The Leap Interview: Revolutionizing the Freelance Game with Eden Connelly from New Money Social Club

It's 2023, and we're kicking off the year with an exciting episode of The Leap podcast. Host Rachel Renock joins Eden Connelly on the show.

On this week's episode, Rachel talked to an exceptional entrepreneur, Eden Connelly Talarico, the founder of New Money Social Club. If you're a freelancer, independent professional, or part of a small to medium-sized agency, this episode is tailored just for you.

Navigating the Intersection of Purpose and Profits

Have you ever felt torn between making money and doing good in the world? Well, you're not alone. Eden Connelly recognized this all-too-common struggle and decided to take action. With a background in non-profits, marketing, and holistic coaching, Eden discovered her calling at the intersection of purpose and profit.

Unleashing the Power of Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship

Eden's career took off as she found her knack for digital marketing, working with purpose-driven companies. But she didn't stop there. Recognizing the need for a holistic approach to business, including product development and alignment, Eden became more than just a marketer to her clients; she became their trusted coach.

As the demand for her coaching expertise grew, Eden founded New Money Social Club, a brand focused on mindset work, personal development, and financial education for entrepreneurs like you. She wanted to create a support system that was accessible to all, as traditional coaching programs can often be prohibitively expensive.

Redefining Success and Wealth

The name "New Money Social Club" may raise a few eyebrows, but it's a deliberate choice. Eden wanted to challenge the negative connotations associated with "new money" in traditional wealthy circles. Instead, she empowers individuals to come into wealth or success independently, breaking free from extractive systems or inherited wealth.

She firmly believes that money should be a tool for positive change in the world, and through New Money Social Club, she equips purpose-driven entrepreneurs with the financial literacy and business skills needed to make a difference.

Unlocking the Secrets to Freelance Success

Eden's experience as a freelancer and social media manager has given her valuable insights into the freelance world. She emphasizes the importance of building relationships, networking, and creating a strong personal brand within your niche.

Diversifying income streams, setting boundaries, and establishing clear communication with clients are also key factors in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Eden's free master class available on the New Money Social Club website shares valuable tips on building profitable businesses without overcharging or overworking oneself.

Embracing The Leap towards Success

As we wrap up this episode, I hope you're feeling inspired by Eden's journey and the valuable lessons she's shared. Whether you're a freelancer, independent professional, or part of a small to medium-sized agency, remember that taking The Leap is worth it.

As Eden encourages us, let's bet on ourselves, align our business models with our values, and embrace the chaos of life to build effective and sustainable work environments. New Money Social Club is here to guide you along the way.

Watch the full interview on YouTube or listen on Spotify.

Eden Connelly The Leap Interview on YouTube

Eden Connelly The Leap Interview on Spotify

---

This blog post was inspired by an episode of The Leap podcast, hosted by Rachel Renock. The episode featured an interview with Eden Connelly, founder of New Money Social Club, a business and financial education platform for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and creatives. Transcript below:

[00:00:00] First Episode of 'The Leap' 2023: An Interview with Entrepreneur Eden Connelly

[00:00:00] Rachel Renock: Hey, everyone.

[00:00:00] Rachel Renock: Super excited to do our first episode of The Leap tonight for the year 2023.

[00:00:05] Rachel Renock: Let's fucking go.

[00:00:07] Rachel Renock: You know, like, it's midway through January, so like the end of that kind of tears off a little.

[00:00:12] Rachel Renock: Super excited about this week's guest.

[00:00:14] Rachel Renock: We'll get started here in just a minute and we'll get her up on stage and we'll get this thing going.

[00:00:20] Rachel Renock: Thanks to you who.

[00:00:21] Rachel Renock: To those who are joining us, welcome back to The Leap.

[00:00:24] Rachel Renock: Really exciting episode to kick off the year.

[00:00:27] Rachel Renock: We're going to get our guest up here in just a second, so just give us a second and we will get this thing going.

[00:00:32] Rachel Renock's Conversation with Eden Connelly

[00:00:32] Rachel Renock: All right.

[00:00:41] Eden Connelly: Let'S see if we can.

[00:00:42] Rachel Renock: Get our guest up on stage and we'll get it going.

[00:00:43] Rachel Renock: Here we go.

[00:00:44] Eden Connelly: Hello.

[00:00:45] Eden Connelly: Good evening.

[00:00:48] Rachel Renock: Good evening.

[00:00:50] Rachel Renock: Thanks so much for joining us.

[00:00:51] Rachel Renock: I'm just going to do a quick little intro and then we'll get right into it for you.

[00:00:57] Interview with Eden Connelly, Founder of New Money Social Club

[00:00:57] Rachel Renock: All right?

[00:00:58] Rachel Renock: Awesome.

[00:00:58] Rachel Renock: So hey, everybody, thanks so much for joining.

