Dhanashree Bhatkal is a seasoned finance professional with over two decades of experience in the industry. Renowned for her expertise in financial management and coaching, she is the author of the highly acclaimed book “Money ~ What’s Left What’s Right.” Dhanashree is not just an author but also a dedicated money mindset trainer, committed to helping individuals unlock their full potential for financial success. The Update India caught up with her for an exclusive interview.
Here are a few excerpts from our conversation with the accidental millionaire and intentional entrepreneur, Dhanashree Bhatkal.
Dhanashree, your journey in the finance industry spans an impressive 22 years, culminating in the creation of the ‘Mastering Money’ series. Can you share with our listeners what inspired you to become not just a finance professional but also a dedicated money mindset trainer?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – My journey has been fascinating and my biggest takeaway from these two decades have been that there is no bigger block to our growth than we ourselves. In my work with clients I was Coaching, I have found that even Business Stalwarts and Successful Founders grapple with their own Money Blocks and unhealthy Habits around Money.
This led me to introducing, what was at first only a few modules in my Coaching and Group Courses, Money Mindset Training.
The results my Clients saw with this approach was what encouraged me to put more focus and create more content around Mindset as compared to the practical Money Management side which I was earlier working on.
Today I can say that 7 out of 10 Clients opt to work on their Mindset Training before they move to any Financial Management Training or Practical Blueprint training. And trust me, both the Client and I find that it resolves more than 75% of their Money Problems.
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Your book ‘Money ~ What’s Left What’s Right’ has been making waves in the literary world since its release in October 2022. Could you give us a glimpse into the key messages you aimed to convey and the impact you hoped to achieve through this work?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – My Book ‘Money ~ What’s Left What’s Right’, is a culmination of my philosophy and of the work I do with Clients. Balancing both aspects of the brain. The book is divided into two main components.
In One, I attempt to demolish one by one, the beliefs, habits and myths around Money that most people have. It is a series of conversational and immersive chapters where the reader is inspired to introspect and find their own answers. I maintain that I am not a Preacher or a Teacher, my attempt is to share what I know and to learn and grow together with my reader. Throughout writing the book, and every time I read any part of it, I do the work myself too. I have attempted to create a lifelong toolkit/companion for a reader, where one can back to it every time you find a road block (read money block!).
The second part of the Book delves deeper in money management and managing personal finances. Here I attempt to take the reader step by step from the basics of goal setting to understanding jargon to eventually identifying their financial goals and creating their money blueprint.
Being titled both an ‘Accidental Millionaire’ and an ‘Intentional Entrepreneur’ must be a unique perspective. How has this dual experience shaped your approach to finance, and how do you leverage it in your coaching and training programs?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – If I were to hire or engage a Coach to train me in any sphere of life, I would go to someone who knows the Craft – both in theory and in practice. Someone who has lived through it, who has hands-on experience. Wouldn’t you?
I am a Millionaire by Accident thanks to the Journey and the Amazing ‘Starting from Scratch’ Story my parents had. I was a part of that story and saw the growth closely. More importantly I saw how the perfectly balanced Abundant Mindset coupled with Practical Money Management brought them the End Goal. I am fully aware that if either one of the components were missing, they would most likely have not made it.
I leveraged that into my Business, My Coaching Programs and everything I have been working on since the age of 17. This makes me an Entrepreneur by Intention.
Putting it in short – ‘Accidental Millionaire’ denotes my back seat Ride to Wealth, ‘Intentional Entrepreneur’ is my Secret to Preservation & Growth!
The ‘Mastering Money’ program is described as a transformative journey. Can you walk us through the key features of the program and how it goes beyond conventional financial coaching to create a deep cleanse of one’s beliefs, memories, and habits surrounding money?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – The Program brings to the table two important components of Wealth Building.
The Mindset, Habits and Financial Discipline required to Generate, Preserve and Grow Wealth, and the Know how to create and access the Tools required to do all of the above.
The Program takes you through your current beliefs and money habits which play a large role in your financial reality today. This involves a couple of sessions where we excavate where these came from, how they come in the way of how money treats you today and how you can let go of them and finally heal.
We also delve into what is a key discovery according to me, resetting your thermostat. This is a game changer for most participants and we find huge breakthroughs in people’s mindsets with just this one change sometimes.
We share tools to make participants self sufficient to handle situations that may come up in future.
On the other hand we take them through identifying their own strengths and weaknesses, knowing how to leverage what they are good at, goal setting and then slowly pave the way for them to be able to write their own money blueprint.
Your social enterprise, 91safeindia, received the Best Emerging Company Award in 2020, and you were honored as the Prime India Women’s Icon in 2022. How have these recognitions influenced your mission, and what role do you see yourself playing in empowering other women in the financial space?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – 91safeindia is the social venture arm of our core business A Money Tree.
I think commercial gains and wealth increases in value when it is applied for worthwhile causes. I have personally been involved in several social projects since my teen years at every chance I got.
A Money Tree, the Business firm I co founded with Suman Makhija in 2010, officiates and brings to the table a host of services, training and done-for-you client services Pan India, and in the US, Canada and UAE.
The Educational Arm of this Business is A Money Tree Academy, the umbrella under which we offer various self development live coaching and training programs.
