Episode 79: Ellie Diop’s $1 Billion Dollar Mission

Acquania Escarne 0:00

Hey guys, what's going on? Welcome to the first live episode of The Purpose of Money Podcast. I'm your host today, Acquania Escarne. And we are going to talk about the $1 billion challenge that our special guests Ellie Diop recently did to help 1,000 women get covered with life insurance. It is life insurance Awareness Month, and we're going to talk about the importance of leaving a legacy for you and your family. We're also going to talk about a challenge that Ellie recently did, that helped get 1,000 women insured with million-dollar policies, creating a billion dollars in wealth for their families. We're also going to talk about her amazing story, going from broke and broken to multi-million dollar entrepreneur. So I hope you guys are ready. This is going to be an interview to remember, we are going to have her inspirational tips as well as more about us and how we can apply these strategies to our businesses.

You are listening to The Purpose of Money Podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life. Today. I am your host, Acquania Escarne.

I'd like to take this time now to formally introduce our guests for today. Ellie Diop as I said, as the CEO of Ellie Talks Money, and today we're going to share more about her story and how she transitioned from a mom, a single mom of four, who was unemployed and seeking several job offers, she applied to 53 jobs, and none of them hired her. And then she realized that her true calling was to create a business to help other women. Ellie went live for more than a year on Instagram, promoting her expertise in business credit, and utilized her knowledge in that sector to help other women build their businesses and access business credit to today. Ellie is a wonderful Mommy Millionaire and entrepreneur who has taught over 40,000 students how to build business credit, start Airbnbs, establish their businesses and so much more. She is out here helping everyone elevate their money. And she is a true example of when God is on your side, you cannot lose. Ellie went from unemployment to a $1,200 stimulus check to using that stimulus check to launch a multi-million dollar business. And now Ellie talks money is successfully helping individuals every single day. So without further ado, I would love Ellie to join us on stage so we can share more of her story with you.

Hi, Ellie.

Ellie Diop 3:04

Hello. How are you?

Acquania Escarne 3:07

I'm doing great. So excited to see you here today.

Ellie Diop 3:12

I'm so excited to be on your show today.

Acquania Escarne 3:16

Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure, we did a little bit of introduction. But we're gonna hop right into your story and share more about the journey that you've taken and how you have literally become just an icon and for me, for other women, and a true recipient of the Icon Award recently. So this is definitely timely. So thank you so much for being willing to share your story with us today. And the background behind the $1 billion mission. So we're gonna talk more about that. But before we get started, I want to just kind of go back for a sec. And I want to learn about Ellie when she you were a child and what was money like for you when you were growing up?

Ellie Diop 4:02

I love this question. And thank you so much again for having me. So, you know, growing up as a child, I live with my mom, so single mother, and I was always very close with my dad, but they split from a young age and I always had a very early understanding that we did not have as much money as other people because I went to a private school in Pasadena. So if anyone's familiar with LA, I lived in Compton, California, and went to school in Pasadena. So it's 45 minutes apart two completely different worlds truly. And that was a school that I was at from age nine to 18 When I graduated, so I really understood okay, this is what it looks like to have money when I would go to their homes and hear about what their parents did and see their cars and you know, they even were talking about stocks at that time. And I'm like, we can, like wait for the stock market? But you know, now I'm thinking of it at that time I. So I very much realized from a young age that there was a gap. And I remember always feeling like I want to be on the other end, like, I want to know what it's like to have money, I want my mom to be driving that car, you know. So I would definitely say the motivation to become wealthy started at a very young age.

Acquania Escarne 5:26

I love it. And I'm glad that it inspired you to pursue well for yourself. But also realizing like there's two separate sides of this track here, and I'm going to be on the other side takes a lot and a mindset to want to do that. But you definitely are not falling short of that dream. So tell us a little bit more about 2020. I mean, everyone was going through a pandemic, but what was life like for you?

