Original subtitles

Hi, I'm Tina and I'm from Kingston, New York.

I have an amazing little house.

I have a great daughter.

I have two chickens, two dogs.

I absolutely love my life.

Going through divorce and having to become a single mom

has been extremely empowering.

I'm a high school social worker by day and a health

and wellness coach by evening and weekends.

I've lost 116 pounds.

I play ice hockey on an all women's league.

I like shoes, specifically booties.

[LAUGHS] I have about 17 pairs now.

I spend a lot of money on Amazon.

I have bought about five Apple Watches.

I love to travel--

going to Mexico this summer for six weeks.

The only problem is I'm broke, just a little bit.

A lot a bit.

[LAUGHS]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Here are the facts.

The numbers are massive.

Over 45 million people have borrowed over $1.7 trillion

in student loan debt.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has only

made the situation more dire.

My name is Dan Rosensweig, and I'm

the CEO of the multibillion dollar company Chegg.

This is my mission.

And with the help of my financial expert, Tonya Rapley,

we're going to help people who are drowning in extreme debt

build a life of financial independence.

This is the year.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: It's not going to be easy.

I can't do it.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: But if they do the work,

they're going to go from being in the red to becoming

the CEOs of their own lives.

This is Going From Broke.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TINA DIERNA: Hello, hello.

It's Thursday afternoon.

In the car with G. Say hello, G.

Just left the nail salon.

Super excited for this adventure that's about to happen.

So I decided to also go ahead and get

a pedicure because my tax check is coming soon.

What do you think?

Good morning, Tonya.

How are you today?

I'm great, Dan.

How are you?

I'm actually feeling very energetic.

And I think it's because the young lady that we have

today, as I understand, is a spitfire,

is like a bundle of energy.

You know, we got to bring our A game.

So I'm excited about it.

Yeah.

We have Tina, and I'm really looking

forward to helping her figure out what's

best for her situation.

Tina's finances are a bit of a mess right now.

Every month she brings in $4,400.

But she spends around $5,400, putting her about $1,000

in the red.

Between student loans and $20,000 of credit card debt,

Tina's total debt is $140,000.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TINA DIERNA: I'm feeling a little anxious about it.

This man has a lot of money.

How is he going to help me?

And there she is.

Hi, everyone.

Hi, Dan.

Hi, Tonya.

Hi, Tina.

Tina, so great to meet you.

It's so nice to meet you.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

It's gonna be a lot of hard work.

But based on your background, it feels like hard work

is not a problem for you.

I've been a single mom for the last five years,

and I've kind of felt like I've always done it solo.

I started my family young.

I bought my house at a young age--

I was 24.

And I went back to college when my daughter was 10 months old

and I got my masters.

I never had a problem with spending

until I got into my marriage.

We were living off of my credit cards.

I ended up getting a divorce and taking

on all of our financial debt just

so I could live peacefully.

Mm.

I feel like the world is just on my shoulders all the time.

You have accomplished a lot.

I was raised by a single mother so I

have unbelievable admiration and respect.

You seem to want to explode with emotion right now.

And it's just us.

Let it out.

Yeah.

My daughter is 11.

She's on the autism spectrum.

G, dinner is gonna be ready soon.

She is a great kid.

She's very difficult, though.

And oftentimes, I just feel very alone.

Gia, what did you get?

Slides.

TINA DIERNA: Let me see them.

No.

And her medical expenses are, are a lot as well.

And it's just taken a toll on what I feel like I can

continue to provide and give.

And I just stopped up at Rite Aid,

got my daughter's prescription for the day.

$50.

Look, I-- you're remarkable.

So take a breath.

So you've already shown a willingness

to take on tough challenges and the discipline it

takes to do it.

But you've also done something else in your life.

I was always a yo-yo weight gainer, I call it.

Not really a yo-yo dieter, but, like, I'd gain weight,

lose weight.

