We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Annie Cole a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Annie, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
As a born introvert who naturally loves to spend time alone, I wasn’t always the socially confident person that I am today. It took years of dedicated effort to get comfortable with public speaking, being in the spotlight, or even taking on leadership roles. In my journey towards confidence and self-esteem, I’ve found that putting myself into new, challenging positions – then letting myself adapt to the situations – has been extremely helpful. You can’t sit at home and train yourself to get better at socializing – you have to get out there and socialize! The same is true for anything that you’re trying to accomplish: Let yourself experience the thing that seems impossible to adapt to, and slowly over time, you will adapt to it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Over the last decade, I went from being a social worker struggling on a $26k salary to being a well-paid Vice President with a net worth of over $1 million. This didn’t happen by chance; it happened because I learned from books, mentors, and experts how to climb the ladder, master my personal finances, and multiply every dollar through investing. The financial strategies that I’ve learned have changed my life, so much so that I decided to found my own financial resource center in 2024, Money Essentials for Women. Myself and a group of dedicated coaches now do the work of spreading financial education to women across the world, with a focus on 1:1 coaching, online resources, online courses, and events. I feel so grateful that I get to pass on the information that changed my life to more and more women every single day.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I often tell other women how important it is to be your own advocate. When I was younger, I thought I would be handed opportunities and resources naturally, but that wasn’t always the case. I learned to ask for more responsibility, pay raises, or title changes at work. I learned to ask my retirement advisors and tax professionals for more information when I didn’t understand what they were talking about. I learned to challenge my own limiting beliefs and start saying things like, ‘Why not me?’ I take chances on myself, I believe in myself, and I put myself out there more as I get older, knowing that that’s the only way to actually achieve my biggest dreams.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I have read several books about women and personal finance, but these few are my favorites: Smart Women Finish Rich, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Millionaire Next Door, and The Fastlane to Wealth. Each one of these books not only provides technical tips on how to invest and build wealth, but they also share personal stories of how clients’ lives were changed by making small tweaks to their financial habits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.money-essentials.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/build.wealth.with.annie/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/money-essentials-for-women
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