Ellie Diop 5:51

I mean, that was probably one of the hardest and also most rewarding years of my life. So in 2020, I finalized my divorce. So that happened at the beginning of the year, I was married for seven years, got divorced in February of 2020. At that time, I was just, you know, over giving birth to twins. So my twins were about eight months at that time. And I moved back home to my mom's house, me and my four kids. So the twins were just the youngest two. But I still had two other toddlers. And I was unemployed, you know, I had a great job. But I was laid off just ahead of the pandemic, and trying to find a job in the pandemic, I'm sure we all know, it was not happening for anyone. So it was just, it was a hard time, you know, that first six months of the year was filled with a lot of, you know, what am I going to do, unsurety being at my mom's house wanting a different situation, and then the second half of the year, so I say it was the hardest year of my life, but also the most rewarding because I started my business around July of that year in 2020. And that is where I used my stimulus check. As you know, I saw it as my seed money, I had worked in a startup environment, so I knew what to do. But I just hadn't done a much smaller scale with this $1,200. And I said, okay, I'm not getting a job, no one's hiring me. So let me take what I know how to do, and give it directly to people, the market, small business owners. And so that year, I think I had made my first $10,000, after about three or so months in business that was around October or November of 2020. And that's not a lot, right, I had my first $500 day just before that. And that's not a lot. But it was the most rewarding moment, because coming from such a dark place to achieve that. Although, again, $500 a day isn't a huge number. But it felt like a sign that if I could make $500 in a day, then it just took a little bit of maneuvering to make $5,000 in a day or $50,000 in a day. And it was great.

Acquania Escarne 8:14

I love it. I love it. And most people may or may not know this, but you move from the $500 a day to making your first million in your business after 10 months. So from July onward, what were the things that really helped you reach that million dollar milestone because there are some businesses that don't reach that milestone for years? What did you do differently?

Ellie Diop 8:40

I would definitely say something that I did differently in the business is more of the direct customer outreach. So through social media, and through direct live streams or going live, I definitely think those were two changes that made my business grow so quickly. In addition to that, a third element is I focused on volume. So my price point at that time was maybe $50 for a class maybe $100 at most. And although that's not a high number, I felt like okay, if I focus on getting more people to pay $100 and focus on impacting and communicating and creating content for more people, then I'll get to this number by volume, right? I could have had $1,000 product and just sold, you know, I don't know a couple 1000 of them. But that's a much different process, right? And I had to look at what I had available to me. I had to look at who I was really focused on serving and where they were at that time and I knew that in that moment. My target audience probably didn't have $1,000 Just to put up, you know, but 100 they could do. And so focusing on that volume, showing up for them every day through live streams. So they really know, I am who I say I am, and can ask me those questions directly, I think build trust in my business really quickly, and cause more people to buy.

Acquania Escarne 10:19

I love it. And I think trust is so important. And so for those out there who are entrepreneurs and you're growing in your business, or just starting out, remember the importance of building trust with your target audience that trust and credibility is going to lead to the sales, right? And I love what you said about impact how you really focus on impacting more people, and leaving it at a price point that your clients and your customers could afford. So making access to you achievable and affordable is key, and it paid off, because that turned into a million in revenue in 10 months. So let's talk about the impact you are most recently known for, I'm super proud of you. Because as a life insurance producer, and you also from the industry, you know the importance of life insurance, you know that September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, and you know that it is a guaranteed way to leave a legacy. But you actually came up with a concept to take it to a whole new level with a $1 billion challenge. So tell us a little bit more about the $1 billion challenge, and how you got so many women to commit to life insurance for their families.

Ellie Diop 11:33

a Absolutely, I'm so excited, we get to talk about this. So I created a group or a community called Mommy to Millionaire. And it is essentially a space where I want to coach moms specifically and dads, we have some dads in there, and some aunties, you know, but I'm focused on coaching moms on how they can start their businesses and build wealth so they can become the first millionaires in their family, and then of course, help their children to be millionaires as well. So a part of the focus for this last Mommy to Millionaire Challenge was really actively taking steps to create wealth and create legacy through life insurance. So I set a goal to get 1,000 women or dads, aunties, whoever in the room, so that each of them could secure a million-dollar term life insurance policy. And that would create effectively a billion dollars in, you know, in new black insurance policy holders and as well in new black legacy, which was so important. And although there are term policies, what matters is knowing that they have the coverage and knowing that they can leave something behind, because our communities are typically the least insured, and the most under insured across the board. So starting with that is an amazing step. So the goal was 1000, we ended up getting a little over 700 people in, so well you know, the process right now is going with the life insurance. But effectively, that could be $700 million in insurance secured for these individuals, which I'm just super proud of, you know, it's a start. And it really goes to show that if we focus on attaching a why to life insurance, people will sign up, you know, they will get it I think what I learned most in this is that many of the reasons why these individuals were uninsured, isn't that they don't think it's important. I think they just never knew what it could be used for. And how much of a preventative measure it is, from losing wealth when you pass away.

