Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda

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This is a que un the studio's original program. The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you hear do not represent the views of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Hi, my name is Leah Crawford.

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And I'm Rhonda Nolan.

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And you're listening to the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show for all the

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beautiful entrepreneurs out there. This is for you. Good morning, Las Vegas. How are you doing Leah on this bright and beautiful Saturday morning.

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Amazing. Thank you for asking, and how are you?

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I'm doing okay. I want to send condolences to one of my very good friends Miss arnelle Simpson. She lost her father this week, Mr. OJ Simpson. So I want to say condolences to our nail and the family. And Jews. We're thinking about you. Other than that, you know,

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I know I saw that when we I saw that. Earlier this week. I meant Yeah. Can we do something special for our No,

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absolutely because she's a bison. Bison take care of bison so we could absolutely do something special for her.

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Okay. All right. Our now we love you.

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We do we love you. We

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love you. We love you. Alright, so today we have a very special guests in the studio. I've known this woman now for probably a decade, maybe a decade close pretty close to a decade. She specializes and a debt free college experience. I want to welcome to our show because she has a wealth of information. We have to jump right in. Dr. Real Watson. Dr. Watson, welcome to the show.

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Thank you both. Excited to be

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here. Dr. Watson. Yes. I love it. Dr. Watson, I have to keep on saying it. Because when I met her, no, she was going through the process. And when you accomplish that, Dr. Watson, I love it. Congratulations. Congratulations.

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Congratulations.

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So who was Rita Watson? Who was Dr. Weiss? Who is she? Who is she? Well,

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good morning. She's warm because it's nice outside. Yes, this amazing is my favorite dish because I still like some favorite time of the year. But I am Dr. Rhea Watson. I am the founder and CEO of scholarships solutions. Where we help students of all ages we say from zero to 99, the womb to the to birth to death cradle to college to have a debt free college experience. So aka I help people around the world no matter who they are, what age they are, what they look like how much money they make, or not to go to college for free

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to go to college for free.

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I love it. I love

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it. What made you decide to pick this as a business model? Oh, that's

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a really great question. So I am known as the girl who want a whole bunch of money to go to college. Vegas is my home. I've been here since I was three. So my whole life outside my SAT time in undergrad. And so I was known as the girl who won a whole bunch of money to go to college, my mom and I would head to the West Las Vegas Library. Week after week, scouring the reference section magazines, newspapers, the time we got even the centennial voice and we look through all those things. And any scholarship that I could potentially be eligible for we would write down and I would apply one of those weeks turn to learning about the Miss black teenager Nevada pageant. And that was my first scholarship at age 15. I want cash money to go to school. And that 1000 $1,500 I believe was my first scholarship turned into $30,000 when I graduated high school in 92. And eventually through my doctoral program, I earned over $300,000 in scholarships. So that is how I started that was my journey. And even though I'm thankful to the Lord for all of that my students have won over $200 million in scholarships. Okay, so say that again.

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Wow, that number say that number

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again. Oh, I'm thankful for my 300,000

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You are now up to 200 over

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$200 million in scholarships with our youngest student won his first scholarship when he was two years old. Are most much Sure a student that we've worked with was actually a world war two vet, and a volunteer Santa Claus. And there were over 10 scholarships for folks who volunteer at Santa. And we've had everyone in between every educational level all around the world. It just all of those things that we think of as barriers, or somehow that we have to put people in a box in regard to scholarships, there just isn't. You don't have to be a student to earn scholarships. So yeah, so these far surpass me my my largest scholarship winner is at Howard University, AQ,

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you know,

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actually, she is on the track to be an OBGYN. And she that's what she's doing. She's taking her test all of her tests, y'all pray for about a month. Now

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now. Oh,

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she could be because

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they end the semester, or they are in the med school. Are they the same semester track is it's continuing. So it might be mushy.

