Dupé Aleru: How She Used Clubhouse to Grow her Business

Welcome to Course Creator Series, where you can learn directly from experienced course creators on how you can monetize and grow your online business.

I’m your host, Dr. Destini Copp and I help entrepreneurs reduce their reliance on 1:1 services or agency type work and scale their digital product revenue. Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dupé Aleru.

Dupé Aleru is a powerhouse award-winning motivational speaker, life coach, digital influencer, and producer of the hit video series, Daily Dose with Dupé. She has been featured on shows such as CBS’ National Syndicated Talk Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and Good Morning LaLa Land.

Her career has spanned from being a red carpet and backstage host interviewing A-list celebrities, to launching Davi Creative LLC, a creative video agency that creates, produces, and distributes video content and digital resources for purpose-driven women entrepreneurs to help them thrive in life and business. 

Throughout her sixteen years as a motivator, educator, and entrepreneur, Dupé has never lost her passion for helping people from all walks of life identify and realize their true  dreams. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you started from, if you can embrace your natural gifts and commit to your life purpose, you can create opportunity. 

Please tell us about your business. 

Davi Creative LLC is a creative video agency based in Long Beach, California. Founded in 2019, Davi Creative focuses on creating, producing, and distributing video content and digital resources for its clients. The team at Davi offers video production and editing, business and life coaching, and membership resources to purpose-driven women entrepreneurs, influencers, and brands. 

 Though Davi has been in operation for only two years, I have been an entrepreneur for 11 years. My first company, Tutors for Tots, Tweens & Teens, launched in 2010; however, I decided to close the company in 2019 to start a new venture, Davi.

Before being an entrepreneur, I was an elementary school teacher. During my teaching career, I was laid off five times within a five-year period due to budget cuts, so I decided to leave classroom teaching to become my own boss.

As a motivational speaker, life coach, and digital influencer, I have spent the past sixteen years empowering, inspiring, and helping people from all walks of life identify and realize their true dreams.

Start at the beginning of your journey. What were things like for you? How did you feel? What was keeping you up at night? 

As a child, I was a big dreamer, so it comes as no surprise to those closest to me that I became an entrepreneur. I am a doer, go-getter, and overachiever, but I wasn't always that way. But that's a story for another time. 

As for the beginning of my journey, things were great. The excitement of starting a venture that I can call my own fueled my curiosity, determination, and creativity. Sure, I struggled to learn the systems, business operations, and financial management, but I always kept a positive mindset that allowed me to flourish. However, entrepreneurship felt lonely.

In early 2010, I wasn't on social media like I am today, so I didn't have a network of like-minded individuals to connect or share ideas with, so I became an introvert. Thinking about the future and wanting to fulfill the burning desire that ignited in me kept me up at night and still does today. 

At what point did things change for you? What was the pivotal moment? Specific details about moments in time are welcome here. 

When I started my first company, Tutors for Tots, things were difficult, but at the same time easy, if that makes sense because what I didn't know, I didn't know. Now what I know today I wish I knew then because it would have made my journey easier, but there's no fun in that. The grind and journey are what I love about entrepreneurship. Learning something new every day and allowing yourself to grow through the process, that's what it's all about. 

 What changed for me was the day I realized I wasn't in business to compete with Sylvan Learning and Kumon but instead bring a unique selling proposition to the market, and that's when I began creating curriculums for school districts and government agencies.

When I developed SCALE High Program in 2014, a goal-setting curriculum for high school students, my company scaled to six figures. I had found a niche that had just started to blossom in many markets, course creation.

Years later, as I transitioned to speaking, coaching, and creating content full-time, I also found myself utilizing my curriculum development skills to coach and consult other entrepreneurs on how they can create online courses. 

What are the top three mistakes you made in your entrepreneurial journey, and what would you do differently? 

Hmmm, that's a great question that I haven't given much thought to until now because I try to learn from mistakes and turn them into a positive.