[00:01:01] Rachel Renock: Welcome back to the leap.

[00:01:03] Rachel Renock: Or welcome to the leap.

[00:01:04] Rachel Renock: If this is your first time, this is our first episode of the year.

[00:01:06] Rachel Renock: Super exciting.

[00:01:07] Rachel Renock: I'm Rich Rennick.

[00:01:10] Eden Connelly: Which is a software.

[00:01:11] Rachel Renock: Platform that helps creators start and scale their studios, so we make it really easy to price complex projects and split payments.

[00:01:19] Rachel Renock: Every month I interview a different creative entrepreneur about their journey.

[00:01:22] Rachel Renock: Taking the leap.

[00:01:23] Rachel Renock: This week's guest super excited, eden Connelly Talarico.

[00:01:26] Rachel Renock: Am I saying that right?

[00:01:30] Rachel Renock: Nailed it.

[00:01:31] Rachel Renock: Okay, cool.

[00:01:31] Rachel Renock: I just want to make sure founder of New Money Social Club, which really helps purpose driven people get over their money blocks, which God knows we definitely need that.

[00:01:42] Rachel Renock: She's got a super interesting career path that we're going to talk about today.

[00:01:45] Rachel Renock: Everything from starting out in nonprofits in Brooklyn to moving into marketing roles, into holistic and non toxic coaching and living and is now a business coach, which we're going to dive into in just a second here.

[00:01:57] Rachel Renock: Ian, thank you so much for joining us.

[00:01:59] Rachel Renock: Really appreciate it.

[00:02:01] Eden Connelly Talks About the Journey to Freelance Digital Marketing

[00:02:01] Rachel Renock: Would love to just start a little bit and tell us a little bit more in your know, how your journey to financial freedom and freelance has evolved over time and how you started to get the the lane that you're in now.

[00:02:15] Eden Connelly: Yeah, for sure.

[00:02:17] Eden Connelly: Well, hi, everybody.

[00:02:18] Eden Connelly: Welcome from upstate New York.

[00:02:22] Eden Connelly: So my career journey shout out to Syracuse.

[00:02:29] Eden Connelly: Me too.

[00:02:33] Eden Connelly: Oh, wow.

[00:02:34] Eden Connelly: Small world.

[00:02:35] Rachel Renock: I thought I knew you were in.

[00:02:36] Eden Connelly: Upstate, but I was one of the mean.

[00:02:39] Eden Connelly: I'm not there now, but that's where I grew up.

[00:02:41] Eden Connelly: So that works out outside of Syracuse, actually a small basically, you know, I had the luxury of going to a state school shout out to sunni New Paul's, which is right here, and kind of not having a set career trajectory outside of that.

[00:02:59] Eden Connelly: This is like 2003, and the options that were in front of me were like, teacher, military, doctor, none of those made sense for me, and I didn't really see too many people doing anything else.

[00:03:13] Eden Connelly: And so when I was in college, I pretty much just followed my heart, followed my passion, which, thank God, I was allowed to do.

[00:03:20] Eden Connelly: And I graduated with a degree in English, Spanish, and black studies.

[00:03:24] Eden Connelly: And I share that because at the time, this was 2007 when I graduated, there were, like, no career paths available for somebody who was majoring in what I did right and studying what I was studying.

[00:03:38] Eden Connelly: And so I moved to Brooklyn.

[00:03:42] Eden Connelly: I worked in nonprofits, and pretty much most of my 20s waffled back and forth between doing work that was working for nonprofits, working for different food businesses that were doing, like, sustainable and regenerative food work, working for a lot of folks in the holistic health industry and kind of waffling between those types of jobs that were really fulfilling my purpose and my kind of soul, but usually did not equate to having any money coming in or enough money coming in.

[00:04:10] Eden Connelly: Right.

[00:04:11] Eden Connelly: And so then I would kind of ping pong into these more high paying gigs.

[00:04:14] Eden Connelly: I was a nanny.

[00:04:16] Eden Connelly: I was a private chef.

[00:04:17] Eden Connelly: I was a house manager for a place in the Hamptons.

[00:04:20] Eden Connelly: I was getting money where I could, and I was channeling just my soul's purpose in this other space.

[00:04:27] Eden Connelly: And it took me about a decade to realize that I could potentially merge the two.

[00:04:32] Eden Connelly: So when we moved upstate, my husband and I moved upstate in 2019, and I was doing private chef work, and I thought it would be kind of a hard it was hard to think about doing that where we were moving to in upstate, which was Ithaca at the time.

[00:04:48] Eden Connelly: And I was looking at my husband, who this was back in 2019.

[00:04:53] Eden Connelly: He had already been working remotely, like, his whole career.

[00:04:56] Eden Connelly: He was working in startup world, and I was kind of just jealous of him because he was making great money, kind of working from wherever, traveling the world.

