Motivation for Debt Repayment
Today, I have my friend Melanie Lockert of Dear Debt back on the show for a motivational/inspirational shot episode. If you haven't heard Melanie's full story, you can hear it on the episode Debt Repayment and Side Hustling that aired in October 2014. In this episode, I brought Melanie back on to talk more about her recent accomplishment of paying off $81,000 + interest in student loan debt while barely making minimum wage.I work with clients every day who have big goals that frequently seem too difficult to achieve, and I'm sure that's how Melanie felt when she was living on food stamps; however her persistence and drive is something that should motivate and inspire all of us.
SHOT OF THE DAY
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Fireball whiskey and Rum Chata, which is a rum-based cream liqueur)
PODCAST NOTES
Melanie borrowed $81,000 in student loans to get her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and she graduated with her Master's from NYU in 2011.
After graduation, she struggled to find a job and had to hustle to make an income.
In the past year and a half, Melanie was able to double her income, quit her non-profit job, and pay $30,000 in one year on her student loan debt.
There are so many motivational lessons from Melanie’s story that relates to any goal, not just paying off student loan debt.
You have to be passionate and intentional about your goal in order to achieve it.
Share your goal with others so they know how to help you.
Do progress checks so you know where you are in accomplishing your goal.
Prove yourself and then ask for what you want—it’s all about confidence.
When you really want to pursue a larger-than-life goal, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do—don’t be afraid of the hard work!
The journey of accomplishing a goal is not always easy or appealing, but the dark times will end and you’ll be that much closer to achieving what you set out to do.
Another motivational and inspirational aspect of Melanie’s story is that she pursued her goal in a way that worked for her.
Last year she took a trip to Spain instead of putting that money towards her debt.
She had debt fatigue, so she travel-hacked her way to Spain to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience and have some time to herself to figure out where she wanted to go next.
There is no right way to achieve your goal; you have to do what is best for you.
Now that Melanie is debt-free, she is donating a portion of her blog income to her readers to help them pay off debts—she wants to be a debt fairy godmother!
She wants to provide the opportunity for people to have a dose of motivation and inspiration.
EPISODE GIVEAWAY
Melanie & Shannon are giving a $100 gift card to a listener of this show who is pursuing a big goal.
Comment below on my site or Melanie's - Dear Debt
Email me at Shannon@finblonde.com or Melanie at deardebt@gmail.com or tweet to us @blonde_finance and @deardebtblog and let us know what you are working on and how we can help you achieve that.
Or, if you are a member of the private Martinis and Your Money facebook group, you can let us know in there.
One lucky goal-setter will be chosen by the end of February!