The top three mistakes I've made during my entrepreneurial journey are: taking advice from people who have never owned a business, not listening to my intuition, and doing too many things before scaling and maximizing the first thing.

Today, I focus on one thing at a time or at least projects that sync together, I don't take business advice from people who have not accomplished what I'm trying to achieve, and I always trust my intuition to guide me. 

What is your top traffic source, and why do you think it’s working for you? 

My top traffic sources at the moment would have to be Clubhouse and TikTok. The Clubhouse app is a phenomenal platform to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs while also attracting your ideal customers.

In my first month on the app, I was able to relaunch, build, and grow my coaching business, and within weeks, my business became so full I had to stop signing on new clients. Clubhouse worked because I joined and hosted networking rooms where I shared with the audience who I was, what I did, and how I could help them in their business.

As a TikTok partner and creator, I have been blessed to grow a community of over 160k supporters, allowing me to build meaningful relationships with my audience and brands. 

What are some of the best ways you’ve found students for your online course(s)? 

Here are three ways that I’ve found students for my online courses. 

First, as a speaker, I can speak at various venues and live/online conferences. One of the best ways that I have found students for my online courses, specifically my course Curriculum Construction, is speaking at workshops where participants are interested in content creation strategies and branding.

Secondly, launching a membership site, https://davimembers.com, is also a great way to register students for my online course because I can offer additional resources alongside my course.

Finally, another great way to prospect and enroll students for my membership site or courses is going LIVE on social media a few days a week. When I go LIVE and offer value to my audience, almost always someone in the audience asks if they can book a session with me or if I have books that they can read pertaining to the topic we are speaking about.

This is when I announce my membership site, https://davimembers.com, and how they can access over 100+ of the best ready-to-use business and personal development resources to aid them in their growth. 

What is your favorite quote or business book? 

My favorite quote is written by the Greek Historian Herodotus, "Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence." This quote is my all-time favorite, and I've mentioned it in almost every keynote speech that I have presented.

My favorite business books, which I preach about all the time, are Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Think and Grown Rich by Napoleon Hill. I have to mention that before reading these books, I was thinking small within my business.

After a week of finishing Think and Grow Rich, I secured my first brick-and-mortar business office. Since then, I haven't looked back. These books sourced me with a wealth of information to thrive in entrepreneurship. Still, most importantly, they allowed me to expand my mindset and see the incredible opportunities available to me in life if I dared to dream big. 

What are the top three tools you use in your online course business that you can’t live without and why? 

Yay! I love talking about business tools and systems. My top three tools that I use for my online course business are Thinkific, Active Campaign, and Stripe. Thinkific is my course platform where I host my membership site, courses, and more. I love Thinkific because it's an all-in-one platform that helps you create, market, and sell your online course.

Active Campaign, which can be integrated within Thinkific, is an email marketing platform that allows you to automate your email marketing and spend more time getting leads. Automation in today's business world is a must, and I love how user-friendly the platform is for business professionals.

Last, but certainly not least, is Stipe. Stripe is a payment processing platform that charges the client's credit card on file, which makes my job easy as the recurring payments are on auto-charge, clients can cancel at any time. There is no way that my platform would be running without these three tools or similar tools. 

What advice do you have for other online course creators or entrepreneurs out there? 

The best advice that I can give other online course creators/entrepreneurs is to ask yourself this question before creating an online course: What do I know that other people need to know and are willing to pay the price to learn it?

If you can find a pain point that a large group of people wants to solve, and you have the right solution for them, then create your course. But first, make sure that there's a big enough need in your market before you create your course. Your course topic must solve an immediate pain point because that is what people are buying - a shortcut to a positive outcome. 

How can people find you to learn more? 

People can find me on all social media platforms, @dupealeru. The social platforms that I use frequently are TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Feel free to visit my website, https://dupealeru.com/, to learn more about me.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!