# Career Switch: She shares how she pivoted into tech in 2021 with no degree, went from $40K to six figures within 90 days.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 2 Apr 2026, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/1ba36eb6-0560-4ced-b019-b42c014ecb21/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Jennifer Gaddis. Interview Summary Show: Money Making Conversations Masterclass Host: Rushion McDonald Guest: Jennifer Gaddis – Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, Educator, Founder of Road to QA 1. Purpose of the Interview The primary purpose of the interview is to inspire and educate everyday people—especially those without college degrees or traditional tech backgrounds—on how to pivot into technology careers, specifically Quality Assurance (QA), and to reframe fear around AI, layoffs, and automation into opportunity. Jennifer’s story is used as proof of concept that: • You do not need a college degree to succeed in tech • Transferable skills already qualify many people for QA roles • AI does not eliminate jobs—it creates new opportunities • Strategic career pivots can result in life-changing income and freedom Rushion positions Jennifer not only as a success story, but as a new blueprint for wealth-building through skills, not credentials. \[ 2. Interview Overview (High-Level Summary) Jennifer Gaddis shares how she: • Pivoted into tech in 2021 with no degree • Went from $40K to six figures within 90 days • Built a $400K+ remote household income with her husband • Created Road to QA, helping 200+ people land tech jobs • Accidentally built a multi-million-dollar education business • Used personal hardship, COVID, financial stress, and family responsibility as fuel—not limitations She explains what Quality Assurance engineering is, why it is resistant to AI replacement, and how regular users of apps are already doing parts of QA work without realizing it. 3. Key Takeaways A. You’re Already More Qualified Than You Think Jennifer emphasizes that everyday digital behavior translates into QA skills: • Using apps • Identifying bugs • Expecting software to “work correctly” • Navigating systems as an end user This insight forms the core of her teaching philosophy. B. The Faster You Add Skills, the Faster You Increase Income Jennifer repeatedly notes: “The difference in your paycheck is your skillset.” By stacking skills (manual QA → automation → AI testing), professionals increase their market value, not just job security. C. AI Is a Career Accelerator, Not a Threat Rather than fearing AI, Jennifer encourages people to: • Work alongside AI • Become the humans overseeing AI systems • Move into hybrid QA + automation + AI roles She stresses that human oversight is still required in tech deployment. D. Entrepreneurship Can Be Accidental—but Scalable Jennifer did not initially plan to build a company. Her business emerged from: • Instagram stories • A $97 beginner e-book • Real student outcomes Her willingness to: • Raise prices • Build systems • Hire specialists • Learn financial discipline Allowed Road to QA to grow sustainably. E. Representation and Access Matter Jennifer openly discusses: • Being a Black woman in tech • Coming from financial insecurity • Navigating family obligations • Redefining success for future generations Her story challenges stereotypes about who “belongs” in tech careers. \[ 4. Notable Quotes from the Interview “I landed my first year in tech within 90 days.” \[ “The difference in your paycheck is your skillset.” “You’re already a software tester—you just don’t know it yet.” \[ “I didn’t set out to build a company. I said yes to myself.” \[ “AI still needs human…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:04] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:07] Speaker 2: stories and start planning your own. Now, you don't want
[0:10] Speaker 2: to miss an episode, so please take a moment right
[0:12] Speaker 2: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:16] Speaker 1: It's free.
[0:17] Speaker 2: You can follow me on iHeartRadio, app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[0:21] Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
[0:24] Speaker 2: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
[0:28] Speaker 2: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
[0:30] Speaker 2: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
[0:34] Speaker 2: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
[0:38] Speaker 2: get this podcast started. My guess is a senior quality
[0:41] Speaker 2: assurance engineer, educator and founder of road to QA. Road
[0:47] Speaker 2: to QA, which is a trademark by the Way, is
[0:50] Speaker 2: a self paced career development platform design to have adults
[0:54] Speaker 2: pivot into tech to Quality Assurance which is QA and
[0:59] Speaker 2: Software Test BIEN for beginners and working professionals. The program
[1:03] Speaker 2: combining step by step learning, community accountability, and practical experience
[1:08] Speaker 2: to prepare participants for long term career growth. And AI
[1:12] Speaker 2: driven companies in this economy. Please work in with the
[1:16] Speaker 2: money Making Conversations Master Class. Jennifer Goddess. Hey doing, Jennifer.
[1:20] Speaker 3: I'm doing all right, are you.
[1:21] Speaker 1: So, Jennifer?
[1:22] Speaker 2: Let's talk about you. Now, give me some background on you.
[1:26] Speaker 3: Well, let's see, I don't have a college degree still
[1:29] Speaker 3: to this day. Uh huh. I am my mom of
[1:32] Speaker 3: a seventeen year old and a twenty three year old.
[1:35] Speaker 3: I accidentally made my career pivot in twenty twenty one.
[1:39] Speaker 3: Not accidentally, you know. I had a few title loans
[1:41] Speaker 3: on my car and some pawns, you know, to keep
[1:44] Speaker 3: rent paid. And I knew I needed to do something different,
[1:48] Speaker 3: and I actually came against you know. I learned about
[1:51] Speaker 3: quality assurance from someone online and I started studying it.