[00:05:05] Eden Connelly: And so I was like, you know what?

[00:05:06] Eden Connelly: I want to try my hand at that.

[00:05:08] Eden Connelly: And so I looked back at all my skill sets, and I was like, okay, what can I possibly muster together that people want to pay me for to do online?

[00:05:15] Eden Connelly: And I realized that actually, all the work that I had been doing for nonprofits, for holistic health companies, for restaurants, I would always build their websites, I would always run their social media, and I would just kind of be their marketing champion.

[00:05:31] Eden Connelly: So I'm kind of a natural born marketer.

[00:05:33] Eden Connelly: It's definitely been what I've always done.

[00:05:35] Eden Connelly: But I was so far removed from that world that I didn't even know that it was called marketing.

[00:05:39] Eden Connelly: And so when I first started off, I always say, if you put me in a room full of hippies, I was the biggest techie in the room.

[00:05:47] Eden Connelly: Somehow but if you put me in a room full of tech people, I was definitely the biggest hippie in the room.

[00:05:51] Eden Connelly: And so while that was like, yeah, I feel that when I was first getting started, it was something that I didn't feel good enough in either lane.

[00:06:00] Eden Connelly: And then I used it to my advantage and I ended up doing digital marketing for Holistic health companies, for dei companies, for purpose driven companies.

[00:06:09] Eden Connelly: And that's really where I found my sweet spot.

[00:06:11] Eden Connelly: So hopefully that wasn't too long ago.

[00:06:13] Eden Connelly: The reason why I started off by saying that I graduated with an English degree, Spanish and Black Studies, and me and my parents were like, what are you going to do with that?

[00:06:22] Rachel Renock: Right?

[00:06:24] Eden Connelly: It all came together because just a few years ago I had a bunch of clients that actually I had a bunch of clients in the dei space and also in the Holistic health space and in the pandemic and the racial justice uprising.

[00:06:39] Eden Connelly: A lot of these companies grew to be like million dollar companies almost overnight.

[00:06:44] Eden Connelly: And I was kind of uniquely positioned to support their marketing efforts in a very purpose driven way.

[00:06:50] Eden Connelly: And I was a strong copywriter and all these things.

[00:06:53] Eden Connelly: So basically that English degree, Spanish and the Black Studies actually perfectly positioned me for a future that I could not predict at the time.

[00:07:02] Eden Connelly: And so I only share that just because I felt really lost for a lot of years.

[00:07:06] Eden Connelly: I'm sure a lot of other people too, but I think one day if you just kind of keep doing the things that make sense to you and soothe your soul, then one day you could be preparing yourself for a future.

[00:07:16] Rachel Renock: You can't predict yet.

[00:07:20] Rachel Renock: Yeah, I love that.

[00:07:21] Rachel Renock: That's such an important thing.

[00:07:23] Rachel Renock: I feel like so much of the knowledge and so many of the things that I've picked up over the years just end up coming into the picture in so many unforeseen ways and that's such an important thing because I don't think any learning is a waste.

[00:07:36] Rachel Renock: You know what I mean?

[00:07:38] Rachel Renock: I feel like it always kind of comes back around in some way, shape or form.

[00:07:42] Rachel Renock: And in terms of that tension between making money, doing good, that tension, I totally understand that tension.

[00:07:50] Rachel Renock: I think a lot of people feel that way and I think the ability to sort of navigate that in this new world is going to be increasingly more important.

[00:07:57] Rachel Renock: So obviously what you're doing with New Money social Club could not be more timely.

[00:08:01] Rachel Renock: I think as the generational shift even continues to go through, gen Z is even more socially conscious than we were millennials.

[00:08:10] Rachel Renock: So I think dealing with that tension and how to not just exist but thrive in that system, I think it's a really complex topic and I'm just happy someone's tackling it.

[00:08:21] The Journey of Eden Connelly into Business Coaching

[00:08:21] Rachel Renock: I'm curious, so how did business coaching become sort of like the culmination of all these things together and what were some of the challenges moving into coaching and really being going fully independent?

[00:08:35] Eden Connelly: Yeah.

[00:08:35] Eden Connelly: So I did digital marketing for the first five or six years, and I noticed on that journey I would work with a lot of solopreneurs.

[00:08:44] Eden Connelly: And I mean, I worked with companies of all sizes, but I'm the type of person where you can't just give me like, a little piece of the puzzle to work on.

[00:08:50] Eden Connelly: I'm like, Wait, but what's going on?

[00:08:51] Eden Connelly: I need to see the whole system to understand how I can really put forth a solid marketing effort.

[00:08:58] Eden Connelly: Right.

[00:08:58] Eden Connelly: So I need to know what's going on over here.

[00:09:00] Eden Connelly: And nine times out of ten, when I looked what's going on over here?

[00:09:02] Eden Connelly: It's like, oh, we need to work on products, we need to work on alignment.