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You know, she one, two and a half million dollars in scholarships? Yes. No worries, no cares. No debt, lives in high rise in DC. And we'll be

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right how about that can't afford it. That's

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a blessing in and of itself. Two degrees,

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medical and undergrad. $0 out of her mama, single parent pocket. So if she can do it, anyone could do

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it. Wow. Wow. Okay, doctor was kind of floored because I'm so stuck at the 200 million 200 million. And it's a real number. It's a real, it's a real number. And you're consistently the fact that you have kept in contact with your scholars and your you've been track of the monies that they're awarded. What do you find to be the biggest mistake their parents make? Ooh,

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we say it's never too early, but it's never too late. Right? But if there was anything that I could tell parents are best for not a mistake. But what is the best advice that you could give to a parent start today? Literally, start today. And don't give up on yourself and don't let your children give up on themselves? If you I get interviewed regularly and they'll tell people will ask me I don't know if you ladies will but I'm gonna go ahead and answer it. It's like we have what is the best practice are the best way that we can earn a scholarship. And I literally say the number one way to earn a scholarship Y'all ready for this Apply?

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Apply. I'm sorry, I had I'm dead because you asked the question I just wanted to answer apply.

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That's it. Number one, best practice. Just apply 100%

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we get in our own way. 100% get best practice apply. Alright, so you are listening to the less talk with Leah and Rhonda show. I am Lea Crawford. I'm

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Rhonda Nolan. And we are here with the lovely Dr. Rhea Watson and she's telling us how our children can have a debt free college experience

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debt free, debt free. So there'll be no need for no loan forgiveness because it's debt free.

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That's correct. Exactly right. And nothing wrong with that. And there's this is a no judgment lane and program. I try not to be preachy, hopefully an encourager and inspiration. I didn't have a doctor re aka the scholarship doctor. So although I want a ton of money to go to school, I had student loans. I did not know. I am a truly a first generation college student. My dad was an amazing mathematician, my first math tutor. However, he was functionally illiterate and dropped out of school in 10th grade. My mama is amazing. When they tested her in middle school, I believe it was she tested with the same and it made me in high school. Same IQ as Einstein, with only my mom's IQ equal to Einstein. Wow. She graduated high school at age 16. So they are polar opposites. polar opposites. What an amazing group, right. Amazing team. But Jean Jean, my parents were a team. And but my mom chose a career. And that was what you did in the 60s in the 70s. For my understanding, it was like you can do a job you can do that things were just changing with financial aid. They didn't have it. But she chose a career and was able to do that. And she was one of the first people in BlueCross BlueShield that were African American and did that. But they wanted my sister and I to go to college. They wanted us to do this so badly. But they didn't have all the tools they didn't know I didn't come. My grandparents had literally A third grade in the kindergarten level education. So I don't come from professors and generations of, you know, of educators and I was I'm a true first generation. My dad, he was a blue collar worker at the Nevada Test Site. So we were navigating this thing on our own, and had no idea so I got five full ride offers, for example, five full ride offers, but I had a dream school. And my dream school did not give me a full ride. So I tried my deep dream school to get I was totaled. $30,000. And I was good. But my school costs $50,000 a year in 1992. Wow. So you have $30,000 Only you're going to a college that cost 200,000 to do math, and math ain't math and my mom was a stay at home mom and my dad he made maybe $40,000 I promise you

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your tuition was more than your daddy salary.

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So they're sitting just excited at the back of the room. I'm at the front of the room. I just turned 18 Because I graduated high school when I was 17. So we all just didn't know this lady in the front of the room said Please sign here on something called a promissory note. I had never heard those two words together in my life. I was like Sir, I'm looking back at mommy and daddy they smile and cheese and just excited to have the little disposable cameras take a picture of a baby going to college. And I wrote myself into student loan debt, you wrote yourself in a student loan debt promissory note, find a way I had no idea because I was told I had the largest financial package they had ever given. Let me tell you this parents, whenever they say financial aid package, it always includes loans. Hmm. Always financial aid package is not full ride. It is not scholarship when they say that. It includes loans. So full roster, full riders, for riders full ride for riders for right and make sure you understand when they say full ride is different when we say a financial aid package, and includes a loan. Okay, and when you say full tuition, that's something totally different as well as a full ride. Absolutely. Because you may have fees and ruin board on top of that. If they say tuition and fees, then you still owe somewhere for your baby to live and to eat. So those terminologies are super important. And that's not something I knew. Well.