[1:54] Speaker 3: Within ninety days after having COVID and being sick and
[1:56] Speaker 3: having a title loan on my car, I landed my
[1:59] Speaker 3: first yes INTEL within ninety days. Okay, and I went
[2:02] Speaker 3: from forty thousand dollars to eighty thousand dollars and eighty
[2:05] Speaker 3: thousand dollars to one hundred and sixty to one hundred
[2:07] Speaker 3: and sixty to upwards. Of Me and my husband have
[2:09] Speaker 3: a household of four hundred k remote because then he
[2:12] Speaker 3: got into quality assurance and from there I helped my brother,
[2:15] Speaker 3: my cousin, my sister law, my best friend, all land
[2:18] Speaker 3: QA roles in that year and then I accidentally launched
[2:21] Speaker 3: my company. Does not help over two hundred people land
[2:23] Speaker 3: their first yes intact And so all for me just
[2:26] Speaker 3: saying yes to myself and saying I'm worth more and
[2:29] Speaker 3: I can get paid more even in the career.
[2:31] Speaker 2: Ooky, this is money making conversations all right.
[2:35] Speaker 4: Now, with that being said, why are you.
[2:37] Speaker 1: On this show?
[2:39] Speaker 3: I want to show because we're you know, you're hearing
[2:41] Speaker 3: a lot of people talk about AI and layoffs and
[2:44] Speaker 3: you know you don't know which way to go, right.
[2:46] Speaker 3: I want to inspire people to not be afraid of it,
[2:50] Speaker 3: but to work alongside of it and to find opportunities
[2:53] Speaker 3: even in a career. Even though you you know, may
[2:56] Speaker 3: see the layoffs, companies still have to decide how they're
[2:59] Speaker 3: going to MP limit AI inside of their company. They
[3:03] Speaker 3: and then even with the implementation, what jobs and how
[3:06] Speaker 3: what the responsibilities actually shift, they're still human oversight and
[3:11] Speaker 3: human and the loop activities that need to be done.
[3:14] Speaker 3: So how can you take who you've been up until
[3:16] Speaker 3: this point, add new skills and become the person that
[3:20] Speaker 3: still works alongside AI.
[3:22] Speaker 2: Now let's talk about what you said earlier. You are
[3:24] Speaker 2: a senior quality assurance engineer. What is that, Jennifer?
[3:29] Speaker 3: So essentially I get paid the test software. So those
[3:32] Speaker 3: apps on your phone, they all got to be tested, right,
[3:35] Speaker 3: even test Look they have quality assurance engineers, right, And
[3:38] Speaker 3: I like to say, the difference in your paycheck is
[3:40] Speaker 3: your skill set or the difference in your skillst skill
[3:42] Speaker 3: on sick or the difference in your skill set is
[3:44] Speaker 3: your paycheck. Right, So the more skills you have, the
[3:47] Speaker 3: more you can also get paid.
[3:48] Speaker 4: Now because you mentioned this path, that's an upward path.
[3:51] Speaker 2: Of income that you got. What got you in that direction?
[3:55] Speaker 2: What made you? Because let's put this way tech. I
[4:00] Speaker 2: always tell people you get paid with people value you
[4:03] Speaker 2: to be I always have believe that, and so that's
[4:05] Speaker 2: what you just spoke about it. As you gain more value,
[4:09] Speaker 2: people paid you more. I always tell people, if they're
[4:11] Speaker 2: afraid to lose you, they'll pay you to keep you. Okay,
[4:15] Speaker 2: in this situation quality insurance, which we hear a lot,
[4:19] Speaker 2: that's a position that you are getting paid as a
[4:22] Speaker 2: full time employee.
[4:24] Speaker 3: And yes, I've even had contract roles too, but I
[4:26] Speaker 3: am currently in a new full time direct higher one
[4:29] Speaker 3: as a lead.
[4:30] Speaker 2: Yes, and so you're testing cars, you can, I'm just
[4:35] Speaker 2: telling you can test software. They're quality insurance people testing food,
[4:41] Speaker 2: testing wood.
[4:42] Speaker 1: And beams and all that.
[4:44] Speaker 2: But you've chosen to technical lane of quality insurance and
[4:49] Speaker 2: benefiting because of that.
[4:51] Speaker 1: How did you make that choice?
[4:53] Speaker 3: So essentially, I'm testing programs, software is and applications technology.
[4:57] Speaker 4: So you say that testing, what do you mean on making.
[5:00] Speaker 3: Sure that it does what it's supposed to do. So
[5:02] Speaker 3: when this person comes up with the ID and says,
[5:05] Speaker 3: let's just say Wendy's right, Wendy's came up with the
[5:07] Speaker 3: concept that they want a new POS machine so that
[5:10] Speaker 3: people can ride up and place their order. They even
[5:13] Speaker 3: have AI doing that too. I tested that too, But
[5:16] Speaker 3: when you actually they ride up and they take their order,
[5:19] Speaker 3: someone still had to test and make sure that when
[5:21] Speaker 3: the order is placed that information gets to the person,
[5:25] Speaker 3: you know, receiving the order.
[5:26] Speaker 1: I love this.
[5:27] Speaker 2: I loved it because this is what we're wiring brutally
[5:30] Speaker 2: on the show. Because see, people always worried about technology
[5:33] Speaker 2: taking jobs. You're saying that Rishond, I am here to
[5:37] Speaker 2: let people know, use technology to give.
[5:40] Speaker 3: You a job exact.
[5:42] Speaker 1: Just talk now, Jennifer, this money making conversation.
[5:44] Speaker 2: You know what we deal with that little that little
[5:46] Speaker 2: stairstap and you got your cousin involved, your family involved,
[5:50] Speaker 2: and family and family involved. Now all y'all sitting around
[5:53] Speaker 2: the back barbecue, eating good, eating good because of QA.
[5:57] Speaker 3: You know what. That's actually very honest. Yes, I don't
[6:01] Speaker 3: even know if he was that close before then.
