Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Follow Your Passion: She created popular student loan debt repayment company.

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Follow Your Passion: She created popular student loan debt repayment company. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
0:06
Speaker 2: I am Rashwan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
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Speaker 2: the bo guests. But let's get started with our show.
1:02
Speaker 2: Today's guest is the CEO of an award winning business,
1:05
Speaker 2: The Student Loan Doctor, LLC. She is considered the people's
1:09
Speaker 2: expert for all matters related to student loan debt repayment.
1:13
Speaker 2: She has over fourteen years of practical higher education and
1:16
Speaker 2: financial aid experience. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Mathters Class,
1:21
Speaker 2: Doctor Sonya Lewis, how you doing, doctor good?
1:24
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me today.
1:26
Speaker 1: Well, first of.
1:27
Speaker 2: All, thank you for taking the time to come on
1:28
Speaker 2: my show. Because you I've been doing this since twenty seventeen.
1:33
Speaker 2: You're the first student loan repayment expert I've had on
1:37
Speaker 2: the show. I've had a lot of people talking about
1:39
Speaker 2: getting scholarships and the HBCUs and on the spot registration.
1:44
Speaker 2: But we know there is a major problem with students
1:48
Speaker 2: going to college walking away with these fantastic academic degrees
1:53
Speaker 2: but heavily in debt.
1:54
Speaker 1: Explain to me why it is the system broke.
1:59
Speaker 4: You know. The thing is is that if you can't
2:02
Speaker 4: fix one problem without solving another, and so student loan debt,
2:06
Speaker 4: that the problem really begins at the foundation which is
2:09
Speaker 4: helping people borrow money for college. And so unless Rashan
2:13
Speaker 4: we make it free free ninety nine in the United
2:16
Speaker 4: States of America, this is a trillion dollar problem that
2:21
Speaker 4: really doesn't have a solution. So even if there was
2:24
Speaker 4: to be massive loan forgiveness, What about next semester when
2:28
Speaker 4: there are new borrowers that accumulate new debt. And so
2:30
Speaker 4: that's why you see different things in different conversations about
2:34
Speaker 4: loan forgiveness and just the system itself. No one has
2:38
Speaker 4: a solution because then we would be deregulating another trillion
2:42
Speaker 4: dollar industry, which is the colleges in higher education. So
2:46
Speaker 4: the problem starts from the very very beginning about what
2:48
Speaker 4: we charge for education, who can charge what they can charge,
2:53
Speaker 4: and who disproportionately is affected by that debt.
2:56
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it always goes back to the person
2:58
Speaker 2: who creates the debt. Yeah, okay, because you have options
3:03
Speaker 2: and schools you can go to, you don't have to
3:06
Speaker 2: go over here, or you don't have to go out
3:08
Speaker 2: of state.
3:09
Speaker 1: Yeah okay, you can stay in state. We I don't know.
3:11
Speaker 2: If you travel out of state for an academic education,
3:14
Speaker 2: it will be more expensive than being in state. So
3:17
Speaker 2: the root of the problem is there is a system
3:20
Speaker 2: that you're giving a loan to somebody who's not basically employable.
3:25
Speaker 1: They don't have a job. We don't know.
3:27
Speaker 2: Nobody will let you buy a home or car the
3:31
Speaker 2: way student loans work.
3:33
Speaker 4: Correct, The only major loan in the United States of
3:35
Speaker 4: America that does not acquire major underwriting. So you are correct, and.
3:42
Speaker 2: In that mind, you said it earlier, said Rashawn. If
3:46
Speaker 2: they clear the debt, more debt is coming and schools
3:51
Speaker 2: have to be paid money to stay open. Yeah, And
3:55
Speaker 2: so you work with a lot of students, a lot
3:59
Speaker 2: of adults. It was students when it was an immature
4:02
Speaker 2: and made decision. Now they've grown people, families and working jobs.
4:07
Speaker 2: They're trying to struggle to their dreams. What's the number
4:10
Speaker 2: one fear and people who have student loans.
