Perhaps it’s a bit stereotypical, but ask young girls what they want to do when they grow up and you’ll typically get, “teacher” or “fashion magazine writer” or even “marine biologist” (after all, swimming with dolphins all day can seem like a dream job.) “Financial planner” or “stockbroker” rarely hit the top ten. But as a girl growing up in Versailles, Missouri, that’s precisely what Danielle Harrison dreamed for her future.
“It was always my dream to work as a financial planner and own my own financial planning firm,” says Harrison. “For as long as I can remember, that is what I wanted to do, and I had a plan.”
Her plan included double majoring in economics and business administration at Westminster College and earning her MBA at the University of Missouri. What she had not anticipated, however, was the struggle to gain experience in the “so-called” financial planning industry that aligned with her values. Everything she encountered was centered around commissions and quotas rather than providing true planning, so she set her dreams aside and pursued other interests.
After more than a decade working for various companies in mortgage and commercial lending, facing corporate challenges like mergers and management changes, Harrison decided it was time to start down the road she had paved all those years ago. Not that it was easy.
“I was scared to death,” says Harrison. “I knew it was a big leap going out on my own, especially for a woman in a traditionally man’s world. We were in the middle of the pandemic, I could not work with any of my past clients, and I had a 4-year-old and an 8-month-old. My husband asked me if I’d ever failed at anything I’d tried, already knowing my answer would be no. ‘So what makes you think this time will be any different?’ he asked.”
With her family behind her, Harrison Financial Planning was born. There were a few things she knew she wanted ingrained into her business that would set it apart. The first, having a fee-only firm, which meant no commissions and no quotas, unlike the majority of financial advising firms. The second, focusing primarily on financial planning and being there for her clients when they were making any financial decisions in their lives, not just assistance with investing. The third? Harrison not only earned her designation as a Certified Financial Planner or CFP(R), but she also became a Certified Financial Therapist, or CFT-I™.
“That doesn’t mean I am a therapist in the traditional sense,” says Harrison. “What it does mean is that I use therapeutic techniques when necessary with my clients to gain a real understanding of their lives and relationships with money.” Earning her CFT-I™ enables Harrison to look beyond the charts and tables to create plans that work both financially and emotionally for her clients.
“I’m not interested in making plans that make sense on paper but won’t be implemented because it won’t work in my client’s lives. The planning I do is incredibly tailored to each individual I help.” - Harrison
Harrison opened her doors in 2021 and admits that year one was rocky. She signed a couple of clients right away, but then things got quiet. Rather than gaining clients through traditional networking and advertising, she used her writing,, which takes time to work. Her business coach, who was part of Missouri’s Women’s Business Center, told her that she was doing all the right things and that it would eventually click.
“She was right,” says Harrison. “Month eight hit and things got crazy. Sometimes I felt like I was holding on for dear life.”
Harrison Financial Planning is now in its fifth year, and has clients from as close as Columbia, MO to as far as the East and West Coasts. Looking back, Harrison says owning a business is rarely easy. But it does provide her the autonomy to use her financial and emotional expertise to do her job her way and create a life where she is happy with her ability to be there for both her clients as well as her family. Her young-girl dream became her reality, which sounds like a very happy ending indeed.
No sidebar
“I’m not interested in making plans that make sense on paper but won’t be implemented because it won’t work in my client’s lives. The planning I do is incredibly tailored to each individual I help.” - Harrison