[6:02] Speaker 2: And I like that because see, the thing about it
[6:08] Speaker 2: is that, you know, we as black people are people
[6:10] Speaker 2: of color, are always at the end of the line
[6:14] Speaker 2: looking over somebody's shoulder, complaining, complaining.
[6:19] Speaker 1: You're not complaining. You are a duer? Why are you
[6:21] Speaker 1: a duer?
[6:22] Speaker 3: Jennifer, Well, I think it all started because for me,
[6:26] Speaker 3: I grew up with my dad. He used to drive
[6:28] Speaker 3: the bus. So he retired. And I was just telling
[6:30] Speaker 3: you recently in Chicago on CTA, right, he drove the bus.
[6:33] Speaker 3: He retired. My mother she just she just retired at
[6:37] Speaker 3: sixty from working from the government for thirty eight years. Now.
[6:40] Speaker 3: I don't know if I just stay my age out loud,
[6:42] Speaker 3: but I'm forty one. I hadn't been in a job
[6:44] Speaker 3: long enough anywhere to have that type of pension to
[6:48] Speaker 3: walk away with. I have to build my own retirement,
[6:51] Speaker 3: and in order for me to do that, I had
[6:52] Speaker 3: to make more money, because forty thousand dollars was not
[6:55] Speaker 3: going to do it for me. So the reason why
[6:57] Speaker 3: I am here is because I realized that my journey
[7:00] Speaker 3: was going to be different. My journey was already different.
[7:03] Speaker 3: I had my son when I was in my senior
[7:04] Speaker 3: year of high school. I don't have any college degrees,
[7:08] Speaker 3: so I have a grandmother who has PhDs and all that,
[7:11] Speaker 3: and so it's like almost it's almost like I had
[7:13] Speaker 3: to find a way to show that I'm worthy too,
[7:16] Speaker 3: you know. And so now I've been able to even
[7:19] Speaker 3: though I have family that has degrees and have had success,
[7:21] Speaker 3: I've been able to be the one to now show
[7:23] Speaker 3: them something different. Because of my career, I got to
[7:26] Speaker 3: go live in Mexico and Cabo for three years. My daughter,
[7:29] Speaker 3: at the age of thirteen, went to a school in
[7:30] Speaker 3: Mexico as a young black you know, young lady. Now
[7:35] Speaker 3: let me tell you she didn't she didn't use my
[7:37] Speaker 3: money the write way. I'm I pay for it, she said,
[7:40] Speaker 3: a little bit. But I'm just gonna tell you she didn't.
[7:44] Speaker 3: When your mind is young, right, maybe she wasn't young enough.
[7:48] Speaker 3: Because now we're back in Atlanta, and oh my goodness,
[7:51] Speaker 3: so I planning to go back to retire there. But
[7:55] Speaker 3: she missed it. But it wasn't It wasn't an easy experience,
[7:59] Speaker 3: but it was an experience. Is how many, you know,
[8:01] Speaker 3: young ladies or children, black children can actually say that
[8:04] Speaker 3: they experienced that what was in.
[8:07] Speaker 4: Your head that made you, that pointed you in that direction.
[8:11] Speaker 3: It's like going back to when I was talking about
[8:13] Speaker 3: my father. I saw him do different things. He drove
[8:16] Speaker 3: the bus and retired, but he also washed windows. We
[8:19] Speaker 3: used to be on the bus or we'll go wash
[8:20] Speaker 3: windows and we'll have squeegees and stuff and selling the
[8:24] Speaker 3: water office. My dad washed the windows and they used
[8:27] Speaker 3: to They thought we was homeless. And I was looking
[8:30] Speaker 3: at them like little do you know my dad got
[8:31] Speaker 3: an eighty thousand, ninety thousand dollars CETA job, you know,
[8:34] Speaker 3: like we okay, right, And so I tried to give
[8:37] Speaker 3: them money back. But he showed me that even though
[8:41] Speaker 3: he had his career, he still did his own things
[8:43] Speaker 3: on the side.
[8:45] Speaker 1: Part time job.
[8:48] Speaker 3: Tipping us, we get free dunkin Donuts and like we
[8:51] Speaker 3: even used to for war work, dout that till I
[8:53] Speaker 3: think that's telling my age Woolsworth and everything. We used
[8:56] Speaker 3: to you know, wash windows for dunkin Donuts and famous footwear,
[8:59] Speaker 3: all of those. And so again my dad helped me.
[9:02] Speaker 1: He was.
[9:05] Speaker 3: We weren't doing. I told him, he was out there
[9:08] Speaker 3: with him.
[9:10] Speaker 1: I will tell you this.
[9:11] Speaker 2: You know, when when you see black people doing something
[9:13] Speaker 2: that's not normal, okay, that's what you're not normal. Window
[9:17] Speaker 2: washing for as a profession is not normal, So people
[9:20] Speaker 2: stereotype you as people who probably wasn't being hired, out
[9:24] Speaker 2: there just doing a hustle. And so people perceived you guys,
[9:28] Speaker 2: you and your father's hustlers, and they felt they felt sympathy,
[9:33] Speaker 2: and he gave it to you because I always like
[9:36] Speaker 2: black people being in positions a seeking opportunities that aren't normal,
[9:42] Speaker 2: and that because you were doing something that wasn't normal,
[9:45] Speaker 2: people compromise your success story.
