Ellie.
Identifying a Business Idea
Ellie went through a process to identify the business that would help her build a 7-figure Digital Empire with a $1200 Stimulus Check. It is a case study on how to identify a business opportunity. She advises that this is a very good route to help you identify a business opportunity when you are stuck on how to start.
To begin with, she took an inventory of what she knew how to do and then figured out who or how to make people pay for it. She made a list of things she felt she was good at. Finally, she wrote her list down and it included the following;
- Sales – felt she could sell pretty well having been a director of sales in corporate America.
- Coaching
- Financial Literacy – having been a life insurance broker.
- She was an expert in creating systems: Helping people put organization into their business operational systems, e.g. sales systems – because she worked on startups, she knew how to help people organize their businesses.
- She is a good cook.
- She is good-looking.
A business idea could spring from any of these.
Choosing the idea that helped her build a 7-figure Digital Empire with a $1200 Stimulus Check.
Ellie analyzed her options and felt they all stood a good chance of giving a launchpad into something exciting, whether beauty products, coaching or sales. She chose what somebody could pay her for based on what she had done successfully.
After leaving Texas and having sent out over 55 job applications, most with no response at all, she felt she needed to craft a new path for her life. She therefore turned what she did for her employer and decided to do it directly to people and businesses.
That’s how she created her coaching and consulting business. That’s how Ellie Talks Money was born.
The entry of COVID and the $1200 Stimulus Check.
As the pandemic ravaged America, families went through severe constraints, and with it came the stimulus checks. Ellie felt this was the money she could use to change her life forever because she couldn’t use the food stamps that belonged to children.
How does one start a business with $1,200?
When Ellie received her share of the Stimulus check, she went through a business start-up process.
Starting Ellie Talks Money.
- She money on a ring light that could help her produce better videos.
- Bought domains for her website.
- Purchased a Limited Liability Company (LLC).
- Upgraded her phone for quality videos and her image.
- Left the remaining balance of money on the side to help her run ads.
- She then went on Instagram and started creating content.
Having got off all the major stuff of her way, the business was up and running in July 2020. She posted without ceasing an average of 3 posts a day on Instagram and followed up on leads incessantly. From her mother’s house, she made calls like a woman possessed.
As the businesses started rolling in, she created courses that she sold out online. The courses were initially priced at $15. Currently, a course goes up to $75. Her most popular courses is how to start a business, scaling, marketing, etc.
Business Credit Masterclass and Business Funding are also among her most popular courses as she continues to build more.
In only 18 months, Ellie had moved from zero and reached a revenue of $ 3 million by helping other budding entrepreneurs take their first steps.
Strategies that helped her set up and thrive quickly.
Ellie targets women who are struggling and working their way toward being first-time millionaires. Looking back, she points to strategies that have helped her achieve so much within a very short time;
- She started by giving free information that people liked before they began to pay for it.
- Market research – so many people were doing what she was doing, but she sought to find out the gaps and do what they were doing differently.
- She was authentic. Sharing a lot of personal experiences helped in gaining trust and encouraged people to purchase products.
- Used video testimonials to market courses, and a combination of video quizzes and presentation styles.
- Organized group coaching seminars/webinars when personal coaching became untenable.
- Strived through pre-launch activities to gauge public perception and what people wanted.
- Talked to people in her industry making more than her to learn how they got there.
Tools or Apps she uses in her Business.
- Creates presentations on Canva.
- Gumroad, the online payment platform for selling her books.
- Upgraded to Thinkific.
- Convertit- for email marketing.
- Community – for text messaging.
- Webinar jam for evergreen lead generator.
Her lead magnet is an evergreen webinar she built when she taught a free ‘build your business masterclass.’ She keeps replaying this to generate traffic.
Lessons in life and Business on how she built a 7-figure Digital Empire with a $1200 Stimulus Check.
- Always organize a pre-launch of your product to start getting orders before the release date if you are selling something.
- Everyone needs to start by learning how to make the first $1000.
- An iPhone and Idea. Those two things alone can literally change your life and make you a millionaire.
- It’s all about perspective. We can all do the same thing but give different perspectives.
- When starting a business, choose the path of least resistance. Start with what you can. You can change the nature or direction of the business later when you are successful.
- Post every day. She made 3 posts every day on Instagram to market her product.
- Remain consistent. Focus, even though it is hard to remain consistent when you can’t predict the outcome in the formative stages.
- As you are growing, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and hire someone for those weaknesses.
- I need a man again in my life, for legacy and to help me steward all my wealth.
- A lot of ladies miss good men because they look at the now instead of what could be.
Conclusion on how She built a 7-figure Digital Empire with a $1200 Stimulus Check
Ellie Diop’s company, Ellie Talks Money, now draws an average monthly sales of $300,000 – 450,000. This is a story of the strength of a woman and of an iron will to change one’s circumstances no matter the circumstances.
Through her Ellievated Academy, she offers a blueprint to build generation wealth and successful online businesses.
Looking back, she has in effect, released to the world the next batch of online businesses and millionaires.
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How a 16-year old High school student built a multi-million dollar venture with $100.
