Teri Ijeoma, founder of Trade and Travel
While many people dream of making thousands of dollars in minutes while traveling, Teri Ijeoma has figured out how to do just that. As a seasoned trader, Ijeoma earns a substantial income from her investments, like the $20,000 made from a successful Chipotle trade she made while at the beach in Mykonos, Greece. Her other source of income is her highly profitable investment education program.
Ijeoma has combined her love for jet-setting and stocks to create Trade and Travel, a self-paced swing trading program that teaches others how to earn from investing. Over the past four years, Trade and Travel has had more than 30,000 students across its course offerings, conferences, and challenges. The program has maintained its success rate since its inception, ranking as Teachable’s top earner for three years in a row. Ijeoma is the most successful teachable creator & the only person to make $20M+ in a single year.
Starting From Zero
Financial success wasn’t always Ijeoma’s story. She grew up in a low-income family where money was always tight. While attending a program designed to introduce minority teens to the world of business, Ijeoma visited the Chicago Stock Exchange and became instantly intrigued by the stock market. Soon after that trip, Ijeoma watched as Google launched their IPO. Though she recognized the great opportunity that it was, she didn’t know how to take advantage of it.
“We didn’t have the money. I didn’t know how to open a brokerage account. I didn’t even know what a brokerage account meant at the time. That’s when I decided I was going to go to college to learn more about [trading] because I missed out on that opportunity,” Ijeoma said.
As a young adult, Ijeoma began spending her time watching finance news shows or seeking out mentors who could teach her. With time, she eventually developed an investment strategy that she was able to use to supplement her corporate income. But after an unexpected life event occurred, Ijeoma decided to quit her job, join a travel group, and leave America to explore Asia, with nothing but two suitcases and her undeniable trading skills.
“Overseas, I would get to explore a place all day and then, at night, the US stock market would open, and I would be in my room trading,” she shared.
When her travel partners asked her to share her success secrets, Ijeoma put together an introductory class, which she taught out of co-working spaces, during her time in Thailand and Vietnam. After watching a webinar from course guru Danielle Leslie, in addition to the encouragement she received from her travel mates, Ijeoma committed to developing a complete program of her own.
“By October 2018, I had a full online course with 35 people. That’s how Trade and Travel started,” Ijeoma recalled.
Banking On Experience
After three months abroad, Ijeoma returned to Dallas to grow Trade and Travel, leveraging what she’d learned in her previous careers. As a former education administrator and elementary school assistant principal, she had developed fundamental educational skills like teaching, classroom discipline, and the ability to accommodate different learning styles. She also learned business competencies like retention, recruitment, training, operations, and budget management.
“These things have been super crucial in running the course because you have to run a huge million-dollar budget every year. How do you maintain staff? How do you pay them? How do you actually think through workflows?” Ijeoma emphasized.
Trade and Travel has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings. Not only has the number of students grown to more than 30,000, but the curriculum has expanded from four weeks to eight, covering more advanced subjects like Globex trading and options. The program’s engagement has also evolved from a single Facebook group to local meet ups and live conferences.
Tricks Of The Trade
Just like Ijeoma crafted with her winning investment strategy, she’s also mastered the art of creating and launching a successful course. Whatever your area of expertise, Ijeoma offers this proven advice for building a high-earning online program:
Provide value based on what your students need
From the inception, Ijeoma based Trade and Travel’s curriculum on the knowledge her students were asking for. She’s continued to use that approach to expand the program, enhance her curriculum, and broaden her offerings to cater to learners’ needs.
“We’re now offering a lower-level five-day challenge that will allow people to get in the door, even if they can’t afford the course yet. They can learn now and upgrade later. Being willing to revamp and be flexible is really important, especially in this time of recession,” Ijeoma advised.
Don’t expect perfection on the first iteration
Like any good teacher, Ijeoma is thoughtful about her curriculum, and how she can most effectively deliver her material. However, she noted that it’s impossible to know how well your course will work until you teach it.
“You have to actually take what you’re creating, teach it, and let people give you feedback. Then, maybe your second or third iteration is the one that’s really the full evergreen product. So, don’t assume that the first time you put it out is going to be the end all and be all. That’s the draft, and then you’re going to take the draft from good to great,” Ijeoma advised.
Get clear on communication and budget before you launch
Ijeoma warned against a one-size-fits-all approach to communication within a course. She encouraged creators to consider who they need to talk to (i.e., students, administrators, moderators, etc.), what those people need to know, and the best way to deliver those messages. She also emphasized the importance of knowing your costs so you can budget for profits.
“Sometimes we want to charge $97 for something and then realize later that that’s not going to cover the cost of what we put into actually building the course. So, the budget is important,” Ijeoma said.
Keep your community engaged
Though Trade and Travel is an eight-week course, thousands of Ijeoma’s former students remain engaged in her community. She has maintained that engagement by celebrating milestones and achievements, while also focusing on results.
“We have a really encouraging culture that is also very results driven. So people have something to work towards. They know exactly what success looks like and when they achieve it, we reward them,” Ijeoma shared.
What Comes Next
It’s been four years since she first founded Trade and Travel, and Ijeoma is planning to apply her proven blueprint to take her brand to the next level. She is preparing to release version 2.0, which will include advanced training on trading plans and risk management, a subscription service for ongoing support, and live conferences that condense the course content into intensive two-day learning experiences. The goal of this latest iteration is to ensure each student is able to use trading to pursue their unique ‘and.’
“For me, it’s travel. For other people, it might be ‘trade and pay off debt’ or ‘trade and buy furniture for my kids’ or ‘trade and buy a house.’ That’s what it means to me – freedom to pick your ‘and,’” Ijeoma said.