[9:48] Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, yeah, it was. I don't I don't know
[9:54] Speaker 3: how to really answer this, but it was hard. It's
[9:59] Speaker 3: like I also had to I had to believe in myself, right,
[10:03] Speaker 3: But then I'm also helping other people who I actually
[10:07] Speaker 3: fell up until the point had more success than me,
[10:09] Speaker 3: you know. And so for me, I you know, it
[10:12] Speaker 3: kind of the tables kind of turned. Like I said,
[10:15] Speaker 3: I got to do things that my mother retired at sixty,
[10:18] Speaker 3: never really traveled. I got to live in another country
[10:21] Speaker 3: on my own dime because of the work that I
[10:23] Speaker 3: did before the age of forty. And so for me,
[10:27] Speaker 3: you know, there was a lot of you know, situations
[10:30] Speaker 3: where you also find who's really there for you in
[10:34] Speaker 3: those seasons, you know, when you're down, when you're up.
[10:38] Speaker 3: A lot comes out of that journey, you know, of change.
[10:42] Speaker 2: I got to ask, living away three years, what type
[10:46] Speaker 2: of work were you doing?
[10:47] Speaker 3: I was doing?
[10:47] Speaker 1: You?
[10:48] Speaker 3: So this is where I accidentally grew my company.
[10:51] Speaker 1: So I in another country.
[10:53] Speaker 3: In another country, So this is now obviously you go,
[10:56] Speaker 3: I'm gonna be very transparent. We know that companies are
[10:59] Speaker 3: you know, a little time and stric through now with
[11:01] Speaker 3: you you know, going remote. So even like today, the
[11:03] Speaker 3: company I'm with today, I can travel there, but they
[11:07] Speaker 3: you know, I would have to tell them that I'm leaving.
[11:08] Speaker 3: I couldn't stay there and live there. But when I
[11:10] Speaker 3: first got into QA. I had a role that allowed
[11:13] Speaker 3: me to actually move that was okay with my location,
[11:16] Speaker 3: but I had to physically have a laptop with me
[11:18] Speaker 3: at all times. And so we just decided we're going
[11:21] Speaker 3: to go, me and my husband and my daughter. We
[11:23] Speaker 3: packed up, you know, thirteen military bags and luggage and
[11:27] Speaker 3: we got on Delta and me and my husband visit there.
[11:30] Speaker 3: We had never been to Cabo. We went there for
[11:32] Speaker 3: a week and by the end of the week we
[11:33] Speaker 3: came back with a lease for an apartment. We said
[11:37] Speaker 3: we was leaving in th days. He was actually a
[11:40] Speaker 3: QA engineer too. So what happened is that I actually
[11:44] Speaker 3: he was actually working a customer service And so what
[11:46] Speaker 3: had happened was I walked past him one day and
[11:49] Speaker 3: he saw me working my QA rod. But then I
[11:51] Speaker 3: had landed a second row. So I'm working two of
[11:54] Speaker 3: them because at that time they were contracts. So I'm
[11:56] Speaker 3: working two it both and so you're telling me, so
[11:58] Speaker 3: you're saying, I'm making like ninety one and ninety on another.
[12:01] Speaker 3: And so I walked past him. He on a customer
[12:03] Speaker 3: service call for insurance, and I said, you can't even
[12:06] Speaker 3: get up and go to the bathroom. Oh he was
[12:08] Speaker 3: mad at me and up with transparent. He was making
[12:10] Speaker 3: about forty thousand dollars too, right, because we both came
[12:13] Speaker 3: from that. He was working at home, so it's great
[12:15] Speaker 3: you're at home, right, but you know, and then he said,
[12:18] Speaker 3: you know what, enough is enough. She's not that smart.
[12:20] Speaker 3: I'm like, I am that smart, you know so, But
[12:23] Speaker 3: essentially he was he looked at me as inspiration and said,
[12:27] Speaker 3: if she can do this, I can do it too.
[12:29] Speaker 3: So within thirty days he started watching me, learning from me,
[12:32] Speaker 3: and then he ended up landing a fifty five dollars
[12:35] Speaker 3: an hour, so he's surprised. He actually went over me, okay,
[12:38] Speaker 3: and his first QA role was over six figures higher
[12:41] Speaker 3: than one of both of my offers individually, and he
[12:44] Speaker 3: landed his role and he became a QA engineer. So
[12:46] Speaker 3: once he became a QA engineer, by the end of
[12:48] Speaker 3: twenty twenty one, our household was producing about four hundred
[12:51] Speaker 3: k remote uh and we decided to just up and
[12:54] Speaker 3: leave and leave the country.
[12:55] Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
[12:58] Speaker 1: money making conversations. Basket class.
[13:00] Speaker 2: Now, I need for you to do me a favor
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[13:36] Speaker 1: How did that lead to your business?
[13:39] Speaker 3: So we on the beach and I'm just sitting there
[13:42] Speaker 3: shooting my real somebody said, you know, shoot Instagram stories.
[13:45] Speaker 3: So I just started shooting stories talking about QA. Now,
[13:47] Speaker 3: actually I was doing this before I left, So I
[13:49] Speaker 3: actually my business has started building before I left. So basically,
[13:53] Speaker 3: behind the scenes, I was shooting IG stories and I
[13:55] Speaker 3: was talking about a day in the life. I was
[13:56] Speaker 3: saying what I did as a QA engineer. I was
[13:58] Speaker 3: talking about how I went from customers nerves and technical
[14:00] Speaker 3: support to being a QA engineer. And I was talking
[14:03] Speaker 3: about your transferable skills and how you're already a software tester.