[00:09:07] Eden Connelly: There's a lot of other work to do.

[00:09:08] Eden Connelly: And so I think after a couple of years, I had some clients that would just call me their coach.

[00:09:14] Eden Connelly: And so that kind of planted the seed, and I was like, I can't just do that though.

[00:09:19] Eden Connelly: Who's going to pay me to do that?

[00:09:23] Eden Connelly: But then I did start kind of studying more, kind of the art of coaching and really supporting people and doing it a little bit more intentionally.

[00:09:31] Eden Connelly: And basically my catalyst to really dive into that full time was I had a baby in the spring and my time now is just straight up halved.

[00:09:41] Eden Connelly: It just is.

[00:09:42] Eden Connelly: And so I needed to reassess what's my highest impact use per hour spent?

[00:09:51] Eden Connelly: Where can I move the needle the most?

[00:09:52] Eden Connelly: And also, I just didn't have the hours that I had before to work on all of the behind the scenes work that running email campaigns, being the head of marketing for any company, that forced the issue to just allow me to surrender to that path.

[00:10:06] Eden Connelly: And once I did, and also in my own launching of New Money Social Club, I realized early on, I'm like, whoa, I need a coach.

[00:10:14] Eden Connelly: I need accountability.

[00:10:16] Eden Connelly: I think everybody can really benefit from having some type of business thought partner.

[00:10:20] Eden Connelly: Right?

[00:10:21] Eden Connelly: And so I just saw how badly I needed that and was willing to pay people good money for it.

[00:10:27] Eden Connelly: And so it validated the job for me.

[00:10:33] Eden Connelly: And then once I kind of did that on purpose, it was like, oh, there's a lot of demand for this.

[00:10:40] Rachel Renock: Totally.

[00:10:41] Rachel Renock: Yeah.

[00:10:42] Rachel Renock: You know, your customer, because 100% customer, basically.

[00:10:46] Rachel Renock: That totally makes sense.

[00:10:47] Rachel Renock: Yeah.

[00:10:48] Rachel Renock: I feel like with coaching in particular and when it comes to moving into a role like that, I think it's really interesting that you mentioned your clients were the ones that kind of planted the seed to begin with.

[00:11:00] Rachel Renock: Because I think with any great freelance business, you're not just managing your clients and crossing things off your to do list.

[00:11:07] Eden Connelly: Right.

[00:11:08] Rachel Renock: You are actually becoming a real partner to them, a real strategist with them.

[00:11:11] Rachel Renock: And being able to have those conversations and have them see you that way, I think that's a feat in and of itself, honestly.

[00:11:18] Rachel Renock: So I feel like it totally makes sense.

[00:11:20] Rachel Renock: That would be the natural kind of next step there.

[00:11:24] A Conversation with Eden Connelly: Balancing Business and Mental Health

[00:11:24] Rachel Renock: I want to ask because I think this tension lives in our society, but it must live on sort of an everyday level for you as well.

[00:11:34] Rachel Renock: How do you think about the distinction between the mental health sort of side of things?

[00:11:41] Rachel Renock: What does it really mean to be holistic versus just business?

[00:11:45] Rachel Renock: I always say I have an executive coach and a therapist, but the executive coach is like my work therapist.

[00:11:52] Eden Connelly: Yeah, man.

[00:11:53] Eden Connelly: What you said earlier, we're changing and our generation is kind of assuming positions of power, and younger generations are kind of holding us to it as well.

[00:12:04] Eden Connelly: And it's just a different world.

[00:12:06] Eden Connelly: And thank God, right?

[00:12:08] Eden Connelly: Thank God.

[00:12:08] Eden Connelly: The trends are pointing towards bringing your whole human self to work and being allowed to be a human.

[00:12:15] Eden Connelly: I think that humans have always been humans.

[00:12:18] Eden Connelly: Humans have always had breakdowns.

[00:12:19] Eden Connelly: Humans have always needed support, needed breaks, but our systems were not designed to support that.

[00:12:27] Eden Connelly: And so we have massive systemic failure because of it.

[00:12:29] Eden Connelly: Right?

[00:12:30] Eden Connelly: And so it's just as easy.

[00:12:32] Eden Connelly: Well, I think it's easier, actually, to build sustainable systems.

[00:12:39] Eden Connelly: The way that I work with people is like, what do you want to be doing for at least the next five years?

[00:12:44] Eden Connelly: Let's think about what that is.

[00:12:46] Eden Connelly: Let's think about how much money you need to be making.

[00:12:47] Eden Connelly: Let's think about what you love to be doing.

[00:12:51] Eden Connelly: Let's think about how many hours you have available.

[00:12:53] Eden Connelly: Not on a good week, but on average.

[00:12:57] Eden Connelly: Right?

[00:12:57] Eden Connelly: So factoring in the good weeks and the bad weeks, and usually it's never 40 hours a week.

