We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Naselli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I was never someone that was “good” with money. I have lifelong ADHD and with that came lots of emotional and impulsive spending. Growing up, I was never taught how to manage my money through schooling. I didn’t really talk with my parents about it or my peers because of the stigma that talking about money is taboo. So at age 28 I found myself with $12K in credit card debt, no savings, no money management skills, and no plan for my future. Along came COVID and like many, it was a time I reconsidered a lot of things in my life and what I wanted to do with it. I started looking up “at what age can I retire?” and was quickly hit with the hardcore truth; you need to be a millionaire to retire. Not just that, but retirement wasn’t an age at all, it was a number. This enticed me so I started doing more research on how I could manage my money so I’d be able to retire. I told my mom about this and she recommended the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” to me. I read through it quicker than I had read any book before. From the first chapter that book grabbed hold of me and changed my life forever, I became obsessed with the idea of becoming financially free. I threw myself into everything personal finance – how to invest, how to build my credit score, money mindset work. After about a year of treating this hobby like a second job, I finally got to a point where I felt confident and in control of my finances. I no longer had stress or anxiety around money or my future. Having that sense of control with my money seemed to spill over into every other area of my life. I was excited and started talking to my girl friends about how they managed their money. And I very quickly learned that many millennial women are in the same boat that I had been in; minimal financial education, living paycheck to paycheck, not feeling like they have control over their money, lack of confidence in their financial decisions. I put out a post on Instagram asking if any of my lady friends would be interested in sitting in on a training where I taught them investing & money management 101. I had an overwhelming response and ended up having a 2 hour training with about 15 women. They were blown away and after the training, many of them told me I had changed their life. They always felt so intimidated by the finance industry, but I had explained it in a way that was extremely easy to understand. And because I had been in their shoes, could make it super relatable. It was that night that I knew what I was put on this earth to do. I had knowledge and expertise that was life changing and it was my responsibility to offer it to people. I did a lot of market research. Talked to hundreds of people finding out what their biggest pain points and struggles were when it came to personal finance. I then used that knowledge to develop a money coaching program & financial literacy company for millennial women.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I help millennial women reset their relationship with money so they can take control of their finances to reach their goals without sacrifice. A lot of people teach money from a physics and tactical standpoint. However, there is a huge psychological aspect behind managing your money; your emotions, spending habits and behaviors that all impact your ability to manage your money and work towards your goals. You can know how to invest and save all day, but if you don’t have the money to do so, that knowledge is useless. I pair the hard skills of managing your money with the underlying mindset work. I transform the way people view their money through shame-free personal education, money mindset work, and sustainable money practices that people can take with them for the rest of their life. I am building a community of an awesome group of humans who are also taking action to be in control of their finances. When you join Money Confidence Community, you don’t just get support and accountability from me, but from the entire community.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Over the past 6 months I’ve created a following of 25K across Money Confidence Community’s social channels. I’ve grown this audience because I very quickly learned two things.

When I first started out, I was fearful to put too much out because it would “give away my business”. After some internal mindset work and working with my business mentors, I discovered that the more information I gave out, the more it positioned me as the figure of authority, and the more people started following me. To answer my old question of “how much information is giving too much away?” – there is never enough. My entire Money Confidence Mastermind Coaching Program is out there in bits and pieces in my content all over my channels. The information itself is not why people want to work with me (because they can find that anywhere on the internet). They want to work with me for that personalized 1:1 support. They don’t want to have to piece it together themselves, they want it delivered to them in one package with a bow on top. And they want access to my community of others looking to make the same life changes as them so they can harness that accountability. I want people to feel like they already know me and how I teach before I ever get on the phone with them. So I give them as much information as I can on my social channels.

Secondly, when I first started making content, I tried to create this appearance that was not authentically myself. I tried to have the personality that I thought others wanted me to have; bubbly & high energy. But that just wasn’t me and the disingenuous energy could be felt by my viewers. There are people out there who will connect more with bubbly and high energy personalities and there are people who will connect with those who are a bit more straight forward and calm like me. Once I accepted that and started showing up for my audience as myself, that is when I really started to grow.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

In the finance industry, you have a lot of people coming at you with advice that either work in the finance industry or have in the past. It can be very intimidating for someone who is in the beginning stages of learning how to invest and manage their money. What makes me different is that I am completely self-taught. I did not work in the finance industry. I used to be exactly who my target audience is; emotional spender, lack of financial knowledge, didn’t know where to start. Because of that I have this trust and connection with them. I know their pain points and how to explain seemingly complex concepts in a way that makes sense. I always tell people “if I could take control of my finances, so can you”, so people almost look up to me as an inspiration and hope to transform their life to get to the point I am at.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/financialfreedomcollective
• Instagram: @danielle.ffcollective
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/themoneyconfidencecommunity
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danielle.lowy

Image Credits
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