Teri Ijeoma of Trade and Travel: How Leaving Education and Following the Demand Scaled an Online Trading Course to Over Forty-Five Million Dollars in Sales

Some people were born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth. Even then, becoming a millionaire is still quite an accomplishment. But people who start from nothing, and especially women who start from nothing, who make it to the top to become millionaires, despite the pay inequalities based on gender, the confidence gap, with nothing but grit, hustle, resilience, and “stick-to-itness”, are on a whole new level. We want to share those stories and inspire other women. In this interview series, we’re talking to “Self-Made” women leaders who started with nothing (i.e. started without investors or trust fund or capital or even people believing in them) and have become millionaires.

As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Teri Ijeoma.

Teri is a successful day trader and online course creator. In her award-winning ‘Trade and Travel’ course, she has taught over 28,000 people how to trade in the stock market. Her ultimate goals are to teach more people how to reach financial freedom and to travel the world sharing her knowledge of the stock market.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?

I did not grow up with much money. I grew up in a single-parent household with three generations of women: my mom, grandmother, and myself. I always had a side hustle. In high school I ran a candy business, and later in life when I was in education, I sold real estate and traded stocks as a side hustle to supplement my income.

I completed my undergraduate studies at MIT and saw another student trading stocks to pay for his tuition. I instinctively knew then that I could also make money from investing and use it to change my life. My gut feeling was accurate.

Growing up, what were your early experiences and perspectives about money? Or we could say, what was the “money consciousness” in which you were raised? Can you please give an example of what you mean?

My mom and granny were frugal, always ‘shopping the clearance rack’. They would shop in the outlet stores but still try to make me look nice. We had to save every penny because my mom was a single mother and still finishing college. So I grew up with a scarcity mindset but didn’t realize that we were struggling as much as we were. My family had this remarkable ability to make a dollar stretch.

Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s talk about what you are doing now and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers about the business you’ve created that helped you become a millionaire?

In 2017, I quit my job as an assistant principal of an elementary school to trade stocks and travel full-time. I spent hours crying in the bathroom at work because the administration was really overbearing, and I never felt good enough.

While travelling, many of my friends asked me how I could travel the world and afford it through trading in the stock market. They saw Instagram pictures of my travels and knew I was previously in education with little and capped pay. I started with a couple of live classes, which led to a complete online course called Trade and Travel by the end of 2018.

Trade and Travel shares my investing strategies with people worldwide. I have been trading for 12 years, and in 2020 during the global pandemic, I earned over 10 Million Dollars in course sales. To date, Trade and Travel has made over $45 Million in lifetime sales.

What was your vision when you started this business? What’s the WHY behind the work that you do?

My business got started because I was lazy! People kept asking me to teach them how I was affording my trips with stocks, and having to repeat myself was pretty taxing on my time. I taught my first class in Thailand, my second class in Vietnam, and my friends were ready and waiting to sign up by the time I got back to the U.S.

I think what made me successful is that I followed the need. Instead of creating a business based on my desire, I leaned into the demand.

I am an educator, so my passion has always been to teach others. I can teach others a skill set I have acquired so they can have the life they desire.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I had been praying about whether or not it was the best move to quit my job and pursue trading full-time. And I remember praying and thinking, “But I have no money to be able just to quit my job and travel”.

In 2017, my downtown Dallas apartment on the 25th floor flooded! Someone else’s apartment caught fire, and the sprinklers went off, causing the flood. Because of this, I lost all of my possessions except two suitcases and received a substantial check in insurance money.

This was the inception of my ability to travel. I felt like God was kicking me out of the door of my comfort zone.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One day, during my role as an Assistant Principal, I hid in my office, placing a big trade. Unexpectedly, my boss strolled in when my computer announced, “trade executed.” That day, I made more in one trade than almost an entire month of my salary. At that moment, I knew trading was my exit strategy. A quick calculation confirmed that all I needed was $300 per day, five days per week, and it was game on!

We’d love to explore the traits that help you achieve your success. What were the mindset obstacles that you had to overcome to reach the place of consistently earning a million dollars a year and more? Can you tell us what you did to overcome them?

As soon as I hit the million-dollar mark, I thought it would be a one-time thing. I thought it must be a fluke and that it would never happen again. I had to get over the idea that something terrible would happen. I overcame my self-limiting feelings by praying and trusting God’s plan and realizing that ‘He got me covered’!

Plus, the revenue kept coming in. There wasn’t some magical fountain of money that would get turned off as I reached higher goals. The money would continue to flow if I just kept working.

What were the external obstacles that you had to overcome in reaching these milestones? And how specifically did you overcome them?

The first was around mindset; specifically, being an educator who trades seemed like an odd mix, like “it is not for me” or not supposed to be for me.