[00:13:03] Eden Connelly: It's usually a lot more like in the 20 range.

[00:13:06] Eden Connelly: And so just getting real about what sustainability looks like for all of us.

[00:13:11] Eden Connelly: And I think I've had the tremendous privilege of being a thought partner and the head of growth for a company that is a diversity, equity and inclusion company.

[00:13:22] Eden Connelly: And we had to hold this space for ourselves as leaders and also for all of our employees, right?

[00:13:32] Eden Connelly: And simultaneously had to make our bottom line.

[00:13:36] Eden Connelly: Right.

[00:13:36] Eden Connelly: So we felt this tension so viscerally.

[00:13:39] Eden Connelly: And I was honestly really inspired by some of the leadership there, the founder there who just she had moments in her life where she just had to take a beat, right?

[00:13:50] Eden Connelly: Like, just burn out these types of things.

[00:13:53] Eden Connelly: And so you see how a company can actually stay afloat and survive with the good bones she built it with so that she could be a human, catch her break and kind of come back stronger and just know that that wasn't just a one time deal for all of us.

[00:14:08] Eden Connelly: We're going to break sometimes, we're going to get sick people.

[00:14:11] Eden Connelly: We know, are going to get sick, we're going to have babies, things are going to happen.

[00:14:14] Eden Connelly: And so just building with that reality in mind, it's not easy, but it's more predictable to design with that in mind up front than pretend it doesn't exist.

[00:14:29] Rachel Renock: Yeah, I could not agree more.

[00:14:30] Rachel Renock: And I think one of the big things that this big shift to remote work did for all of us is it shifted the perception of we used to build our lives around work, right?

[00:14:42] Rachel Renock: And so wherever that institution was, everything else fit into whatever little pockets existed outside of that office building, essentially.

[00:14:51] Rachel Renock: And now I think that has reversed itself, or rather, the pendulum has swung in the direction, and now we get to sort of build work around our lives.

[00:15:01] Rachel Renock: In the moment of being remote and also being freelance, of course, you have an even bigger amount of freedom in that regard.

[00:15:06] Rachel Renock: But with freedom, I think that freedom is also terrifying because suddenly, oh, where I live isn't going to be dictated by where I work necessarily.

[00:15:17] Rachel Renock: So where do I actually want to live?

[00:15:19] Rachel Renock: And we're all kind of having I guess I could speak for myself, but I feel like a lot of people in my life are having kind of these big existential kind of questions that are happening and where work fits into all of that can vary and it can change throughout your entire life, basically.

[00:15:33] Rachel Renock: And so I think that having that conversation up front and building for that sort of designing for that kind of the chaos of life, right, whereas work could be more predictable up front must be really effective people.

[00:15:45] Rachel Renock: And that must also I think that level of realism is super important because sometimes it's annoying to hear the answer, like, just work less.

[00:15:54] Rachel Renock: And it's like there's a lot of nuances.

[00:15:58] Rachel Renock: How do you do that?

[00:15:59] Rachel Renock: Founder so I feel like approaching it in that way is awesome.

[00:16:03] Rachel Renock: Yeah, I know.

[00:16:05] Rachel Renock: I mean, that's a whole other we could have, like a whole conversation about that.

[00:16:11] Eden Connelly Discusses the Concept of New Money and the Start of New Money Social Club

[00:16:11] Rachel Renock: I love this idea of new money and the embracing of that and how you're sort of working with all these different small business owners and entrepreneurs.

[00:16:19] Rachel Renock: Can you tell us a little bit more about New Money social Club?

[00:16:21] Rachel Renock: How did you decide to start it?

[00:16:22] Rachel Renock: How did it come to be?

[00:16:23] Rachel Renock: And why?

[00:16:25] Eden Connelly: Are you sure?

[00:16:26] Eden Connelly: So I've always been a personal development nerd.

[00:16:29] Eden Connelly: I've definitely always been into all the self help books.

[00:16:33] Eden Connelly: I'm that annoying friend that's just encouraging the best out of all of us.

[00:16:42] Rachel Renock: Probably not annoying.

[00:16:47] Eden Connelly: But it was good for me to start making the distinction of, like, okay, I should just make this my work so that people who really want it can pay me for it rather than be, like, unsolicited.

[00:17:00] Eden Connelly: But basically, I learned early on just the crucial role that mindset plays in anything that we build, anything that we do, any of our success in life.

[00:17:13] Eden Connelly: I mean, if you look at any successful founder, entrepreneur, anybody who's really done anything and is living this sort of aligned life, nine times out of ten, they have a support system, they have a coach, they are enrolled in a Mastermind, they have some type of support structure there.

[00:17:28] Eden Connelly: And I feel like that's this secret and mystery to a lot.

[00:17:32] Eden Connelly: We're out here just kind of flailing without help and also if they're anything like me.

