Cracking The Code To Free College With Denise Thomas

Learn how college does not have to be a debt sentence.

TEDx speaker, international best-selling author, and coach to parents of college-bound teens, Denise Thomas inspires, educates, and equips parents to take an active role in supporting their children to live a life of financial freedom. Her mission is to ‘flip’ the student debt statistic in the U.S.

Denise is a 20-year homeschool veteran having homeschooled her two children from Pre-k through high school. Using her proprietary repeatable strategy, they attended their first-choice college on 17 scholarships exceeding $199,000, walking out of college with cash in hand. They got paid to go to college. Denise says, you can keep your money. Send your kids to college on other people’s cash! “College doesn’t have to be a DEBT sentence.”

This is your affiliate link to my free 12 scholarship secrets checklist https://www.getaheadoftheclass.com/a/24307/CfKooz8u

About the Host:

I am Saylor Cooper, Owner and host of Real Variety Radio as well as the Hope Without Sight Podcast. I am from the Houston, Texas area and am legally blind which is one of the main reasons why I am hosting this show surrounding this topic , to inspire others by letting them know that they can live their best life and reach their highest potential. I am beginning my journey in Entrepreneurship to overcome the challenges of making a living with a disability and to demonstrate that it indeed it is possible by putting in hard work! Of course I am not sure what is in store, but I am extremely excited for what is to come. My future goals include getting booked to speak on stages and write a collaborative book with my podcast guests.

Contact card, which includes all of my website and socials: https://ovou.me/livefasetiyacehe

About the Co-host:

My name is Matthew Tyler Evans and I am from the Northeast Texas area. I am blind like Saylor is and we have the same retinal condition. I decided to join Saylor‘s podcast because I have a strong interest in teaming up with him and I think together, we can inspire the world with others with disabilities.

 

 Thanks for listening!

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#freecollege #collegestrategies #Debtfreeeducation #Hopewithoutsight

Transcript
Saylor Cooper:

Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of

Saylor Cooper:

Hope Without Sight with your host, Saylor Cooper and

Tyler Evans:

your host, Tyler Evans, cohosts actually

Saylor Cooper:

This is Episode 32, cracking the code to free

Saylor Cooper:

college. On this episode, we have a very special lady. She is

Saylor Cooper:

a TEDx speaker, a coach, and a mastermind on how you can send

Saylor Cooper:

your children to college and leave college with money in your

Saylor Cooper:

pocket. And of course, to make college not a debt sentence,

Saylor Cooper:

because so many college students are broke the paying back the

Saylor Cooper:

loans, and it's just awful. She homeschooled her children, from

Saylor Cooper:

pre K, all the way to 12. She struggled during the financial

Saylor Cooper:

2008 financial crisis. And despite that, she came out on

Saylor Cooper:

top please welcome our very special guests. Denise Thomas,

Saylor Cooper:

Denise, how you doing today?

Denise Thomas:

Saylor? I'm so excited to be here. It is a

Denise Thomas:

beautiful day.

Saylor Cooper:

Yes it is a beautiful day And also you've

Saylor Cooper:

got the voices of women Summit coming up right after this. It's

Saylor Cooper:

International Women.

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, it's an awesome day. I'll be speaking

Denise Thomas:

several times on several summits today. So it's gonna be a blast.

Saylor Cooper:

You're gonna speak about cracking the code of

Saylor Cooper:

free college, right?

Denise Thomas:

Absolutely.

Saylor Cooper:

So, Awesome tell us about yourself

Denise Thomas:

it was a it was a whirlwind, if I can tell you

Denise Thomas:

that. Sometimes God puts us in positions. And at the time, we

Denise Thomas:

don't know what the reason is, and how we're gonna come out of

Denise Thomas:

it.

Saylor Cooper:

TseFor sure.

Denise Thomas:

My husband had been in the corporate world for

Denise Thomas:

about 15 years, and we were doing he had us built our dream

Denise Thomas:

home, the one we thought we would retire on a really, really

Denise Thomas:

beautiful house. It was on a lake, it was big enough to let

Denise Thomas:

the church borrow it for for their events. I mean, it was

Denise Thomas:

really, it was what I wanted everything to be. It was

Denise Thomas:

fabulous. Just a couple, two or three months after it was

Denise Thomas:

finished, and we had moved in. My husband got laid off from his

Denise Thomas:

corporate job.

Saylor Cooper:

Wow,

Denise Thomas:

I was cool. Um, guy. Okay, cool. That's all

Denise Thomas:

right. Well, we'll just go ahead and put the house on the market.

Denise Thomas:

And no, because I'm, I'm one of these very conservative people.

Denise Thomas:

When it comes to money. I don't want to be stuck in any, you

Denise Thomas:

know, weird places. So we put it on the market, he was able to

Denise Thomas:

get another job pretty quickly. That was awesome. We could

Denise Thomas:

breeze because this was, you know, not a small house note. So

Denise Thomas:

the house he moved, you just moved into actually got laid

Denise Thomas:

off, you thought you go ahead and put it on the market and

Denise Thomas:

sell Yeah, it's like it's like, I'm not I can't be attached.

Denise Thomas:

When I see something like that coming. And he got a new job,

Denise Thomas:

thank goodness. But then he got laid off again.

Saylor Cooper:

Ouch

Denise Thomas:

the market that he was in at the time, we

Denise Thomas:

weren't paying a whole lot of attention and world events,

Denise Thomas:

we're going weird as well. So it was just one of those things

Denise Thomas:

where it was like a trifecta of issues that happened. And at the

Denise Thomas:

same time, right after that second layoff, the stock market

Denise Thomas:

crashed. So we lost everything that we had. everything, our

Denise Thomas:

life savings, totally gone. What I didn't know at the time, is

Denise Thomas:

that my husband thought we would use our retirement savings or

Denise Thomas:

some portion of that to pay for our kids to go to college. I

Denise Thomas:

know now that would have been a really bad idea. But then that

Denise Thomas:

wasn't even on my mind. So after the money totally ran out, we

Denise Thomas:

got to the point where I realised we had only one choice.

Denise Thomas:

We had to declare bankruptcy because we could no longer pay

Denise Thomas:

the bills. And we had just enough left in the account to

Denise Thomas:

pay for a bankruptcy attorney and to buy a lawnmower and a

Denise Thomas:

trailer so that we could put food on the table. There was

Denise Thomas:

nothing left. So the house went into foreclosure and the

Denise Thomas:

bankruptcy was liquidation. Everything we had was sold. We

Denise Thomas:

also had two dogs and because we had to move into some All

Denise Thomas:

apartment, our two dogs had to go as well.

Saylor Cooper:

Wow. So it was from up on a high mountain tops

Saylor Cooper:

or the top of a roller coaster, to a downward spiral. Right

Denise Thomas:

I'll tell you about what went. several times,

Denise Thomas:

I found myself flat on the floor, face down, bawling my

Denise Thomas:

eyes out begging to God, why? The good news is I knew that we

Denise Thomas:

would never be homeless in the physical sense. Now because we

Denise Thomas:

have family, you know, and you know, when I see people on the

Denise Thomas:

street, I always wonder where is their family? I knew that, you

Denise Thomas:

know, it would not be fun for anybody because I hate you know

Denise Thomas:

what's before us. But we would have someplace to lay our head

Denise Thomas:

if it all went to crap. But it was a very difficult time

Denise Thomas:

because I got no answers out of the why me? You know, why is

Denise Thomas:

this happening? What would out I could not or see the good we did

Denise Thomas:

everything right. We we didn't spend ridiculously amounts of

Denise Thomas:

money we saved you know, we we didn't have debt other than the

Denise Thomas:

house, right? I just nothing made sense. We invested. We did

Denise Thomas:

all the things right financially, yet it happened

Denise Thomas:

anyway. So fast forward just a few months being into this small

Denise Thomas:

apartment with two kids. My daughter was about to start high

Denise Thomas:

school. My son was a few years behind her. And suddenly I

Denise Thomas:

realised, wait a minute. College is four years away? How are we

Denise Thomas:

going to pay for this? Yes, we have no savings. We have no 401

Denise Thomas:

K to borrow against. We have no house to borrow equity from. And

Denise Thomas:

that bankruptcy means we can't cosign for those student loans

Denise Thomas:

everyone likes to talk about. See they they talk about student

Denise Thomas:

loans, you know, every couple of years it becomes a political

Denise Thomas:

football, but they forget to mention somebody has to cosign

Denise Thomas:

for those puppies.

Saylor Cooper:

Wow.

Denise Thomas:

And that's the parents or the grandparents

Denise Thomas:

usually when we couldn't cosign, so how are they going to go to

Denise Thomas:

school? How on earth would we pay for college? Makes sense?

Denise Thomas:

Because in order to take out a loan, they need to see that you

Denise Thomas:

have you know, that income to pay it back? And surely light

Denise Thomas:

and credit and to have a good credit score. You know,

Denise Thomas:

bankruptcy is not good.

Saylor Cooper:

Bankruptcy affects your credit score.

Saylor Cooper:

Really?

Denise Thomas:

It does. I mean, it affects it for years, like a

Denise Thomas:

dowel.

Saylor Cooper:

Ouch

Denise Thomas:

Now, what's it what's, what's funny about that

Denise Thomas:

is that it doesn't take too long, just a couple of years or

Denise Thomas:

so before credit card companies start sending you credit cards

Denise Thomas:

again, or invitations to build up your credit again. Hopefully

Denise Thomas:

most people who have gone bankrupt, understand that's a

Denise Thomas:

really bad idea that many people that's the whole reason they

Denise Thomas:

went bankrupt. But anyway, I digress. When I was sitting

Denise Thomas:

there, realising we could not pay for college. It really

Denise Thomas:

struck me a lot harder than I think. Maybe some families

Denise Thomas:

would, because what was going through my mind at the time, was

Denise Thomas:

what I had to go through for my own college degree. You see,

Denise Thomas:

when I was growing up, we always heard when you go to college,

Denise Thomas:

not if you go to college, from my parents. It was just assumed

Denise Thomas:

you were going to get a college education. But nobody talked

Denise Thomas:

about how it was going to get paid for.

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly.

Denise Thomas:

And Saylor kids. Teenagers live in their own

Denise Thomas:

little world. They don't have any idea what their parents

Denise Thomas:

finances are like, they have a roof over their head food on the

Denise Thomas:

table. They get a Christmas present every year a birthday

Denise Thomas:

gift and they're cool. They have no idea. especially back then

Denise Thomas:

nobody talked about money in families. And I don't know that

Denise Thomas:

it's a whole lot different today. So, at about between my

Denise Thomas:

junior and senior year, that summer, the topic of paying for

Denise Thomas:

college came up and my mother said, Oh no, we're not paying

Denise Thomas:

for you to go to college. That's on you.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah,

Denise Thomas:

I was I had no idea I had just assumed they

Denise Thomas:

were paying for college. But Saylor looking back on it. Years

Denise Thomas:

later, I realised there was no way they could have afforded

Denise Thomas:

College. We were poor. I didn't know we were poor. Nobody said

Denise Thomas:

we were poor at Slack. Like I said, we had food we had

Denise Thomas:

birthday present a Christmas present, what I didn't realise

Denise Thomas:

until many years later, we shopped at the thrift stores for

Denise Thomas:

clothing. My dad and I would take like little, twice a week

Denise Thomas:

road trips around the neighbourhood on trash night,

Denise Thomas:

looking to see if anybody quote has any good trash. What that

Denise Thomas:

meant was, does anybody have anything that they put out on

Denise Thomas:

their lawn? For the trash that he could fix? A bicycle, a

Denise Thomas:

lawnmower, a desk, a rocking chair, we got all of that,

Denise Thomas:

because somebody put it out on their lawn as trash. Going away,

Denise Thomas:

you would kind of go dumpster diving to find Yes, it was it

Denise Thomas:

was dumpster diving, you know, back when I was a teenager, and

Denise Thomas:

you know, bicycles. And if we had four kids in our family, I

Denise Thomas:

was the oldest bicycles that was handed down bikes, you know, Dad

Denise Thomas:

would slap a new seat on it, paint streamers, and you know,

Denise Thomas:

walleye would get handed down to the next kid. So I didn't

Denise Thomas:

realise any of that growing up. And I went to college on the

Denise Thomas:

Pell Grant, which is for low income families about Yeah, it's

Denise Thomas:

it's it's part of a FAFSA, the Federal Student Aid title you I

Denise Thomas:

know, you're familiar with that, because you fill that out?

