What is it that Casey Richardson is bringing access to information, community and money for Black female entrepreneurs

Learn how Casey Richardson used her experience in tech funding to found BLAZE Group and empower a group of Black women who have become entrepreneurs.

Two and a half years ago, the life of Casey Richardson was quite different. She was from the Bay Area and worked for Bank of America, structuring massive loans for tech companies. She noticed that she was often the only Black female in the team -- and throughout her 10 years being in the field of finance there was never any funds allocated to a Black business.

"It confirmed to me that not only did the data didn't reach me, but that the capital was not being dispersed to my community," Casey recalls.

Then, in October of 2020 Casey made the decision to alter her decision.

Her extensive knowledge of the funding of technology and commercial ventures, she quit her 9-to-5 job and founded the BLAZE Group -- Building leaders and accepting no Excuses in order to provide guidance, training and a community for the traditionally underserved group of Black women entrepreneurs.

The year 2023 is the beginning of BLAZE Group is a business which BLAZE Group offers online courses with the Blaze Knowledge Academy, group coaching and an online community an app, on-site retreats and a biannual summit, and exclusive research led by Casey and her global team of experts.

What would she have achieved in less than two years? The answer is a combination of providing tools that satisfy the needs of a specific group, to build a strong audience by selecting the appropriate tools and team.

From corporate finance experts to game-changing Entrepreneur

Before taking on full-time entrepreneurship, Casey worked as a finance professional who arranged multibillion-dollar credit for tech-related companies. This kept her up-to-date with the latest developments in technology. But she also noticed a gap between her colleagues and the businesses they funded. "I was never the only Black female on the team. It proved to the world that I was educated, my knowledge as well as my experiences were not available to my local communities."

Black women make up the largest percentage in the field of entrepreneurs within the United States -- but less than 3% are in "mature" companies, while the majority of entrepreneurs self-fund the startup with capital. There's a significant gap in the level of financing as well as other sources that are available to Black women entrepreneurs , compared with the white male entrepreneurs.

As of the beginning of the summer of 2020, Casey participated in protests against the brutality and violence of the police. She felt a sense of community and the strength she found that she had not felt during her day-to-day job. "I was more alive during protests than I had done throughout all my years working in the business that was sexy," she says. "I was able to connect with those who were brave enough and brave enough to decide on things that were actually essential."

In October, at the close of the month the woman had reached an agreement at the end of the line for her position in finance at a corporate companyand not because of her accomplishments not due to the result of. What else could she utilize her knowledge? What could she do to use her experience in technology and finance to assist other Black women to be successful?

"I'm extremely comfortable in these four walls. However, I'd wager on myself every day and think I could take up even more space. So I quit."

The woman took a break from her job, moved to Africa, and started creating BLAZE Group, a location-independent company that is empowering Black women across the globe to do the same.

BLAZE The Group particularly targets entrepreneurs in the initial three years after they have started their business that Casey calls as"the "entrepreneurial stage."

"BLAZE is here to help clients understand how to manage their companies to ensure they are on track. We do this by providing technologies-driven solutions. We are one of them." She adds.

To connect with this particular group of people, Casey had to build real relationships with them.

The reasons to build your email database (and what you need to do to get started)

Casey decided to develop an online business-oriented course from the jump -It was vital to create an audience prior to when she would even launch her first course.

Casey didn't want that to be the case with the launch of the initial BLAZE service. Therefore, she approached the initial audience-building exercise with a specific goal in mind that was to build an email list.

Why do people choose to be email subscribers instead of Facebook and Twitter users? "I found out that I was trying for intimate relationships with people," explains Casey.

"On Instagram, you don't control the relationship. You're not aware of the email address they have or, if they change their handle, you better hope that you're aware of their current handle is," Casey says.

"I was looking to establish relations, and to be frequently in their presence to build a image and build trust."

Contacting her current connections

15-minute discovery message to her public

1. Contacting her contact information

There's plenty of information online on how you can expand your following, and most creators believe that the first customers they have were strangers who found their website through social media. If you're making your site using your initial audience, you're missing an enormous sources of support, including your family and friends!

Casey reached out to everyone in her network to inform the world that she was launching a newsletter about entrepreneurship and soliciting their permission to sign up.

"I started by going through the text messages I had recently sent, Instagram DMs, Twitter and Facebook... I set the clock and went through as many of them as I could in 5 minute increments." she explains.

A lot of family and friends have taken Casey and her invitation creating an impressive email database before the building into her product's launch.

2. A 15-minute meeting to her targeted customer group.

One of the best methods of getting to know their personalities is through talking to them.

Casey posted a tweet to her social media profiles she announced her plans for an education course that will help Black women gain a better understanding of business. "If you'd like me to talk with you for about 15 minutes, and have questions, please contact me," she added.

The woman was aware that those who set up a telephone call to her were among her most important contacts: Black women interested in entrepreneurial endeavors.

Instead of discussing course content or selling her own content, Casey addressed questions like "What is it that keeps you awake in the middle of the night? Which is the biggest worry you have? If you only had one yearto live, what would you wish to be?" The time was used to help women feel appreciated and heard. She also uncovered the things she had to incorporate in her class contents.

"Just providing them with support and helping them feel comfortable is one of the main components in the magical."