4:14
Speaker 4: The fear, I think is it really gets real for
4:16
Speaker 4: them when they're trying to enter into the real world
4:19
Speaker 4: and be productive citizens, Like when we think about things
4:21
Speaker 4: like home buying. This is where a student loan that
4:24
Speaker 4: shows up most when we think about things like, oh,
4:26
Speaker 4: I want to have good credit or good credit becomes
4:29
Speaker 4: all of a sudden important And I know just depends
4:32
Speaker 4: on who's watching and listening. They may say, well, what
4:34
Speaker 4: was always important to me growing up, But everybody wasn't
4:37
Speaker 4: raised that way. And so you find out when you
4:39
Speaker 4: find out that your student loan is the size, if
4:43
Speaker 4: not more than a traditional mortgage and so when you
4:46
Speaker 4: go to buy a home, they'll say, well, with Sean,
4:48
Speaker 4: you already have a mortgage. We can't give you another one.
4:52
Speaker 4: And so that's when it clicks for people. Oh, I
4:56
Speaker 4: probably shouldn't have borrowed how I borrowed. I shouldn't have
4:59
Speaker 4: went back for this master's degree in philosophy because I
5:03
Speaker 4: don't know how to make that marketable in the marketplace.
5:05
Speaker 4: But see a lot of these conversations, unfortunately come after
5:10
Speaker 4: when people are in the middle of real life or rashan.
5:12
Speaker 4: Let's say somebody's about to get married. Now we got
5:15
Speaker 4: to talk to our future partner about what we owe
5:17
Speaker 4: our debts. Oh, you owe two hundred thousand. Most women
5:23
Speaker 4: carry the highestudent loan debt balance, particularly in the African
5:26
Speaker 4: American community, more than men. So this man may have
5:30
Speaker 4: zero to let's say, thirty thousand in debt and this
5:33
Speaker 4: woman has two hundred thousand. Yes, she's a high earner
5:36
Speaker 4: most likely, maybe she has a good feel, but most
5:40
Speaker 4: times what she's earning is never going to be equivalent
5:43
Speaker 4: to what she has borrowed, and then she'll always be
5:46
Speaker 4: behind the eight ball.
5:47
Speaker 2: Wow, so let's talk about you. Okay, this is a
5:50
Speaker 2: business model. Yeah, okay, because I'll be franked. When I
5:55
Speaker 2: did my background surge to go, I got what she's doing.
5:58
Speaker 2: Huh repayment forgive me business. Tell us how you saw
6:02
Speaker 2: this lane of opportunity to start your company.
6:06
Speaker 4: I'll tell you. The business started with me being in
6:09
Speaker 4: church first for Sean and I was going through my
6:12
Speaker 4: own financial counselor, if you will. I think I was
6:14
Speaker 4: about twenty six, twenty seven, and it hit me just
6:17
Speaker 4: the things that we just said. I'm like, oh my god,
6:19
Speaker 4: this credit is important. I want to buy a house,
6:21
Speaker 4: and just life was hitting me right as a young adult.
6:23
Speaker 4: And I had a good professional career working in the
6:25
Speaker 4: city at Philadelphia and higher education. And then what happened.
6:29
Speaker 4: What I realized is people around me had questions. But
6:34
Speaker 4: you know when you call your lender and you ask
6:36
Speaker 4: for help, like you just want to ask questions. You
6:38
Speaker 4: just want to talk about what's going on and what
6:41
Speaker 4: options you have. They were not knowledgeable. They were very
6:44
Speaker 4: short with me. And what's funny is this has always
6:49
Speaker 4: been in my toolbox as a professional. I've helped adult
6:53
Speaker 4: learners on the enrollment side, and then also as an
6:56
Speaker 4: advisor of financial aid. I was studying this in my
7:00
Speaker 4: doctoral degree house to loan that affects African American women.
7:04
Speaker 4: So I was already in the trenches and didn't realize it.
7:06
Speaker 4: And then I say, you know what, I was like,
7:08
Speaker 4: I know a lot of these answers. Let me just
7:10
Speaker 4: look at the stuff I don't know and figure it out.
7:12
Speaker 4: So then we had this wonderful website called studenta dot gov.
7:15
Speaker 4: So I started like consuming it, being a master of it.
7:19
Speaker 4: And then I would call and just fact check what
7:22
Speaker 4: I knew. I said, you know what, I think I
7:24
Speaker 4: could start a consulting business. So what I did when
7:27
Speaker 4: I was working my nine to five is from six
7:29
Speaker 4: to ten, I would meet with people in the city Philadelphia.
