[00:00:06] Viktoriia Miracle: Hello, hello and welcome back to happy time happy money podcasts with Viktoriia Miracle and today's guest we have Tawnya Schultz. She is the founder of The Money Life Coach an online programs helping people learn how to budget, pay off debt, invest in leave legacy. After being in debt, most of her life, Tanya decided to turn her life around at the age of 34 and aggressively pay off 28,000 of debt in less than a year.

[00:00:41] Tanya posts, weekly videos and daily tips on Instagram with almost 75,000 followers on TikTok. So we'll all get to go and watch her videos on TikTok. Hi, Tanya, and welcome.

[00:00:55] Tawnya Schultz: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

[00:00:58] Viktoriia Miracle: Absolutely. Well, I would love to learn more about you. How did you start in it and anything you want for this?

[00:01:09] Tawnya Schultz: Yeah. So I guess I've always, all my life had been interested in finance, but at a young age, I had my family lived paycheck to paycheck. So there was always this struggle around money growing up and I felt that energetically as a kid. And so basically I was the kid. I would, you know, I got side jobs at a young age and started making my own money basically, because I was like, I need to help in any way I can.

[00:01:35] And through that journey, you know, you become an adult and then you go to school and you're like, I need to have some student loans, right? Like that's how I get through school. And then you get a credit card. Well, this all started happening for me. And then all of a sudden it's like all of a sudden I have all this debt.

[00:01:53] And it feels like it happens so quickly. So I was basically felt like I was always trying to pay off my debt, but kept getting back into debt. And it was just the cycle I was on for over 15 years, no, 20 to almost 35. And what really hit me at 34, was I moved in with my boyfriend and I was immediately like, if anything happened, I don't have any savings.

[00:02:18] I'm in debt. I'm barely making money right now. And that whole, I felt really disempowered, especially as a woman, you know, feeling like, I feel almost trapped in this situation, even though I was selectively living there, but what would I do if something, if I had to move out. And so that's when it really hit me that I wanted to take control and ownership into my own hands.

[00:02:41] And I just started educating myself, listening to podcasts like this reading books and doing everything I can to learn about personal finance. And then that's what really sent me off this journey. And as I worked my way out of debt and became debt free for the first time in my life, I felt really empowered to help other women do the same because I was like this feeling's amazing.

[00:03:03] It's just so freeing and now I feel empowered and in control of my finances.

[00:03:07] Viktoriia Miracle: Oh, congratulations. That is impressive, you know, and empowering as well. And

[00:03:13] Tawnya Schultz: thank you.

[00:03:13] Viktoriia Miracle: Now you have the academy, right? The money life coach platform, and like, what is exactly do? Like what does the money coach do in general?

[00:03:26] Tawnya Schultz: Yeah. So there's a couple of things I'm going to coach does. And I got a training, I got a certification through a financial life coach training. So I was really interested in life coaching in general, and that ability to help somebody with something in their life that they're struggling with. And I always liked teaching people and helping people.

[00:03:45] So I got a health coach or a training and finances and then I started the money life coach as my platform. And through that platform, I do one-on-one coaching. I do group coaching and I have my own money life coach course. So budgeting and money mindset course, and really what a money coach does is they help people with their personal finances and their financial foundation.

[00:04:10] So a lot of people don't even know where to start. Like they, people get so like tunnel vision, especially when they're stressed about money. They're like, I don't know how to budget like we've never been taught how to budget. So I help them set up their budget, have a system that works for them, whatever their goals are to pay off debt, save money, invest, whatever it is.

[00:04:30] And then really working through some of those limiting beliefs that we have around money, right? Like a lot of people have these blocks from childhood and a lot of things that through growing up. That have blocked us from making the money and bring abundance into our life. So we really work on those shifts. Those mindset shifts as well.

[00:04:50] Viktoriia Miracle: I think, yeah, mindset. It's one of the most important things for sure. And the patterns that we get, like you said, you lived in the family that was living paycheck to paycheck. The same for me like I was living paycheck to paycheck, but the same also my parents saved like everything they're really good at saving and I wasn't really good at saving at some point.

[00:05:12] Oh, no, I went to break us. I wouldn't buy something for myself, like why I'm always saving, saving, saving, and then the God it's like, kind of like opposite way for a little bit, but that's we always, you know, try two different extremes, I guess. So what would you say was your like number, you know, one thing that you've done when he was getting out of dead budgets thing, because everybody say budget, budget, budget, but there's something sometimes we can't budget sometimes we can. And there is something else that drives successfully the person to pay off the debt, or still be in a debt all the time.

[00:05:50] Tawnya Schultz: There was a couple of things that two things that really drove me were the reason why I wanted to get out of debt. They want to live debt free, but they don't have like a really strong why to why they want him to get out of debt.

[00:06:01] And I had a really strong reason for not feeling financially, financially stuck with somebody because of situation. You know, I didn't, I wanted to change that habit. And then I also really listened to people's podcasts like this like inspirational ones and listening to people's stories of them getting out of debt and the money shifts that they had made, because I felt like listening to enough of that.

[00:06:25] All of a sudden, it, it starts, you start to believe that you can do this too. It's like decides that it just sometimes feels like you're alone a lot when it comes to personal finance or your situation is different, but there's actually a lot of people dealing with those feelings and trying to work through that as well. So getting that inspiration was really helpful and I listened to people's stories like almost daily to get that in.

[00:06:47] Viktoriia Miracle: Oh, I love it. And you're not the first person to actually say that. So if you're listening to this, you know, episodes and you will definitely notice that, you know, I keep hearing, it's like, I've listened I've just emerged myself in a daily. And that would actually help me to just, I'm not always come back to the pattern, to the old patterns. Got it. Well, thank you so much. And the last question I have for you is that I wanted to fill in the blank in the sentence for me. And it sounds like it, if you really knew me, you will know that I am blank.

[00:07:25] Tawnya Schultz: If you really knew me, you would know that I am. That's a hard one. That I am excited for everyone to, and I really, my mission is to help millions of people pay off debt and take control of their financial future. So I feel like the biggest thing for me is to be able to give back and help others and that's really what drives me as well.

[00:07:56] Viktoriia Miracle: Thank you.

[00:07:57] Tawnya Schultz: I think that filled it in.

[00:07:59] Viktoriia Miracle: No, they're all good. It's, it's there's no right or wrong answer and I know you have a gift for my oldest today. What did you prepare?

[00:08:10] Tawnya Schultz: Yeah, I have a free budget tracker and it's the same budget tracker that I used and that I use every month and I paid off $28,000 of debt in eight months using this tracker.

[00:08:20] So I really am an advocate of budgeting and sticking to a budget every month to hit your goals. So I have a free budget tracker at the moneylifecoach.com and you can also book a free call with me there to connect.

[00:08:32] Viktoriia Miracle: Awesome. Thank you so much. And if you're watching or listening to this episode, you can scroll down there's going to be a link to the page, and there's going to be all links that were mentioned, about in this episode. And definitely send me a message, send message to Tawnya about what do you love? What do you didn't like? What if I have any questions, and as always, if you'll leave a review, subscribe and rate that will warms my heart.

[00:09:00] Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you, Tawnya.

[00:09:03] Tawnya Schultz: You're welcome everyone.

[00:09:04] Viktoriia Miracle: See you next time everyone. Bye.