We were lucky to catch up with Dakota Grady recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dakota, appreciate you joining us today. When you were first starting out, did you join a firm or start your own?

I started my personal finance business in 2015 through speaking & coaching as a side hustle. While working on the

For me, the best thing to do was to join a firm (i.e., get a job). Why? Because I needed experience. I went to college for accounting, so I needed to get work experience in the field. I contacted a lot of accounting firms in Upstate South Carolina. It took me about six months to get a job. My first job was with a small bookkeeping firm in Greenville, South Carolina (my hometown). Thereafter, I moved to Oklahoma, and I had some interviews and had two job offers. I accepted both jobs because I needed income. I took the first job offer, but then decided to quit and take the other job at the other firm. Then, we moved to Tennessee, where I had a chance to work for several CPA (certified public accounting) firms. While there, I lost FOUR jobs. I lost jobs because of 1) my temper (the workplace is full of gossip, and I don’t tolerate that mess!) and 2) my speed (I was considered “slow” when doing work for my clients; I value quality over quantity). Losing that number of jobs was one of the turning points for me to pursue entrepreneurship. Although those experiences were difficult, they gave me the opportunity to learn valuable skills that I use today to serve my clients.

If you’re stuck in a job that you hate or in a toxic work environment, analyze your life experiences and skills to see how you can use those skills and experiences to start a business. Then, create a plan, set a deadline to exit your job, and start working the plan to start your business. Ready. Set. GO!

Dakota , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Dakota Grady. I am a Greenville, South Carolina native. My parents have seven children, & we struggled financially; we lived on welfare & in low income neighborhoods. I remember times when we heated our home with our oven, used the burners to heat the iron (because it needed to be replaced), & feeling ashamed because we were on welfare. There was a time our parents took my sister, brothers, & me to my grandmother’s house because our power was disconnected. This was the foundation of my passion for personal finance because I KNEW that I didn’t want to experience this lifestyle again & didn’t want others to experience either.

I started working when I was about thirteen years old, & I saved money & bought my first car (with cash). As I got older, I worked & was very good with handling money. I took a personal finance course as an adult to really understand how money works, & in 2010 I started coaching people about financial literacy. Then, I went through additional training to hone my skills as a coach, wrote a couple of books, & launched a course on financial literacy/personal finance. That’s the personal finance side of my business.

After graduating college in 2005 with my first bachelor’s degree (marketing), I worked for a debt buyer in my hometown (Greenville, SC), & I audited collection agencies. I traveled across the U.S. ensuring that the collectors were adhering to certain collection laws. I HATED my job because I wasn’t making an impact on others. In 2008, I quit my job & went back to school for accounting. In 2011, I graduated with my second bachelor’s degree (accounting). I was hired at a bookkeeping/tax office in 2012 & have been doing accounting & taxes since 2012.

In March 2020, I lost job while living in Tennessee. The very next month (April 2020) I started my own accounting, tax, & advisory firm & have been in business since that time. My story is a story of overcoming! Today, I help people transform their lives through money & business, so they can leave a lasting legacy. Why should people work with Dakota Grady? Because I know how to simplify the complex topics of money & business.

The problems that I solve are threefold: 1) People make low wages (less than $30,000), 2) people have low homeownership, & 3) people lack knowledge about financial literacy. I help solve these problems by 1) teaching people about entrepreneurship to increase their income, 2) by them increasing their income, they can afford to buy a home, & 3) educated & empower them by teaching principles of financial literacy.

The solutions I offer include books, e-books, course, coaching, presentations for financial literacy. The solutions for business include accounting, taxes, advisory, & webinar. I also have a monthly podcast, Your Money Hour Podcast, that is listened to in nine countries.

One thing I am most proud of is starting a business. I didn’t see many people in the communities that I lived in that were entrepreneurs, so owning my own business is something that I am proud of.

If people are interested in my any of my solutions such as my Amazon #1 Bestselling Book, Broke: Secrets to Fix America’s Financial Crisis, or my course on financial literacy, Your Money Academy, they can visit my website at dakotagrady.com.

My mission is become known for three things: Jesus, money, & business. Without Jesus, I am nothing. People need help with money because if they don’t know how to manage the money they will be broke. And, if people earn a lot of money in their business & don’t know how to manage it, again, they will be broke. My goal is to teach them how to earn income & maximize it, so they can leave a lasting legacy while introducing them to my Savior, Jesus Christ. That simple.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

In March 2020, I lost my job as a bookkeeper working for a bookkeeping company when I lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee (near Nashville). The next month, April, I started my own accounting & tax business. I started my business with two things: my mind (knowledge) & a laptop. That’s it.

I already had a laptop, so the third component that I needed was paying clients. My first clients were two people from my hometown that needed tax & business start up solutions. From there, my business grew as I acquired monthly bookkeeping clients, did consultations, advisory, & taxes.

I tell people that I raised capital for my business using Y.M. & P.C. Y.M. means “Your Money.” I recommend that people use their money to fund their business because they’ll have “skin” in the game & will have more commitment to the business.

Additionally, P.C. means “Paying Clients.” I recommend raising capital by getting clients to pay for your goods & services. It’s another way of using O.P.M. (other people’s money), without debt being attached to the money.

I don’t recommend that people use debt to fund their business. Why? I AM GLAD YOU ASKED! Debt is a thief. It’s steals people’s hopes, dreams, & desires. People glamorize debt as if it’s a good thing. Ask someone who is struggling financially, with no savings, & a TON of monthly debt payments if debt is GOOD? I guarantee you that person will say, “Absolutely not!” Debt puts strain on a business’s cash flow because the money has to be repaid with interest, so the borrower has to pay more than he/she originally borrowed.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me has been prospecting (email & cold calling), social media (namely Facebook & Instagram), & online classes.

I recently earned a client via email/cold calling. I also have earned consultations via Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn. I attended an online marketing class this year, & one of the coaches referred a client of hers to me.

The best sources of new clients have been social media. I have had a lot of consultations via Facebook and Instagram. I have tried Facebook ads, and they have not worked. It may work for a different phase, but they have not worked. In addition to Facebook ads, I have done direct mail, email marketing, videos (videographer created), and radio, and those have had little to no return on my investment (ROI).

I earned a client via social media by posting a still graphic with words, which led to a consultation, and the person is now a monthly bookkeeping client. I earned a client by sending an email and followed up with a phone call. I have also gotten clients from referrals from other clients. I did an interview on my radio show, Your Money Hour, and one of the guests introduced me to a coworker, and her coworker became a tax client. Then, that client referred me to her friend, and her friend became a tax client as well.

I need to continue doing the activities that generated clients. I recommend you as an entrepreneur to do the same and hire people to work for you once you can afford to support a team member(s).

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dakotagrady.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dgthemoneycoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dakota.grady.96
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dakota-grady-94812316a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DGMoneyCoach
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVCtyvAasyy8PgNOD_t141w
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dgthemoneycoach

Image Credits
Marcus Whitner