7:33
Speaker 4: You could meet me at a cozy with Sean. I
7:35
Speaker 4: had office hours at a corner bakery and people. I
7:39
Speaker 4: had to flirt with the manager to save my little
7:42
Speaker 4: spot in the corner with the with the outlet for
7:45
Speaker 4: my laptop. It was some you know, I still owe
7:48
Speaker 4: some people some dates. But anyway, the manager loved what
7:51
Speaker 4: I was doing and people were showing up and I
7:54
Speaker 4: was charging at the time, like fifty dollars for the hour.
7:57
Speaker 4: I didn't know how to price this thing. Out at first,
8:00
Speaker 4: and nobody missed an appointment. I could tell you to
8:02
Speaker 4: this day, and even to this day, people don't miss
8:04
Speaker 4: their appointments with us. We have a very very low
8:07
Speaker 4: rate of people missing appointments because it's very serious to them.
8:11
Speaker 4: And I would take appointments from six to ten at
8:14
Speaker 4: the corner bakery and as long as I ordered me
8:16
Speaker 4: a little muffin, I could just sit there with my
8:19
Speaker 4: water by muffin. Oh my, the WiFi is built there office.
8:26
Speaker 4: And I would say after doing that for about four months,
8:28
Speaker 4: I was able to get an office the size of
8:30
Speaker 4: a little bathroom. But that's all right. It was professional
8:34
Speaker 4: and I felt more established and I was taking clients
8:36
Speaker 4: again six to ten. So I did that work for
8:39
Speaker 4: about a year. And what was happening in and that
8:43
Speaker 4: four hours and then you put the weekends into it.
8:45
Speaker 4: I was making more with that than my full time job.
8:49
Speaker 4: So I said, all right, well here's how is how
8:51
Speaker 4: would go? Let's hit fast forward. We went viral. So
8:54
Speaker 4: I put out in twenty eighteen that I'm the first
8:57
Speaker 4: African American woman owned student loan repayment company. And to
8:59
Speaker 4: cut it was Black History Month of twenty eighteen. I
9:02
Speaker 4: put it out there, and at that time I weighed
9:04
Speaker 4: one hundred pounds more. But my confidence has always been
9:07
Speaker 4: what it is now. And I'm like, you know, and
9:10
Speaker 4: I put it out there. Oh well, next thing you know,
9:13
Speaker 4: it went viral. So all the blocks picked it up,
9:16
Speaker 4: all the websites picked it up, then the morning shows
9:18
Speaker 4: picked it up, then National TV picked it up, and
9:21
Speaker 4: I'm like, whoa wait a minute, And then i had
9:24
Speaker 4: one thousand DMS, eight hundred emails, and it really told
9:29
Speaker 4: me you are in the middle of a big problem.
9:32
Speaker 4: And when you are an entrepreneur becoming an entrepreneur, you
9:35
Speaker 4: want to put yourself in the middle of a big problem.
9:37
Speaker 4: And as you said, you never had this person here
9:40
Speaker 4: before because there wasn't me, There was no meat before.
9:43
Speaker 4: People were shying away from this conversation. You had the
9:48
Speaker 4: people that talked about scholarships, you had the people that
9:51
Speaker 4: talked about financial aid. But who was helping the adult
9:55
Speaker 4: that already had And so I've been very clear since
9:57
Speaker 4: they won. In my lane, I only want to talk
10:00
Speaker 4: about having student loans. I can't help out the corrective.
10:03
Speaker 4: That's not my lane. I will refer you and I
10:06
Speaker 4: just lived in the middle of that, and then I
10:08
Speaker 4: just priced out my thirty minute time, and then I
10:11
Speaker 4: taught others duplicated me. Investing in mentors, investing in systems,
10:17
Speaker 4: and business has been fruitful really since well it started
10:20
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen, but eighteen because of the Shade Room
10:23
Speaker 4: and other big entities that blew it up. You know,
10:26
Speaker 4: we've been up from there. So it's been a really
10:28
Speaker 4: fun journey. But in the middle of it, we're helping
10:31
Speaker 4: a lot of people.
10:32
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, you know, I'm talking to doctor
10:34
Speaker 2: Sonya Lewis, and the award winning business that she's talking
10:37
Speaker 2: about is the student loan Doctor. She's considered the people's
10:41
Speaker 2: expert for all matters related to student loan debt repayment.
10:45
Speaker 2: She said she has over fourteen years of practical higher
10:48
Speaker 2: education and financial aid experience. Now, I love your story.
