Jessica Ghaney

Jessica Ghaney founded Funding Talent in late 2019. Funding Talent is a trading community that provides education to traders, also known as a proprietary trading firm. In a proprietary firm like Funding Talent, trades are placed using the firm’s capital rather than the trader funding their account with their own capital. This allows the Funding Talent community to trade and learn while having the support and capital of the firm.

It is a subscription-based business where the trader can actually earn payouts based on a simulated trading environment. The main focus of Funding Talent is creating an environment where members of the community can learn how to improve their skills as traders while showcasing their abilities and receiving payouts based on their demo account progress.

Separate from her Funding Talent business, Jessica also has a significant social media presence on Instagram,“ForexTips101” with over 210,000 followers. She started the account early 2019, as a way to connect with other traders and it eventually led to the creation of Funding Talent.

Jessica had started out her career at the age of 22 as a registered nurse, but trading and being able to work for herself has become her true passion.

Where did the idea for Funding Talent come from?

I created Funding Talent because I did not like the way other prop firms were set up. They often are set up based on targets that forced people to trade. I wanted to create an option for traders that did not set up profit targets for clients. I really wanted to create a better product that was different from the prop firms I had encountered when I was learning about trading. Funding Talent has a really different way of doing things that makes us stand out.

Our base model does not have profit targets, so our traders do not have to reach a specific target or challenge in order to get paid. Traders can join us and are not subject to an evaluation period. They can start and get paid right away.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I do not have a set routine. I do things whenever I feel like doing them. I truly love working for myself for that reason. I usually start my day with trading because I am still a trader myself. I have my own community where I chat with other people and I am taking trades myself. That would be probably the most routine that I have is getting up and checking the market. Throughout my day I work on various things related to Funding Talent. I am very connected with our customers, and I am an influencer in the space. My social media and working on Forex Tips 101 is a large part of my day. I do a lot of things day to day based on what pops up. I’m not a very scheduled person.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I usually discuss things with my business partner. My ideas come to life by talking things out with him. We bring things to the table and discuss them. I am really big on action-taking. There are very few things that I think of that we don’t at least try. I think it is very straightforward for me. I don’t have a process of writing things down and putting them on a vision board. I don’t do anything like that. It’s more that I have an idea based on what I find by talking to customers or my followers. We talk about it and then we try it out.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I really do a lot of stuff on social media, and I like how things are more intimate with the use of short videos, for instance using programs TikTok and Reels. I really like this trend of being more authentic and not everything is done through a filter, as Instagram has done for many years.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I always take action. I am not someone who will hold myself back or think too much about things. I like to do things. I like to take a lot of action. If I have a thought, I like to just try things out and go with it.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Stop caring what other people think and just do the things you want to do anyway.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

My views on money are different than most, the way I view money, spend money, and talk about money. I feel like there is always a barrier people have when it comes to talking about income and anything related to money. My view has always been that money is more of an exchange of energy. When you give money, you often get it back. It can always be made. You can always make more of it. I have always been very comfortable talking about money. I don’t mind spending money. This leads to what I do with trading and investing. I don’t mind giving up money to make more money. Not a lot of people are in line with that perspective.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I consistently take action on the things I want to do or that I think of. If I have an idea, it just actually doing those things to accomplish it. That is how I build Funding Talent, and that is how I built my social media. I just consistently did the things that I said I would do over and over again. I never did them perfectly, but I do things. I take a lot of action.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Listening to my audience has helped me to grow. This is where having my Instagram page really helped me because I am so connected with my consumers. I don’t do anything or take any course of action without consulting my audience and my consumers. I’m very much in tune with what my audience wants and my customers want because I really take the time to listen. I do a lot of polls on social media. I’m in the Forex communities every single day, talking to people one on one. I still do all of those things, and I stay very connected with those people.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Every mishap that I have had has helped me, so I don’t consider anything that has happened to be a failure. We have mishaps in life. I’ve had a ton of them, and they have led me to where I am. I’ve definitely had business ideas early when I started Funding Talent. For me, it just comes with action taking that I get very excited about new ideas. Sometimes I have bitten off more than I could chew, but I don’t look at it as a failure because it all led me to where I am. My business partner will help me and be a voice of reason for me. He definitely gives me feedback. But in many instances, I needed to learn that I could not do it all.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

There is a lot going with blockchain and cryptocurrency. I am really interested in where things are going to go in that space. It is an interesting opportunity to decentralize ideas. I’ve even seen a new social media platform where people have patented their name to an “altcoin.” It is an interesting opportunity to decentralize anything. If I were going to start a business tomorrow, it would be something surrounding that. Blockchain and cryptocurrency would certainly be my focus that I would have because there is so much opportunity in that space.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I would say $100 invested in Bitcoin. That would always be my answer because I am very bullish on crypto. I think in five years that will be the $100 that pays off the most for me.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I would say Click-Up. It is a productivity software. You can put your tasks in there and it keeps you organized. It really helps you streamline your day.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I recommend The 10x Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone. I loved it. It discusses the perspective of taking action and how important it is to actually just do things and not focus on perfecting them, which was a big encouragement to me mentally as an entrepreneur.

What is your favorite quote?

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill.

Key Learnings:

•  Take action to make things happen in your business.
•  Your ideas do not have to be perfect but be consistent in taking action.
•  It does not matter what other people think.