"By the time the majority of these conversations they were being asked "Can I buy the course now Do you have a discount on the course?" Casey remembers. She was still working on the course, but she collected the email addresses of the people who had registered and said she would let them know when it was launched.

When the course was finished She tweeted the course to her email list she created with these two methods. "There was this excitement from everyone. The students were eager to join."

What were they able to discover? The majority of the women she talked to on the initial call converted into customers.

After more than two years, Casey still offers free discovery calls as part of her sales process. Should potential customers have any queries regarding the Blaze Business Institute or Blaze Business Intensive they are able to arrange an free Perfect Fit call to Casey.

"On the average, there are five follow-ups before you can concluding an agreement. There aren't enough business people who are aware of this," says Casey. "I employ these calls to sell."

Working with the appropriate tools and people helps Casey scale her business

Presently, BLAZE offers online courses and masterclasses, as well as group coaching programs as well as an on-line community. webinars as well as the TablexTribe application for mobile devices and an online biannual event (a 2022 Webby Awards honoree to be recognized for its excellence in business as well as finance), and proprietary research.

How is she able to manage these things at the same amount of love and intention?

Casey has created an international group of experts to help her expand the various areas of her business, such as:

Blogger and content marketer based in Nigeria

A junior consultant based in London

Brand and production manager (her fiancé!) who grew the BLAZE Group Instagram from 1,300 users from May 2022 to over 70,000 at the time of the launch of 2023

An executive assistant in Kenya

Research analyst, who writes research documents across various industries. They also assist BLAZE to identify new customers for its consulting services.

Production assistant for the Semi-annual Blaze Virtual Summit

She does not just recruit new workers and employs tools, too.

"I employ tools with rapidity," Casey laughs. "And I like that since the tools are scalable."

An increase in revenue doesn't necessarily mean that your company is growing, especially if you're working harder or investing more funds to achieve that expansion.

"The growth in revenue has to not be your primary objective," explains Casey. "If you're increasing the expenses in the same way the revenue is growing your bottom line will not change."

"Scale occurs when you increase revenue, but the costs as well as the amount of time you spend do not drastically change."

The previous experience with technology has provided Casey the value of using automated tools that do not require code. Integrations, automations as well as integrations are. While creating BLAZE Group, she leveraged no-cost, low-cost options like Zapier, to ensure all of the processes running flawlessly.

What Casey uses her class, community and downloads

" was the first app I used to offer things at a greater scale." Casey is the one who shares.

Tools like give Casey "more space to do important things" for instance, the one-on one meetings she makes with potential clients.

Casey created her first digital product, the Blaze Business In-depth online course , which includes . The class is self-paced and runs for six weeks which focuses on "Business Building, Business Management and Professional Excellence for today's Black Woman."

"It was 100% without code. It was actually created by me back when we were running the 14-day trial free trials," Casey remembers. "I created the entire training in that time and started selling it prior to the date of expiration to make it successful."

(Want to be like Casey's? Join the plan for free for the time you'll need to get the course's content set up Then you'll be able to upgrade at the time you're ready sell your course.)

The course is part the Blaze Knowledge Academy and includes a variety of business-related education sources Casey developed on her site. The Academy also includes:

Numerous entrepreneurship masterclasses. Some of these are provided at no cost

Her community online, referred to as The Blaze Women's Network , with nearly 7000 members

"People are able to join this Blaze Women's Network absolutely free," Casey explains. We host virtual coworking meetings, I host webinars, that then take participants to class for which they pay."

Alongside introducing clients to helpful products and useful, the Casey's Community gives its participants the chance to be welcomed and supportive environment in which to get acquainted with others who are founders.

"It was once the case that content was the most important thing on the hill, but now the world is shifting to the culture of community being the king. Many are looking for programmes that focus on communities... as well as communities that don't feel like spam are perceived as genuine."

The outcomes of her work with it have given Casey a rubric for the qualities to be looking for in a software that does not require code. "You offer a very adaptable system, which has allowed me to develop end-to end solutions on your platform," Casey explains. "And I've utilized the identical scoring system when reviewing software since I'm planning to extend it."

"It truly is beautiful to use strategies to transform the world in ways that are productive and accessible to people who were marginalized for a long time."

Don't try to do everything simultaneously

In light of all that Casey has accomplished within just two years running BLAZE The advice she gives to novice creators could be unexpected: Do less -- at least when you first get into the business.

"Keep the things that are important and the top priority" she states. Hustle culture has taught young entrepreneurs that it's difficult to finish all the work or create content. However, Casey encourages other creators to remember "There's only one limit on your potential, no matter how amazing you might be."

"You don't have to be able to master everything right out of the beginning And it's likely be extremely, very challenging to master several different things at once when you're just beginning."

She suggests starting with a signature offering to build on it. "I began with my Blaze Intensive, my first course. This is the main course I take. Entrepreneurs should spend time figuring out what their distinctive product should be and the things they would like to be acknowledged for before they start adding on many other things."

There's lots to take into consideration in the beginning: your communication, target audience, technology, marketing, and customer' happiness. What happens once you've done that? There is a chance to discover a whole lot more.

"I am confident that we are able to do a lot of things. Perhaps in the next 200 years. because Blaze will be there. However, that shouldn't have to be happening today."

We're thrilled to be being a part of the journey of Casey and can't wait to find out what's to come for Casey and BLAZE Group. This year, 200 years further down the line and each day in between.

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