10:53
Speaker 2: It talks about, you know, figuring out a way to
10:58
Speaker 2: be successful. We said, look, I don't have an office space,
11:01
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna take because you know, your business is
11:03
Speaker 2: gonna a lot of it's gonna be female. Put them
11:06
Speaker 2: in an environment. Hey, I'm at just to quote Starbucks
11:09
Speaker 2: right there. Oh, okay, I meet you over there or I'm
11:12
Speaker 2: at Panera bread. Okay, I meet you over there. So
11:15
Speaker 2: you immediately put people in the comfort zone to say
11:18
Speaker 2: where you're gonna be, and also in an environment they
11:21
Speaker 2: feel comfortable because you know you're in an environment that
11:24
Speaker 2: they're familiar with, or they can grab a snack and
11:28
Speaker 2: know they can sit there and be comfortable. Then guess what,
11:31
Speaker 2: they can feel free and comfortable about talking about their problems.
11:35
Speaker 1: Right, But the problem we have here is that debt
11:38
Speaker 1: that they have created that they can't pay back.
11:42
Speaker 2: Now, your business model, Now, how did you come up
11:47
Speaker 2: with your name?
11:48
Speaker 1: So business?
11:50
Speaker 4: Because I was in school for my doctoral degree with
11:52
Speaker 4: helping people with student loans. I was like, hm, that's
11:55
Speaker 4: the idea. And then I met a young lady out
11:58
Speaker 4: of DC. She called herself the big Business Doctor, and
12:01
Speaker 4: she was like one of the first classes I ever
12:03
Speaker 4: took on just understanding entrepreneurship. So I did something that
12:06
Speaker 4: people don't do these days, which y'all not asked her,
12:08
Speaker 4: would you mind if I called myself the business of
12:12
Speaker 4: the student loan doctor, because you're the business doctor, and
12:14
Speaker 4: I think it just clicks and makes sense if somebody
12:17
Speaker 4: needs you, she said, Nobody has ever asked me that
12:19
Speaker 4: I really appreciate you asking. She said, I think that'd
12:22
Speaker 4: be a wonderful name, and then that was the name.
12:25
Speaker 4: And so not to be funny. If you know your
12:27
Speaker 4: student loans need some help, you're going to want to
12:30
Speaker 4: go to a doctor. So I just needed for people.
12:33
Speaker 4: I didn't want you to do flord about it.
12:36
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
12:37
Speaker 2: So what is your academic training you talked about fourteen
12:40
Speaker 2: years of Yeah, I.
12:41
Speaker 4: Have a well, let's back up. So I've been working
12:43
Speaker 4: at Higher read since I graduated college. I have an
12:47
Speaker 4: EDS in higher education and then recently an honorary doctoral
12:52
Speaker 4: degree was received. But my life's work was really just
12:56
Speaker 4: committed to understanding how student loan debt affects minorities and
13:00
Speaker 4: African American women. It just tickles me pink to study
13:03
Speaker 4: it because when we look at the number statistically African
13:06
Speaker 4: American women have the most degrees in our country, and
13:10
Speaker 4: also coincides with that number is the most student loan debt.
13:13
Speaker 4: But now that's not showing up when we talk about
13:16
Speaker 4: what the earnings are. That's not shown up when we
13:19
Speaker 4: talk about home ownership or entrepreneurship. It could be greater,
13:24
Speaker 4: but there's a thing called a student loan that might
13:27
Speaker 4: be financially holder than back. So as an African American woman,
13:30
Speaker 4: I'm wildly invested in that topic. And so what was
13:33
Speaker 4: happening when the business got started was that I was
13:35
Speaker 4: attracting who other African American women. Now we serve all
13:39
Speaker 4: type of clientele now, but in the beginning I was
13:42
Speaker 4: comfortable and just was talking to people that look like me,
13:44
Speaker 4: and there was a whole lot of them, And nobody
13:47
Speaker 4: ever made people feel judged. I don't make you feel
13:50
Speaker 4: and I'm very big on that. If you owe nine
13:53
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars, I'm not going to start off the
13:55
Speaker 4: call and say what happened? What's going on here? You know,
13:57
Speaker 4: we're going to get right into We're gonna get right
14:00
Speaker 4: into this.
14:01
Speaker 1: Make it feel stupid up front.
