We recently connected with Jala Eaton and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jala, thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

In the financial industry, everything is tailored to the high net worth clients which leaves out the majority of Americans. The industry has withheld information and created complex terminology so that at times it was almost required that you have an advisor. (which often meant absorbitant fees or high-pressure sales tactics). Worst of all there aren’t enough people of color in the industry. Often, people of color get taken advantage of in this system. I wanted to do my part to change that by educating.

My business is heart-centered, I do this because I love it and I have the desire to help people improve their financial health as well as their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Personal finance can be daunting and overwhelming and it gets worse when you add a more complex topic like owning/running a business. I plan on being a resource and adding value no matter where I am. I believe the black community needs access to more unbiased professionals that actually understand the black experience. Most attorneys and financial advisors do NOT teach their clients to become independent and self-sufficient because it is bad for business and against their number one interest, to make money. I on the other hand see it as a conflict of interest to leave my clients dependent on me because this is how many people are taken advantage of. My goal is to be able to help more communities understand their finances and create financial plans which in this time and age is vital to their survival.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Jala Eaton, a millennial black woman who broke with tradition and decided to educate her peers about money. Early in life, I realized that people needed financial education so that they could start getting their financial lives in order. Then they needed to invest for the long-term to truly be able to make decisions on their terms. Having resources that you can trust to talk about money is important and I didn’t see anybody that look like me having the conversations I wanted to have. So I built my own business, On My Own Financial, LLC. This business allows me to talk about financial education without sponsors who would hijack the narrative and push their agenda. I love that I can chat with others and give them my attention and unbias feedback but with the backing of my knowledge and education and from the perspective of someone who looks like them. Along the way, I became Your Wealth Bestfriend®️ and I love it because financial freedom is not something you can copy-paste so having someone to chat with is cruicial.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn corporate culture and hustle culture. When I started my business I worked nonstop. I thought this is what I had to do for the rest of my life or at least until the business started making a whole lot of money. But even when the money came, I didn’t stop working those crazy hours because this didn’t feel like work. Consider this, I’m on social media talking about money. I’m in client meetings, talking to them about their money. I’m working with corporations and educating their employees, I’m blogging. None of this felt like work and I was trying to make it more like a traditional job when that was really the opposite. I had to unlearn 40-60 hour work weeks and embrace that money could be made and good could be done sometimes in 10 hours or less. This was so hard for me and I am still working on it but I’m embracing it more and more each day.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My business pillars are trust integrity, and authenticity. So, I built my social media following from scratch. I’ve never paid for followers I don’t really use paid ads. Having a huge following was never the goal. The goal was to do what I could to ensure my followers or as I call them “my besties” are truly receiving value from my content. I’ve found that creating a safe space and talking about money can be life-changing. My advice to those just starting out, is to pick a social media platform that you like, and continuously make content that brings you joy and that you feel is helpful or might be helpful to others. Like all things it takes time. You really don’t want to be an overnight success you want to build so you have a strong foundation and what you create will last.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.onmyownfinancial.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/yourwealthbestfriend
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/je2020/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourwealthbestfriend