Paying off student loan debt can seem impossible, especially if, like Colette Louis, your debt balance exceeds six figures.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, entrepreneur and stay-at-home mom of two earned three degrees in search of a high-paying job. But despite her qualifications, her salary wasn't enough to pay off her looming $120,000 in student loan debt. When she turned to social media for an outlet, she didn't realize she was taking the first step toward earning enough to pay off her debt.
After receiving two bachelor's degrees, one in marketing and one in business and entrepreneurship, the highest paying job Louis could find was as a bank teller, making $25,000 a year.
“I thought once I got my degree, it would be easy to get a job. [I wanted]”But that wasn't the case,” Louis said.
She eventually moved to a private banking position, where her salary rose to $45,000 a year. But it wasn't enough. So she went back to school to get a master's in business administration. After grad school, she became a mortgage loan officer, earning an extra $5,000 a year. But her huge student loan balance still felt like a burden. Until now.
Louis has built an incredible social media following and is on track to pay off his student loan balance by the end of July. Learn how Louis started a serendipitous side hustle and paid off over $100,000 in debt.
She faced the mental strain of debt.
Despite being told she'd be able to earn more by attending college and getting a degree, Louis found herself struggling with astronomical debt. Six-figure debt haunted her for years, and it came with a level of shame she wasn't ready to face, so she hid her financial struggles.
Looking back, she wishes she had changed her attitude toward debt sooner.
Colette Louis and her family
“I was doing well financially, but I had so much student loan debt that I felt like I was a burden to my family,” she said in an Instagram Reels in 2023. “I was kind of embarrassed about that.”
But after receiving a flood of comments from people who felt the same way about their student loan balances, she realized she wasn't alone.
“I think talking about this more will help us all be creative and think of different ways to pay that money back,” Louis said.
By 2018, Louis had quit her job as a mortgage loan officer and started two companies with her husband: QC Lights, which rents out marquee lights, and QC Booths, which rents out photo booths for events. The two Charlotte-based businesses were successful enough that Louis was able to work from home with their children by his side most of the time.
But her loan balance wasn't going down. Before the pandemic, she was on an income-contingent repayment plan and was paying less than $400 a month. Then the pandemic paused student loan payments, but it also shut down her family's business. In-person events were canceled, and she and her husband became worried about their financial future.
At the same time, she discovered a new passion for social media content, so she began showcasing her lifestyle and motherhood on Instagram, which began to gain traction and she established a larger social media presence as “simplycolette.”
Follow
As her follower count grew, she decided to turn her social media accounts into a business opportunity. She continued to do so even after her rental business finally picked up. By the end of 2023, she planned to use all the money she made from her social media pages to pay off her student loans. Aside from the mortgage she shares with her husband, Louis' only outstanding debt was her student loan balance.
How Louis makes money on social media
Louis makes money in three different ways: views, affiliate links, and brand deals.
💰 Social media views. She earns money on every platform where she posts content, and on average makes hundreds of dollars a month per view.
💰💰 Affiliate link. Through affiliate links (links with tracking codes assigned), Lui can further increase her income. For example, Lui recently posted a social video on juicing options for children's colds and illnesses. If someone purchases a juicer through her link, she will receive a commission from the company.
💰💰💰 Brand partnerships. The majority of Louis' income comes from brands in exchange for featuring their products. Brand deals vary from month to month, but he typically earns thousands of dollars per branded post. Louis secures new brand deals by tagging brands in his product posts. This strategy has landed Louis multiple brand deals.
She also became more mindful of her spending habits.
As an influencer, Louis knows that social media can make it very easy to spend money, and although he now earns a lot more than he used to, he is still conscious of where his money is going.
Louis creates a monthly budget and doesn't spend money on things he doesn't need unless he has the funds to spare. This has caused him to rethink purchases he used to splurge on. For example, instead of buying new clothes for an event or a night out, Louis now buys clothes from his closet or from thrift stores like Goodwill for more affordable items.
Although Louis's goals are aggressive, she every She still travels and occasionally spends money on meaningful items and experiences, she just does it in a different way.
Louis and her husband typically take a trip on their anniversary, but this year, instead of spending thousands of dollars on a babysitter, they celebrated by going out for brunch and dinner as a family of four.
“The $6,000 it would cost to go on the trip is enough to pay off my student loans.”
She keeps her sights on her goal, making compromises and sacrifices but still making sure to celebrate important milestones.
She still travels to see her family and for brand deals, and she also plans monthly mother-daughter date nights to spend quality time together.
Achieving the goal will be tough, but Louis says it's worth it.
So far, everything is going according to Louis' plan: As of publication, she has $16,000 left on her student loans, and she expects to reach her goal by the end of July.
While Louis is grateful for the success she's found through social media, it's not an easy task: Her side hustle requires more time and effort than a typical 9-to-5 job.
“Being a full-time content creator is the hardest and most rewarding job I've ever had,” says Lewis, who works an average of 50 to 60 hours a week. “My content is based on my lifestyle, so I always feel like I'm pressed for time.”
Louis recognizes that her current workload is not sustainable and hopes to reduce it at the end of this summer. After she reaches her goal, she plans to continue working a side hustle to fund her other goals, but she's also looking forward to slowing down. “The plan is to make sure I don't have to work so hard forever.”
Despite approaching the finish line, Louie won't celebrate until she receives the email saying her loan has been paid off in full, and she knows that will be a weight lifted off her shoulders.
“I've never worked so hard at anything in my life,” Louis said.