14:03
Speaker 4: Already carrying a lot of shame. You know. The thing is,
14:06
Speaker 4: this thing shows up in its quiet time. It's the
14:09
Speaker 4: thing that plays in the back of your mind when
14:11
Speaker 4: no one else is around. It's the thing that comes
14:13
Speaker 4: up when you're talking about conversations of credit when you're
14:15
Speaker 4: with your peers, or home ownership when you're with your peers,
14:18
Speaker 4: the thing that could be delaying starting the family because
14:21
Speaker 4: I don't know how I'm going to start a family
14:22
Speaker 4: with this type of student loan payment. It's the thing
14:24
Speaker 4: that shows up that nobody talks about. And when we
14:26
Speaker 4: see each other, we can't see each other's credit score,
14:28
Speaker 4: bank accounts and debt ode. But it is the thing
14:32
Speaker 4: that I found that people wanted to talk about in
14:35
Speaker 4: a healthy environment. I think that's why the business has
14:37
Speaker 4: organically grown and been so successful.
14:41
Speaker 5: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
14:44
Speaker 5: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
14:54
Speaker 5: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
14:58
Speaker 2: Okay, cool, now I'm talking this dot to Sonya Lewis,
15:01
Speaker 2: the Student Loan Doctor LLC. Your business. It's tied, like
15:08
Speaker 2: you said, the people embarrassment. Oh, I don't want to
15:12
Speaker 2: tell nobody, but you can't move forward because these loans.
15:16
Speaker 2: I know men and women who have this problem and
15:19
Speaker 2: in their thirties going into their forties, So there's not
15:22
Speaker 2: a young Perpson problem.
15:23
Speaker 1: It can extend that loan and these people who.
15:26
Speaker 2: Have graduated twenty years ago still have loaned deb Now
15:31
Speaker 2: how did you How does one go about contacting you?
15:35
Speaker 2: And how does that conversation happen. You kind of talked
15:37
Speaker 2: about a little bit, but let's hit let my audience
15:40
Speaker 2: hear the process.
15:42
Speaker 4: So if somebody was to connect with us, they'll probably
15:44
Speaker 4: find us through social media, a blog, a podcast, a
15:48
Speaker 4: live event. And we used to having our model where
15:52
Speaker 4: they could have a free discovery call. Well, the thing
15:55
Speaker 4: is our business is in such demand the last few
15:58
Speaker 4: years that we eliminated the discovery call, and somebody will
16:01
Speaker 4: go straight to a consultation. But we're very clear about
16:04
Speaker 4: what that is. That's a thirty minute phone call expressing
16:06
Speaker 4: your concerns and then looking at your student loans with
16:09
Speaker 4: you and giving you some solutions. From there, you can
16:12
Speaker 4: say I got it, I can do this myself, or
16:15
Speaker 4: can you help me? And then we talk about what
16:17
Speaker 4: help can look like. And we still keep everything very
16:20
Speaker 4: very priced affordably. Our counterparts are people that have come
16:23
Speaker 4: up in the industry thereafter they priced us out times three.
16:28
Speaker 4: But I never wanted to leave from someone that was
16:31
Speaker 4: a teacher, and let's said that make sixty K a
16:32
Speaker 4: year of being able to afford us. I'm very very
16:35
Speaker 4: big on that because what I believe is quantity will
16:38
Speaker 4: always provide, so I don't have a shortage of clients,
16:40
Speaker 4: and the way that we teach and put out information,
16:43
Speaker 4: we don't have a shortage of reach. So just an
16:47
Speaker 4: example recently, this past Sunday, we had a class registration
16:50
Speaker 4: of fourteen hundred people and about seven hundred people showed
16:54
Speaker 4: up and then from that seven, Yeah, go ahead, what.
17:00
Speaker 1: A class. See.
17:01
Speaker 2: I love people who do business and they just be
17:04
Speaker 2: so successful at it, they.
17:06
Speaker 1: Just throw out numbers.
17:07
Speaker 2: We're the class registration of fourteen hundred people and seven
17:10
Speaker 2: hundred people showed up. I'm sure this was virtual, correct,
17:14
Speaker 2: it was virtual? The fact you have fourteen hundred people
17:17
Speaker 2: registered for a course. Now all these people had to
17:21
Speaker 2: pay up front?
17:22
Speaker 1: No, or how did that work?
17:23
Speaker 4: No, it was free and them to show up is free.