And I also got so lost within my weight loss journey,

just feeling really depressed and like there

was something wrong with me.

I ended up having the gastric bypass in 2015.

And at that point I said, if I don't really

make a real lifestyle change, then I'm

going to gain all this weight back that I just lost.

And I've lost a total of 116 pounds.

I've kept it off since 2015.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I play hockey.

It's a big part of my life.

Just being able to come here and exercise

at the end of a really long week is a great way for self care.

[CHEERING]

And I started weight lifting as well.

And during the pandemic, I started to up my running game.

So the good news is you have a proven track record of changing

and sustaining the changes, because money

is the same darn thing.

It's math.

You had to lose 120 pounds.

Here, you need to lose $120,000 in debt.

We know that the biggest burden for you is your student debt.

I am on the public loan forgiveness program.

So after 120 payments, the rest is forgiven.

That's huge.

Like, Dan and I, when we were looking at your numbers,

we were really excited that you qualify for this

and that you've been taking advantage of it.

You are 60 payments in, you have 60 more to go

and then you can literally wipe this slate clean.

And so my first question for you, Tina,

we ask you to outline, you know, how many credit cards you had,

and your response was six-ish.

What is ish when it comes to a credit card?

We need to know that.

[DAN LAUGHING]

Oh, the credit card information.

I have, like, 15 to 20 credit cards.

I was taking from this card, paying down that card,

moving all my money around.

Debt in America is a chronic illness.

And if we don't cure it, the economy will not survive.

Here's the Target, my Amazon Prime, my Sam's Club card.

People are playing credit card roulette with their lives.

They're getting 15 credit cards where they're paying more

and more interest on each one.

Citibank.

There's the Best Buy one.

I need to get a dishwasher before--

before I get told I have to cut that up.

I'll use it, pay it, use it again.

Now, I have to pay the other one.

Old Navy-- I haven't been there in awhile.

I think Big Lots cut me off.

They didn't like my credit score.

TONYA RAPLEY: Tina likes her things.

Tina has a mild shopping problem.

Is that an Apple Watch?

It is an Apple Watch.

This is my fifth Apple Watch in three years.

Uh, how much does each Apple watch cost?

$300 to $500.

You've spent nearly $3,000 on watches.

Let's talk about Amazon.

Amazon.

I think I employ a whole person there.

TONYA RAPLEY: Now is not the time to spend the way

that Tina has been spending.

All of these things Tina's buying, Tina doesn't need.

You had about six or seven Amazon purchases in one day.

I got a new package in the mail!

They're totally adorable.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: You do love to travel,

and I know you have a trip planned.

I'm taking that trip.

I-- I-- look, I--

I-- if I have learned anything in life,

it's me telling people, uh, what to do has never worked.

What we want to do is prepare for it.

So tell us why the trip is so important.

I'm traveling to Mexico for six weeks with my daughter.

Um, we love the beach.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I see a different child when we're at the water.

My kid is a fish.

And she smiles.

This is not something that I usually get to see in her,

so the smile is really important to me.

I love that you shared that because I don't think

most people really understand how much work it takes to do

what you're trying to do, that these are not luxuries,

right, that these are choices.

So being in a place where your daughter is going to smile

means everything.

Thank you so much, again, for sharing that, because we

can only see so much on paper.

And it gives us even more ammunition

to really figure out, you know, how to best

help you in your situation.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

How can we turn your home, which is an asset,

into an actual asset?

Right now, it's not an asset.

Right now, it's a cost.

But things like Airbnb can make it an asset.

Yeah, I started to do a little bit of the research

on how to go ahead and rent my place out.

I like the idea of sharing my space and my home

with people from all over.

So I think I'm OK with it.

So that's gonna be one of your homework goals

is to get your home listed on Airbnb

and take your first renters.

You're getting yourself into a position

now where you're connecting the dots of physical health

and financial health.

Well, financial health is more dollars in, fewer dollars out.