[00:17:37] Eden Connelly: So I lived in Brooklyn for many years.

[00:17:40] Rachel Renock: I was.

[00:17:42] Eden Connelly: Know, hanging out with tattooed bartender types that were kind of like side eyeing the whole world, fuck everything.

[00:17:51] Eden Connelly: And I'm with like, being kind of salty and sarcastic and rolling your eyes at self help and personal development was a part of my lived experience, too.

[00:18:01] Eden Connelly: So I get it.

[00:18:02] Eden Connelly: So, one, I wanted to create a brand of just mindset, work and all of that stuff that you need to really be successful as an entrepreneur.

[00:18:10] Eden Connelly: I wanted to create a brand that I felt comfortable in, and I think also I wanted to just make it more accessible because for a lot of folks, getting a coach, getting to be a part of a Mastermind can be extraordinarily expensive.

[00:18:26] Eden Connelly: It can be a really high price of admission.

[00:18:28] Eden Connelly: And I just don't actually I see the function of that.

[00:18:31] Eden Connelly: A lot of coaches are a lot of digital marketing will push people down the pipeline of being like, you charge that five, six figure package for your monthly.

[00:18:42] Eden Connelly: And I think a lot of people can and should do that.

[00:18:46] Eden Connelly: I don't know.

[00:18:47] Eden Connelly: I guess I saw a gap with just, like, a population that can afford more, like maybe $97 a month, that these are people that I love to work with because I could see how quickly change can happen when people are equipped with just a little bit of a positive vibe in their ear because most of us are freelancing or trying to do our we have our business idea in our minds, and we get all hype about it when we write in our journal, but then we go and tell our friends about it, or we tell our family about it, and we just get deflated really quickly.

[00:19:20] Eden Connelly: Right?

[00:19:20] Eden Connelly: And so it's so crucial to have a community of folks that are trying to get their money, too, and people who are values aligned, right?

[00:19:30] Eden Connelly: People who are not like, evil rich people, but people who are therapists and coaches and just doing purpose driven work, and they're trying to get that money.

[00:19:39] Eden Connelly: So we need to see that reality reflected back at us.

[00:19:42] Eden Connelly: And I found that when we do get that, we change so much quicker.

[00:19:47] Eden Connelly: So sorry, I went on a tangent, but like, new money.

[00:19:53] Eden Connelly: So I knew that I wanted it to be social club and then, yeah, I knew that I wanted the keywords, like, money and business in it.

[00:20:01] Eden Connelly: And so I just was playing around, playing, and then I was like, oh, duh.

[00:20:04] Eden Connelly: Actually, what we are creating here is a type of new money making, right?

[00:20:10] Eden Connelly: It's reclaiming that word new money, right?

[00:20:12] Eden Connelly: Because old money connotates it's weird because I think culturally old money is seen as being more legitimate or more just more legitimate.

[00:20:26] Eden Connelly: And like new money, it's like, oh, they got it from the yeah, you've.

[00:20:29] Rachel Renock: Got all the etiquette, kid, and all the, you know, the things and the winks all that.

[00:20:35] Eden Connelly: Exactly.

[00:20:36] Eden Connelly: In rich folk culture, there is that distinction I hear I've seen.

[00:20:43] Eden Connelly: But yeah, new money is looked at as this kind of cheap and new they don't know how to act type of thing to really just poke holes in that.

[00:20:55] Eden Connelly: Because most old money, if we're talking old money, we're talking inherited money.

[00:20:59] Eden Connelly: And most companies that are passing down wealth from generation to generation, most of them are built from some type of extractive system, right?

[00:21:10] Eden Connelly: Whether it's enslaved labor or just resource extraction or displacement.

[00:21:16] Eden Connelly: And so I don't want to do that and I don't think we should strive to that, right?

[00:21:20] Eden Connelly: And so it's kind of just holding space for a different way of being holding space for a different way of money making and giving it a title and a kind of space for folks to step into.

[00:21:34] Rachel Renock: I love that it's like a double entendre, right?

[00:21:38] Rachel Renock: It means both, really, which is like the newness of coming into money or making money of your own, building wealth, really.

[00:21:45] Rachel Renock: Not just like inheriting it, but also I think there is a lot in there around growing and the growth and how you actually get that money.

[00:21:56] Rachel Renock: And I feel like there's got to be a new way, right?

[00:21:58] Rachel Renock: Or else the direction that we're running in, which is just like kind of capitalism, growth at all costs is obviously not working, or at least it's not working for a large part of the population.

[00:22:08] Rachel Renock: It's working for some now, let's say.

[00:22:11] Exploring Sustainable Business Models with Eden Connelly of New Money Social Club

[00:22:11] Rachel Renock: So in terms of new money.

[00:22:12] Rachel Renock: Source Club I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you think about remaining accessible with your price point.