17:27
Speaker 4: Now they want to get the replay, then they're probably
17:29
Speaker 4: inside of our community. So we have a community that
17:32
Speaker 4: we charged to ninety seven for the year to get
17:34
Speaker 4: access to all of the classes we've ever had. And
17:37
Speaker 4: we teach a lot of classes and bring a lot
17:39
Speaker 4: of guest teachers. So that's like our university model. That's
17:42
Speaker 4: to the side, but it's nothing for you to join
17:45
Speaker 4: into class and I teach a lot. So my background
17:48
Speaker 4: as an educator, used to be a professor. I love teaching.
17:52
Speaker 4: My mama was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher,
17:54
Speaker 4: on my aunts on my dad's side. As a teacher,
17:57
Speaker 4: it's just I'm a teacher, so you know, I enjoy it.
18:01
Speaker 4: So when I was teaching on Sunday class one, probably
18:04
Speaker 4: for about ninety minutes, and nobody left. The class stayed
18:08
Speaker 4: full and to the very end. From there, they can
18:11
Speaker 4: decide if they want to book a call with us,
18:14
Speaker 4: and that's their prerogative at that point. But it didn't
18:16
Speaker 4: cost them anything to show up.
18:18
Speaker 2: Wow, I just love it. Now you've been fortunate because
18:22
Speaker 2: we used the word award winning. Yeah, you're based in
18:25
Speaker 2: the city of Philadelphia.
18:26
Speaker 1: Talk about the awards that you're business.
18:28
Speaker 4: Yeah I received. Let me see, I have about two
18:31
Speaker 4: of them citations from the City of Philadelphia. So you
18:33
Speaker 4: gotta a member with Sean. When I first kicked it off,
18:36
Speaker 4: I was, let me tell something, I didn't even know
18:38
Speaker 4: that it was legal for you to order a lab coat.
18:40
Speaker 4: I had a little lab coat my name that's showing it.
18:43
Speaker 4: And I was shown up as a student loan doctor. Okay,
18:45
Speaker 4: I call it being a professional. Outside I was doing
18:48
Speaker 4: live events on my own dime, or I was doing
18:51
Speaker 4: things for the City of Philadelphia or the Chamber of
18:54
Speaker 4: Commerce or the Urban League, whatever professional entity needed me.
18:58
Speaker 4: I was shown up in teaching for free, and hundreds
19:02
Speaker 4: of people would show up and with the notebook, with
19:04
Speaker 4: the logging in on their phones, and it was just
19:07
Speaker 4: like the coaching session that we never had. And so
19:10
Speaker 4: we were doing some really remarkable things at that time
19:12
Speaker 4: in the city. And that's how we got a lot
19:14
Speaker 4: of our notoriety and our citations, because if there was
19:18
Speaker 4: anybody working and I didn't ask for any money or help,
19:21
Speaker 4: it was us. This is wild at this time. I
19:23
Speaker 4: think at this time I had just left my job
19:27
Speaker 4: and I was doing this work full time. So it's
19:29
Speaker 4: like it's like I would hope that I could convert
19:32
Speaker 4: people from this free conversation because I didn't have the
19:34
Speaker 4: model down just yet. But obviously after that teaching they
19:37
Speaker 4: would convert over cool.
19:39
Speaker 2: And so after that you sat in place a business model. Yes,
19:43
Speaker 2: and so because I would like to talk about entrepreneurs
19:46
Speaker 2: about that, because the biggest mistaking world you're not going
19:48
Speaker 2: to move forward to you have a business model, You're
19:50
Speaker 2: not going to move forward to you can strut forecasting
19:53
Speaker 2: income and generating revenue consistently, then you can hire people
19:57
Speaker 2: and pay for your life bills.
19:58
Speaker 1: And keep your rent paid. When did you realize that?
20:02
Speaker 2: Okay, you know, I know you quit your job, Sonya Lewis,
20:07
Speaker 2: When did you realize you know something?
20:08
Speaker 1: I got something here.
20:10
Speaker 4: I knew I had something before I quit my job,
20:12
Speaker 4: because I had dated that shows it was sustainable for
20:14
Speaker 4: me and it was consistent money. And I remember I
20:17
Speaker 4: called well now, I called my mom's staff. I text
20:20
Speaker 4: my mom. I said, mom's a long paragraph. I said,
20:23
Speaker 4: this is what I want to do. If it sells,
20:25
Speaker 4: will I be homeless? Yes? Or no? All I needed
20:28
Speaker 4: was a yesterday. That's really a real text. She said, no,
20:30
Speaker 4: you won't be homeless because again I was living by
20:32
Speaker 4: myself and I was supporting myself, and I never I
20:35
Speaker 4: never failed. I never had a bad year. I always
20:39
Speaker 4: was really successful. And the success grew after things like
20:43
Speaker 4: the Shade Room, after the media really made us like
20:46
Speaker 4: a national highlight.