Denise Thomas:

Exactly. I am. I filled it out every year. Yeah, every year.

Denise Thomas:

And the Pell Grant, though, is not intended to cover

Denise Thomas:

everything. For college. You're not intended to go away to

Denise Thomas:

school. It's for your local, regional college. And it covers

Denise Thomas:

pretty much most of that for most kids, if they're living at

Denise Thomas:

home. But I didn't live at home. I went away to school. It was a

Denise Thomas:

public school, but I still, even with the Pell Grant, I still had

Denise Thomas:

to work three jobs. And even then, I had to lift food from

Denise Thomas:

the college cafeteria, so I could eat on the weekends. Dang,

Denise Thomas:

I did not want my kids to go through that. No. So that was

Denise Thomas:

where the story began. That was where I got the determination

Denise Thomas:

that, by golly, there's got to be a way what are we missing?

Denise Thomas:

And that's when I started doing the research. And in my research

Denise Thomas:

Saylor, I found that it's 70% of college students graduate with

Denise Thomas:

student loan debt. But I can do the math. That means 30% are

Denise Thomas:

graduating debt free.

Saylor Cooper:

Wow,

Denise Thomas:

what are they doing? And why don't we know

Denise Thomas:

about it? Why isn't the media talking about that?

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah,

Denise Thomas:

I asked to figure out what was going on what was

Denise Thomas:

different. And what I did is, if something I found sounded

Denise Thomas:

remotely like it might have an effect, I put it into action

Denise Thomas:

with my own kids. From late middle school and force, my son

Denise Thomas:

was younger, all the way through high school. In the end, my two

Denise Thomas:

kids were accepted to every college they applied to. With

Denise Thomas:

scholarships, they attended college on 17 scholarships,

Denise Thomas:

totaling more than $199,000. They both walked out of college

Denise Thomas:

debt free with cash leftover.

Saylor Cooper:

Now, I'm now going to detail how did you How

Saylor Cooper:

are you able to allow them to do all that whenever you were broke

Saylor Cooper:

and bankrupt yourself? How in the world? I mean, to me, unless

Saylor Cooper:

you explain how you did it? That's just not possible. What?

Denise Thomas:

Okay, I'm glad you asked. So here's the thing.

Denise Thomas:

When I used to talk about this on stages, I would end with that

Denise Thomas:

and was like, and that'd be it and people what I didn't realise

Denise Thomas:

is that a mom came up to me in 2019 when I got off of a stage

Denise Thomas:

in California and said Your kids must be geniuses, because my kid

Denise Thomas:

applied to 40 scholarships in one night. What I had failed to

Denise Thomas:

mention was that literally half of the scholarships my kids want

Denise Thomas:

$100,000 Worth did not even ask for GPA or test scores. So no,

Denise Thomas:

you don't have to be a genius to win all of these scholarships.

Denise Thomas:

What you do have to do is understand what scholarship

Denise Thomas:

committees are looking for. You have to apply to the right

Denise Thomas:

scholarships, not the wrong ones or sweepstakes drawings. And you

Denise Thomas:

have to know what colleges are looking for early enough, and

Denise Thomas:

scholarships early enough so that you can plan that strategy

Denise Thomas:

throughout high school. So your kids have what they're looking

Denise Thomas:

for. Yes, kids application is that oh my gosh, this kid is

Denise Thomas:

awesome. We're gonna pay them to come here.

Tyler Evans:

There you go

Saylor Cooper:

But I plan to plan ahead.

Denise Thomas:

And we got to plan ahead. You've got to start

Denise Thomas:

early. Sorry. That's not what we're told today. You know, for

Denise Thomas:

decades, we've been telling kids and even my own friends when I

Denise Thomas:

was doing the research, Denise, you're starting to early. Wait

Denise Thomas:

till junior year for that.

Saylor Cooper:

No, now

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, start now. I don't care. Look, I don't care

Denise Thomas:

if you've got a kindergarten kid. There's a scholarship for a

Denise Thomas:

kindergartener. that now you can do it anytime.

Saylor Cooper:

Let's face it. Did you kids graduate, like top

Saylor Cooper:

of the class validictorian and all that? Or were they just?

Denise Thomas:

Well, they're home?

Saylor Cooper:

They will homeschool? Yeah. Oh, they will

Saylor Cooper:

homeschool?

Denise Thomas:

Yes. So their grades are you know? Yeah, they

Denise Thomas:

have no they did not have they did not have perfect AC T scores

Denise Thomas:

or SATs scores. That was good, but certainly not perfect. You

Denise Thomas:

know, not even close.

Saylor Cooper:

So how did they get into all those colleges

Saylor Cooper:

without the scores? Because that's what most colleges

Saylor Cooper:

require unless you go to a community college, right?

Denise Thomas:

Well, they did send their scores in. But the

Denise Thomas:

colleges are looking for three important things. Will you pass

Denise Thomas:

and graduate? That's number one, because they need to have kids

Denise Thomas:

that are going to continue and they're going to stick it out.

Denise Thomas:

And they're going to actually get their diploma, because that

Denise Thomas:

affects some of their statistics, their graduation

Denise Thomas:

statistics. So your child's grades in high school, their

Denise Thomas:

test scores, yes, colleges do still want the tests, even if it

Denise Thomas:

says it's test optional, and also the course rigour. So are

Denise Thomas:

they taking AP classes or dual enrollment classes at the local

Denise Thomas:

community college? Or any or honours classes? What What are

Denise Thomas:

they doing to present themselves academically as trying to go for

Denise Thomas:

something a little harder than, you know, quote, whatever easy

Denise Thomas:

classes might be available?

