BWTT Presents Founder Friday Series: Raicheen Blanks

Raicheen Blanks is the founder of The Worthonomics Company, a startup focusing on worth management through financial literacy to create stability, security, and freedom for all women. 

The Worthonomics Company’s overall mission is to normalize women as investors through education, strategy, and execution to empower them to be financially secure, literate, and confident in all aspects of their lives. 

At an early age, Raicheen saw the value and power of investing early and bought her first stock at 19. From that moment, she knew she had a deeper purpose of teaching other women how to invest. This realization led to her company forming and the idea to create an app to make financial literacy even more accessible.

WORTHIE is an app that allows women to manage their financial and insurance information on one platform – providing access to bank balances, investment performance, real estate investments, and much more. 

There is much more to learn, so take a dive and see who Raicheen Blank is and why investing in our financial literacy is so important and worth it.

Tell me about yourself. How would you describe yourself?

Funny, quirky, a bit mysterious, kind-hearted, driven.

Growing up, did you ever think you would be a business owner? What was

your relationship with entrepreneurship?

Growing up, I never thought I would be a business owner. I had actually planned on going into medicine. However, that changed on the first day of my clinical rotation, and I had to nasal suction a patient; from that day forward, I knew medicine wasn’t for me.

Regarding entrepreneurship, I certainly didn’t think I would work less than I would have with a 9-5. I just knew that if I was going to work 60-80 hrs a week, I wanted to use those hrs fulfilling my dreams and not someone else’s.

How do you stay motivated now that you are an entrepreneur? How have your entrepreneurial motivations changed since you first started?

Consistency is a key factor in reaching my goals. I don’t always stay motivated; however, I remain consistent. I sometimes feel more motivated, but I firmly believe consistency will kick in when motivation doesn’t. My entrepreneurial motivation has changed as my business has changed and expanded. The products and services I offered when I initially started my company have expanded over time; my motivation and consistency were the basis of this successful expansion.

it’s one thing to stay motivated by yourself, but who would you say is your greatest support when facing hardships in business?

My greatest support when I face hardships in business is my business bestie. This individual holds me accountable, challenges me, and keeps me grounded. I can vent my frustrations and celebrate my successes with them.

How important is having a sense of community in your day-to-day?

It’s important to have a sense of community in my day-to-day life. It’s important that I link and connect with individuals who are also dealing with the same complexities and successes. I call them my “tribe” these individuals understand the peaks and valleys of running a business. Finding a tribe is one of the pieces of advice that I often convey to other startup founders.

Briefly tell me about your career background and journey.

My career background and journey initially started in medicine, but I decided that the medical field wasn’t for me. So I worked as a secretary, putting myself through school to obtain my degrees. My undergraduate degree is in science, and my graduate degree is in business (MBA). I have a certification in Alternative Investing from Harvard Business School. I have over ten years of experience in financial management, specifically Corporate Finance, Investing, Alternative Investments, Budgeting, and Treasury Services, which has been the foundation for starting my business.

What idea inspired you to start your business?

I started my business not necessarily from an idea but rather from a need/situation. Society portrays women as not being good with money or smart regarding finances. I started my business to change the narrative of women and money. My mission is to normalize women as investors by shifting their mindset from consumers to OWNERS through the power of education, strategy, and execution. I teach women the art of investing in efforts to empower them to become financially sound; we are great investors and excellent at managing money. Investing is no longer just a man’s game; women are investing more than ever and making our money work harder for us than we do!

How did you come up with the name of your company?

My company’s name derives from two words: worth and economics. I dropped off “eco” and kept onomics and added worth, which is translated as value management= worth + onomics (The Worthonomics Company).

Do you feel that your career background directly impacts your business?

Yes, my career background directly impacts my business from a professional standpoint, as I’ve spent the last ten years in corporate finance. I started investing at 19 years old and have been doing so ever since. Expanding into the tech space is challenging because technology isn’t my formal background experience. However, I’ve certainly learned a lot in developing my fintech app; it’s been a challenging journey but worth the time and effort.

What are the main roadblocks or challenges you experience when starting your business? If any, what are your current challenges?

The challenges and roadblocks that I face are access to capital. African American women are one of the highest groups of the population to start a business; however, we are the lowest group to receive funding. This is consistent across several funding channels, for instance, traditional bank lending, Angel Investing, VC Investing, Pre-seed, Seed funding, etc. Several VC firms solely focus on funding African American women founders, which I’m genuinely grateful for; however, we still have a long way to go. Women-led founders only receive about 2% of the funding, with African American women founders receiving less than that. It’s time for private and institutional investors to support African American women-owned businesses and realize the value we bring to the marketplace.

What are the next steps for your business? What do the next five years look like?

The next step for my business is to create a fintech app that allows women to manage their financial and insurance accounts on one platform. In the next five years, my app will be a viable product on the market, improving how women manage their finances.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

Stay true to who you are and remain steadfast in your goals. Your entrepreneurial aspirations should feed your soul as well as fuel your pockets. Focus on providing value to your customers rather than selling your product or service. When you show your customers the value of your product or service….it will sell itself. Always remember that you’ve worked hard to be where you are; that didn’t happen by accident. You belong and have earned your success, so celebrate it!