In 2007, I was a 25-year-old single mother working a $12-per-hour, dead-end insurance job in Dallas.

I was living below the poverty line and qualified for government assistance, including Section 8, which helps low- to moderate-income families with affordable housing. My entire income went towards rent, gas, daycare and, regrettably, payday loans in order to survive until my next paycheck.

One day, I was offered a $60,000-per-year job that could change my life, but was denied for having a low credit score of 303.

This wake-up call led me to study the credit system and launch AMB Credit Consultants, a side hustle that would later become a financial education enterprise. Last year, it brought in $1.4 million in gross revenue.

How I got motivated to start my side hustle

I had a 700 credit score when I graduated high school because my mom added me as an authorized user to her credit cards. But my credit profile crumbled as I got older. I didn't understand the credit system or how to manage my finances. At one point, I had maxed out 25 credit cards.

After getting denied that job opportunity, I was determined to improve my credit score. I spent hours at the local library reading about consumer credit laws and credit-building. I found inaccuracies in my credit report and had the credit bureaus correct them.

That, combined with the budgeting strategies I learned, helped me increase my credit score by over 100 points in six months. I saw the real change that having good credit made in my life; I was able to buy a more reliable car and rent an apartment in a better neighborhood with great schools.

I started helping my family and friends strengthen their credit profiles, too. One friend, grateful for my help, suggested I charge for my services and began referring clients to me.

I realized this could be a great side hustle. So in late 2007, I spent $500 on a website domain and business supplies. That's how AMB Credit Consultants — named after my daughter, Ariyah Marie Bodley — was born, and I began counseling clients after work and on weekends.

I always thought that I had to work for someone else to be financially stable. But being let go from my insurance job gave me the push I needed to work on my side hustle full-time.

My journey to $1 million in sales

Based on what my competitors were charging and what my target audience could afford, I priced my first product, which offered a free consultation and a six-month credit education training and correction program, at $149.

Business was slow at first. I made less than $12,000 per year for the first five years. I wasn't doing a great job at promoting AMB and charged too little for the work I was putting in.

To develop AMB's credibility, I touted my Board Certified Credit Consultant and FICO Professionals certifications. I also posted customer testimonials across our social media accounts and website.

Influencer partnerships helped boost testimonials, too. I offered social media influencers my services for free and asked them to endorse my business if they were happy with the results.

And in 2014, I changed the structure of my program to better reflect the labor I was putting in. I charged $149 for six months of service, then an additional $99 per month to stay enrolled.

To further drive revenue, I created campaigns that discounted enrollment from $149 to $47 for new customers. This increased urgency for new customers to sign up when a promotion was running.

In 2016, AMB brought in $1.1 million in gross revenue.

How I built an enterprise

AMB now has 10 employees, and serviced 672 customers in 2021. The business' success and the change I was making in people's lives inspired me to create an enterprise of financial education brands.

In 2013, I started posting on Luxurious Credit, a blog that provides free credit intel to readers and sells financial literacy and entrepreneurship books. Then I launched Luxurious Lifestyle Planner, a product line of journals that includes helpful tools such as monthly budgeting sheets and credit score trackers.

And in 2018, I started the Achieve with Arnita Academy, a coaching service for aspiring credit consultants.

My best advice for starting a business

It's been a long journey to get to where I am today, but I'm glad I never gave up.

I'm now happily married with five children, in the process of buying land to build our forever dream home, and my business is doing better than ever.

Here's my best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:

1. Make your story part of your brand.

An important part of my AMB brand story is my triumph over my low credit score and financial instability.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I took on more than $80,000 in credit card debt to pay for holistic treatment. But by 2021, I had paid off over $60,000 of that debt, as well as loans for my family's two cars.

I used that story to show clients that I understood how to navigate financial planning and the credit system, even under the most stressful circumstances.

2. Be specific about who you can help.

Starting out, my mission was to help anyone. Then I realized that I knew what it was like to be a young, Black, single mom on government assistance, so I had a unique ability to help those women.

To market my business in a way that resonated with them, I made a picture collage of women in my demographic and described their characteristics — like what struggles they were facing and the goals they had.

That helped me build a highly specific customer profile and strengthen my marketing and product development efforts.

3. Focus on community.

Having a large social media following isn't enough. You must cultivate a supportive community by engaging with your followers, catering to their needs and asking for feedback.

I like to offer free digital downloads for budgeting worksheets and education workshops to my followers and newsletter subscribers. I also host the Luxurious Credit Society, a Facebook group that allows people to ask questions about their credit situation and get advice from myself or another AMB representative.

This encourages customers to stick around and invite others to join. It also helps us measure the effectiveness of our services and brainstorm new ones.

Arnita Johnson-Hall is a credit educator and personal brand strategist whose mission is to help individuals take ownership of their financial status. She is a holistic cancer survivor, wife and mother of five. Follow Arnita on Instagram and Twitter.

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