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly.

Denise Thomas:

Now, for us, we homeschooled. We didn't have

Denise Thomas:

access to AP classes. And the truth is, what parents don't

Denise Thomas:

realise is that high schools add extra points to your GPA when

Denise Thomas:

you take AP classes and honour classes. So you have what's

Denise Thomas:

called a weighted GPA versus an unweighted GPA. Well, every

Denise Thomas:

college strips, those weighted points off of your GPA, they

Denise Thomas:

take it off. They are levelling the playing field, they have

Denise Thomas:

their own formula for recalculating your GPA. And

Denise Thomas:

here's how this works. If your kid, let's, let's say your kid

Denise Thomas:

goes to a high school that has that offers 15 AP classes. And

Denise Thomas:

your kid took 12 AP classes from your school. But there's another

Denise Thomas:

kid applying whose high school only offered two AP classes, and

Denise Thomas:

they took the two that was offered. So it doesn't seem fair

Denise Thomas:

for your kid to get the 12 Extra points because they took those

Denise Thomas:

AP classes, then this other kid who didn't have that chance. So

Denise Thomas:

they're going to weigh this and they're going to recalculate it

Denise Thomas:

based on how many you took and and what's available. So if your

Denise Thomas:

high school offered 15, and you only took two? Well, now they're

Denise Thomas:

wondering why only two, yet the other kid who's only offered two

Denise Thomas:

classes, and you took all of what was available, that looks

Denise Thomas:

even better. So it's just it's a, it's just a way of looking at

Denise Thomas:

it for the college. They want to know that you are taking

Denise Thomas:

rigorous classes and that you're trying really hard and that

Denise Thomas:

you're getting good grades. So that's number one. Number two,

Denise Thomas:

they want to know how do you fit into the campus community.

Denise Thomas:

They're looking at your extracurricular activities. Did

Denise Thomas:

you have a job? What kind of community service have you done

Denise Thomas:

things like that? So I call that the resume portion of your

Denise Thomas:

application. What that tells them is what do you love? What

Denise Thomas:

is it that lights up your kid And the kid that bounces around

Denise Thomas:

from one thing to another, that doesn't tell them anything, it

Denise Thomas:

might say that you're trying to pad your resume with a bunch of

Denise Thomas:

stuff that you really didn't care about. So they're not

Denise Thomas:

looking for the jack of all trades. They're looking for that

Denise Thomas:

one or two things that says who you really are. And what is in

Denise Thomas:

your heart. What what thing that you do that you absolutely love?

Denise Thomas:

Doing is there's one internet Yeah, exactly.

Saylor Cooper:

How What I'm trying to guess since your kids

Saylor Cooper:

were homeschooled. How did you kids, like, get into those

Saylor Cooper:

colleges? How did they meet those requirements? How do they

Saylor Cooper:

deal with all the AP requirements you're talking

Saylor Cooper:

about and extracurricular activities since they were

Saylor Cooper:

homeschooled? That's what I'm trying to get.

Denise Thomas:

Right, right. Well, homeschoolers do have

Denise Thomas:

options. You may not have cheerleading, you may not have

Denise Thomas:

dance team. But you may have a local dance facility, a building

Denise Thomas:

a place that has dance classes, you may have, let's say your

Denise Thomas:

child likes to play baseball, you might have the local

Denise Thomas:

recreational park that has baseball for your for your boys

Denise Thomas:

or girls. You may have softball, you may have all kinds of sports

Denise Thomas:

available. There's other things as well, for example, if your

Denise Thomas:

kid likes to play chess, okay, maybe he starts his own chess

Denise Thomas:

club. He can start it online, have a you know, and and do a

Denise Thomas:

Zoom Room type of chess club, right? You can play chess like

Denise Thomas:

that.

Saylor Cooper:

Right?

Denise Thomas:

You could you could do if you can start at

Denise Thomas:

your own high school if you have a high school if you

Denise Thomas:

traditionally schooled. So they're looking for, what is it

Denise Thomas:

that is going to take you hopefully from freshman year all

Denise Thomas:

the way through high school, but certainly at least sophomore

Denise Thomas:

year, all the way through. And here's why. Saylor back when I

Denise Thomas:

was in, I'm sorry. Not submitted until the spring of senior year.

Denise Thomas:

But today, college applications are submitted early fall of

Denise Thomas:

senior year. Wow. So if your kid, so regardless of what it is

Denise Thomas:

that you have, whether it's an activity or grades, freshman,

Denise Thomas:

sophomore, and junior year is what counts. You're not even

Denise Thomas:

putting on senior year activities, because you haven't

Denise Thomas:

started senior year for a lot of these kids when they put in

Denise Thomas:

their applications. Exactly. So you've got to lead up to and

Denise Thomas:

plan to already have things that have leadership in it or that

Denise Thomas:

look like leadership. And leadership doesn't have to be

Denise Thomas:

you know, president or vice president of a club. Leadership

Denise Thomas:

looks like a lot of things. But for my kids, you ask, what did

Denise Thomas:

they do for their coursework, or they didn't have AP classes?

Denise Thomas:

They took a couple of community college classes while they were

Denise Thomas:

in high school, and how that all they were homeschooled. I see.

Denise Thomas:

While they were homeschooled. We as far as activities, they

Denise Thomas:

didn't have band and they didn't have you know, Student Body

Denise Thomas:

Government. My daughter was a dancer. So in high school, she

Denise Thomas:

did ballroom dancing. My son did martial arts. So he had martial

Denise Thomas:

arts from the time he was three years old. And he loved that

Denise Thomas:

and, and ended up with his third degree black belt by the time he

Denise Thomas:

graduated from high school. And he was an instructor as well. So

Denise Thomas:

but you know, I say there's always this one thing, but it

Denise Thomas:

can be more than one thing your kid can they can be in

Denise Thomas:

leadership in their youth group at church.

