Filed under: Interviews, Professional Profiles
What is your name and what do you do?My name is Faydra Deon Fields, and my day job is as a Computer Applications trainer. I'm also a web designer/developer, and I write several columns for Examiner.com.
What are some of the misconceptions people have about celebrities and their money?
One misconceptions that seems to be prevalent is that all celebrities live extravagant lives. It's true that rich and/or wealthy people can afford to live extravagantly, but celebrities understand that to do so, with abandon, is the very thing that will diminish riches and/or wealth. Many celebrities are very fiscally responsible, even if there are those whose extravagant lifestyles eventually catch up to them.
What surprised you the most about the financial side of your industry?
The thing that surprised me most is the disparity between what we pay teachers/trainers to teach adults a skill and what teachers are paid to teach children an entire range of core curriculum subjects that are the foundation for children's academic and life success.
As a computer applications trainer, I teach adults. Several years ago, I taught eight-grade American Studies in Tulsa, OK. The pay for teaching middle school is modest, even though teaching children is rewarding in the fact that I loved educating and growing with my students.
However, as a teacher of adults, especially teaching adults to use popular software applications and web design/development languages, my salary is almost triple my middle school pay.
How has Twitter helped you in building your brand and running your business?
I started tweeting back in March of 2009. At first, it was just a fun way to connect with people and "chat" in real-time. About four months later, I got the idea from (and asked permission of) another tweeter to start asking a daily question. Most of her questions were about relationships, and I wanted to branch out into other subjects. She was gracious enough to share her idea with me, and I eventually took the whole thing to another level. After about five or six days of my questions and people answering, another tweeter suggested that I start a blog and post the answers to the questions so others could read the whole string of opinions/perspectives/points of view.
I did start the blog, and I continued to interact and engage with the people who follow me, and I built up a positive rapport with them. Based on adding "my 2 cents" to the questions I asked, people began to DM (direct message) me with personal questions, asking for advice about this or that subject, and I gained a reputation for being someone who listens, who cares and who's willing to be of assistance. That, more than anything, has served to help build my brand. I've been able to brand "Faydra Deon" and my avatar, which I use on every website and social media site to which I'm joined. The same avatar of me is even on the cover of a book about Twitter, written by a colleague of mine. It was a great feeling to get a tweet from a lady that said, "I saw your face on the cover of a book in Barnes & Noble."
When I started the 'My Question of the Day' blog in July 2009, I got about 21,000 hits that month. A year later, when I checked my statistics, I was averaging over 300,000 hits per month. This month, I'm slated to reach close to 500,000 hits, and if you search 'question of the day' on Google, you'll see the 'My Question of the Day' blog on the first page. Although I've branched out to other social media sites, Twitter was and is my main source for information sharing. Even when I'm sleeping, I have tweets going out on auto-post so that those who are awake have the opportunity to weigh in on my daily questions and take advantage of the other content on my blog.
It's interesting to me when I receive tweets from people who want to know how much money I make from the links I tweet. None of my links are affiliate links. Not one of my links take you to any content where I, Faydra Deon, am trying to sell you anything. As a matter of fact, my entire blog, except for one tab labeled Support, is free of any advertising whatsoever. When I tweet links to movie trailers, polls, contests and other information on the 'My Question of the Day' blog, the content at the end of that link is totally for the enjoyment of the visitor, not to put money in my pocket. Any ads that may appear there are not mine, but they belong to the supplier of the free content that I embed on my pages. All the prizes I give away, I buy out of my own pocket. I do this to thank those who comment on my daily and other questions, because without their input the blog would be worthless. I don't even mention the blog's Support tab in any of my tweets or on any of the posts and pages on my blog, nor do I participate in sponsored tweets. Nonetheless, Twitter has been lucrative for me.
It's in the giving that I've eventually gotten. Let me explain. As I mentioned before, people ask me questions about personal issues, but they also ask me questions about computer applications and web design/development; many of those web design/development questions being about WordPress, one of the most popular blogging platforms in the Web 2.0 world. I'm happy to answer those questions at no expense to the inquirer, and other people who benefit from someone else's questions will seek me out to partner with them for web design/development projects. Once I do a good job for those clients, they recommend me to others. These new clients recommend me to others, and it has snowballed from there. I currently have about 20 web projects in the works, and I'd have to admit that about 90% of those jobs came from and through connections I made on Twitter.
Web design/development is where I make my money, and I don't ask for clients on Twitter. I tweet about what I'm teaching my students, I tweet about web work I'm doing and I answer people's WordPress questions. From that, I get paid to do the second thing I love; build/enhance websites and blogs. My first love is teaching.
Twitter has allowed me to earn a supplemental income doing what I teach, and I freely teach what I do when they come to me with questions about the web.
Do you have any financial and professional advice for aspiring Internet celebs out there?
Believe in your abilities, step out on faith, show up and stay consistent.
What upcoming projects do you have in store for us?
I'm working on a journaling series right now. The series will be available in hardcopy, for those who like to write, and it will be available online, for those who'd rather type. I'll also be building an online community around the series. It's called the '30-30' series, but you'll have to "stay tuned" to learn any more about it.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with our AOL Black Voices audience?
I'm here to help, and I'm willing to help, in any capacity that I can be of assistance to anyone.
If I could do it all, I would, and when it's out of my areas of expertise, I'll work with you to make every effort to get you to the right person, place or thing.
Check me out at http://faydra.com, and see what I'm all about. Let me know what I can do for you.