Danielle is the founder of The Thought Card, which is all about affording travel, paying off debt, and building wealth. Who doesn’t need a little help in one of those areas?

The focus of her site and podcast are all about sharing financial tips and tricks (plus real life examples and transparency) in order to help people make better decisions. She got her start by ripping off the Bandaid and sharing openly about her experience with debt, starting with student loans ($63,000…the struggle is real!). Rather than pretending them away, she opened up and found an audience who identified with the struggle.

Once she realized her actual student loan dollar amount, plus the per-day interest she was paying back, Danielle got motivated to pay her debt down and STOP the vicious cycle. A huge part of this? Learning to be honest with yourself.

Rather than burying your head in the sand, or trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing, Danielle recommends facing your reality and making the hard decisions. For her, that meant choosing to live with her mom instead of in a more fun (and spendy) downtown apartment. It wasn’t permanent, but it was a sacrifice that helped her make up huge ground with her debt repayment.

Another great idea - in the midst of debt payoff, think about what’s going to happen beyond the debt. Danielle wanted to become a home owner, so she paired a savings program along with her debt repayment goals. This helped her build on her short term goals, make huge headway on debt payoffs, AND be ready to start house hunting once her loans were paid off. That’s huge!

Don’t forget to celebrate your wins and notice your progress - it may feel like a slow journey, but you’re making progress every day!

Listen in to learn more Danielle, The Thought Card, and her great financial advice!

You can find Danielle on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Check out her book, an amazing Iceland travel guide.