Community Highlights: Meet Ashley Harlan of Ashley Na’Trice Financial Consultants

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Harlan.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a kid, I knew I wanted to be a businesswoman.

My senior year in high school, I got my opportunity to work in corporate America through an internship I obtained through INROADS. INROADS places Black students with Fortune 500 companies and I landed at a bank. This is where I saw my opportunity to be a businesswoman and make great money.

I got my degree in business, my MBA and worked in different sectors of the financial services industry. I was typically the only woman or person of color. That really bothered me. I felt that the advice or ways in which to build wealth didn’t work for my situation. I knew I needed to learn all I could and figure out how to build wealth in a different way. I vowed that once I got the information, I’d take everything I learned and bring that information back to women as well as the Black community.

Working with money throughout the years made me a go to in my community for money-related questions. I gave talks, taught classes, and coached people on the side. I started a blog called Miss Sistanomics and started talking about personal finance.

In 2017, I had an AVM which caused me to have a brain bleed. I was left with stroke like symptoms and spent six months recovering. I made a promise to myself that if I recovered, I’d follow my dream of helping people manage their money full time.

As we know, 2020 hit and the pandemic caused me to lose my cushy salary at a major corporation. I took that as an opportunity to take the big leap.

Ashley Na’Trice Financial Consultants was born.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I found out I was losing my job in December of 2020. I was on FaceTime about 30 mins before our scheduled work call. I told the person that I felt they were about to let us go and I was good as long as I got a severance package. I really had no idea it was going to happen. I just had a gut feeling. Then it happened.

Nothing can you prepare you for that moment. Nothing. No amount of savings or severance payments prepares you for someone taking your livelihood away. I wasn’t prepared for the mental toll it took and the identity crisis I went through.

I had to find my footing. My last day was February 5 and I finished up with my last coaching client in March. It took me four months to build out and launch the One Stop Shop. I made no money from my business during that time. I took an hourly financial planning position to cover me during those months. My savings and closing out one of my IRA’s has kept me afloat until this month.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We help service-based business, coaches, and experts manage their money through a full-service money management solution. We work primarily with women and Black-owned businesses.

Our clients are overwhelmed and busy with running their businesses. They don’t have the time, energy, or desire to deal with their money. It’s the one area of their business that they know they need to deal with but avoid.

The One-Stop-Shop solution is different because it takes the burden of managing business and personal finances off of CEOS shoulders. They don’t have to worry about calling and vetting four different financial professionals. They get a team of experts dedicated to making their lives easier and helping them get to financial stability. We take away their financial stress.

The CEO One-Stop-Solution offers our clients bookkeeping, tax strategy, business and personal financial coaching or planning. We’ve taken business financial planning, fractional CFO services, and tax strategy to combine it together for one solution.

Our solution is customizable.

We have three different packages:

The CEO One-Stop-Shop is for clients who need help in every area including business, personal finances, tax, and bookkeeping.

The Business financial planning option is for clients who feel good about their personal finances but need help on the business side. That includes business financial planning, tax, and bookkeeping.

Then we have the CEO wealth-building option for clients who already have a CFO, CPA, or bookkeeper but need guidance on their personal finances. Depending on their situation, we can offer financial coaching or financial planning.

Each client comes in through our VIP intensive to help them get a money system in place. We help them get organized, plan, strategize and implement a sustainable money management system. Clients can elect to continue on with us to have us manage their finances or do it themselves.

Our goal is to streamline the money management process for our clients and help them build wealth with ease.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My mission is to create tools, resources, and opportunities to build generational transformation and wealth for women and the Black community.

Wealth for too long has been centered around white, CIS men and I feel it’s time for that to change.

There’s other ways to build wealth than what we’ve traditionally been taught.

I want to normalize wealth. I want to normalize luxury, being transparent and open about money. I want to dispel the myths that we have to shame, guilt, or make people feel terrible about their money decisions to help them achieve their money goals. You can buy the coffee or take the trip. You can live a fulfilling life while also reaching your financial goals. I believe there’s a different way to make that happen.

Pricing:

• CEO Wealth Building starting at $3500
• Business Financial Planning starting at $3500
• CEO One-Stop-Shop Full Option starting at $5000

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: CeoOneStopShop.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashley_natrice/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleynatrice/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashleynatrice?lang=en

Image Credits
Drea Nicole on the headshot and rich auntie shirt picture