We just need Tina to understand that right now she

needs to focus on paying off her debt

so that she can then do things she wants to do with her money.

But she can't do them both right now.

The way to win the credit card game is not to pay interest.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: So we're gonna look for the loans

that you have with the highest interest.

It may be the student debt, it may be paying down

the mortgage, or it may be getting

rid of those smaller loans.

We're gonna line up and do math.

Which one hurts you the most?

Get rid of that one first.

OK.

What I want you to do is essentially a spending diet.

I don't want you making any Amazon purchases,

at least for the next two weeks.

Do you have the Amazon app on your phone?

I was just gonna say, I'll delete it right now.

TONYA RAPLEY: And then, also, you're

going to delete your card information so that we don't

do those one-click purchases.

And then, we're gonna go a step further,

because it's not just Amazon.

So we're gonna freeze those cards, too.

Put them in a gallon Ziploc bag or whatever it may be,

and we're gonna freeze those cards

so you don't have access to them.

Another opportunity I see for you

is really scaling up your side hustle of health coaching.

You have a lot that you can teach other people

who are struggling with that.

If there was somebody I could have talked to about

the different options other than a surgeon,

I would have really liked that.

So, are you ready to do the work?

Yes.

I'm ready to do the work.

I totally just had my first meeting with Dan and Tonya.

I'm feeling pretty amazing.

He looked like my dad.

They gave me great confidence.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

OK, Tonya, I got my wallet and I'm ready to freeze

all of my credit cards.

Oh, there's only 11.

All right, I thought there was 12.

It's going to allow me the time to say,

is this purchase really worth it?

[SQUEALS] Goodbye, beautiful cards.

Hey, Tina.

How are you doing?

Hi, Tonya.

I'm doing really well.

I love this dress.

Thank you.

I got it from Amazon, but my mom bought it for me.

OK.

[LAUGHS] All right, loop me in.

Let's go ahead and get into it.

So what have you accomplished and what

have you been working on?

I called up every company to find

my balance due and the APR.

I had to go through my credit cards and all of my debt

and write them down.

AUTOMATED VOICE (ON PHONE): Your current balance is $986.79.

My Prime card, $464.

I'm not really sure what I spent on it.

I've never looked at my APRs before,

and I probably would have never done that before meeting Dan

and Tonya, but I think it was really

an eye-opening experience.

TONYA RAPLEY: We asked Tina to organize her credit cards

from highest to lowest interest rate using

the debt avalanche method.

With a debt avalanche, Tina will pay all her minimums,

but throw all her extra money at the card that is costing her

the most in interest payments.

Once that card is paid off, she will tackle the second highest

APR and so forth, until an avalanche is created

and her debts are paid off.

I have to get through Target, work

myself all the way up to here.

All right, that's it.

The next time I'm in a jam, I'm--

I'm definitely going with the 12.99.

[LAUGHS] But hopefully, I never have to be in a jam again.

I was really surprised by how much Tina accomplished.

Just paid off Target.

Woop woop!

Tina really committed herself to this process.

All right, paid off Amazon.

TONYA RAPLEY: I think this is going to be one of the biggest

challenges for her is staying off Amazon and just not buying

things that she doesn't need.

Just saving money the good old fashioned way.

[CHANGE JINGLING]

These are all of my frozen credit cards.

I'm gonna be good.

I have someone here who can help

you with a few of the side hustle questions you have.

I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Lynn Richardson.

I'm so happy to be here to help you.

Tell me what's going on and tell me what your main question is.

As a side hustle, I am into, um,

health and wellness coaching.

I've lost 116 pounds, and I wanna--

Woo hoo!

--share with other ladies.

And I'm not 100% sure where to go

and how to get my clients to come to me.

First of all, congratulations on your massive weight loss.

I lost 100 and something pounds about 13 years ago,

so I know that that takes hard work, it takes grit.

Now, fortunately for you, you've already learned how to hustle.

