My Honest Entrepreneurial Journey: From Barista to Online Business Owner

May 5

In this episode, you'll learn:

How I went from a theology degree and a barista job to building a thriving online business with zero experience
The real highs and lows of my journey, including hitting $6k months, losing major clients, and navigating my most challenging season yet
How I got every single one of my clients through Instagram without cold pitching or being salesy
Why knowing your ideal client avatar is the single most important tool you can have in your first year of business
The four lessons I carry with me from five years of entrepreneurship that I wish someone had told me from the start

I've been working in the online space for over five years now and my journey has been full of incredible highs, really painful lows, and a whole lot of seasons where I had absolutely no idea what I was doing (let’s just be honest!), and I think that's exactly what makes it worth sharing. So this is the full, unfiltered, behind the scenes look at how I actually built this business and this career!

Where It All Started

In the spring of 2020 I graduated from college with a degree in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on biblical and theological studies and fine arts, and a double minor in biblical studies and ancient Greek. I was headed down a path in theology, which is something I genuinely love to this day, but shortly after graduating I went through a process of deconstructing from the faith and realized I was never going to pursue working in the church, which meant I was never going to use this degree.

So there I am in 2020, with a degree I'm not going to use, in the middle of a global pandemic, working as a barista at a job I had held for almost seven years and was completely over. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career, and I was deep in my manifestation era, doing the 369 method every single day, writing in my notebook that I was calling in a job I could do online. My lifelong dream since I was eight years old was to move to Los Angeles, so I needed something remote that could fund the move and that I could continue doing once I got there.

And then, like most people in that era, I found a TikTok about virtual assistants. I think I watched maybe one video, truly not exaggerating, and I signed up for a course on the spot. I just knew in my heart immediately that it was the right thing for me, which is funny because I had never once thought about becoming an entrepreneur before that moment. It was entirely a decision of the heart.

Launching with No Experience and No Savings

I literally quit my job, had less than a week of PTO left, no savings, and purchased the course on my credit card, which I may have actually maxed out in the process. At the end of January 2021 I launched my business as a virtual assistant serving brand new web designers, knowing absolutely nothing about what they did. I had no marketing knowledge, didn't know what Canva was, and had never been someone who posted on social media in my life. Everything about this was brand new, and yet it felt so aligned that the excitement outweighed the fear every single time.

In mid-March I got my first discovery call, mentally checked out halfway through because the woman was clearly very professional and I had no idea what I was doing, and then she emailed me the next day asking for the 20-hour-a-month package. I was charging $35 an hour, we worked together for over a year, and it was a genuinely wonderful client relationship. You really do just figure it out as you go, and that experience is proof that you do not need experience or a perfect background to start.

Booking Out and Hitting $6k Months

By the end of that first summer I got hyper clear on my ideal client avatar, really dug into their pain points and desires, and started relentlessly showing up on Instagram speaking directly to that person. The result was booking three clients in one month, becoming fully booked out, and making over $3,000 a month, which felt like an absolutely life-changing amount of money coming from biweekly paychecks under $1,000.

This is exactly why I teach every student I work with how to build their ideal client avatar from the very beginning, because getting clear on who you are serving and speaking directly to their specific pain points is what actually moves the needle. It's the reason I created my Match Made in Heaven workbook, which walks you through my entire four-phase process for building your ICA from scratch. You can grab it at the link in the show notes and use the code GOGETCLIENTS for 15% off.

Going into 2022 I transitioned from VA work into working as an online business manager, which is a much higher level of responsibility with a strong systems focus, and with that I catapulted into making over $6,000 a month at over $90 an hour. I had started this business roughly a year prior with no experience and a maxed out credit card, and now my husband and I were moving into a beautiful new apartment and I was loving every single day of my work. It was one of the happiest times of my life.

My First Major Business Heartbreak

And then that summer I lost two clients back to back, which was a drop of over $3,000 a month in income. I still remember sitting in my office chair sobbing, genuinely convinced that my business was over, while my husband sat on the floor next to me telling me I was going to figure it out. Looking back now it really wasn't the end of the world, but when it's the first time something like that happens it feels catastrophic. What it did do was light me up to keep showing up, and before long I had booked back the income I lost and everything was fine again.

Every single client I booked throughout this entire period came through Instagram, by the way, either from my content or from referrals, and I never cold pitched anyone once. I showed up consistently on my feed and my stories, talking directly about my services and building genuine authentic connections with people I wanted to work with, and when they were ready to hire someone they already knew and trusted me. You do not need to be on every platform to make great money online, especially in your first year.

Becoming a Mentor

By the end of 2022 I could no longer ignore the burning desire I had to transition into mentorship, so I set a goal: if at any point in 2023 I could replace my OBM income with mentorship income, that was the dream. It was the scariest decision I have ever made in my business because I was walking into something completely unknown, but just like when I first started, I knew in my heart it was right.

By February 2023 I was becoming booked out with mentorship students, my OBM clients were naturally wrapping up, a video went viral on Instagram and my waitlist grew to around 800 people, and I launched the first round of Lucky Day knowing nothing about email marketing and figuring it out entirely in real time. It sold out.

And then I hit the season I don't talk about enough. I was making more money than ever, I had built the thing I dreamed about, and I woke up every single morning feeling dread and anxiety so heavy I couldn't explain it. I wrote in my journal that I had everything I had ever wanted and it felt nothing like I thought it would. I knew nothing about nervous system regulation at the time so I was just suffering through it, my marketing came to a complete stop, and that led directly into my slowest Lucky Day round ever. I was confused, frustrated, and feeling real financial pressure.

But what that season gave me was more grit, more clarity on who I am here to serve, and more fire for this work than I had going into it. Coaching is like an extreme sport in that the highs are genuinely very high and the lows can be really low, and if your heart isn't absolutely certain about it you will not make it through those seasons. Mine was, and that certainty carried me through every single time.

What Five Years Has Taught Me

Get crystal clear on who you want to serve and do not settle for anything less, because compromising is a slippery slope that can land you in a business that doesn't feel like yours anymore. Build with sustainability at the center of every decision. Stay anchored in your long-term vision during the hard seasons because the highs and lows always pass. And lead with your heart and focus on who you are here to serve, because when you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the person you can genuinely help, everything becomes so much clearer.

If you're ready to start your own business and want real hands-on support to do it, I would love to work with you inside Lucky Day. And if you want to start by getting clear on your ideal client avatar, grab the Match Made in Heaven workbook and use code GOGETCLIENTS for 15% off!

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If we haven’t met yet, hi! My name is Shannon and I have been a heart-led entrepreneur in the online space for over 5 years, teaching ambitious young women how to say yes to the desires of their hearts and start the business that will change their lives.

I created The Shannon Blanchard Podcast to support you in building a life that feels lucky through entrepreneurship, intentional reality creation, and deep inner work.

If you're a big dreamer and ready to embody your fullest potential in a way that lights you up, this show is for you!