[00:22:20] Rachel Renock: And also obviously you want to be a profitable, thriving business.

[00:22:23] Rachel Renock: You don't want to be tearing your hair out working a million hours a week as none of us do.

[00:22:29] Rachel Renock: Yeah.

[00:22:29] Rachel Renock: How do you balance that and how do you keep things accessible to the.

[00:22:33] Eden Connelly: Audience that you work with?

[00:22:34] Eden Connelly: We're embarking on that journey.

[00:22:35] Eden Connelly: Right now I have growth trajectory, but right now I am following more of a slow business, slow growth model because I want it to be around for the next five years at least, right?

[00:22:47] Eden Connelly: And so I know that I needed to start with we had an awesome launch, which is really exciting.

[00:22:53] Eden Connelly: And so we have a solid group of members in there.

[00:22:55] Eden Connelly: But right now I'm just sort of establishing the culture and seeing how big we can grow things with the vibe still being there, right?

[00:23:04] Eden Connelly: So that's kind of the model that I'm exploring right now when it comes to so yes, we run into this problem all the time.

[00:23:11] Eden Connelly: And this question, I run into it with a lot of clients and a lot of folks in new money.

[00:23:16] Eden Connelly: And so in terms of some solutions around how do we remain accessible, but we still need to charge good money so that we're making good money, right?

[00:23:25] Eden Connelly: And there's a few different ways that I've seen this done really well and a few different ways that I followed.

[00:23:31] Eden Connelly: One is like a tiered pricing model.

[00:23:32] Eden Connelly: So acknowledging the fact that most of us out here are creating free content all the time, a lot of us maybe too much.

[00:23:42] Eden Connelly: But the point yeah, doing it right now, but the point is that you should create quality free, give generously, give your best gems for free, right, and allow that to be available and accessible to everybody who needs it.

[00:24:00] Eden Connelly: And I know that on my journey, there's been many times where I couldn't afford something that I wanted to learn.

[00:24:05] Eden Connelly: Like I couldn't afford to join the group or whatever, so I just bought the book.

[00:24:08] Eden Connelly: Or I just follow them on Instagram and that's fine too.

[00:24:11] Eden Connelly: Okay, so acknowledge that there's going to be some people that only consume your free content and that's okay.

[00:24:17] Eden Connelly: Next level up, we have some type of group, slightly more accessible pricing.

[00:24:24] Eden Connelly: But you are maximizing per hour you are spending doing something, you're maximizing it by serving more than just one person, right?

[00:24:33] Eden Connelly: I guess specifically I'm talking about service based businesses.

[00:24:35] Eden Connelly: So some type of group offering, right, is usually the middle tier and then the top tier is any type of one on one service when it's just you and that one person.

[00:24:43] Eden Connelly: And the thing is there's some people who have the money, don't have the time and they're going to pay for that one on one service day in and day out.

[00:24:52] Eden Connelly: I know there's been times in my life where I'm like, yeah, I don't want to be a part of your group coaching program, I just need to be in front of you for 45 minutes.

[00:24:58] Eden Connelly: I'm going to pay you $500 for it because I just need the answers, right?

[00:25:03] Eden Connelly: And so just, just allowing people to self select the level at which they want to engage with you.

[00:25:09] Eden Connelly: And if you have something for free for everybody, something for slightly more accessible for more people, and then slightly, definitely charging whatever price point you need to charge for it to be profitable and sustainable for the people that want to work with you directly, that's one model.

[00:25:25] Eden Connelly: There's so many other models because I think that when you're trying to build profitable, sustainable businesses and you're a super purpose driven person or business, the fact of the matter is you have to create new pathways, right?

[00:25:39] Eden Connelly: Like you have to get creative, you have to get strategic.

[00:25:42] Eden Connelly: And that's what I help clients do.

[00:25:44] Eden Connelly: And so I've seen that now like dozens of times, and it's just like the most glorious thing in the world.

[00:25:51] Eden Connelly: I've seen people kind of be like, all right, an herbalist that I work with.

[00:25:55] Eden Connelly: She wanted to continue serving our most marginalized folks who just straight up don't have money to pay her the full price for her herbal medicine course.

[00:26:03] Eden Connelly: But she had all these other people who did want to pay her full price for her herbal medicine course.

[00:26:08] Eden Connelly: And so she started a monthly sustainer campaign.

[00:26:10] Eden Connelly: So she gets enough donations every month to be able to supplement her business, to be able to allow her target demographic to take the course for free and other people pay her.

[00:26:22] Eden Connelly: And that's like a flourishing, beautiful business that's been going on for the past two years.

[00:26:28] Eden Connelly: And so there's both types of models out there and we have to be creative.

[00:26:32] Eden Connelly: But if you're determined and if you're creative, I've absolutely seen it work time and time again.

