How this woman moved from bankruptcy court to a lucrative online business making $100k a quarter

Nicole Barham is the founder of Design Your Wealth, a platform that provides simple finance tracking tools, support, and accountability for women entrepreneurs to remain competitive and relevant.

She started the business on the back of her own financial struggles which landed her in bankruptcy court despite her background in accounting.

“I started the business after my own experience of not managing my finances properly landed me in bankruptcy court,” she told Time. “I have a background in accounting and spent years taking care of my employer’s finances, so it was particularly heartbreaking that I was in this position.”

During the rebuilding process, she was inspired to start Design Your Wealth as a side hustle, she said. Barham was convinced that there were others who had also committed financial blunders and would need her assistance. She, therefore, decided to make her skills available to others by teaching them how to build wealth in their business.

“I saw so many women entrepreneurs like myself who weren’t on top of their finances didn’t know if they were making a profit or a loss, weren’t setting income goals and tracking against them, weren’t creating budgets, and were scrambling right at the tax deadline to get all their numbers together,” she said.

According to her, the lack of resources and tools available to those who need them the most is one reason people mismanage their finances. Some of the tools available on the market could also be overwhelming when the guidelines are not so clear on how to achieve financial success.

“I’ve learned that the reason most of us don’t have our finances together is a lack of simplicity in the tools and platforms we have available to us,” she shared with Time. “That and the absence of support and accountability.”

With Design Your Wealth, women entrepreneurs can subscribe to one of her main offerings, 5 MinuteBookkeeper™, and receive simple finance tracking tools and support to stay on top of their finances in only a few minutes a day.

“This is our secret weapon to getting amazing results for our clients,” Barham said. “It’s the difference between just having a gym membership and having a personal trainer. I wanted to ensure my clients get the results they desire.”

Barham started Design Your Wealth by working with just a few people while maintaining her full-time job. Today, her business is her main hustle. In 2021, she made $100,000 in sales in a single quarter, according to Time. Barham also said she had a month last year where she made more money in her business than she would have made in an entire year at her former full-time job. “It’s definitely challenging, but the rewards far outweigh the challenges,” she noted.