At A Money Tree, In 2016 we started a Social venture called 91safeindia which aims to democratise first aid and emergency management in India in the fastest way possible, by leveraging the largest resource we have as a country – our citizens. We aim to train 1 in every household, 5 in every housing society/workplace and 1% of the entire population in being able to handle medical emergencies and save a life until professional help arrives. I think it is the need of the hour.
Being named among the Top 50 Influential Authors of 2022 is a significant achievement. How has this recognition impacted your journey, and do you believe it has opened up new avenues for spreading your message of financial empowerment?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – Ofcourse every recognition is wonderful and fills me with gratitude each time. It has opened up avenues in terms of receiving a lot more invites to be a guest speaker at seminars or to be on podcasts etc. It has given me a voice and I have taken up several of such engagements especially when it is students or women in the audience.
Raised in a progressive family and in Bombay, it has taken me efforts to realise that we still have a lot of groups that require financial literacy even before they embark on their journey to financial freedom. I hope to be able to work with more such groups in future.
I am currently working on a Module for Women and a separate one for people in their 40s. I think this is a time where most individuals, with a 15 years plus working career under their belt, tend to feel stuck or regret that they haven’t done enough, made enough, saved enough. Immaterial of the gender this is a time they require redirection the most, is what I think.
Financial empowerment is close to my heart, and I also want to develop programs in Hindi and train trainers who can help me amplify the outreach!
The ‘Mastering Money’ program offers intensive coaching and a complete deep cleanse of one’s money mindset. Can you share a success story or a transformative moment from a participant that highlights the effectiveness of this immersive experience?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – One of my favourite stories here is that of Anay. I refrain from taking the full name to protect his privacy. He came to me through a friend when he was just 19. That is a very early age for many to begin Money Mindset Coaching. Although I think it must be introduced in simpler formats in primary school itself!
Anay came from a fairly wealthy family and had always had access to it easy as well. His money blocks however came up so strongly for him that he wasn’t able to really enjoy or even receive good things. He had frequent bouts of sickness, had small and big accidents and mishaps, and he often was guilty for being too privileged while the world around him suffered (his version of the story).
I worked with this boy for about 15 months before we were together able to excavate so much of childhood memories and traumas that were lying underneath.
The aha moment for him came from realising that summers spent with his maternal cousins in a small town, with limited access to comforts, and watching that family struggle, had left a deep dent on his heart as a child.
Despite the option to live an easy life, he had got into the habit of choosing struggle, of hard work, of lack. As a result the money was around him and available, but he was not accessing it by choice. He felt guilty travelling abroad, or doing anything that was extravagant as per him. Unfortunately, his choice of not wanting to receive this access to money and not wanting to enjoy it led to bigger issues of mental health and poor physical health too.
It is strange how so many of us think that if and when we have too much, it would take away from those who don’t. That is far from the truth. There is enough in the world for everyone. And by enjoying good or even great things, we can never deprive anyone of them. What they enjoy is their choice.
Identifying and addressing money blocks is a crucial aspect of your coaching. Could you share some common money blocks individuals face and provide a glimpse into how your program helps participants overcome these obstacles?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – Do you think Money corrupts people and brings out the bad side?
Do most people think that being a good person or being a rich person is mutually exclusive?
Have we heard that Money spoils relationships?
Or that Money is the root of all evils?
The Blocks are many and they are all around. The language people use about money or even about the wealthy, the underlying notion that you can’t get rich the right way, the adjectives like ‘filthy’ put before the word rich – it is a small sign of the mindset our society has in general about Money and about people who have it. It runs deep.
My programs work on removing these myths, on being able to improve a participants relationship with money. Until we have an idea about how money is bad or the wealthy are evil, we can never get close to it. Would you have a relationship with someone you thought this way about?
My job is to enable participants to realise that money is simply energy, a tool and a very very creative one. What we do with it is what makes us good or bad or whatever.
Money can be an amplifier of what we already are. It can help us enhance, fine tune and express the real us to the world.
Usually after the work we do around money blocks, I find participants free up and begin to look at their journeys and lives differently. Much of what they already know can be better harnessed and used once this is out of the way!
As you look ahead, what is your vision for the future of financial coaching and empowerment? How do you see the ‘Mastering Money’ series evolving to meet the changing needs of individuals seeking financial success and abundance?
Dhanashree Bhatkal – I think it is a fascinating subject and also intriguing for many.
We are living in a fast world at the moment. The economies are fast changing, and India is set to play a huge role on the world stage in this.
It is time we step out of our individual and collective narratives that don’t serve us, and step into the new times with a more powerful mindset and equipped to take the bull by its horns (literally!).
I think this is also a great career option to grow the academy into a more structured one, adding more trainers and expanding the curriculum to schools in a play format and to colleges and corporates in the existing formats.
I have a particular interest in working with Women, with Youth and those who are ready to re-write their financial stories.
Like I said earlier, I am also working on bringing this in Hindi and in simpler formats so that we can reach it to more people, and make it more cost effective for sections that need it.
I see the coming decade to be a flourishing time for anyone who spends time and money to get trained, to upskill and to optimize their talents to change their financial reality.
This is also the way where the ‘they and us’ divide can finally come to an end!