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The funny thing, I mean, well, well, okay, unless you are, I mean, you are a second or so I think by the second time the kids go to school, you get it right. Or you do better by the third time I think you get but the first time is always the most challenging because you don't know when to

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come don't know anyone like there was no one I have my cousin's sharing now. But okay. She was the only person in my family that knew that had a college degree. And she was here locally, she stayed local. She went to a public school, one of our beautiful institutions like this UNLV. So I was the first person that went away to college at my family, the first one to do a private call, like I was the first. And ladies I realized a few probably about two months ago, I'm a true Vegas girl. So I realized my cousins who graduated with me, the kids that I went to school with the kids that I went to church with, I was the only person who went to college, everyone else went to the strip. So we had I had no resources, no anything. And I shouldn't say it in that regard, because I actually was a part of a pre college program. So they stressed the importance of college. But in regard to funding by

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no one was having those conferences stressed the importance but it's like when you stressing something to who, what, where, when, how and why. How, you know, how are we gonna get there? How are we going to pay for this?

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So I understand so this is a no judgment lane, but everything that I have learned I've been able from, I've been able to teach and show others and thankfully, although my story was different in regard to student loan debt, Thank God I've been able to use scholarships to pay those back. But even though my story in my situation was on my journey

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you thought I was listening.

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I know I know you was listening but see you didn't catch it in the beginning when she said that she only 1/3 I mean that she 130 to go to school but she actually got 300 It's a 270

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Right. Her the I got scholarships to pay off my student loan part. Let's talk about that a little more, a lot more

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because I'm sure a lot

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right. So again, you don't have to be a student to earn scholarships he's out to get that out of our brain right

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I'm gonna say that but I need you to say

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I heard you the first time at the top of the show and I felt

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CNN I thought you might have been chosen I mean going back and forth in and out on me only because only because I know you want our nails are very and you want our nella very tight and y'all about to bond, you know, because y'all had a lot. This has been an interesting year. So I was gonna give you grace today. But you were listening, go ahead.

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So yes, you do not have to be a student to earn scholarships. So we have to get that out of our minds, that it's only for these people, mostly we think high school graduating high school seniors, maybe undergraduate students, right, maybe. I mean, I get the calls every day. But scholarships are literally for everyone. The definition of a scholarship is free money from a college or business that does not have to be paid back, not for a college or business, but from a college or business. So there are all kinds of scholarships, including like debt cancellation scholarships that people are doing all the time, there's places of business that will say, not only will we help you fund your college education, but do you have debt, we will help you pay that off. And then there's just things like that, what I do, and you all are very familiar with, there's grant programs, right? We already know that thank God for the debt cancellation programs. But there's things that you can do to fund yourself in your business in your life, that are outside of being a student. So I've done pitch competitions. So here's a business pitch, competition, idea, pitch competitions, I have done poetry slams and contest. I've done things like secret shopping, believe it or not, or giving people money, ideas about their product or service. And because of those things, I've been able to use that to pay off student loan debt. And then when I was in school, thank the Lord. I had gotten a clue. By the time I was a senior in high school, instead of paying for college, instead of using scholarships, I was actually paid $1,000 a month to go to school. So all through freshman to junior year, I thought that scholarships were it. Senior year and above, I learned not only can I own scholarships, but I can be on salary as a student. So senior year of college all the way through my doctoral program, and every degree I've earned, I've never paid, always gotten paid. And then I was able to use those resources to pay back student loan debt. All right, okay. You've been listening to

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the show. I am Lea Crawford. I am Rhonda

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Nolan. And I'm getting educated today. Educate educated today.

