At just 18 years old, Victoria started her scholarship coaching business. And in the seven years since, she has scaled it into a six-figure online education business that supports students across the entire United States.

Victoria’s story shows how personal experience can grow into a thriving business. After earning more than $3 million in scholarships herself, she turned that success into a coaching service – helping students with both college applications and the essential life skills they need to thrive. Her business has since grown to serve over 10,000 students and secure partnerships with institutions like KIPP Atlanta, Spelman College, and UC Berkeley.

Below, Victoria shares how community plays a key role in fueling her business’ growth, as well as her pricing strategies for scaling and accessibility.

Could you share the personal story that led you to specialize in scholarship and college applications?

I come from a single-parent, low-income household in Atlanta, Georgia. I knew that college was the next step after high school, but I had no idea how I’d be able to afford it. 

My older sister is a Gates Scholar, and that scholarship paid for her undergrad education all the way through PhD. Seeing her obtain a debt-free education really made me think about how I could do the same for myself. 

During my senior year of high school, I went through the scholarship process and actually accumulated over $3 million in scholarships, allowing me to profit over six figures by the time I graduated college. 

While initially focused on in-person seminars, Victoria has since grown Securing Degrees into an online education business, serving students across the country.

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You’ve built your business around helping students navigate college admissions and financial aid. How do you deliver this support?

I believe my work isn’t just about finding a student a list of scholarships. If they don't know how to submit the application, they may struggle with self-accountability or deadline management. 

At Securing Degrees, we offer culturally responsive and relevant scholarship coaching. We consider ourselves to be a wraparound service, offering online courses, a community, as well as 1:1 coaching to teach students those soft, transferable skills that are needed for them to be successful. All of these different online learning formats have been helpful, as we support a lot of students who might be neurodivergent or have learning disabilities.

What were the first steps you took to get Securing Degrees off the ground?

I started my business back in 2018. My entire business model was in-person seminars, which weren’t scalable. In the beginning, I focused on rallying the community to believe in my mission, sending people DMs on Twitter, and trying to get them on board. 

I later tried many different platforms, and ultimately decided to stick with Thinkific because it has the most features for growing my business. 

We use Thinkific as an onboarding funnel. More specifically, we’ve built courses as onboarding guides for our different college and scholarship coaching programs. When someone signs up for Securing Degrees, they’d receive immediate support through our Thinkific portal, with videos introducing me and explaining how our coaching programs work. Upon course completion, students are directed to their scholarship and college trackers.

What strategies have been most effective in building awareness for your business and attracting sales?

98% of our sales come from referrals. That's why community is so important to me – it’s been the most effective strategy for building awareness and getting more clients. Often, when we help a student get a full-ride scholarship, they'd tell their family and friends. That allows us to grow organically. 

More recently, I’ve also been investing in SEO (search engine optimization) and making sure our website is optimized.

How do you approach pricing to ensure accessibility for all students, while also maintaining a scalable business model?

Our current pricing model is designed with affordability in mind. I consider what my mother could’ve afforded when I was a high school senior. Our pricing plans start at $24.99 per month. For our highest tier, we offer comprehensive support for college scholarship applications, including essay editing and bi-weekly meetings, at $485 per month. 

On average, our students work with us for four to seven months. For many, this investment is less than $2,000, covering full scholarships.

We operate on two models: a direct-to-consumer model, allowing families to access our website directly, and a B2B (business-to-business) model. We partner with school districts, universities, and nonprofits to sponsor students for our services. This means students and their families don't have to worry about the financial side of things.

What advice would you give other subject matter experts who are looking to build an online education business?

Just start, because the longer you wait, the longer you delay your success and the impact that you could make on others’ lives. 

When building an online education business, it's important to understand the problems you aim to solve and the value you could provide. Sometimes, those problems could be brought to you. 

Securing Degrees began offering coaching services after a parent approached us with a specific need: "Could you create a program where you meet with my child bi-weekly, hold them accountable, and help them with scholarships?" I’d never heard of a scholarship coach, nor did I have one in high school. So, this challenge was a problem brought to me to solve.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.