MoneyTalk With Coach Dannielle Haig

In this Interview series, we want to feature amazing and inspiring women who are willing to talk about money. Our goal is to break the taboo around money, share experiences and learn from the community. Please see examples here.

Hello Dannielle! At Vestpod we love that you help people enhance their careers, profitability, resilience, engagement, health and well-being. Money is usually an important part of the coaching process, so here are a few questions for you:

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a 32 year old business owner working as a Business Psychologist, Business Coach and Therapist and I also have a tech start-up that I own with my sister. 

I live in London and run my international consultancy from my office here. I am a public speaker and columnist for a start-up magazine and an advocate for all things to do with Mental Health and Wellness. I am also a proactive champion for equality and for helping women reach their true potential by breaking down social norms and supporting women in business and their lives. 

What inspired you to launch DH Coaching and Consulting?

I always knew I would work for myself, I just didn’t always know in what capacity. My parents have always been business owners so it is all that I have known and something I have always felt comfortable with. 

To give you a bit of a background to my career, I originally studied classical history at university before moving on to become a Psychologist, specialising in Business Psychology. I also then went on to train in Counselling and Business Coaching. Having experienced some really poor organisational cultures and managers, I knew that I wanted to work helping businesses to improve the way they function to improve the working lives of others. I wanted to do it my way and on my terms.I very much feel like it’s my vocation. 

What are you passionate about?

So many things! I live and breath Mental Wellness and Mental Health - it is what I work towards every day.

I am passionate about helping people reach their potential. I love to help women, in particular, develop all the skills required to get them to their apex both professionally and personally. 

What was the biggest lesson you learnt in your career?

To just go for it. Whatever it is you want to achieve, you can. I love this quote from Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right”.

My sister, who is very successful in Financial Services and very much a mentor to me, gave me some sage advice when I first started out. She said, “no one knows what they’re doing, we’re all winging it” and it gave me the strength to just try and take risks. 

Finally, never be afraid to charge for your time and services!

What’s your relationship like with money and personal finance? 

When I had a wage, I was terrible with money. I couldn’t save and I was scared of money. I was fearful to ask for the salary that I deserved and didn’t know how to make the money I did earn work for me. 

Since owning my own business and being 100% responsible for my earnings, I learnt some tough lessons. I am not scared of money any more, I am not scared of having it or not having it. 

I have a strong trust in myself to know I can always make more money, I can make myself feel safe financially with the amount of work I put into my business. This mindset gives me a lot of strength and confidence; the personal responsibility is highly motivating. 

What does financial independence mean to you?

Knowing that I can rely on myself solely is the most exhilarating feeling; it can be intimidating sometimes but ultimately I would say it was the making of me to become self-employed. It makes me work harder and smarter and I also value my time a lot more now. 

What’s the one thing you indulge in? 

Gosh, that’s a difficult one. I love going to nice restaurants with friends and family and I love to travel in style and stay at wonderful hotels which is definitely an indulgence.

On a material level, I have a massive need for expensive silk pyjamas! 

What is the best financial decision you have ever made? And what is the greatest long term investment? 

My greatest investment has been my education. I spent a long time and a lot of money on my further education and it was worth every penny. Without specialising and furthering my knowledge I wouldn’t have been able to set up my own business. I wanted to be at the top of my industry and to do that I had to invest in my education. It seemed scary and a huge investment of both my time and money but it has paid dividends.

Investing in yourself, your life and your education should be celebrated and done as much as possible. 

Have you ever experienced a financial epiphany? A sort of wake-up call, where you suddenly thought - “I must start doing things differently”? 

Most definitely, when my business really started to grow, I was making more money than I had ever done before and I was spending without a thought. I would sometimes look at my bank balance and think, “Where has that all gone!?” and be astounded at how much I had spent without thinking. 

At that point I started to monitor my spending and started looking into ISA’s and investments. Before I had the chance to buy any more silk pyjamas! 

What is Vestpod for you?

Vestpod is a much needed resource for women. We need to talk about money and be confident doing so; women tend to live longer but earn less than men, women are responsible for 70% of consumer spending and they also save more and invest less than men. There are so many conversations that are needed to be had around financial equality, female confidence, education and investments etc. So I love that there is now a platform for us to unite and learn from and teach each other. 

Own up. Have you made any major financial faux-pas? 

Definitely! When I was a student, I was terribly irresponsible with paying my credit cards and would bury my head in the sand constantly to the point where I would withdraw cash from them also (!). 

It took me years to openly talk about my mistakes and open up about my finances. It is important to be confident in talking about money and facing reality. 

What do you wish you had done earlier in terms of financial planning? 

Saving! As simple as that. I think when you’re fearful of money you don’t have a good relationship with it and I certainly didn’t so I would spend all that I had. I also had that youthful outlook and belief that I would live forever and never thought about the importance of preparing for my future. Having said that, it’s never too late to shift your mindset and start saving at any point. 

Favourite book & podcast?

I’m somewhat of a bibliophile and have a LOT of favourite books from varying genres. I used to read a lot of business books but I became so confused and to be honest, quite bored, by all the conflicting advice and the huge number of behaviours and rituals that I was supposed to be carrying out in order to be successful. Instead I read a lot of books on different topics to make sure my brain is agile and stretched creatively. 

At the moment I am reading Carlo Rovelli’s books on quantum physics which I find really enlightening and it’s exciting to learn about a completely alien topic. I love to read a lot of historical biographies of great women such as Brontë, Henrietta Lacks, Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, the Bletchley Girls etc. 

Where can we find you?

DH Coaching and Consulting Website 

Dannielle Haig LinkedIn

Dannielle Haig Instagram 

Thanks a lot!

-- Emilie & Christina