20:47
Speaker 1: If you will, that's awesome.
20:49
Speaker 2: I'm talking to doctor. I can't say it enough, you know,
20:51
Speaker 2: doctor Sonya Lewis. She is the creator of the award
20:54
Speaker 2: winning business called the Student long doctor, because like I said,
20:59
Speaker 2: I can I feel sorry for people who create that,
21:02
Speaker 2: but I can't feel sorry for them when they can't
21:05
Speaker 2: when they're doing it to better them their lives, And
21:08
Speaker 2: I almost feel like it's a it's almost a bad situation.
21:13
Speaker 2: When I was in college, they give you a credit
21:15
Speaker 2: card because you was in college, and you go out
21:17
Speaker 2: there and use the credit card even though you're not working,
21:20
Speaker 2: generating debt. So there are a lot of things that
21:22
Speaker 2: happen in college to eighteen nineteen twenty year old people
21:29
Speaker 2: that should receive better counseling or at least be restricted.
21:33
Speaker 2: What advice would you give to universities, because you're a
21:37
Speaker 2: person that are meeting these young people who are now adults,
21:40
Speaker 2: who now have children, who are now trying to buy home,
21:43
Speaker 2: who are now trying to start relationships, who in their forties,
21:46
Speaker 2: in their fifties and trying to move on with different careers,
21:49
Speaker 2: but are strapped with these with these debts.
21:53
Speaker 4: You know, the conversation is an interesting one because when
21:55
Speaker 4: I think about somebody like myself that went to college,
21:58
Speaker 4: I dig it a full at academic scholarship my second
22:01
Speaker 4: semester into my freshman year, and I had some money
22:04
Speaker 4: coming into college through scholarships from high school. But what
22:07
Speaker 4: I did have with Sean was a monetary familiar support
22:11
Speaker 4: because my mom had just got sick the year prior.
22:14
Speaker 4: The plan was for her to help me cash pay school.
22:16
Speaker 4: She was a teacher making about sixty five k year,
22:19
Speaker 4: but she got really sick and had to early retire.
22:21
Speaker 4: We couldn't expect for that, right, so we had to pivot.
22:25
Speaker 4: And pivot was you got to get some scholarship money.
22:27
Speaker 4: But then when I went to school, you see v Sean,
22:29
Speaker 4: there were still other expenses. I couldn't account for transportation,
22:33
Speaker 4: the social aspect of college. And I don't care what
22:36
Speaker 4: anybody says, like you, if you especially be going to
22:38
Speaker 4: a school in a different environment, they got to get
22:40
Speaker 4: closed you didn't have to have when you were coming
22:42
Speaker 4: from home. And so what happens is if you don't
22:46
Speaker 4: understand money going into school and somebody hands you I
22:50
Speaker 4: wanted you to just put your hand out right now
22:52
Speaker 4: with Sean. If I handed you four thousand dollars and
22:55
Speaker 4: you don't know what to do with this, you don't
22:57
Speaker 4: know how to invest it, you don't know how to
22:58
Speaker 4: be wise giving people that type of money for the
23:03
Speaker 4: first time ever in their life. Do you think they're
23:05
Speaker 4: going to make the best decisions. So now we're talking
23:08
Speaker 4: about we're coming from an angle of these conversations weren't
23:12
Speaker 4: had at home because let's just keep it real, Mom
23:14
Speaker 4: and dad didn't even manage money well. So now if
23:18
Speaker 4: I'm talking to someone that maybe had that different financial
23:22
Speaker 4: growing up training and background training, then they would be
23:25
Speaker 4: wise when they get to college and send the refund
23:27
Speaker 4: check back. So it's hard to say what should a
23:30
Speaker 4: college do, but I want to put more emphasis on
23:33
Speaker 4: what do parents need to be understanding and doing. The
23:36
Speaker 4: college is a business. Yes, they have tools in place
23:39
Speaker 4: and conversations and classes in place, but at the end
23:42
Speaker 4: of the day, that's not their business to manage the
23:44
Speaker 4: business of that person's finance. And also, we don't want
23:47
Speaker 4: to even privatize it and really put too many restrictions
23:50
Speaker 4: with sean because people do need that money sometimes to live.