And it's gonna take that same hustle in order for you

to achieve the things that you want

to achieve in your business and also financially.

You know, some say money talks.

But I say money walks away from you quietly

and you don't know where it went.

So what happens is you spend $10 here or $20 there,

and all of a sudden, all of your it's just

has taken up all of your wealth.

How are you going to get to the next level financially?

Well, there are many different ideas,

but there are three basic things.

The very first thing you must do is to spend less money.

The next thing you must do is get more money.

Why?

Because one stream of income is hazardous to your wealth.

So the third thing you have to do is to get your money back.

There are hundreds of deductions for home-based business owners.

You can get a percentage of the rent that you pay back,

they'll give you a percentage of your total housing expenses.

What about when you drive your car?

You get to run off the mileage, the gas, the registration,

the maintenance.

And the other thing I'm going to tell you here is a huge bonus.

You can hire your child to work in your home-based business.

You get to pay each child up to $12,400 a year.

That's awesome!

[LAUGHS]

Now, the money that you just paid your daughter,

it's a tax write-off.

You get that money back.

They can use that money for school

clothes, school supplies, ballet classes, football, basketball.

These are things you were going to spend money on anyway,

but you don't get it back.

You don't get a tax refund for those things.

But now, if you hire them in your home-based business,

you do.

Oh, thank you so much.

I'm kind of crying a little bit because I really find this,

like, to be so important for my daughter

to be on board with me.

She's my sidekick in everything, and I'm

hoping that this will just really

help her understand that money doesn't grow on credit cards.

[LAUGHS]

Dr. Lynn Richardson, you delivered

like I knew you would.

Thank you.

I thought the idea of having my daughter

participate and be, like, a paid employee

is a really good idea as well.

I didn't know I could do that.

I'm not 100% sure she's going to buy into it,

but money talks, so we'll see.

So I've been thinking about ways that I can hire you.

What do you think about that?

No way!

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So what do you want to do with your-- with your paycheck?

Spend it on Roblox.

OK.

Spend it on Rolex.

GIA: And candy from around the world, because why not?

So this is some flyers that I had made up.

I thought maybe you would be able to help me fold them up.

This, this, and this way?

TINA DIERNA: Yeah, like this.

What if you were in charge of doing all of my mailings

every week?

Yeah.

TINA DIERNA: Yeah?

Going into today, I was still a little apprehensive

about having Gia help me, and I wasn't sure if she

would be willing to help.

But I was actually impressed by her folding skills.

She did a really good job.

There we go, yes!

I'm gonna go ahead and list my place on Airbnb.

I'm feeling a bit nervous about this, but oh my gosh,

there is my house.

This is crazy.

Hi, Dan, how are you?

I am great, Tina.

So catch me up.

I did go ahead and I listed my property on Airbnb.

Congratulations.

That's amazing.

What's one little step in getting

your house ready for Airbnb?

And that's fixing all the little things that

bother you around your home.

Hello, Hello.

Good morning.

Today, I have a pretty busy day.

Got a ton of yard work done yesterday

in preparation for Airbnb.

I'm just under so much pressure and stress.

So I have started my side hustle and one of the biggest

struggles I have is asking for money.

That's, like, hard for me to do.

Do you not think you deserve it?

I feel like sometimes my qualifications just

aren't enough.

A little bit of imposter syndrome?

Yeah.

I feel like that's probably one thing

that I still struggle with is just

toxic or negative thoughts.

So you've made a lot of progress.

And it seems like the biggest battle

you have is in your head.

If we gave you the opportunity to talk to one of the world's

most successful entrepreneurs about how to overcome

the imposter syndrome and build your business,

would that be helpful?

That would be amazing, yes.

Good.

And if you could talk to somebody

about how to optimize around Airbnb, would that be helpful?

That would be amazing.