Acquania Escarne 13:57

Absolutely. So for those of you in the chat joining us live, feel free to drop legacy in the comments, if you agree that we are out here to build legacies for our families, and we want to make sure they're taken care of because what you did Ellie was you created legacies for so many women out there, and men who are now focused on leaving a legacy for their families. And one of the things that I like to add is that this challenge was not just about life insurance. It was also about creating wills, creating trust and estate planning so that people created the systems they need to protect the wealth that they are now creating, in addition to you had individuals in the room teaching them every single night tactics that they needed to build their businesses, like creating vending machine businesses for your kids or hiring your kids to be members of the business making money in the business. So let's just give it to Ellie. Let's give her her flowers for creating so many legacies right now. I love it. Hi, Azaliah. She's a ride or die from PA. I love it.

Yes, we love it. Thank you for joining us today. So I'm super proud of you, Ellie 1700 Whatever it is, it is more families with life insurance than we have before. Okay, hey, Colette, yeah, we gonna work together to upgrade you. So for those who are just joining, we are talking to Ellie Diop of Ellie Talks Money, we're talking about her journey from using her $1,200 stimulus check to start her multi-million dollar business at a time when she was unemployed, and a single mom of four kids. And now she is recently known for her Billion Dollar Challenge, where she helps women and a couple of men get life insurance policies to protect their families and to leave a legacy. I'm super proud of you. That is awesome. And it's just so many great things. What are some of the feedback that you've been getting from some of the participants? What have they been saying about the challenge?

Ellie Diop 16:10

Wow, I mean, so we still have all of them in the chat. And you know, we communicate on with them daily, and they are still on a high from all the information. So you know, to give context, it was a five-day challenge. So essentially, five days of intensive learning where each class everyday was probably a little over two hours, and the following areas of life insurance taxes, estate planning, investing, and then passive income. So really, you know, what I like to see as the five pillars almost of being able to create and sustain wealth. So I mean, there's just so grateful everyone feels like they could have paid way more for it. Because the challenge is only 297. You know, and I want to always do my best to keep that price point. Because that is again, how we create more access and impact, you know, people may not have $1,000, or $2,000, to access that information, which is technically, you know how much it usually costs. I mean, to even have a consultation call with a lawyer for your trust is usually $700 an hour, right? But to be able to give them all of that information. And that was actually my team. So my financial planners, my lawyer, some of my own friends who are CPAs, you yourself, Acquania taught the life insurance class, and you know, we work together. So they really got the information from people in the field doing it so that they could really use it as a launching pad. So, so many of them are still working on their investment accounts. They're completing their policies, they're wanting to set up policies for their kids. You know, I believe it's really permeating and helping create an impact. And that's what I hope, I hope it's not something they just do for five days, but something they do you know, forever.

Acquania Escarne 18:05

Yes, I agree with that. And so for those of you who are interested, I'm going to drop a link in the comments for you guys, on how you can submit a questionnaire to get considered for life insurance. I want to help anyone out there who's ready to upgrade needs a review of their policy or needs to get life insurance. So I'll make sure to drop that in the comments for you guys. But I just love it. I think what you did is amazing. And I appreciate the impact that you are making on our world. So keep doing what you're doing. After doing something so great. What is next for Ellie? Like, what can you possibly do to top a billion-dollar mission?

Ellie Diop 18:48

Girl, I'm trying to think of that myself. You know what I will definitely say what's next is I'm going to do Mommy to Millionaire again, this time since we were able to create such movement around life insurance, I want to focus on like an actual tangible asset. So I would like all the mommies when I run the challenge again, the goal is to buy a property or to get a multi-family or to get a hotel, you know, I'm doing. I'm thinking about things, okay, these are a group of women who are motivated, who are, you know, intentional, who are ready to learn, and who wants to create legacy. So I'm going to use my platform to help this happen. Even if those women can only put $1,000 each on a property. That's a small percentage of equity that they could have in a building that they can point to and say, Hey, Mommy owns a part of that, you know, so that's definitely the next thing I want to do with money to millionaire and, you know, overall through the business, I want to continue to scale my academy, ellievatedacademy.com. It's an online school and I really would hope to enroll more students continually. And as well provide more classes in the areas of starting a business, scaling it up, and then ultimately, building that wealth. So, you know, we build this from the ground up girl that's. like, wow, I'm literally building something from the ground.

Acquania Escarne 20:25

I love it, I love it. Hey, you are doing the Lord's work. And I know you are someone who believes you, you actually shares in some cases, how much God has changed your life taking you from an abusive marriage to multi-millionaire, who can take care of your kids and spend time with your kids and provide for them and help so many other people at the same time. So this kind of leads me to my signature question. So the name of the podcast is called The Purpose of Money Podcast, and I ask all of my guests, what is your purpose for money?