[14:06] Speaker 3: That's kind of my thing. I say, you're already a
[14:07] Speaker 3: software tester you just don't know it yet. So what
[14:09] Speaker 3: I mean by that is those little mote with those
[14:12] Speaker 3: apps on your phone, you're using them every day, right,
[14:15] Speaker 3: So if you're using them, you are a you were
[14:17] Speaker 3: essentially becoming a subject matter expert. Right, So every time
[14:20] Speaker 3: you use it, you are operating as the user. And
[14:24] Speaker 3: so if I'm on the other end testing it as
[14:26] Speaker 3: a QA engineer, now I have to also be the
[14:29] Speaker 3: subject matter expert because for my job, I have to
[14:32] Speaker 3: know what it's supposed to do, so you, as the user,
[14:35] Speaker 3: can use it correctly and it can actually and it
[14:37] Speaker 3: can be used as it's supposed to as it's actually
[14:40] Speaker 3: supposed to. So I was shooting ig stories and I
[14:43] Speaker 3: launched this ebook and I said, I'm putting out a
[14:45] Speaker 3: e book. I'm gonna show you you know how to
[14:47] Speaker 3: be a software tester too. And I didn't make the product.
[14:50] Speaker 3: I just said I'm outlining it. Thirty people bought it
[14:53] Speaker 3: for ninety seven dollars. I was like, oh crap, I
[14:56] Speaker 3: gotta I gotta make this. I gotta make it, so
[15:00] Speaker 3: invade it. And it was an e book. And so
[15:02] Speaker 3: this was October twenty twenty one. I had already worked
[15:05] Speaker 3: several QA rows, my brother and my cousin, all of
[15:07] Speaker 3: them was in QA rows. So I took our testimonials
[15:09] Speaker 3: and I said, let me show you how I can
[15:10] Speaker 3: do it. So I was just shooting behind the scenes,
[15:12] Speaker 3: and I'll say what I did is a software test
[15:14] Speaker 3: and what tasks were. I made this product and by
[15:17] Speaker 3: October thirty people bought. I made my first ten K. Right. So, now,
[15:23] Speaker 3: prior to that, I was working in customer support and
[15:25] Speaker 3: technical support, and I actually used to do Facebook as management.
[15:28] Speaker 3: I actually used to work here Cartoire click funnels, building funnels,
[15:31] Speaker 3: and so I worked behind six figure and seven figure
[15:33] Speaker 3: brands already, and I actually stopped that. And that's what
[15:36] Speaker 3: actually got me all the way to this point because
[15:38] Speaker 3: I was tired of watching everybody else brands grow and
[15:41] Speaker 3: I'm supporting them, and I'm letting I'm stuck at forty K,
[15:44] Speaker 3: you know, remote, but I'm stuck at forty K. So
[15:45] Speaker 3: that wasn't working for me no more. So needless to say, I,
[15:50] Speaker 3: you know, launched this product and people bought. So October
[15:53] Speaker 3: people bought. But you know, it's going into the holiday season,
[15:56] Speaker 3: so you know, I'm not thinking nobody's gonna tell me
[15:58] Speaker 3: to got it now now, mind you. I do believe
[16:00] Speaker 3: that what I do, what I said works. But January
[16:03] Speaker 3: comes around somebody says I got a job. Holy crap,
[16:07] Speaker 3: I'm thinking someone that didn't know me took just my
[16:11] Speaker 3: videos and my ebook and lanted a job. Well, by
[16:14] Speaker 3: January twenty twenty two, I started having people lanning jobs.
[16:17] Speaker 3: By the end of January twenty twenty two, I had
[16:19] Speaker 3: forty five people in jobs off of that little ebook
[16:22] Speaker 3: and master classes. Then I kind of I started increasing
[16:25] Speaker 3: the pricing. By twenty twenty three, another fifty people, by
[16:28] Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, another fifty or so people. Twenty twenty
[16:31] Speaker 3: five we had almost about another Obviously the market was
[16:34] Speaker 3: a little crazy. This year. We had about another almost
[16:36] Speaker 3: forty people in twenty twenty five plan jobs. So that's
[16:39] Speaker 3: how now helped two hundred people get into tech.
[16:42] Speaker 1: Now, your company's called road.
[16:44] Speaker 3: To Qa is up the website www dot road too
[16:48] Speaker 3: qa dot com.
[16:48] Speaker 4: When they go to road to Qa qqa, let me
[16:51] Speaker 4: get this right, road to qas jmark by the way, right,
[16:56] Speaker 4: what's the experience of the fees.
[16:59] Speaker 3: Well, the experience is enrollment. So I would actually say
[17:02] Speaker 3: go to road to qa dot com forward slash free
[17:05] Speaker 3: and you can actually watch my free master class train
[17:08] Speaker 3: and so I'm going to actually show you how you're
[17:10] Speaker 3: already a software tester and you just don't know it yet.
[17:13] Speaker 3: So everything that I've been.
[17:13] Speaker 1: Telling you what is, we'll talk to us. Well, how
[17:16] Speaker 1: are they already?
[17:17] Speaker 3: How I am?
[17:18] Speaker 2: I was trying McDonald a software tester and don't even know.
[17:21] Speaker 3: It because you're sitting on these apps and you're playing
[17:23] Speaker 3: with them, you're logging into your laptop. Well, when you
[17:27] Speaker 3: open your laptop generally, I mean now sometimes we looking
[17:30] Speaker 3: at the book right, never never you're even exploring it. Well,
[17:36] Speaker 3: as a software tester, I also explore the software to
[17:39] Speaker 3: make sure let's see if I find anything. So it's
[17:41] Speaker 3: almost like you're doing a task and don't even know it.
[17:44] Speaker 1: Your revenue in your road to QA.
[17:46] Speaker 3: The whole point is we have two programs. We have
[17:48] Speaker 3: a ninety day jump start where I'm teaching you the
[17:50] Speaker 3: skills and knowledge and the expertise to become a QA engineer.