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I love to learn something new every day. But this you talk about pivot as an entrepreneur, oh

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my god, this is music to my ear. Is it as an

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entrepreneur, as an entrepreneur? Listen, real Watson, the scholarship Doctor scholarship solutions. 702-623-9500. Again, 702-623-9500 Ria, not only that, she has books. I mean, she had a whole library, she pulled out of a suitcase. A whole library. And I was sitting I was like, so when you find time to write the books, because when

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she when we saw her get out of her car today, she had a piece of luggage. And Leah was like, Are you going on a trip? Where are you going with luggage, she didn't realize that Dr. Rhea Watson had a library at the library in luggage in her luggage library to the show this morning. She loved the library, library

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of the books. She didn't elaborate on the books. Oh, my. So let me ask you this, which first of all, which book was first?

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So my first book was this one. So I have to kind of put it over here too. Okay, so this was my first book. It is a collaborative book. And so it's educators who know what to do experts in education, I'm on page 50 is such a blessing that I don't have to, because there's 20 of us who are all talking about what to do. But this was so exciting to me, ladies, because it was the first person who allowed me to talk about this. Preparing for college and kindergarten. She wouldn't let me do nursery school because I asked she said people not ready for that. But at least from every article, from every type of newscast, I had been on someone let me start saying it's never ever ever too early. And let me show you what year was that? So this was during pandemic, actually. So I think it was 21. Think it's 21? Yep. 2021. So I was able to do that. And I have been in business by that time when I don't even know how many times because people just look at me right now. And I couldn't but no one would don't talk about that. We don't understand that. We're not clear on that. What do you mean? So a five year old? So I want

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to edify her on this because it's true. My son won a scholarship in kindergarten. He actually won his first scholarship in kindergarten and this bow he won and he won two. He actually won cash on one and a speaker on another one. And the speaker just broke. Oh boy Finally what he said it along. He's had that he's had the speaker and I was upset because I look we gotta go fix the speaker because this speaker is monumental. Yes, because we're trying Want to explain to a five year old that you need to sit down and write?

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Absolutely. It was so cute. He did such a good job. He was so excited about that speaker. He was like, underwater, right? And I remember like you can and something like that the LEA to where people have to understand and Rhonda as well, where it's like, my sister says very clearly, she has never purchased. I know it's not my thought. But she's like she's never purchased a school supply. She's never purchased a backpack. She hasn't had to purchase electronics, because my nephew has won those things through scholarships. So she said, that's a scholarship to me, because we were like, well, that's not cash. First of all, what four year old? Do you know this doing any of that? Firstly, what five year old is winning anything? Secondly, so that's just shut it down. Anyway, but even if it's just a prize, that's something you don't have to purchase for your child. So that's money back into your account in our system, or into their savings for college, because it's not expenditures you have to have. So they have never purchased that my nephew is eight, can you imagine never having to purchase us? Actually, he has a surplus. He gives us stuff away because he's won so many contests that have included those types of things. But that's my iPad. Oh has to be out $500 that's gone into his sake, because college savings. So we have to think about that in that regard, too. So it's like always prizes. It's cash as we love that as well. It's crazy. But when you can do that and not have to have that expense. How amazing is that for students and for parents, we have

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to re think about how we have to retool our brain to rethink about how to think about certain situations, we kind of have this one way street of how things have to go this way. And that's not true. You have to look at it in a different light. And that's why we have entrepreneurs like Dr. Real Watson on our show, because she's feeding us information to make us think feeding

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feed strategic thinking critical thinking, again, the scholarship, Dr. Scholarship solutions 70262395007026239500. I told y'all she had a library here. No, that's just one vote. And if

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you want to view the information we're sharing with you. HTTPS semi colon, backslash backslash, my scholarships. solution.com is the website that you can review to hear to reread about all this information we're sharing.

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If you're on Instagram, you can go to scholarship, I think that scholarships at scholarship doctor on Instagram, and Tiktok that scholarship Dr. Everything is at scholarship, Dr. All social media, how social on all social media, she does events locally. She does events locally, you can follow her. She's amazing with children, her team is amazing with children. Yet because I'm still working with a 13 year old, I'm trying to kick them and get them back. Because he understand we are way behind the eight ball here. It's okay,

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if your student wants to go to college and find out more information about different colleges, she actually has a affair where she invites the colleges to come down and talk to the students and talk about the different programs they have to offer. I've personally been to those events. So I know they actually happen because I've represented my college there on her behalf. So grandparents, parents, friends, you'll keep up with Dr. Rhea Watson follow her on Instagram and Facebook and all those fun places. You know, take a peek at her, your her website because when these things happen, she's always posting about him. And these are just tools for your children to learn and grow. But let

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me say this though, job. I mean, I want to get to the other books. This one wasn't what TED talks as a wonderful thing this woman was on when I saw it. I almost I almost broke down in tears. Because you know, you know how you say to people when Ted Talks, you don't know them, but I'm like, wow, somebody I know. Well, not because we because we've met people that I've been on TED Talks and they're amazing. But I noticed woman I know her passion. I've watched her over the years. I've watched her build this business. I watched you know, the pitch competitions that mean just everything else. When she came into my office, I paid her immediately. Right. She said this is what I do. I said How old do they have to be because I remember the LEA was in college at the time and I see her is in college. And she says kindergarten let's see and I see her was in kindergarten and she and she was explaining what she does. I turned around I said I don't know about the girl because that's a challenge. But the boy but, and then we but we pitched it to Alia right and we gave her opportunity, which is her, she ended up doing something else later. But it she said, No, I'd rather go work than write a scholarship mindset. And then afterwards, she said, Mom, I made a mistake. I said

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you did. And she made a big change, though she made. She made a big change. She made a huge change, like so proud of her so

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proud of her. You know? Well, good. We'll talk about her and other because she just did something totally amazing. But her nonprofit that she talked about last year, they just went to New York and talk to students. That's why I did it. Oh, they did it. But you you. Absolutely. I mean, okay, second book, because we got one, we got a few more minutes. Oh, okay.

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So yes, so the second book was my own individual book. So it is the scholarship doctor is in five easy steps to a free degree. And it's a workbook. So if y'all flip through that, you'll see that you can actually have fillable pages, and then all in the back, and the appendices are extra fillable pages, but we take take you literally step one through five, if people will do this, this is my whole career. If they really seriously would do this step one through five, they can easily acquire a million dollars in scholarships and never have to talk to me. And on average, we're finding that, you know, people buy this all over the world. But the reports that we're getting back is from them doing these scholarships, they are at least winning $10,000. So they invest 30 bucks, and have a return of 10,000.

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So the scholarship doctor is in five easy steps to a free degree by Rhea Watson, the last book because we're almost out of time,

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as you can go to college for free. That's our newest one. And so with that it is a collaborative book, myself and 12 other authors, including my eight year old nephew, and about four other students who are all telling their story on how they have gone to college for free plus, that they can can continue to do so. And this book is going to be available this week. Next weekend. Fantastic. We have our college and career fair. And it's actually a scholarship conference as well. We want everyone to come. It's gratuitous. We're giving away $1,000 scholarship, we're giving away our books. So all the students away with that at the East Las Vegas community center. So at the East Las Vegas community centers. So if they contact me through the phone number that you've given the website, it's all the information is there. And we would love we have about 30 colleges and businesses that are they're all in support of students and anyone can come no matter their age.

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Right. So again, a number 70262395007026239500. Dr. Watson, thank you.

Unknown Speaker 27:46
Thank you.

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Thank you for accepting our invitation to talk to our listeners. You know, we have to bring you back please do we have to bring you back. You know you're listening to the less talk with Leah and Rhonda show. I

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am Lea Crawford. I'm Rhonda Nolan. And we've had the lovely Dr. Rhea Watson scholarship solutions in the house today that really gave Leah and I a whole nother education.

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Educated every week, we educated we get educated.

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We do it now. It's extended because we thought we knew what we did. Now. There are some some new avenues that have opened up. So

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let me tell you this about Maria. I never think that I know what RIA does. And I know every conversation she's going to open up and broaden it because she hasn't. That's why we got to bring her back. Right because she has some other things going on that we haven't even talked about right very often talked about. All right, Las

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Vegas. Hey.

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See you next week. All right. Thanks. Bye bye. Thank you, Lisa. Blessings. Bye, listeners. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai