What is it that Casey Richardson is bringing access to knowledge, community, as well as capital Black female entrepreneurs
Learn about how Casey Richardson used her experience of tech financing to establish BLAZE Group and empower a network composed of Black women entrepreneurs.
Two and a half year ago, Richardson's life looked a lot different. She was a resident of California's Bay Area and worked for Bank of America, structuring multimillion-dollar loans for tech companies. However, she discovered that she was the only Black female on the team -- and in over ten years of being in finance, she never saw any funding allocated to an Black business.
"It showed me that, not only was the knowledge not getting there, but the knowledge wasn't being distributed to my communities," Casey recalls.
In October 2020, Casey decided to change that.
Armed with her experience in the field of tech financing and business, she decided to quit her 9-to-5 job and founded BLAZE Group"Building leaders and embracing zero Excuses in order to offer knowledge, mentorship and a community for the previously under-served communities of Black women entrepreneurs.
Fast forward to 2023: BLAZE Group offers online courses via the Blaze Knowledge Academy, group coaching courses, an online community, an app, on-site retreats and a biannual summit, and proprietary research, all led by Casey and her global team.
How did she do it within just two years? A combination of providing resources that meet a specific, underserved need, intentional development of audiences, and selecting the right tools and team.
From corporate finance specialist to the game-changing entrepreneur
Before she became a full-time entrepreneur, Casey worked as a financial professional, structuring multibillion-dollar loans to tech companies. She was always at the forefront of technology advancements. However, she noticed a gap within her group and in the businesses they were funding. "I was the sole Black female in the group. It showed me that my education level, my expertise, my exposure just was not accessible in my community."
Black women are the largest category of entrepreneurs within the United States -- but just 3% of them have "mature" companies, while the majority of entrepreneurs self-fund startup capital. There's a significant gap regarding the amount of funding and other resources that are available to Black entrepreneurs, compared with their white male counterparts.
As of the summer of 2020 Casey was a participant in protests against police violence. Casey found community and strength that were missing from the routine of her job. "I found myself more inspired and engaged in protests more than I did in all of my years of making those sexually explicit deals," she says. "I found myself rubbing shoulders with the brave enough and brave enough to make decisions that really are important."
In October, she had come to terms at the end of the road for her corporate finance job -and not because of the fact that she had been successful and was, but due to the fact that it. What else was she able to do with that talent? What could she do to use her expertise in tech and finance to help fellow Black women succeed?
"I'm very comfortable within the four walls. However, I'd be willing to bet on myself every day to believe that I'd take over more space in the world. So I quit."
She left her job, relocated to Africa to start building BLAZE Group, a location-independent business that empowers Black women from all over the world to achieve the similar thing.
BLAZE Grupo is specifically targeting entrepreneurs during their first three years of business building that Casey refers to as the "entrepreneurial stage."
"BLAZE exists to really help people understand how to manage their businesses in ways that keep the company going. And we do that with technology-enabled solutions. We are one of them." she says.
To reach out to this group, Casey had to build authentic relations with them.
The reasons to build an email list (and how to start)
Casey decided to develop a highly business-focused online course straight from the start -- but it was crucial to create an audience prior to when she could launch her first product.
Casey wanted to ensure that this didn't occur with the release of BLAZE's initial product. So, she approached her initial audience-building activities with a goal that was clear of building an email database.
Why email subscribers over social media followers? "I realized that I was looking to be able to get personal relationships," explains Casey.
"On Instagram, you don't have the right to manage your relationship. It's not clear which email address they have as well as if their handle changes then you should are aware of what their current handle is," Casey says.
"I wanted to own relations and get in front of them often to build that reputation and establish confidence."
Reaching out to her existing network
15-minute discovery calls with her target audience
1. Contacting her current contacts
There's lots of guidance online on how you can grow your audience, and many creators think that their first customers would be people who have never heard of them via social media. However, if you begin your audience from scratch, you're missing out on an enormous source of support: Your friends and family!
Casey reached out to everyone in her circle, letting people know she'd started the publication of a monthly newsletter on entrepreneurship, and asked if they'd like to subscribe.
"I began by looking over my recent text messages, Instagram DMs, Twitter Facebook... I put a timer on and then made sure to send as many messages as I could, in five-minute intervals," she describes.
A lot of family and friends have taken Casey and her idea, and she began building a solid email list leading towards her launch.
2. 15-minute discovery calls to her intended group of customers
One of the most effective ways to connect with them is by talking to them.
Casey posted on her social media accounts, revealing that she had created an online course that would help Black women understand business management. "If I can talk to you for 15 minutes and inquire about anything, contact me," she added.
The people who called to set up a meeting with her would be her ideal audience: Black women interested in entrepreneurship.
Instead of discussing the content on course or selling the course, Casey asked questions like, "What keeps you up all late at night? What is your biggest fear? Within a year, where you want to become?" She used the occasion to make women feel valued and respected. In turn, she discovered what she needed to consider in her course contents.
"Just holding space for that and helping them feel secure it's an important element of the magic."