[17:54] Speaker 3: And then in that you get mentorships. So I have
[17:56] Speaker 3: a team of eight. So that is a enough other
[18:00] Speaker 3: great accident. I did not, you know, know that I
[18:03] Speaker 3: was going to end up growing the company that had
[18:06] Speaker 3: to meet so many people. You know, I just thought
[18:08] Speaker 3: I was gonna be It's gonna be me and my
[18:09] Speaker 3: little ebook and making a little ten thousand dollars a month. Well,
[18:13] Speaker 3: I've been able to I don't know what I should
[18:17] Speaker 3: or sit and say, but I have been able to
[18:19] Speaker 3: see money come faster, accidentally but in a great accident.
[18:24] Speaker 3: And also as a business owner learning how to do
[18:26] Speaker 3: money better. You know, when you're coming from forty K
[18:29] Speaker 3: and you jump upwards and you see money different and
[18:31] Speaker 3: faster and more, you have to learn that forty K
[18:35] Speaker 3: mindset got to go away because now you have to
[18:37] Speaker 3: manage money a whole nother way, because you know, Uncle
[18:40] Speaker 3: Sam gonna come get you, you know so. But and
[18:43] Speaker 3: then on top of that, you have to be able
[18:46] Speaker 3: to understand how you're going to grow and scale, how
[18:49] Speaker 3: you know where and when do you you know, add
[18:52] Speaker 3: funds to add employees or increase you know, or the
[18:56] Speaker 3: hard decision of take taking positions away too. Even as
[18:58] Speaker 3: a business owner, I've had to make decisions where I've
[19:01] Speaker 3: had to say, we don't need that position on them anymore,
[19:04] Speaker 3: but we're going to retailer and here's what we make me.
[19:06] Speaker 3: If you have that skill, we could put you here.
[19:08] Speaker 3: But if not, this from a profitability standpoint, this is
[19:11] Speaker 3: what I need.
[19:12] Speaker 1: So basically, okay, just speaking, Okay, A senior quality assurance
[19:19] Speaker 1: control engineer.
[19:20] Speaker 3: Right, senior quality assurance engineer.
[19:22] Speaker 1: A senior quality assurance engineer, not the word control.
[19:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, because control is a whole nother different insurance engineer.
[19:29] Speaker 2: That's what you do full time. Yes, okay, Then you
[19:33] Speaker 2: have another company that you started that is eight people
[19:38] Speaker 2: are working under that umbrella in some capacity to employee
[19:41] Speaker 2: TI nin and nine. You need those people or your
[19:44] Speaker 2: company cannot function.
[19:46] Speaker 3: So I'll say yes and no. Because I have the
[19:49] Speaker 3: skill set. Technically I could run my company on my own.
[19:53] Speaker 1: But even with the full.
[19:54] Speaker 3: Time job, yeah I could because of how I have
[19:56] Speaker 3: a structure. So one of the biggest things is for
[19:59] Speaker 3: me is alignment. And even though this is the thing everything,
[20:03] Speaker 3: every every business model isn't for everyone. So my company
[20:07] Speaker 3: focus is on it's solely like a one to many.
[20:09] Speaker 3: I don't do it like a hard cohort because a
[20:11] Speaker 3: lot of people that I am actually attracting, they're in
[20:14] Speaker 3: full time jobs. You know, like when you're in full
[20:17] Speaker 3: time jobs, you're traveling. I'm sorry, you're you're commuting, you
[20:21] Speaker 3: have kids. It's hard to say I'm gonna be in
[20:23] Speaker 3: class at eight o'clock every day, you know. So my
[20:26] Speaker 3: program is kind of autonomous where they enrolled, they self enroll,
[20:28] Speaker 3: they go through the program at their own pace. But
[20:30] Speaker 3: we do have weekly calls that you come to so
[20:34] Speaker 3: you can go through the program at your own pace. Now, I,
[20:36] Speaker 3: because I have a skill set, I can run every
[20:39] Speaker 3: call and do everything in my company.
[20:41] Speaker 1: Are using AI to do anything?
[20:43] Speaker 3: So as of right now, not technically a yes, so
[20:48] Speaker 3: we're actually now developing agents to do several things. But
[20:52] Speaker 3: as of right now, there's things where I can use AI,
[20:56] Speaker 3: where like we're building AI and we have some AI
[20:59] Speaker 3: to help with and resume and things of that nature
[21:01] Speaker 3: and help people as they're transferent, you know, finding their
[21:04] Speaker 3: transferable skills. But for my company as a whole, like
[21:08] Speaker 3: for me to actually teach someone to skill, No, I
[21:11] Speaker 3: don't have to have AI to do that. I can
[21:13] Speaker 3: do all this on my skills and experience. I've had
[21:14] Speaker 3: ten different QA roles. I know how to do the job.
[21:17] Speaker 1: Why isn't it bigger?
[21:19] Speaker 3: Wow? Why is it? Can I be honest? Yes, So
[21:24] Speaker 3: I was on my way to actually scale my company,
[21:27] Speaker 3: you know, and I have a family circumstance that brought
[21:30] Speaker 3: me back to Atlanta. Okay, So it's actually why I'm back.
[21:33] Speaker 3: I've been back since last year because if you have,
[21:35] Speaker 3: I wouldn't be back here. I'm be honest, I'm be
[21:36] Speaker 3: honest with everybody. I would not be in the US.
[21:39] Speaker 3: I'd be sitting in Cowbo off the beach right now. So,
[21:42] Speaker 3: but life happens, and I like to always be an
[21:44] Speaker 3: example to be honest because a lot of times you'll
[21:47] Speaker 3: see people online like life is just so good. And
[21:49] Speaker 3: I don't believe that we should all be you know,
[21:51] Speaker 3: always tell our private stories and everything. You shouldn't share everything,
[21:55] Speaker 3: but you shared a lot on my show, you but
[22:01] Speaker 3: I do. But I had to come back because my
[22:03] Speaker 3: family is going through a circumstance that needed me back here.
[22:05] Speaker 1: Okay. And so why that has nothing to do with
[22:08] Speaker 1: my question.
[22:10] Speaker 4: That sounds like a valid excuse, But there's.
[22:13] Speaker 1: Nothing to do with you and jail and new.
[22:16] Speaker 2: Business because you have a phenomenal business model here.
[22:20] Speaker 3: What what got Okay, So to answer your question, is
[22:23] Speaker 3: I took I basically took a break where I almost
[22:25] Speaker 3: decided not to keep my company because of the family
[22:28] Speaker 3: circumstances going on right now.
[22:30] Speaker 2: You did not let that interfere with your great Well,
[22:33] Speaker 2: I'm not, I'm not anymore.
[22:34] Speaker 3: I started, I started moving back. I started, you know,
[22:37] Speaker 3: repumping the breaks. I started repumping the brakes about September.
[22:41] Speaker 1: Thank you so.
[22:44] Speaker 3: And it did help me when other people forty.
[22:47] Speaker 2: One and you got this in your head. You know,
[22:50] Speaker 2: you know this is this is special. You know, like
[22:53] Speaker 2: I said, I had a lot of interviews. You know,
[22:55] Speaker 2: sometimes I'll be doing interviews. I'll be going, Okay, I
[22:57] Speaker 2: heard this before, I heard this before, or I can
[22:59] Speaker 2: take there.
[23:00] Speaker 1: I've never heard this.
[23:02] Speaker 2: And I'm impressed by you because you develop a model
[23:07] Speaker 2: that's been sitting out there that is a money maker,
[23:11] Speaker 2: not only for you but people who buy into it.
[23:16] Speaker 2: You should be sitting there saying two thousand people, not
[23:19] Speaker 2: two hundred people.
[23:21] Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if I can say it's
[23:23] Speaker 3: on camera, but I mean, my business have done almost
[23:25] Speaker 3: all My company has done almost three million dollars in
[23:28] Speaker 3: since twenty twenty one. By accident, they.
[23:31] Speaker 1: Should be doing nine million.
[23:33] Speaker 3: I've received that, and I believe that I'm.
[23:36] Speaker 2: Just telling you. You know you can. You can sit
[23:39] Speaker 2: over here. You can be old Cabo and one hundred
[23:41] Speaker 2: people running for you. Okay, sending in Jamaica.
[23:44] Speaker 3: Right, it don't matter, well, and I will be transparent
[23:47] Speaker 3: to say. We also pushed the brakes too because I
[23:50] Speaker 3: did bring in someone else to help with curriculum design.
[23:53] Speaker 3: So even as you know, even though I have skilled,
[23:56] Speaker 3: even though I have certain skills, right, they're still skills
[24:00] Speaker 3: that maybe I don't have, So I had to bring
[24:03] Speaker 3: someone in so that they can teach that skill and
[24:06] Speaker 3: so we actually reach so like for instance, QA is
[24:10] Speaker 3: essentially me testing the software manually without a tool of
[24:14] Speaker 3: software automation, but now you have QA automation, which is
[24:18] Speaker 3: what we're seeing more in the market right with AI
[24:20] Speaker 3: and everything. So that's now a higher level of skill
[24:23] Speaker 3: set as a QA. So now we're taking all the
[24:25] Speaker 3: things that we do from a testing perspective, but now
[24:28] Speaker 3: we're using a tool like playwrights to actually automate testing.
[24:32] Speaker 3: So now that does actually need someone that has programming
[24:36] Speaker 3: or coding experience. I needed someone to come in and
[24:40] Speaker 3: develop that actual side of the curriculum. So I brought
[24:42] Speaker 3: in someone that's been in for fourteen years who I
[24:44] Speaker 3: actually met on my QA road and now I been
[24:46] Speaker 3: good friends for four years, and he helped me develop
[24:49] Speaker 3: that track and we started actually beta testing that on
[24:52] Speaker 3: other students that's already landed roles with my company.
[24:55] Speaker 1: Jennifer, do you are an afrotech?
[25:00] Speaker 3: Do I go?
[25:01] Speaker 1: No, they've never invited you to speak? Can anybody invite
[25:05] Speaker 1: you to speak?
[25:06] Speaker 3: I mean, I've done a few podcasts, but so can
[25:08] Speaker 3: I be honest? My husband is the one pushing me
[25:10] Speaker 3: to do like more podcasts. I'm kind of like, uh,
[25:14] Speaker 3: I like to just run my company in quiet. I
[25:17] Speaker 3: actually I see you amazing, Thank you, thank you.
[25:27] Speaker 1: It's not even a question. I'm trying to figure how
[25:29] Speaker 1: to invest in you. That's how much money you you
[25:34] Speaker 1: can make. You know, if you.
[25:36] Speaker 4: Pitched your story to a VC, a venture capitalist, they.
[25:40] Speaker 2: Won't invest in you a lot of money because the
[25:42] Speaker 2: upside is incredible?
[25:44] Speaker 3: Can I can I be honest with you? So you
[25:48] Speaker 3: talk about VC right now? I will say I like
[25:50] Speaker 3: to keep a lot of my own without everybody in there.
[25:53] Speaker 3: But I will say there is a when in the
[25:57] Speaker 3: first few years of my business, I told you I
[25:59] Speaker 3: launched a I'm playing like a ninety seven dollars book,
[26:01] Speaker 3: then we kept raising the price. It was two ninety seven,
[26:03] Speaker 3: three ninety seven, four ninety seven, five ninety seven. Were
[26:05] Speaker 3: now programs anywhere from seventeen ninety five to twenty nine
[26:08] Speaker 3: ninety nine, because now we have a track two thousand,
[26:12] Speaker 3: nine hundred ninety nine, because it started where it started
[26:16] Speaker 3: at ninety seven dollars, because.
[26:19] Speaker 1: I almost though I almost kicked you off my show. Really,
[26:24] Speaker 1: I almost kicked you off my show.
[26:26] Speaker 2: Way to go from ninety seven dollars to three thousand dollars?
[26:32] Speaker 3: What's how?
[26:33] Speaker 1: How many years? Fine? And people are still buying that?
[26:38] Speaker 4: Yes?
[26:38] Speaker 3: Okay, okay, So you asked me why you know? So
[26:42] Speaker 3: my husband fussed me, and I've had many people fussed
[26:44] Speaker 3: at me because of our price point actually stood where
[26:46] Speaker 3: it was too long, right. I had someone tell me
[26:49] Speaker 3: before the price program should have been like seven grand
[26:51] Speaker 3: and things of that nature. But my heart always sticks
[26:53] Speaker 3: with the person because I came from forty k So
[26:56] Speaker 3: as of growing business owner, you have the aspect where
[26:59] Speaker 3: because I had my different roles at the time because
[27:02] Speaker 3: at one point I was working like three qa rows.
[27:05] Speaker 3: We're just gonna say that, not now, but at one point,
[27:08] Speaker 3: so so with that, I did what I don't want
[27:14] Speaker 3: to say charity, But it was to a point where
[27:16] Speaker 3: my company wasn't actually making money. It was almost like
[27:19] Speaker 3: it was just paying for itself because what was happening
[27:22] Speaker 3: was that I was growing the company and adding employees,
[27:25] Speaker 3: but the profits didn't make sense right because I didn't know.
[27:28] Speaker 3: I had never been a business owner before. I just
[27:30] Speaker 3: saw people laying the job So I'm just on the cars,
[27:33] Speaker 3: I'm doing whatever, and I got my QA roles. I'm
[27:35] Speaker 3: making six figures already, I don't care. But then when
[27:37] Speaker 3: you start looking at the numbers, You're like, why am
[27:39] Speaker 3: I doing this? You know, I'm cross between I want
[27:42] Speaker 3: to help this type of person and realizing that this
[27:45] Speaker 3: person still got to believe in themselves and say, yes,
[27:47] Speaker 3: they gotta find you, They gotta find they gotta find
[27:51] Speaker 3: the way to say I'm going to invest in myself,
[27:53] Speaker 3: just like I had to do. And so for me,
[27:56] Speaker 3: I was cross between raising my prices. So for me,
[28:00] Speaker 3: I never wanted to be like a program of seven eight,
[28:02] Speaker 3: nine grant, but I do want to be a profitable company.
[28:06] Speaker 3: So for me, that's why my business model is. It's
[28:08] Speaker 3: not a hard cohort it's self pacing, the autonomous program
[28:12] Speaker 3: where you go through it in one year and we're
[28:13] Speaker 3: there to support you along your journey. But for me,
[28:17] Speaker 3: it took me a while to raise my price. So
[28:19] Speaker 3: I'm just, you know, wanting to answer your question on
[28:21] Speaker 3: you know, why maybe haven't I gotten to some certain point,
[28:24] Speaker 3: And it's because maybe for the first three years I
[28:27] Speaker 3: sat in the space where I almost wasn't making money
[28:29] Speaker 3: because it was almost like I was. I was bringing
[28:30] Speaker 3: in money. So when I talk about how much I made,
[28:33] Speaker 3: that's revenue that on mean I kept all that obviously right.
[28:36] Speaker 3: So now we're on track to build that vision because
[28:40] Speaker 3: now we have, like I said, automation, and then we
[28:44] Speaker 3: have AI. So now our tracks are expanding to something
[28:47] Speaker 3: that we didn't have, which is the foundations of QA testing, automation,
[28:52] Speaker 3: AI testing, and AI assistant tools. And now you're talking
[28:55] Speaker 3: about a program that is between seventeen ninety five twenty
[28:59] Speaker 3: nine nine nine, that can land you, that can help
[29:02] Speaker 3: you land a job anywhere from seventy upwards to one
[29:04] Speaker 3: hundred and eighty K.
[29:06] Speaker 1: Love it, Jennifer.
[29:08] Speaker 2: I can keep talking to you, but I gotta let
[29:11] Speaker 2: you go, not because you're not delivering amazing information. Give
[29:16] Speaker 2: your episode out before we leave one more time.
[29:18] Speaker 3: Yes, it's www. Dot road to qa dot com. But
[29:22] Speaker 3: go to www Dot road to qa dot com forward
[29:26] Speaker 3: slash free and watch my freemaster class training. I'll show
[29:29] Speaker 3: you exactly how you're already a software tester, you just
[29:32] Speaker 3: don't know it yet, and you have transferable skills that
[29:34] Speaker 3: you are sitting on and you can get your first
[29:36] Speaker 3: yes and tech facts.
[29:38] Speaker 2: Thank you for a couple on my shir Thank you,
[29:40] Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode. Now I need
[29:43] Speaker 2: for you to do me a favor right now to
[29:45] Speaker 2: follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's free and
[29:49] Speaker 2: you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[29:54] Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor,
[29:58] Speaker 2: follow a subscribe Money Making Conversations.
[30:01] Speaker 1: Keep winning

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