Then, I'd like to bring in a very good friend of mine

who I think is one of the greatest entrepreneurs

that I've ever met, and he's built

one of the most successful businesses

in the world, the founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky.

Hey, Tina.

How are you doing?

Hey, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

And Dan, good to see you again.

I've been listening to your story, um,

and I'm really excited to meet you.

Thank you so much.

Um, I'm kind of like in shock right now.

[LAUGHS] I didn't know this was coming, so--

You and I have actually a lot in common.

Um, I am also from upstate New York.

You also play ice hockey, I understand.

I play ice hockey.

So I just could not believe the number of parallels.

And of course, you know, you're an Airbnb host.

I don't know if you know the story of how,

uh, my friends and I started Airbnb,

but I was very much like you.

It was 13 years ago, 13 1/2 years ago, and I

was actually in debt myself.

Tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt,

as was my friend, Joe.

And a design conference was coming to San Francisco,

and all these hotels for the design conference

were sold out.

And so we had an idea.

What if we just turned our house into basically

like a bed and breakfast.

And so Joe said, well, I have three air mattresses.

We called it airbedandbreakfast.com.

Nobody thought 13 years ago that I would be here

we'd be having these kinds of conversations.

What does it take to be a great entrepreneur knowing

you have imposter syndrome?

Every entrepreneur I know has had that same feeling as well,

or they're kind of jerks.

So there's like-- there's really one of the two.

[DAN LAUGHING]

I think a lot of people hear stories of entrepreneurs

and they're not relatable.

They're like, wow, they had a skill set I didn't have,

they had a confidence I didn't have.

And I gotta tell you, most of that's revisionist history.

In hindsight, we all like to rewrite stories

of how brilliant the founders were,

how they were different than everyone else,

I saw something special in them.

I mean, you know, all my high school teachers now say they

saw something special in me.

They just didn't when I was in high school.

[TINA LAUGHING]

Hey, girl.

You wanna feed the chickens?

Yeah.

Here.

Some worms.

[LAUGHS]

BRIAN CHESKY: I think you're probably more

interesting than you realize.

And one of the things we found is the more unique the better.

What are these chickens names?

Do you remember?

Nugget and Tender.

[LAUGHTER]

People really wanna have an experience.

And I think people want something

that's real and authentic.

And we wanna match two people--

a guest and a host-- to have the most

unique sensibilities together.

So what I would say is be as personal, unique,

and individual as possible.

I like to take old furniture and fix

it up and put it in my home.

Side hustle number three, maybe.

Eventually, I wanna give back.

My mission in life is really to create

a space through my income with Airbnb

to give back to homeless youth.

Wow.

Based on what I'm hearing, you're very well on your way.

And one of the things we're gonna do,

I'm gonna pair you with two people

that I think are gonna be able to help you, um,

with your, with your Airbnb.

The first is an Airbnb Superhost named Noel.

She's been a Superhost for over 10 years in Airbnb.

The next thing is we want to make

sure we merchandise it correctly and it really shines through.

So we're going to have a professional photographer

come and photograph it, and I think,

really let your Airbnb shine.

I'm just so proud of what you're doing.

I think your vision is beautiful.

And you're well on your way.

The number one reason entrepreneurs

fail is they stop.

So don't stop.

Brian, I love you.

Thank you, my friend.

This was unbelievable.

Thank you, Dan, for helping me and bringing him on.

I was not expecting that.

And I'm feeling, like, very emotional about this because--

just being a single mom, getting professional photos

for an Airbnb could cost money, you know?

And being able to meet somebody who, at some point, I was like,

gosh, who created this platform?

And Airbnb has become a huge part of my life.

Um, and it's allowed me to start getting out

of that dark, dark hole, that dark place.

Oh, my goodness.

I cannot believe that I just got a request to book

the Airbnb for an entire month.

Hey, mom.

TINA'S MOM (ON PHONE): Hey, T.

I wanted to call to ask if it would be OK for Gia and I

to come stay with you for a month,

because I just got a booking on Airbnb.