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly, exactly.

Denise Thomas:

So many Options.

Saylor Cooper:

I mean, as long as the homes it makes sense as

Saylor Cooper:

long as homeschoolers, even though like they may not there

Saylor Cooper:

may not be extracurricular activities at first because

Saylor Cooper:

obviously to mean homeschooled, as long as they get engaged

Saylor Cooper:

within their surrounding community say like, all the

Saylor Cooper:

homeschoolers get together and, you know, create a club,

Saylor Cooper:

assemble activities, just stuff to do or say if they volunteer

Saylor Cooper:

for church, that all counts. Everything counts. Everything

Saylor Cooper:

counts. Yeah, literally. And I don't care if you're

Saylor Cooper:

homeschooled or or traditionally schooled everything from the

Saylor Cooper:

second your kid gets out of eighth grade. So the summer

Saylor Cooper:

between eighth and ninth grade is your ninth grade summer store

Saylor Cooper:

starting there, everything counts that your child has done

Saylor Cooper:

if they if they got up out of bed, went to school, came home

Saylor Cooper:

and did homework. Okay, what else is there?

Denise Thomas:

Hopefully not just played video games 24/7

Denise Thomas:

After that, no, no. If that is your kid, too. Teach them coding

Denise Thomas:

and have them learn how to write video games. And yeah, tell them

Denise Thomas:

to their friends.

Tyler Evans:

Okay, you go, there you go.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah, that's a good one,

Denise Thomas:

then there's always something think outside

Denise Thomas:

of the box. Okay, I'd love to.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah.

Denise Thomas:

So the third thing that colleges are looking

Denise Thomas:

for, and this is sometimes kind of a gut feeling. What kind of

Denise Thomas:

an alumni, will you be? How will your adult life reflect back on

Denise Thomas:

your alum, your your alma mater, they're looking for the next,

Denise Thomas:

Elon Musk. They're looking for the next Michelle Obama after

Denise Thomas:

he's not going to be as an adult. Exactly.

Tyler Evans:

Right.

Denise Thomas:

And there's a there's a gut feeling about

Denise Thomas:

that, depending on what your kid has accomplished during high

Denise Thomas:

school, you know, and some of it is community service. I

Denise Thomas:

mentioned that before. It is a good indicator, if if colleges

Denise Thomas:

are looking at two kids that have the same GPA, same test

Denise Thomas:

scores, they're going into the same field. And maybe, maybe

Denise Thomas:

they have the same activities. Right?

Saylor Cooper:

Right.

Denise Thomas:

But if one of them has only the number of

Denise Thomas:

community service hours required for graduation, maybe it's 25

Denise Thomas:

for their state, or 50. And the other kids has 100, or more

Denise Thomas:

community service hours in a specific area that they love.

Denise Thomas:

What that tells the college is that here is someone who is

Denise Thomas:

likely to continue serving their community in some way as an

Denise Thomas:

adult. And that reflects back on their college,

Saylor Cooper:

it does sure does. up as valuable, well said,

Saylor Cooper:

then this makes sense. And you've done a great job now, are

Saylor Cooper:

you? You, obviously you prepared early, you prepared your kids

Saylor Cooper:

early, even though financially, you're weren't in the best

Saylor Cooper:

shape. Now, how did y'all get out of that hole out of that?

Saylor Cooper:

Out of that Bankruptcy? I mean, get your husband get another

Saylor Cooper:

job? Like, what? How did y'all get out of that?

Denise Thomas:

I'm glad you asked. Okay, so that lawncare

Denise Thomas:

business, the mowing lawns to put food on the table. We grew

Denise Thomas:

that to a six figure company. And we did that by showing up

Denise Thomas:

literally by showing up, what we realise is that a lot of the

Denise Thomas:

service oriented companies, at least in our own personal

Denise Thomas:

experience, just didn't show up when they said they would. But

Denise Thomas:

if you showed up, guess what? You get paid. And if you show up

Denise Thomas:

all the time, regularly, every time you get referrals. And if

Denise Thomas:

you do an excellent job at what you're been hired to do. It's

Denise Thomas:

it's it just grows by leaps and bounds. And I'll give you an

Denise Thomas:

example of that. When my husband would be called up and asking

Denise Thomas:

somebody would ask, Hey, you know, I'd like you to come give

Denise Thomas:

us a bid and tell us what it would cost to have you come do

Denise Thomas:

our lawn on a regular basis. Cool. And he would say Well,

Denise Thomas:

before I come over once you go over to a couple of these other

Denise Thomas:

houses in your neighbourhood that I do, so that you can see

Denise Thomas:

the kind of work and oh, well you know, it's just mowing. No,

Denise Thomas:

it's not just mowing the grass, I promise you go take a look at

Denise Thomas:

you. Matter of fact, I'll just give you the corner address. And

Denise Thomas:

I'm not even going to tell you which house it is. And you'll be

Denise Thomas:

able to tell which one is mine. That is how good of a job he

Denise Thomas:

did.

Saylor Cooper:

So he worked as he worked his tail off and you

Saylor Cooper:

see I see on paper I can then job because even though you're

Saylor Cooper:

in a hole, struggling financially, y'all put your

Saylor Cooper:

bootstraps up. Even though you were on the floor, just crying.

Saylor Cooper:

And y'all y'all didn't stop. Y'all just started a company

Saylor Cooper:

yourself instead of him looking for another job and I really

Saylor Cooper:

commend Java that which is the reason why me and Tyler doing

Saylor Cooper:

this entrepreneurship journey as you know, it's it's it's so hard

Saylor Cooper:

for us to find jobs as disabled people for obvious reasons

Saylor Cooper:

employers just don't want to understand and it's it's not

Saylor Cooper:

only frustrating and it's wrong, and that's why, you know, I even

Saylor Cooper:

though This journey I'm on is unknown. I'm still figuring

Saylor Cooper:

stuff out putting up pieces together. I commend myself for

Saylor Cooper:

standing up and going out there fearless and just jumping out

Saylor Cooper:

jumping ships swimming and doing it and I know we talked about

Saylor Cooper:

this before but I've and I'm figuring it out more and more

Saylor Cooper:

I've been working with Michelle Abraham gonna set up membership

Saylor Cooper:

sites for the podcast I now you do you do do you do paid

Saylor Cooper:

speaking or speak to sell

Denise Thomas:

both actually paid speaking and speak to sell

Denise Thomas:

I'm going to be at six conferences this year already?

Denise Thomas:

Five homeschool conferences and one financial conference that

Denise Thomas:

happens to be in Florida that one I can it's not as far from

Denise Thomas:

me as the others. I love I love speaking speaking is great.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah, cuz I'm, I'm gonna do for now, because I

Saylor Cooper:

don't have any offers yet. That still stay. I'm still on that

Saylor Cooper:

stage, as you know, but I did sign up with Frank king he and I

Saylor Cooper:

were going to start working together I'm going to do paid

Saylor Cooper:

speaking gigs at colleges, associations, even cruises. I

Saylor Cooper:

signed up for flank because you know, Joe, Mr. Always good

Saylor Cooper:

speakers Playhouse live. That's what he recommended. She

Saylor Cooper:

recommended. He recommended his programme. He recommended

Saylor Cooper:

Frank's programme for me over play 100 Because Because play

Saylor Cooper:

100 It's more speak to sell and plus, I don't know what I don't

Saylor Cooper:

know what you've seen with me what. But what Mr. Always could

Saylor Cooper:

have seen with me is that I could be very good at paid

Saylor Cooper:

speaking. That's my niche.

Denise Thomas:

I agree. I agree. And Frank is awesome. I'm also

Denise Thomas:

working with Frank. Just so you know.

Saylor Cooper:

Oh, good.

Denise Thomas:

Frank is fabulous. And yeah, you know,

Denise Thomas:

it's interesting. When my daughter was 16 years old. She

Denise Thomas:

had started competing in ballroom dance, I think she was

Denise Thomas:

14. And at age 16, she had three dance partners for three

Denise Thomas:

different styles of dance for a regional championship. And it

Denise Thomas:

was probably about May, April or May of that year. And we were at

Denise Thomas:

a friend's house having a crawfish boil, everybody was

Denise Thomas:

having a good time and they had just put up a zipline in their

Denise Thomas:

yard. So everybody was enjoying the zipline. And then my

Denise Thomas:

daughter gets on it and she slips off from the top like from

Denise Thomas:

the platform at the top and she breaks her pelvis play

Saylor Cooper:

Ouch Ouch

Denise Thomas:

This was not only painful for her but devastating

Denise Thomas:

because she was six weeks from this ballroom dance

Denise Thomas:

championship. Now the reason I'm bringing this up is because for

Denise Thomas:

the first several weeks, she was pretty much on bed rest I mean,

Denise Thomas:

she was not allowed to move this it was like just don't freakin

Denise Thomas:

move. The doctor said you just can't move this is we are we are

Denise Thomas:

we have got to get the bone to start healing. And luckily

Denise Thomas:

because it's not a straight bone bones that are curved in our

Denise Thomas:

body will heal a lot faster. So as long as she didn't move and

Denise Thomas:

she stayed stationary for a few weeks, you would be be okay. So

Denise Thomas:

she stayed still stayed home didn't go anywhere. But once she

Denise Thomas:

was allowed to be in a wheelchair, we would take her to

Denise Thomas:

you know, just to get out of the house, we would go to Walmart

Denise Thomas:

and you know TJ Maxx and some other stores. She found how un

Denise Thomas:

physical disability friendly the stores are. And then she became

Denise Thomas:

an advocate. And she would write the stores and let them know

Denise Thomas:

what they needed to make changes with.

Saylor Cooper:

The accident was a blessing in disguise in a way

Denise Thomas:

it was it was an eye opener even for us because

Denise Thomas:

you know, we're not physically disabled. So we don't generally

Denise Thomas:

even pay attention to whether or not a doorway is wide enough or

Denise Thomas:

the dressing rooms at the store. Can you get in and out of it

Denise Thomas:

with a wheelchair, you know, and they might appear to be large

Denise Thomas:

enough. But for reals they're not and it's just something that

Denise Thomas:

they you have to put yourself in a wheelchair to know that. So

Denise Thomas:

that was quite interesting, but fast forward just want to finish

Denise Thomas:

that story with her. She last couple of weeks, last three

Denise Thomas:

weeks or so, before the competition, she's in the

Denise Thomas:

wheelchair she's not allowed to get up. That's it wheelchair and

Denise Thomas:

bed. She had the three dance partners one of them had never

Denise Thomas:

competed before he says I'm out I can't not practice and compete

Denise Thomas:

can't can't possibly do that. The other was her brother she

Denise Thomas:

was going to compete with the passa doble with her brother.

Denise Thomas:

But the doctor was very specific. He said you cannot do

Denise Thomas:

that pounding with the passa Doble, even even after your

Denise Thomas:

quote, ready. It's just not there's no too soon too soon for

Denise Thomas:

that. So that was out. And the other gentleman had competed

Denise Thomas:

before. He was willing to be coached by her from the

Denise Thomas:

wheelchair while I was filling in for her as his dance partner,

Denise Thomas:

and she would coach him as to what he was doing and not doing

Denise Thomas:

so that the doctor told her in order to compete, you cannot

Denise Thomas:

practice at all you will get out of that wheelchair and walk onto

Denise Thomas:

the dance floor. And that's exactly what she did. And she

Denise Thomas:

won that competition.

Saylor Cooper:

So she she was able to participate in that

Saylor Cooper:

competition and won it after all, cool

Denise Thomas:

even without practising it was just muscle

Denise Thomas:

memory. It was muscle memory. And she did have a little bit of

Denise Thomas:

physical therapy and the physical therapist, we gave him

Denise Thomas:

tapes of her her performances before so that he could see how

Denise Thomas:

she was supposed to be able to move. And he was very thankful

Denise Thomas:

because hadn't I had he not seen that he's a physical therapist

Denise Thomas:

for professional athletes. So we made sure that she was going to

Denise Thomas:

the right person in those last couple of weeks. And he told us

Denise Thomas:

the thing he said, the difference between professional

Denise Thomas:

aid and everybody else is the amount of pain you're willing to

Denise Thomas:

go through. To get back on the field.

Saylor Cooper:

And now your daughter is fine.

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, absolutely. While still dancing, still

Denise Thomas:

dancing.

Saylor Cooper:

What a story. And so, of course, I imagine you're

Saylor Cooper:

no longer bankrupt anymore. You're you're financially set.

Saylor Cooper:

So you had to give up that first house. Yeah. Hello, everybody.

Saylor Cooper:

What house are you in now?

Denise Thomas:

hahaha Well, I am in an aeroplane hangar. I live

Denise Thomas:

in an apartment in an aeroplane hangar on an active private

Denise Thomas:

airport in Florida. My husband, my husband hobby is flying

Denise Thomas:

aeroplanes.

Tyler Evans:

Ooh,

Saylor Cooper:

what aeroplanes? Does he fly? The 730 sevens

Saylor Cooper:

have?

Denise Thomas:

No, he has a Cessna. And I can't tell you

Denise Thomas:

which one because I stay on the ground and take pictures. I

Denise Thomas:

don't fly.

Saylor Cooper:

Wow.

Denise Thomas:

So that you know going through all of that is why

Denise Thomas:

I'm able to help other families. If it had not been for us going

Denise Thomas:

through that bankruptcy, I never would have gone through that

Denise Thomas:

effort to find out what to do. I would have been just like every

Denise Thomas:

other family either in debt co signing for our kids loans or

Denise Thomas:

using using up our retirement for it right. So it was a

Denise Thomas:

blessing was definitely a blessing.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah, and I think we're I'm going through now, as

Saylor Cooper:

you know, what I'm feeling is totally normal, still figuring

Saylor Cooper:

things out. I tell myself, when this is all said and done. I'm

Saylor Cooper:

not gonna look back. I'll never have to worry about finding

Saylor Cooper:

another job again, which is going to be exactly credible.

Saylor Cooper:

And so how many tedX, have you been on speeches have you given

Saylor Cooper:

and what are your future goals?

Denise Thomas:

Well, I've only done one TEDx. And as much as I

Denise Thomas:

would love to do another one that is not at the forefront of

Denise Thomas:

my my goal. What's on the forefront for me is speaking as

Denise Thomas:

often as I possibly can to families to get as many families

Denise Thomas:

as possible on board so that they too can crack the code of

Denise Thomas:

free college for their kids and their grandkids. The the way the

Denise Thomas:

difference between coming out of college with debt and coming out

Denise Thomas:

debt free. The amount of freedom is just just incredible. Your

Denise Thomas:

kids can do anything when they come out of college without that

Denise Thomas:

monkey on their back.

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly. but also just like also just know that

Saylor Cooper:

college indeed is not for everybody, you know?

Denise Thomas:

Absolutely. That is the thing that I know, you

Denise Thomas:

don't have to go to college to be successful in life. No, that

Denise Thomas:

is another myths are a lie or belief that has been perpetuated

Denise Thomas:

for decades. It's why we are lacking. And in need of the

Denise Thomas:

trades. There's not enough mechanics, there's not enough

Denise Thomas:

electricians or plumbers, or hairdressers, or name the trade.

Denise Thomas:

Because we've been telling people you have to go to

Denise Thomas:

college.

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly.

Denise Thomas:

And the amount of requirement,

Saylor Cooper:

maybe you should even add that to your portfolio

Saylor Cooper:

too, because I went to college for two years that I didn't

Saylor Cooper:

finish, because I just, I just didn't like it was just too

Saylor Cooper:

much. And also, I'm going to mention the frank. The topic I

Saylor Cooper:

really want to cover at colleges is I'm not going to go into the

Saylor Cooper:

specifics, but I want to, I want to spread a message about

Saylor Cooper:

preventing hazing. And a lot of the A lot, a lot of the bad

Saylor Cooper:

stuff that happens in fraternities, because I'm not

Saylor Cooper:

gonna go into the specifics, but my sister had a really bad

Saylor Cooper:

experience in college, and a fraternity and it really, it

Saylor Cooper:

really has affected you know, myself and my family.

Saylor Cooper:

financially, emotionally, it just, it just has cost us

Saylor Cooper:

everything. And so what I want to work on is just spreading

Saylor Cooper:

awareness. You know, if you're gonna go to college, please be

Saylor Cooper:

very careful. And don't don't get yourself into trouble when

Saylor Cooper:

you don't need to, and just fraternities and sororities if

Saylor Cooper:

you're going to be on campus, behave yourself, you know.

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, I think kids don't understand that.

Denise Thomas:

Technically, they're adults at that age. And they they should,

Denise Thomas:

they should understand responsibility.

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah,

Denise Thomas:

and how their actions affect other people. A

Denise Thomas:

lot of that, I believe, Saylor, I'm not going to, you know, go

Denise Thomas:

on too much of a tangent here. But a lot of that comes with how

Denise Thomas:

kids are raised, you know, I fully believe that a lot of

Denise Thomas:

today's woes. And look, I am, I'm not a Dr. Seuss person or

Denise Thomas:

whatever, you know, I, I believe that parents do have an

Denise Thomas:

extraordinary impact on how their kids turn out as adults.

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly.

Denise Thomas:

You know, and it some of it stems from very

Denise Thomas:

young, emotional trauma, you know, or not, et cetera, how you

Denise Thomas:

handle things. And, you know, just just the simple things.

Denise Thomas:

Inherently parent says, Oh, my kids come home, comes home from

Denise Thomas:

college and, you know, leaves everything laying on the floor,

Denise Thomas:

and just respectful and, you know, coming in and all our

Saylor Cooper:

Yeah.

