FinCon

Philip Taylor launched PT Money back in 2007 as a personal blog to share thoughts on money and connect with others passionate about financial management. A CPA by training, he had escaped corporate life and built a following around practical financial advice. In 2011, he spotted an opportunity: the personal finance content community was hungry to connect. He decided to throw the first FinCon conference to bring together the top voices in financial media.

The early years were rough. Despite the passionate community, FinCon lost money for its first few years as a side project. "If you factor in the time I spent on the event, probably lost money those first few years, definitely," Philip recalled. He was bootstrapping the event while maintaining other income streams, which meant it wasn't getting the strategic attention it needed.

The turning point came in 2014 when Philip made a decisive shift. "FinCon was a side business for me and it needed to become a bigger part of my portfolio," he explained. "I just basically put my entrepreneur hat on, toured it and stopped treating it like a side project and treated it like the full-time business that it should be." He applied a budget, introduced VIP ticket tiers, and restructured sponsorship offerings. By the 2014 event (2015 conference year), FinCon became genuinely profitable.

The revenue model proved elegant: 50-50 split between tickets and sponsorships. For the 2015 event, he generated $220,000 from approximately 900 attendees at an average ticket price of $240 (ranging from early-bird $149 to $349), and another $220,000 from about 75 sponsors paying an average of $3,000 for a booth, with premium sponsorships reaching $5K-$20K.

The sponsorship pitch was brilliant: financial companies wanted access to the most influential personal finance creators in the world. "Our average attendee is bringing with them virtually 3,000, 10,000, 100,000 of followers and users and subscribers," Philip explained. Companies paid to reach these micro and macro influencers directly.

Philip also built community beyond the event itself. Attendees got access to a private Facebook group before arrival to network, the in-person conference, and post-event access to all videos. "We stack you on both ends. Besides just being at the actual event, we try to add some kind of 24-7 value for you," he said.

By 2015, FinCon had achieved remarkable scale: over $500,000 in total revenue with approximately $200,000 in profit after $250,000 in expenses. The 2015 event featured 125 speakers across keynotes, breakout sessions, and workshops. Philip kept speaker costs reasonable ($10K maximum for keynotes, often negotiated to include book purchases and signings for attendees), focusing instead on the community value rather than celebrity draw. The conference had become a thriving association-like gathering where business deals happened naturally because the right people were all in one place.