Ellie Diop 21:03

What is my purpose for money? I love this question. I would definitely say that my purpose for money is for it to be, you know, a seed throughout all my generations to come, you know, I want the money that I make and any money I come in touch with, to last for a long time, like the way that I'm able to plant these seeds now, I want them to grow for my next generation. But I also want them to be able to take that fruit and plant it again, and then grow and take that fruit and then plant it again, so we can continue to grow. You know, that's really why I work so hard when I'm so motivated on, it's great to enjoy, you know, money now. And you know, go on trips and buy things, all of that is amazing. But I really see money as you know, a seed that can really plant a tree that can feed us for forever, you know, and that's what I want to put in place like the way that I know how it feels to have nothing in my bank account. I don't want anyone who comes from my bloodline to know what that feels like. And I know that money, when use the right way, and when optimized, can ensure that that never happens.

Acquania Escarne 22:28

Amen to that. And you know what I want to share this interesting statistic that I learned this weekend at FinCon when I was with Ellie in Orlando, one of the speakers shared how 70% of wealth doesn't make it pass to the next generation, it is gone, it doesn't get passed down, there is no way for them to even plant seeds because 70% of wealth does not get passed down to the next generation. And of the wealth that does 90% of it does not get passed down to a third generation. So you find yourself in a situation where you as an individual worked so hard to build all this wealth, and your ancestors or your survivors have squandered it away, if they got it at all, by the third generation. So it's up to us educators in this space to teach our people how to manage that money while we're alive so that when we're gone, they're good stewards of what we have created. Ellie, I want to just thank you again for taking the time to be on The Purpose of Money Podcast. Before we wrap up, can you please let us know where can we find you? I want my fans to become your fans, too.

Ellie Diop 23:36

Oh, yes, let's share fans because I know that they love I love you annd if they love you, they're gonna love me too, because we vibe. So you guys can connect with me at Ellie Talks Money that's my, you know, handle on all my platforms. And that's e l l i e. And then as well as you guys can see under my name Ellievated Academy is the online school. So you all can go directly there to enroll in any class or work with me directly. And then as well you all can go to Mommy to Millionaire on Instagram and if you are a mom or a dad and you want to be a part of the millionaire movements, you can connect to there as well and be early notified when we do our next challenge in 2023.

Acquania Escarne 24:21

I love it. So, it's such a good comments, I just want to highlight some of these on the screen. So we have one person that said amen to that love that planting a seed to build the generational wealth tree to help leave a legacy for our families is from Azaliah. Thank you so much. That is just beautiful. And we're all planting seeds here. And in that light I want to let you guys know I am doing a life insurance awareness challenge. It's called the leave a legacy challenge. It is absolutely free. I'm going to be with you for three days teaching you the truth about life insurance, but we're going to start the challenge on September 26th, talking about legacy mindset and why you need it. And next day, we're going to talk about life insurance 101. So you know exactly the types, what the differences are and how they can benefit you and your family. And then on day three, we're going to talk about how to leverage life insurance to invest in real estate, build businesses, and create generational wealth. So if you're interested in learning any of that, click on the link in the comments for joining the challenge. Sign up now, we can't wait to see you in the room. But I want to make sure that you guys know this stuff. So you can't say we didn't tell you because we're teaching it. Okay. So, check it all out, check out the link to the challenge. Also, check out the link. If you want an insurance quote, or a review of the your existing insurance policy. I'm always here to help with that. Thank you again, Ellie for being on The Purpose of Money Podcast. I'm so grateful. Thank you, everyone, for showing up to our first live episode. And expect more to come because this was fun. I really enjoyed this time with you guys. And I'm thinking about bringing it back. So remember to share. So remember to share, like and subscribe, and let's get your feedback in the comments. And we will definitely be here again.

So just to recap, because Colette just asked when is the challenge. The challenge is September 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th. We're just hanging out, we're just gonna be hanging out. But it starts on the 26th. And I'm going to be giving you content every single day, we'll be in a private room talking about life insurance, and how you can use this to leave a legacy. So check out the links in the comments. All right.

Ellie Diop 26:54

Thank you for this. This is so amazing.

Acquania Escarne 26:56

You're welcome. Until next time, guys keep building generational wealth.

Thank you for listening to The Purpose of Money Podcast. For more resources and information, check out my website, thepurposeofmoney.com and while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter so you have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time, keep creating freedom in your life today.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai