We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taylor Mason a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Taylor, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

What I would change about the educational system is giving each individual the access to fully understand what it means to be financially literate. It’s a shame that over 65% of the students that graduate from high school don’t even have a savings account. We speak about how generations to come need to understand what creating generational wealth is but to do that we have to start somewhere. My parents started me young with a savings account with Bank of America and ever since then I was able to understand the value of money and how to properly save it. That then progressed into me investing and having a financial planner. Because of this decision that my parents made for me at the age of 16 now at the age of 26, I am familiarized with what a Roth IRA is, a 401(k) plan, and how the stock market fluctuates. Kids nowadays only know what we tell them. Teaching students how to use the money to create wealth Will lead to them having a more fulfilling life. Covid should’ve been one of the biggest signs of how important it is for individuals to have an emergency fund, a savings account, or some type of budgeting mechanism. If this is not something that we work on changing now each generation will struggle with understanding what being financially stable means.

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.

My name is Taylor A. Mason founder & CEO of Edify Consulting, LLC, which specializes in business improvements and professional development. Being born into a military family, I was exposed to a variety of different cultures, socio-economic conditions, and various methods for money management. I began my educational journey at Hampton University where I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration and then went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from American University.

From my collective experience along with other industry professionals, most skills demanded by colleges and employers include the ability to communicate effectively, solve problems, think critically and develop informed responses. Thus Edify Consulting was created to provide the foundation necessary to build confidence and promote lifelong success For not only students for business owners.

Our vision is to fill a void within the business and professional development realm by providing educational tools and business development services to companies. From workshops to webinars, we have something to fit your business and professional development needs.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I get asked this question quite often. My most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been networking. A lot of people go straight to social media thinking that it will be the most effective strategy to increase clientele which isn’t necessarily true all the time. The first thing you have to do as a business owner understands who your target audience is because that will lead you to figure out the best places to promote your business. With me running a business improvement and professional development company the best places for me to network are speaking engagements, Linkedin, and conferences. I have learned over time that the individuals that I need to speak with are superintendents of schools and principles. To do that you have to be willing to put yourself out there on a limb. The best piece of advice I can tell anyone to be prepared for this type of circumstance is to have a 3o second elevator pitch ready. This pitch is something that I use regularly that explains exactly who I am, why I started my business, and what I would like to accomplish with this conversation. This has been a strategy that I have been using over the last five years and it has helped me tremendously to be successful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As a business owner, you understand that over time you have to be able to adapt and that includes pivoting in a different direction than what you previously intended. When I initially started my business I had several things that I wanted to specialize in. Over time I realized that either you could be great at a few things or spread yourself thin and be OK at a lot of things. After speaking with one of my mentors I concluded that I had to focus on what I truly enjoyed when it came to narrowing down my specializations. Once I did that I was able to see that I truly enjoyed doing developmental workshops and assisting with business growth. After writing out my thoughts and revamping the idea of how I wanted my business to function I realized that by changing my focus and narrowing down my target audience I was able to grow my clientele within those specific specializations. Pivoting isn’t necessarily a bad thing; sometimes pivoting can put you in the right direction for success. You just have to be willing to adapt to the change and move accordingly. Once this change was made, my clientele increased which also caused me to pivot the focus of my career. At one point I wanted to reach the highest level within my career but then I discovered I wanted to create something that would be a long-lasting legacy and that was my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.edify-me.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edifyme/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/EdifyConsultingLLC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-mason-403461b1
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaylorM50089121/with_replies

Image Credits
@girlswhobrunchtour