Denise Thomas:

Nothing changed between, did you think there was

Denise Thomas:

suddenly going to grow up from high school to college? You

Denise Thomas:

know, what, were they able to pick up their clothes when they

Denise Thomas:

were in high school? Or, you know, or, you know, did you have

Denise Thomas:

a curfew, then do they understand that mom and dad have

Denise Thomas:

to go to work in the morning? You know, it's, it's about

Denise Thomas:

communication. It's about understanding and train, it's

Denise Thomas:

training, training your kids to be adults that can go out into

Denise Thomas:

the community and serve other people?

Saylor Cooper:

Yes, indeed. Yes. You know, yeah. So

Denise Thomas:

yeah, I'm excited for you, Saylor.

Saylor Cooper:

Thank you, Denise. And so, I know you have

Saylor Cooper:

an affiliate programme. Please share that, and I'd be happy to

Saylor Cooper:

help promote it.

Denise Thomas:

Awesome. Well, first of all, if, if any other

Denise Thomas:

entrepreneurs out there would love to promote what I do, I do

Denise Thomas:

have an affiliate programme. And I would love to have you on

Denise Thomas:

board helping to support families, to be able to get that

Denise Thomas:

message out. I have a gift for parents and grandparents if you

Denise Thomas:

are interested. It is a 12 point checklist. So that if and when

Denise Thomas:

your children apply to colleges and scholarships, get this

Denise Thomas:

checklist and don't submit until you've checked all these boxes,

Denise Thomas:

because these are the things that colleges and scholarship

Denise Thomas:

committees see. That automatically puts your kids

Denise Thomas:

application in file 13, which is the trash bin. Yes. And I

Denise Thomas:

believe I had that in the show notes as well. Awesome.

Saylor Cooper:

So I don't believe I have anything else but

Saylor Cooper:

before we wrap up with our customary ending Tyler do You

Saylor Cooper:

have any other questions for for our guests today?

Tyler Evans:

Um, well, I believe, who was it that was at

Tyler Evans:

your daughter that was submitting information to stores

Tyler Evans:

about the decision about how not disabled friendly, really

Tyler Evans:

friendly? Well, I had an experience where I was in

Tyler Evans:

college, I was at a junior college. And I noticed one of

Tyler Evans:

the buildings was not brailled. And so what I did, I contacted

Tyler Evans:

the dean of the Community College, the, of that building.

Tyler Evans:

And just before I graduated, they got the project on it. And,

Tyler Evans:

and the building is now brailled the classroom doors are brailed

Tyler Evans:

now. That's fabulous.

Denise Thomas:

I love it. I love it. Yeah, if you saw something,

Denise Thomas:

say something, right?

Saylor Cooper:

Exactly.

Denise Thomas:

You don't have to live with it. If it's if it's,

Denise Thomas:

you know, not helpful ask people to make a change. And that's

Denise Thomas:

right. And I believe employers, if they just know, if they knew

Denise Thomas:

our situation about blindness, I do believe that most of them

Denise Thomas:

will work with 100% believe and that's what are out there.

Tyler Evans:

That's right, because blind people don't just

Tyler Evans:

have to be entrepreneurs that can work.

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, absolutely. So many options out there for

Denise Thomas:

people to speaker is also a great option. Right?

Tyler Evans:

I mean, blind people can clean it, they clean

Tyler Evans:

their houses. I mean, I clean my bathroom by myself.

Denise Thomas:

Yeah, it's just about getting to know your

Denise Thomas:

environment and and the your senses. Everybody knows this.

Denise Thomas:

You know, when when you're blind, do your senses. other

Denise Thomas:

senses are enhanced? And I believe your memory is enhanced.

Saylor Cooper:

Oh, for sure. Yeah,

Denise Thomas:

So your memory for spatial awareness. Right. So

Denise Thomas:

certainly you can be look, I paid good money to have my house

Denise Thomas:

cleaned.

Tyler Evans:

Yeah,

Denise Thomas:

because it was important to me.

Tyler Evans:

Yeah, have you ever had a blind person clean your

Tyler Evans:

house?

Denise Thomas:

Oh, we did not have a blind person from our

Denise Thomas:

church. I had somebody from our church do it for me. I wanted to

Denise Thomas:

keep the money in the family.

Tyler Evans:

Cool

Denise Thomas:

Oh my so our take our customary ending So Denise

Denise Thomas:

is despite everything you've been through, it's clear come

Denise Thomas:

out on top from bankrupt to

Saylor Cooper:

I don't know if I should say wealthy

Denise Thomas:

Living in an Aeroplane hangar. Yes. Wealthy,

Denise Thomas:

definitely comfortable,

Saylor Cooper:

a wealthy entrepreneur to helping other

Saylor Cooper:

college kids go to college fleet get flee. What advice would you

Saylor Cooper:

give to anybody who is struggling in life and doesn't

Saylor Cooper:

know where to turn and doesn't even know if they're gonna come

Saylor Cooper:

out on top of not

Denise Thomas:

one of the things that I learned from my dad and

Denise Thomas:

remember, we we grew up poor. But he always smiled. There was

Denise Thomas:

always a silver lining. I don't care what the situation is. And

Denise Thomas:

you may not see that silver lining today. But at some point

Denise Thomas:

in time, God is going to show you where that thing is.

Tyler Evans:

There you go. Yes.

Denise Thomas:

This whatever struggle you're going through

Denise Thomas:

right now. This is a moment in time. It'll pass it there is

Denise Thomas:

there is something next something good coming out of it

Denise Thomas:

later.

Saylor Cooper:

Yes. Wow,

Tyler Evans:

there you go.

Saylor Cooper:

Well, Denise, thank you so much for being on

Saylor Cooper:

hope without sight. Everybody please giving up for Denise

Saylor Cooper:

Thomas, cracking a code free college. Stay blessed.

Denise Thomas:

Thank you so much, Saylor.