23:53
Speaker 4: Because yes, the cost of attendance, let's talk about it.
23:57
Speaker 4: Community college could be really cute and thought, here's the problem.
24:01
Speaker 4: Depending on your household. When you get eighteen or go
24:05
Speaker 4: to college age, people expect you to leave. Where are
24:08
Speaker 4: you living in the community college. I know this story
24:12
Speaker 4: so many times over right, this happened to my friends.
24:15
Speaker 4: I remember, or when we go to state college. Now
24:17
Speaker 4: we got to talk about when we get to that
24:19
Speaker 4: state college, what majors are most profitable. Maybe you don't
24:23
Speaker 4: get a chance to study butterflies, because now when nobody's
24:26
Speaker 4: talking to our students about profitable majors and what that
24:31
Speaker 4: looks like. But now let's get to the core. The
24:34
Speaker 4: education system they came from didn't prepare them for biology,
24:38
Speaker 4: for nursing, or because they just probably passed through high school.
24:43
Speaker 4: So then you find out your high school diploma is
24:45
Speaker 4: an equivalent to your counterparts high school diploma. You're struggling
24:48
Speaker 4: with classes.
24:50
Speaker 2: Wow, I'll tell you something. I'm so glad I got
24:52
Speaker 2: an opportunity to interview you, doctor Sonya Lewis. As we
24:56
Speaker 2: close out this interview, what would you say is your
24:58
Speaker 2: secret to success?
25:00
Speaker 5: Well?
25:00
Speaker 4: God, first, I'm telling you, God be showing up in
25:02
Speaker 4: places that I haven't made it to yet. So sometimes
25:05
Speaker 4: you know, my name is in a room that I
25:08
Speaker 4: haven't made it to because He put it there first.
25:10
Speaker 4: So that's number one. You gotta have good faith, especially
25:12
Speaker 4: with entrepreneurship, because baby this is a roller coaster. You
25:15
Speaker 4: could be what you know so and then you know
25:20
Speaker 4: you have to have good discernment about people too. You
25:23
Speaker 4: cannot be an entrepreneur, a good business owner, a good
25:25
Speaker 4: leader if you don't have discernment about people. That's another
25:28
Speaker 4: thing that has always kept me well in business. I'm like,
25:31
Speaker 4: you're a little sketchy for me. Now I can't be
25:33
Speaker 4: dealing with you. And then the third thing is I
25:36
Speaker 4: really practice my craft. I believe in mentorship. I believe
25:40
Speaker 4: in investing in myself. I believe in making relationships that
25:43
Speaker 4: will take me further. I know I'm not a silo
25:45
Speaker 4: because entrepreneurship can make you feel lonely. But you got
25:48
Speaker 4: to get out your house, okay. You got to make
25:51
Speaker 4: sure that you connect with other like minded people. So
25:54
Speaker 4: I've been putting those principles first and I've been really,
25:56
Speaker 4: really successful.
25:58
Speaker 2: Well you've been fantastic, and thank you for at the
26:00
Speaker 2: time talking to doctor Sonya Lewis Award winning business. It's
26:03
Speaker 2: called the Student Loan Doctor. She's based out of Philadelphia,
26:06
Speaker 2: but worldwide. You can reach her virtually because she is
26:10
Speaker 2: handling virtual calls and also then Montum she's three times
26:15
Speaker 2: less than her competitors, and guess what the competitors are
26:18
Speaker 2: copying what she started, So always remember go to the
26:22
Speaker 2: best who started it, and also have your welfare involved
26:27
Speaker 2: because of the fact that she's keeping her rates at
26:29
Speaker 2: a reasonable affordable rate based on the fact that she's
26:32
Speaker 2: trying to help you continue your life again, Doctor Sonya Lewis,
26:35
Speaker 2: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
26:38
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
26:40
Speaker 1: Oh it's awesome. I appreciate it.
26:41
Speaker 2: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
26:45
Speaker 2: posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guess
26:48
Speaker 2: on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
26:51
Speaker 2: If you want to listen to any episode I want
26:53
Speaker 2: to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
26:57
Speaker 2: Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
27:01
Speaker 2: next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
27:04
Speaker 1: Keep winning.
27:05
Speaker 3: M