[00:26:39] Rachel Renock: Yeah, I think having your revenue model, how you make money aligned with your audience, your customer, your target customer, is the best way to do business.

[00:26:52] Rachel Renock: I think when you're not thoughtful about that, I think that's when you end up in a situation where you're either selling a product or something or a service you're not super proud of for maybe a price point, you're not super proud of, or you end up in a place, I think, where you lose sight of why you wanted to do it to begin with.

[00:27:09] Rachel Renock: You end up moving too far away from the customers that you actually want to help, and then you just lose it.

[00:27:14] Rachel Renock: You lose sight of that.

[00:27:16] Rachel Renock: So it's super important, I think.

[00:27:20] Rachel Renock: If I remember correctly, you have a class coming out around this soon.

[00:27:24] Rachel Renock: Or is that out yet?

[00:27:27] Eden Connelly: Thank you.

[00:27:27] Eden Connelly: Nomoneysocial club at newmoneysocial dot club or newmoneysocial club the website.

[00:27:38] Eden Connelly: You can get a free master class where it's how to build profitable, sustainable businesses, doing what you love without overcharging your audience or overworking yourself.

[00:27:48] Eden Connelly: Okay, so that's like all of the inputs that we need to plug in, but there's a lot of really awesome tips and tricks in there to help people get started or supercharge their journey.

[00:28:03] Rachel Renock Interviews Eden Connelly on Taking the Freelancing Leap

[00:28:03] Rachel Renock: Amazing.

[00:28:04] Rachel Renock: Last question.

[00:28:06] Rachel Renock: Yes, for sure.

[00:28:08] Rachel Renock: Last question, but certainly not the least.

[00:28:11] Rachel Renock: Any advice for folks who are either looking to take the leap to freelance or maybe have just gone freelance, possibly not by choice.

[00:28:18] Eden Connelly: With the layoffs going on, I say bet on yourself.

[00:28:22] Eden Connelly: I don't know.

[00:28:23] Eden Connelly: I've never met anybody who has made that leap and gone back unless it was out of pure choice and an amazing opportunity came along.

[00:28:35] Eden Connelly: But I've never seen anybody leave their day job or whatever, start their own thing and then regret it ever.

[00:28:42] Eden Connelly: So I think just usually we are far.

[00:28:46] Eden Connelly: More capable than we give ourselves credit for.

[00:28:49] Eden Connelly: And if you're feeling kind of stifled in your environment and you got the urge to do it, just try it out.

[00:28:58] Eden Connelly: Everything is figureoutable, and there's so much support out there, and I really do think it is mindset and mathematics, so don't rely on just the like, I can do it.

[00:29:11] Eden Connelly: Did you watch White Lotus?

[00:29:15] Eden Connelly: So, you know, like, the second one, she's like, you got this, and then she jumps out of the yeah.

[00:29:22] Eden Connelly: So like so like, yes, mindset, but also math on it.

[00:29:27] Rachel Renock: But like, do the math.

[00:29:28] Eden Connelly: You do those two things.

[00:29:29] Eden Connelly: Like, you can't lose.

[00:29:32] Rachel Renock: Yes, for sure.

[00:29:34] Rachel Renock: I totally agree with that.

[00:29:35] Rachel Renock: I love that we'll leave it at that, honestly, because I think that's such a huge thing.

[00:29:38] Rachel Renock: Like, double down on yourself, bet on yourself.

[00:29:40] Rachel Renock: I completely agree.

[00:29:41] Rachel Renock: I've never, ever regretted doing that, so could not agree more.

[00:29:47] Rachel Renock: Ian, thank you again for joining us.

[00:29:48] Rachel Renock: Really appreciate it.

[00:29:49] Rachel Renock: If folks want to follow along, I know you're at New Money Social Club.

[00:29:52] Rachel Renock: Anywhere else that they can follow along.

[00:29:55] Eden Connelly: On your journey, that's where it's at.

[00:29:56] Eden Connelly: Newmoneysocial Club.

[00:29:58] Eden Connelly: Thank you so much.

[00:29:59] Eden Connelly: It's so great to connect with you, Rachel.

[00:30:01] Eden Connelly: I love weathos I love what y'all are doing over there, and I'm super grateful to connect with you guys today.

[00:30:08] Rachel Renock: Amazing.

[00:30:09] Rachel Renock: Thank you so much.

[00:30:10] Rachel Renock: I appreciate that.

[00:30:11] Rachel Renock: Thanks.

[00:30:11] Rachel Renock: That made my day.

[00:30:14] Rachel Renock: For anybody who's tuning in next time, we'll be back next month for another episode of The Leap, but thank you guys for coming in tonight.

[00:30:20] Rachel Renock: We'll be posting a recap and some clips and all that jazz, all that good stuff in the coming week or so.

[00:30:26] Rachel Renock: So thank you again and have a good night, everybody.