Academic to 6-figure Plus Entrepreneur: The Journey

Academic to 6-figure Plus Entrepreneur: The Journey

My name is Dr. Sheena Howard. I am a professor, creative entrepreneur, and writer. I’m the owner of Power Your Research, an academic branding company, and the owner of Nerdworks, a diverse storytelling and image activism company. In addition, I’m a Professor in the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Media at Rider University.

Over the years, there has been a theme of questions academics and entrepreneurs have asked me about my entrepreneurship journey and building multiple six-figure businesses. I’ve compiled those questions below and tried to give as much value in my answers as possible.

What is a snapshot of your journey as an entrepreneur?

I was a college professor and a mom to a newborn when I left an abusive relationship and went through a divorce. It took a long five years to get divorced, and even though I was a successful professor, I hadn’t taken money that seriously until I had none.

Despite my regular paycheck, the divorce led to moving in with my mom and needing financial help to keep up with the legal fees. My son and I slept on a couch in the living room until I figured things out (I talk about that here in my TEDx talk). It was during this time that I had regrets about how I failed to use those years before my son was born to create the wealth I should have. I wasn’t an extravagant spender; I simply didn’t think much about money. Going through a tough situation, I had to learn how to make money outside of a paycheck from a day job. I hired coaches and found a community of people who taught me how to become an entrepreneur and make serious money doing it. Through this journey, I realized that saving money matters, but you have to combine that with making more money. My 9-5 paycheck would only take me so far in terms of making more money. I also had a new motivation because I never wanted to find myself broke with nowhere to go ever again. I needed to get financially secure to weather any storm life had in store. While I already had an LLC before my son was born, I was not running it like a business. Over the last six years, I’ve been running two (predominantly) online businesses, Power Your Research and Nerdworks.

What’s your niche, and why should someone choose you over your competitors in your field?

Power Your Research is an academic branding company for people with advanced degrees. We teach academics how to increase their visibility, authority, and income without the expense of a publicist. The agency takes clients through a go-at-your-own pace course, provides one-on-one virtual coaching, and connects clients with the assistance they need to become the thought leaders they desire to be. On the other hand, Nerdworks is a storytelling company that offers consulting, ghostwriting services, and publishing of its original IP.

What are the three things that mostly helped your business succeed?

Three things that have mostly helped my business succeed are 1) family support 2) setting boundaries and being unapologetic about those boundaries and 3) paying coaches to teach me. The coaches thing is really important because you should pay for coaches that have achieved the things you are trying to achieve and have a track record of teaching others how to get that result. With so many coaches out here, it can get lost on people that every coach is not a teacher.

What are your three biggest accomplishments?

As an entrepreneur, hitting 6-figures plus was a big accomplishment on the financial end. Running payroll was a big deal for me as well, signifying growth in the business and serving over 60 clients (in less than three years) in the academic branding company is a beautiful thing. Those would be the three biggest accomplishments across my companies.

?What were your three most important challenges?

Mindset was a big challenge. Since I have a Ph.D. I spent a long time in school, and the things taught in school are often in opposition to entrepreneurship. I had to learn, re-learn and unlearn a lot. In addition, dealing with imposter syndrome was a challenge. I had to understand that internal validation should be prioritized over external validation in order to ease the feelings of imposter syndrome. Another challenge was pricing. I was undercharging for my services, which I believe is linked to confidence and ignorance debt. Finally, finding the right team members was challenging – accountant, lawyer, contractors, etc. I think that was more than three, but entrepreneurship is all about overcoming challenges (both internal and external)!

?How did you overcome those challenges?

I consumed a lot of self-help and business self-help content from people like Lewis Howes, Seth Godin, and Anthony O’neal. That helped me to gain confidence and take big swings. In addition, I have had multiple coaches.

The problem of undercharging was solved when I hired a business coach to guide me through things like price structure and confidence in the value I was providing. In addition, I surveyed clients that validated the fact that what I was originally charging was too low. The issue of finding the right team members is something that will likely be an ongoing challenge. However, I do have key people, such as my accountant, my assistant, and a lawyer, I can reliably call on. Once you find good team members, it’s important to show them appreciation and add value to their lives.

?What’s your piece of advice for readers who want to achieve wealth and success in life?

Take action. That is my biggest piece of advice. At some point, I had to stop listening to self-help content and learn by experience. It was the doing that allowed me to grow. I’ve had to try things and fail, experiment, and tweak, and all of those actions have led to finding things that work.

?What do you think is the key to a truly successful business?

Having customers that will recommend their friends to you is the best form of marketing and a true compliment. So, for me, that comes down to giving your current clients a lot of value and taking care of them instead of trying to get the next client all the time. That philosophy goes for social media growth too. Focus on who likes you now, and eventually, they will tell their friends, and your community and business will grow slowly but surely.

?What’s your business model? How does your business make money?

?For my academic branding company, the top of the funnel is all about getting in front of my target audience (people with PhDs) and then having a one-on-one Zoom call with them for 30 minutes. From there, taking them through what the program is all about so that they can make an informed decision on if they want to join. On a day-to-day basis, I am showing my target audience how I can solve their problems and showing up consistently.

?Where do you see yourself and your business in five years?

?Five years from now, I see myself doing the same thing but with increased revenue, profit, and wealth. Ideally, my rental properties will be paid off, as well as the home I live in. The home I live in will be rented out. I’ll have a commercial building where my office will reside, and the commercial building will also have a rental unit. I’ll live in a 3 or 4 bedroom condo in downtown Philadelphia. Finally, my net worth will be 1 million plus within five years.

?What’s your piece of advice for people who want to quit their 9-5 job and start a business?

I always tell my clients to find a job that isn’t so draining that it stops them from starting a side business. If their job isn’t draining, they should start that side business with the goal of making their day job an option. Keep your 9-5 until your business begins to grow. Get your profit to where your job becomes an option, then exit if that’s what you want to do.

?What’s your piece of advice for people who want to reach financial freedom?

Create a plan, write it down, write the numbers out, and then execute. I used to have a lot of financial plans in my head, but it doesn’t matter until it's written down in the form of your personal roadmap to financial freedom. Once you have the vision, create the strategy and then the day-to-day tactics that are a direct funnel toward the vision.

How can people find you?

My handle across all of my social media accounts is @drsheenahoward. On LinkedIn , I am Dr. Sheena Howard as well as on Facebook. My website is drsheenahoward.com, and people can access my academic branding company at poweryourresearch.com .

Do you have any app, digital course, or book you would like our readers to know about?

I have a book called Academic Branding that is forthcoming (2024) and it is up on Benbella Books as well as Penguin Random Houses site right now. A great place for people to learn more about me is my TEDx talk on YouTube called 3 Truths of Self-empowerment That Will Set You Free .

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