Hanri – turning passion into profit
Hanri found me online after reading Sheconomics back in 2012. She describes the impact of our work together as ‘life changing – even though we’ve never even actually met! All our work has been on Zoom.’
It was a time of transition for Hanri, when she first contacted me. She’d turned thirty, and recently got divorced. She’d moved home, across the country. She’d also had to leave her full time job as a designer in children’s publishing. But going freelance felt a huge risk because she’d never really felt on top of her own finances.
Hanri grew up in South Africa; money was not a big issue. As a young adult, she travelled, and met and married a Brit. She handed over the reins of their finances.
She also spent quite impulsively. ‘I’d find it hard to try on clothes and then leave the shop without buying them! I felt guilty.’ There was a lot of ‘mindless buying’, Hanri says, and short-term gratification: ‘I deserve a treat, I’d tell myself.’
All that’s now in the past
‘Simonne taught me the power of changing my spending habits. She really helped me see it was up to me. It was amazing – the changes she helped me implement from the start’, she says.
‘It’s made all the difference. I’m not scared any more: I don’t spend money I don’t have. I don’t avoid looking! I’m never scared of a tax bill. I’ve learnt it’s not about what I earn, it’s about what I spend. And understanding that has changed everything.’
Hanri went on to build a portfolio life for herself
She's now combining art directing with freelance photography, teaching yoga, and selling sewing patterns. Since Covid struck, her Etsy shop Yogahound has become a flourishing business, and the main focus of her attention.
But she’s also not afraid of things changing again. ‘I’ll keep being adaptable’, Hanri says. ‘Of course it’s not perfect. But I know and trust myself now, and I know how to manage and adapt my spending. Above all else, I’ve grown resilience.’
And that also means she’ll be sure to make space for herself, to go on exploring. ‘One thing I’d love to develop further is my photography as an artist. I’d love an exhibition of my photos of dancers...’
So, is Hanri planning to stop seeing me now?
‘Now we only speak once a year. I like that. Earlier on, having sessions in the diary helped me with accountability: knowing I’d report back every quarter, say. Now it’s more like an annual review. Gives me perspective.
‘I don’t need to see Simonne, but I want to.’
