​How I Got Out of Financial Bondage and Debt Free in One Year with 3 Simple Steps

When I was five years old, I got the chicken pox virus, and I got it BAD. Sores covered my entire body and face and I would cry myself to sleep at night in discomfort. My mom gave me oatmeal baths and lots of love and sympathy. Debt is like chicken pox. Everyone gets it, especially in America. My first semester of college, I drank the punch like everyone else, and signed on the dotted line for my first student loan. I contracted the virus of buying things I could not afford under the pretense that student loan debt is “good debt.” Once I started borrowing money, it was hard to stop, and seven years later I found myself in a $30,000 hole with a useless liberal arts degree.

​So, what did I decide to do? I took charge of my financial future, of course! I deferred paying back my loans by enrolling in a liberal arts Masters program racking up another $20,000! Like most people reading this article, I was raised by industrious, hard working parents who believed in paying cash, and not buying what you couldn’t afford. I remember the sinking feeling I got in the pit of my stomach every time I borrowed more money. I justified it with, “Everyone is doing it. This is my future. I am already so far in debt what does it matter if I get more? Maybe I could marry someone rich!” Some misinformed peers even suggested I could declare bankruptcy.

​When I first started my career in social work, I was devastated to learn that my salary bordered the poverty line. I considered returning to tend bar to pay the bills. I recall the day I pulled up a loan repayment calculator online and threw up in my mouth when I discovered I would make my last loan payment at the age of 62!

Most students are leaving college, many without even graduating, with an average of $37,172 in student loan debt (Forbes, 2016). Post graduation, many young adults are pressured into more debt: “Honey, isn’t it time you settled down and bought a house?”

Five years into my poverty level career I got mad: mad at society for selling me a college pipe dream, mad at my parents and older brother for not steering me toward a junior college instead of an out of state private university, and mad at myself for not listening to my own conscience. I determined I was going to get out of debt, and I was going to do it, RIGHT NOW! This was my plan.

1. DRAMATICALLY INCREASE INCOME: I made a radical shift and I decided to change industries; I went from social work into sales for a small local business.This was especially scary for an introvert with no previous sales experience. I faked my way through the interview. On the first day, my new boss looked me square in the eyes and asked me what marketing strategies I had used in the past to catapult previous businesses. I rushed home that night and stayed up until 3a.m. researching everything I could find on sales and marketing. I was NOT going to keep living at the poverty line, even if it meant doing things completely out of my comfort zone. I shifted my mindset from “Can I do this?” to “How can I do this?” Each time I heard something I didn’t understand at work, I went home and researched it and then tried it the next day. In just over one year, I went from poverty line income to almost $100,000! I recall the first time I had an $8000 month and my boss pulled me into his office and shut the door and asked me to keep quiet about my income. He informed me that he was paying the doctors in his office HALF of what I had just made! Thank you google!
2. MAP THE GOAL: I got organized and created a chart for the next year of my potential income earnings versus my debt load. I figured out how much each customer through the door would net me and I put together a strategy to get them in the door. I renegotiated with my boss how I was getting paid and asked him to put me on 100% commission, and to increase the rate per customer he would pay me (and I got it in writing). In addition, I got busy on a network marketing business in the off hours to bring in even more income. Lastly, I eliminated almost every added expense: netflix, getting my car washed, eating out, and I sold my t.v. and started reading books to help me grow my knowledge base and people skills. 
3. SPEAK IT FIERCELY: I think every success minded person ought to read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It was a life changer for me. To achieve a goal it takes both skill set and mind set. Have you ever noticed how very talented people sometimes achieve very little? Why? They don’t believe. You have to talk yourself into success. When I first started speaking affirmations, it felt inauthentic and cheesy. Think and Grow Rich told me it would work, and had worked for many people over the past millennia. I was working hard on the things that would produce results in conjunction, so I made the decision that I would write out and speak out loud with emotional enthusiasm until I believed them. I would shout out loud to and from work twenty times per day, “I make $10,000 a month March 2013!” 

I hung a poster board in my office with a big red thermometer drawn on it, and every month I would white-out the debt I paid. I watched it go down over one year to 40k, 35k, 30k, 20k, 7k. I remember the last student loan payment I made and how much it impacted me. I checked my bank account and saw almost 10k had been deposited from the previous month’s sales. I logged into my familiar student loan page, and clicked ‘pay now’ and typed in $7,231.15, paused, took a deep breath, and clicked ‘send.’ I leaned back into my black pleather office chair, took another deep breath, and tears welled in my eyes. In my mind I shouted “I can’t believe it, I just beat the system by thirty years!” I immediately reached for the phone, “I need to call someone and celebrate my incredible victory!” Then I realized I didn’t know a single person who was debt free. Tired, very tired, and my chest shaking with deep, overwhelming gratitude, I left early and went home, very proud of myself. 

Chicken pox is characterized by severe itchiness, unsightly rash, and fever, and in some cases, it can actually kill you. According to the National Health Service, chickenpox has no cure and almost every person will be attacked by it at some point in their life. 

Surprisingly, it is possible to contract the virus more than once, but this is extremely rare; most people who have had chickenpox won't get it again because they're immune to it for life. Let’s do this with debt!

Sending hope your way,
​April Rogers Peterson