An external obstacle was hiring the right people for the company. At first, it was a little rocky, but reaching out to family and friends to help recommend other professionals helped a lot. Another obstacle I thought would hurt the company was the global pandemic, but throughout Covid-19, the company flourished because we continued working with a solid, uninterrupted focus.

Was there ever a point where you wanted to give up on your journey to becoming a multimillionaire? How did you work through that panic point? Please share a story.

Yes, it was when I had finished the course; I remember feeling so fatigued. I had put together all the training and the slides. As I worked by myself, I thought, “I can’t do this; I want to return to my normal life”.

But then I reminded myself that I knew people out there needed my help.

I wanted to help them, especially if they were ever in a situation like mine where they had been crying in the bathroom, feeling the devastation of not being aligned with their calling, and even worse, always working hard and chasing the dollars.

So staying focused on the people I would eventually be serving was my greatest motivator. Also, I am a very spiritual person, so knowing that I had some strength from the Lord and that God would see me through was also incredibly encouraging.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My grandmother gave me her blessings to quit my job, trade, and travel. “If anyone can be successful at trading, it is you,” she said. In life, sometimes, you don’t need money to get started; you need encouragement.

The other person who helped me immensely was my trading mentor, who thought my original trading plan was authentic and had the potential to yield great results. It’s the same trading plan I now teach my students. He showed me invaluable techniques and tips on becoming successful in the stock market.

What were the most important resources, tools, affirmations, mindset strategies or practices that you used to build your business to where it is today?

In terms of the course, I think being willing to put my head down and reteach the curriculum to perfection was critical. I taught my course repeatedly every quarter without loss of enthusiasm or fear of imperfection for two years. I taught it live and in person until it was the best that it could be. I have a vault of over 48 hours of coaching calls where I led the team and saw how students responded and then edited and reiterated the course until it was polished.

Are there any books, podcasts, apps, tech, or other types of products that helped you reach your goals? Are these still used today? Please share specifically and why.

The most important things to me are Calendly to schedule calls, Convert Kit to send out emails, and Teachable, the platform where I host my course. Some good apps for trading would be trading view, CNBC, investing.com. And yes, these are all still used today.

Out of all of the things you listed earlier, if you only had one resource that would help you grow your business and reach your next financial milestone, which would it be and why?

I think of all of those things I really like Teachable. They’ve been a great asset because I have hosted my course on the platform, and their team has consistently reached out to me to see if there are ways to support me. Having a team as a thought partner that wants to see you succeed is very important.

What do you think is the greatest challenge for women and creating wealth/abundance? What advice would you have for someone that is feeling blocked by that obstacle?

Despite known barriers, women in the finance market should continue to apply for leadership opportunities and promotions. Seek a mentor or become one. Keep learning new financial concepts, technologies, and rules in preparation for promotions.

Companies could have women at the table when interviewing and hiring for open positions. They could have a women-only summer internship program, which would expand their applicant pool. I think the primary vehicle for change is intentionality. Companies must want the change and be purposeful about it.

Society can support the movement by acknowledging disparities and supporting companies that hire and promote women.

Great! Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. Get a home equity line of credit against your mortgage. When I was laid off, this money helped pay my bills.

2. Apply for a margin account when you open a trading account. It will allow you to short sell and replenish the money faster after each trade.

3. When your children are born, invest in an Index Fund, which follows the full market index and holds it over a long time. This will help with college expenses.

4. Trade stocks for income to pay off debt, such as student loans, car payments, mortgages, etc. With active trading, I paid off my student loan in two months.

5. Use some of your 401K retirement funds to trade in the stock market. After leaving my principalship, I used retirement funds to start trading, travelling, and creating my course.

We are sure that you are not done. What comes next? What’s your next big goal, and why? What plan have you put in place to achieve it? Why is it a stretch for you? What will achieving it represent for you and for others?

I recently hit considerable milestones in this season. Big revenue goals in the course, significant revenue in profits from trading, and now I live in this prominent beautiful luxury space, my home in Puerto Rico.

Part of me feels like, “I made it! This is it! I am finally here.”

But then a part of me knows that there’s more.

This has been a time to rest, reconnect, ground, take care of my health and wellbeing, and focus on myself and my personal growth. But I am also very excited about the experiences I’m about to create for my family and friends coming to my home. They have never experienced a space like this, which is new for me too.

We are also getting ready for more Private Masterminds for Creators and VIP Members of Trade and Travel. While that part sounds like ‘business as usual’, it’s a vertical of my company that will continue growing.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can head to my website tradeandtravel.com and follow me on social media at Trade and Travel on Instagram and at Trade and Travel on Youtube. Readers can also follow my daily journey on my personal Instagram account @teriijeoma.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.