"By the end of most of these calls, people asked, "Can I now purchase the course Do you have a discount on the course?" Casey remembers. She was still building the course but had already collected their email addresses , and said she'd notify them the day it was launched.
After the course was complete, she tweeted it to the email list she created with these two strategies. "There was already this anticipation among all those who had signed up. They were ready to enroll."
The results? 80% of the women she talked to during those first calls turned to customers.
More than two years later, Casey still offers free discovery calls as part of her sales and marketing process. For potential clients who have concerns regarding the Blaze Business Intensive, they can make a Free Fit Call. Fit Call in with Casey.
"On average, it takes five follow-ups before closing a deal. I don't think enough entrepreneurs are aware of this," says Casey. "I use those calls to really seal the deal."
How working with the right resources and individuals can help Casey grow her business
Today, BLAZE offers online courses and masterclasses and group coaching programmes as well as an online community. webinars, the TablexTribe mobile application , a semiannual online conference (a 2022 Webby Awards honoree for the Best in Business and Finance), and proprietary research.
How does she manage all of those things with so much intentionality and love?
Casey is putting together an international team that helps her expand different areas of her business, including:
A content marketer and blogger with a base in Nigeria
A junior consultant located in London
A 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 papers across industries. He also assists BLAZE find new consulting clients
An assistant to the production team to assist with the semi-annual Blaze Virtual Summit
She doesn't just hire new employees She also hires equipment, too.
"I use tools that I hire with rapidity," Casey laughs. "And I like that since it's the scale."
The growth in revenues does not always mean your business is growing, particularly if you're doing more work or are spending more money to achieve that growth.
"The rise in revenue must not be your primary objective," explains Casey. "If your costs are rising in the same way that your revenue increases the bottom line won't alter."
"Scale is when you are able to raise revenue while the cost and amount of time you spend do not change much."
Experience in the tech industry has taught Casey the power of no-code tools Integrations, automations, and integrations can be. When she created BLAZE Group, she leveraged tools that were low-code and without code such as Zapier to keep everything running seamlessly.
How Casey makes use of her course Community, downloads, and community
" was the first app I made use of to provide services in a large scale" Casey shares.
Tools like give Casey "more time to focus on intentional things," such as the one-on-one discovery calls she offers potential clients.
Casey built her first digital product, the Blaze Business Intensive online course. It includes . It's a self-paced, six-week class that focuses on "Business Building, Business Management and Business Excellence for the Modern Black Woman."
"It was completely no-code. I built it in the time of 14-day free trial," Casey remembers. "I built all of the course in that window and started selling it before that expired so I could be immediately profitably."
(Want to be like Casey's? Sign up for a free plan , take all the time it takes to finish getting your course's content set up, then upgrade as you're ready sell.)
The course is part of the Blaze Knowledge Academy , a collection of educational resources for businesses Casey built on her site. The Academy also includes:
Many entrepreneurship masterclasses, many of which are offered at no cost
Her online community, known as the Blaze Women's Network boasts nearly 7,000 members.
"People have the option of joining to the Blaze Women's Network absolutely free," Casey explains. We do virtual coworking sessions as well as host webinars and then that funnels participants into paid classes."
Alongside introducing clients to products that are helpful, Casey's community gives members an inviting and welcoming space to network with fellow founders.
"It used to be that "content was the most important thing,' but now things are shifting to the notion that 'community is King.' People are looking for community-centric programs... and communities that don't feel like spam appear to be genuine."
The experience she had with the tool has provided Casey a rubric for the qualities to be looking for in an application that doesn't require code. "You have an extremely flexible system that allows me to develop end-to end solutions right from the platform," Casey explains. "And I've been using the same scorecard when I assess the tools I use because I want them to grow using the system."
"It truly is an amazing thing to implement solutions like to transform the world with ways that are affordable and easily accessible to the people that are disadvantaged today."
Do not try to accomplish everything at the same time
In light of all that Casey has accomplished in just over two years of running BLAZE, her advice to new creators might come as a surprise: Do less in the beginning, at minimum, at the time you get started.
"Keep the main thing, the main thing," she advises. The Hustle culture informs entrepreneurs who are just starting out that there's never enough work to be done or material made. But Casey reminds fellow creators "There's only the amount you have to do, no matter how amazing you are."
"You don't have to do everything right out of the box It's going to be extremely, very difficult to perfect several things simultaneously when you're only getting started."
It is recommended to start with an initial signature offer and then build upon that. "I started with an initial course called the Blaze Intensive, my first course. It is still my signature course. Entrepreneurs should spend time figuring out what their unique service should consist of, what they want to be recognized for before they start adding on an array of other offerings."
There's lots to think about initially: your message targeting audience, your technologies, marketing, customers' satisfaction. What happens once you've done it? It opens the door to do so much more.
"I am convinced that we have the capability to achieve millions of things. In 200 years, maybe. Since Blaze is still around. However, that shouldn't have to take place today."
We're thrilled to have been being a part of the journey of Casey and can't wait to see what's coming next for Casey and BLAZE Group in the coming year, in 200 years from now and every day between.