TINA'S MOM (ON PHONE): Yeah, I think we could do it.

TINA DIERNA: All right, yes!

Thank you so much!

I'm gonna be out of my house for an entire month

and I'm feeling super anxious.

This is the most anxiety-provoking thing ever.

Today is, like, the final day.

The car's pretty much all packed up with my stuff,

and I've probably been crying most of the morning.

Oh, I got a message from Dan that says

I have to watch this video.

Hey, Tina.

It's Lindsey.

Just wanted to send you a message.

I know things are really hard right now.

You're trying to overcome debt, you're working your tail off,

and I know things are really hard.

But I will say one thing that's helped

me is just focusing on putting one foot in front the other.

You know, small goals every day.

Just chip away at it.

Always think about the long-term goal,

but still take it day-by-day and keep it simple.

And eventually you will get to where you wanna go.

So good luck.

I'm pulling for you.

Aw, that was awesome.

I thought that was so amazing to have

a little inspirational message.

Thank you, Lindsey!

Got my room all set up, ready to go.

I'm taking my lamp with me.

This is the real deal final walk through at my house.

Bye, home.

Let's get going.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

All right, so let's bring in Tina.

Hello, Tina.

Hi, Dan and Tonya.

How are you feeling today?

TINA DIERNA: I'm feeling amazing.

I feel like I have pretty much accomplished everything

you've asked me to do.

[APPLAUSE]

Can you just let us know what homework

you accomplished this month?

I went ahead, I listed my house on Airbnb.

I made an extra $2,150 with that.

Wow.

I know.

That makes me feel like the ultimate hustler.

[LAUGHS]

Which is what you wanted to be.

So I gave up pretty much all shopping.

I also froze my credit cards.

I haven't used a single credit card at all.

And I said goodbye to Amazon forever.

Wow.

Like, everything we asked.

Everything.

Tina rocked this challenge.

She rented out her home on Airbnb

and raised her income to $6,500 this month.

By freezing her credit cards and skipping Amazon altogether,

she reduced her expenses down to $3,700,

putting over $2,800 into her bank account.

We hear you paid off some credit cards.

Yeah.

So I've paid off all of my small credit cards.

And I only have one more to go.

How much money were you paying per month

towards all those debts that you now no longer have to pay?

Probably $1,500 or more every month.

You just gave yourself an $18,000 a year raise.

TONYA RAPLEY: Tina reduced her total debt

by using her tax return and stimulus check

to pay off her credit cards.

Now, she plans to eliminate her consolidation

loan within the year.

And after 60 more payments, her student loan will be forgiven

and Tina will be debt free.

I'm feeling pretty darn proud of myself.

Tina, do you remember that when we first

met you pointed your finger at me and you said,

I'm not canceling my trip.

[LAUGHS] I'm not canceling my trip!

So Tina, if we gave you $1,000 to help you pay down your debt,

would you cancel the trip?

No.

[TONYA LAUGHS]

Well, then, you know what?

When you look at the progress that you've made,

we would like to give you that $1,000 anyway.

We only ask that you do two things.

70% of it should go to paying down debt and 30% of it

should go for doing something special

with your daughter on the trip.

I can definitely agree to that.

I knew you weren't gonna cancel that trip.

I told Dan you weren't gonna cancel that trip.

[TINA LAUGHING]

TINA DIERNA: We came across this awesome fitness place

right here.

So I'm gonna go see if I might be able to advertise there.

Hey!

Good.

How are you?

I think I nailed it.

The biggest lesson that I have taken away

is that I am capable of anything I put my mind to.

I love hearing all of that.

Thank you, Tina.

Good luck with life.

Please keep in touch with us.

If you're looking to build or rebuild your financial life,

we've got tools and resources to help.

For more on debt, student loans, earning more, spending less,

and dozens of other money topics,

go to chegg.com/goingfrombroke.

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