$65,000 Paid Off In 3 Years!

"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket." —Kin Hubbard

"When you know the impact of little expenses, you will realize that there is nothing little in this world." —Manoj Arora

If you've ever been through the debt elimination process, you know that paying off debt is not an easy task. It takes conviction, a strong "why", a plan, a budget and LOTS of encouragement. And as a coach, I've seen that one of the best ways for our students to stay motivated is to hear other people's stories, listen to their struggles and live vicariously through their wins.

This is the whole reason I started this "Journey To Debt-Freedom" series. I wanted to curate a reservoir of personal stories that will help you "find your own story" and keep marching forward toward your personal finance goals and ultimately to debt-freedom and beyond. 

Along those lines, if you have a "debt-free" or "on-my-way-to debt-free" story, I'd love to share yours with our audience. It's always such a gift to our subscribers and fans to hear your particular story AND will help you, especially if you have a a blog/platform/YouTube channel you want to promote (although that's not at all necessary).

Next up in our "Journey To Debt-Freedom" series, meet Kamilah! During the interview, make sure to pay attention to what she says about "not having to follow someone else's plan". Very insightful interview!

Introduce yourself, Kamilah.

I'm Kamilah. I'm a Senior Financial Manager and Personal Finance YouTube content creator from Brooklyn New York.

Give me a little bit of background about your financial situation and your decision to "tackle it". Tell me about how much debt you paid off and in how much time. What was your debt made up of?

I had $65k in student loan debt that I paid off in three years. I read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and realized I didn't need to take 20 years to pay off my debt. I created a five year plan for myself, tweaking the TMM just a bit, but because of a job change and increase in pay, I was able to pay off the debt in three years.

Looking for a way to get started on your own debt-free journey? Check out my: 

 “Debt-Elimination Quick-Start Guide”. This free resource will have ALL the tools, forms and printables you’ll need while moving through this 30 day challenge.

What was "the moment" you decided, "enough is enough" and what actions did you take or resources did you use to get the process started?

The moment when I realized I could potentially have children going into college and still be paying off my debt I got serious. My debt reduction plan set me straight. I say and crunched the numbers to see exactly how much money I need per month to accelerate my payoff.

Looking for a ways to live more frugally and address your debt? Check out my: 100 Frugal Ways To Save Money And Get Out Of Debt.

What was your "why"? What kept you going when you wanted to quit? How did you stay motivated?

I wanted to be free of debt. I wanted to not have to be in a job I didn't like just to pay bills. At the time my student loan bill was the same as my housing cost and I didn't want to live like that forever. I had a lot of internal talks to stay motivated because my friends were off living the fabulous life so that wasn't too encouraging.

Describe your "belief system" about money and (if/how) has it changed?

I think my limiting beliefs were about the rules to money. Meaning, the bank said you owe this amount and this is your plan, I thought it wasn't really possible to deviate from that plan. I also thought that the only money I could earn was my salary. I knew people took on second jobs, but I wasn't interested in doing that. I was able to earn more money by taking on flexible side hustles. I also thought you couldn't have fun during this process. But I was able to create a realistic budget for myself so that I was able to have some fun in my life.

What have been the biggest/toughest sacrifices you've made in your personal finance/debt-elimination process?

Sacrifices - my friends went to London and carnival in Trinidad ("the greatest show on earth") without me. My dad's family is from Trinidad and I really wanted to go, but between the costumes, events and hotel, that trip is easily a few thousand dollars. Extra work - went to children's homes to tutor, worked every election day at polling sites (6AM to 9PM), worked at convention halls. But the craziest thing was staying in a job I absolutely hated because it paid well and really accelerated my payoff. I quit that job about three-four months after I was debt-free.

Describe how it feels to be debt-free. 

It feels AMAZING. All of the extra pay I would have used on student loans is now being invested and it has accelerated my net income at a rate I could never imagine. It's such a great feeling!

This “$1000 In 30 Days Challenge and Resource Pack” is designed to help you find, cut and/or earn $1000 inside of 30 days so that you can: pay off debt with it, save it or invest it.

Here's the free downloadable/printable PDF.

What are some pieces of advice you would give to someone who's ready to get serious about tackling their finances?

- Put pen to paper and develop a plan for yourself in manageable pieces. Instead of focusing on the big number, what can you do in the next six months to get you even closer to your goal

- Ignore how the people around you are spending their money. They might make fun of you now if you're trying to get out of debt but I 100% guarantee you once you're done, they will be asking you advice on how to do the same.

Since I've been debt-free, my focus has been on savings and investing. The key to being successful at that has been to automate everything. It takes the guesswork out and you won't "forget" to save or invest.

Where can we find you (website, social media, etc.)?

www.youtube.com/focusedspender

Call To Action

Now that you've heard Kamilah's story, maybe you're ready to take a closer look at a "framework" to start your own "journey to debt freedom". And, if you’ve hung out on this platform for any length of time, you’ll know I’m all about helping you to take action. And here are two very easy next steps to keep you moving in the right direction:

1. Download our free PDF guide that goes along with this series: “Debt-Elimination Quick-Start Guide”. This has a very comprehensive and dedicated video on establishing your “why”.
2. Head over to YouTube and start with the “Day 0” video. You can totally binge-watch the whole series if you want. That “first pass” will give you an idea of where you are and what it’s going to take for you to get to the next level with your own personal situation. And again, starting with your “why” is the absolute most important step.

I want for you to capitalize on any and all emotional momentum you’ve gotten from this piece of content by committing two just getting started by completing those two actions I mentioned above. If you’ve done that, congratulations, you’ve started! Now just follow the breadcrumbs and please let me know what’s helpful and what you might need more detail around.

Struggling Or Feeling Alone?

Join Our Private FB Group: Zero Debt Tribe

Now, if this decision process is something you struggle with and you constantly feel isolated about, I’ve got some great news for you and it’s free.

Our private Facebook group, ZeroDebtTribe. It’s a group of like minded people that are all somewhere along this P2P/debt-elimination/on their way to FI continuum. So click the image above and apply to join us. :)

Call To Action 

So, we’re all about taking action around here, so I wanted to offer you this free little resource that will help you get your finances organized an on track in less than 4 hours. It’s called our “Debt-Elimination Quick-Start Guide” and the link is in the video description below.

Looking for a way to get started on your own debt-free journey? Check out my: 

 “Debt-Elimination Quick-Start Guide”. This free resource will have ALL the tools, forms and printables you’ll need while moving through this 30 day challenge.

How can ZeroDebtCoach help you? 4 ways...

1. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and click the notifications bell to make sure you get our new videos every week. 

2. Download one of our free personal finance guides. You’ll learn some of the exact strategies I teach my private coaching students on how to organize and optimize their finances, obliterate debt and move on to financial independence by starting and growing online businesses.

3. If you’re looking for a community of motivated and like-minded people, go ahead and get on the waitlist to join our private financial coaching community. We only open it for new students a couple of times a year, so make sure to get on the waitlist.

5. If you need some help right now because you’ve got a burning issue, you need a problem solved, you want to talk through a complex situation, click on the button below.

All that said, let's keep on building your financial acumen and make this your best year yet!

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll see you in the next video post!

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