# Follow Your Passion: She created popular student loan debt repayment company.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 31 Oct 2024, 27 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/26ee5e0d-35da-4969-ab9b-b20d00e98d6a/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed, Dr. Sonia Lewis. Founder and CEO of The Student Loan Doctor, LLC, an award-winning company that helps individuals navigate student loan repayment and debt management. The conversation explores America's student loan crisis, the long-term impact of educational debt, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and Dr. Lewis's journey from higher education professional to nationally recognized business owner. At its core, the interview is both a discussion about the realities of student loan debt and an entrepreneurial success story about identifying a major problem and building a business around solving it. Purpose of the Interview The interview was designed to: • Educate listeners about the student loan debt crisis. • Explain how student debt affects long-term financial success. • Highlight the unique challenges facing African American borrowers, particularly women. • Introduce solutions and resources for student loan repayment. • Share Dr. Lewis's entrepreneurial journey and business-building strategies. • Encourage financial literacy and informed borrowing decisions. Key Takeaways 1. Student Loan Debt Is a Systemic Problem Dr. Lewis argues that the student loan crisis begins with the cost of higher education itself. Key points include: • Student loans are one of the few major financial products available without traditional underwriting standards. • New borrowers continuously enter the system, making loan forgiveness alone an incomplete solution. • The problem is tied directly to the growing cost of college education. • Higher education and student lending have become interconnected industries with few structural solutions. Bottom Line: The challenge is not just repayment. It is the broader system that continues producing new debt every semester. 2. Student Debt Impacts Major Life Decisions One of the strongest themes throughout the interview is how student debt affects adulthood. Dr. Lewis explains that borrowers often don't fully understand the consequences until they begin trying to: • Buy a home • Build credit • Get married • Start a family • Launch a business • Create long-term wealth Many borrowers discover that large student loan balances significantly limit financial flexibility and delay major life milestones. 3. African American Women Carry a Disproportionate Burden Dr. Lewis has dedicated much of her career to studying how student loan debt impacts African American women. She notes that: • African American women earn more college degrees than many demographic groups. • They often carry some of the highest student loan balances. • Educational attainment does not always translate into proportional wealth building. • Student debt often delays homeownership, entrepreneurship, and family financial growth. This issue became a central motivation behind her work and the creation of her company. 4. The Student Loan Doctor Was Built by Solving a Real Problem Dr. Lewis launched her business after recognizing that borrowers were not receiving adequate guidance from loan servicers. She initially: • Worked a full-time job in higher education. • Met clients in cafes and community spaces after work. • Charged modest consultation fees. • Studied federal student loan regulations extensively. • Built expertise through years of financial aid and higher education experience. Eventually demand exceeded her full-time…

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I am Rashwan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:10] Speaker 2: where we encourage.
[0:11] Speaker 3: People to stop reading other people's success stories.
[0:14] Speaker 1: And start planning their own. Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs.
[0:18] Speaker 3: From around the country, talk to celebrities and ask them
[0:21] Speaker 3: how they are running their companies, and speak with nonprofits
[0:25] Speaker 3: who are making a difference in their local communities. Now
[0:28] Speaker 3: sit back and listen as we unlock the secrets to
[0:30] Speaker 3: their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:35] Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald. I host the weekly Money Making
[0:38] Speaker 2: Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
[0:43] Speaker 2: provides off for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
[0:46] Speaker 2: people's success stories and start living your own. I'm here
[0:49] Speaker 2: to help you reach your American dream. Just keep listening,
[0:52] Speaker 2: just keep watching. If you want to be a guest
[0:55] Speaker 2: on my show, please visit Moneymakingconversations dot com and click
[0:59] 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

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