How Avoiding The Traditional Entrepreneurial Journey Helped One Woman Create A 7-Figure Business

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But for international love coach Lucy Shahjahan, a photograph she saw of herself was worth one wish: To find her passion in life. 

At the time, Lucy was 30 and living a life that looked good on paper. She was renting a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney, Australia, and working at a great corporate job that allowed her to go on vacations to Japan and Italy. But like so many people, she was just going through the motions of life, keeping herself busy and checking the boxes of what everyone tells you success is. “I knew that I was destined to do something big in this world,” says Lucy. “And I knew this wasn’t it. I had been playing small.” 

When she saw a photo of herself at a friend’s birthday party, a total lack of passion for life on her face became so obvious that it triggered a crying jag that lasted for days. “Once I allowed myself to feel all the uncomfortable feelings of being out of alignment with my life, I realized something massive had to change,” says Lucy. “I couldn’t go on another ten years like that.” 

The lackluster photograph gave way to a 10,000-mile journey that took Lucy from hiding from her calling in Australia to becoming a seven-figure success story as a love coach in America. Through her company, Soul to Soul Global, she teaches ambitious, driven women how to fall in love with themselves first so they can find the love of their lives. But her success didn’t happen overnight—and it didn’t unfold in the way you would imagine. To build the business of her dreams and attract in her ideal mate, Lucy had to abandon the male blueprint for achieving success and redefine her own feminine path. 

Here’s how the entrepreneur who teaches women how to attract their soulmates got to her first million dollars in 18 months. . . and kept going.

Stephanie Burns: You took a very non-traditional path to becoming a love coach who has worked with hundreds of women. From corporate, to an actress off-Broadway, you finally found your way to coaching. How did you get your career path to follow a straight line? 

Lucy Shahjahan: By allowing it to zig zag. Everyone has a different path to get to success. Instead of being overwhelmed with becoming an overnight success or questioning if what you’re doing is your purpose, follow whatever your heart is calling you to do right now. If you listen to that instinct, it will guide you to the thing you’re supposed to be doing—even if it’s not a straight line path. 

Burns: Like a lot of entrepreneurs, the birth of your business was a tough go at first. What were you struggling with?

Shahjahan: When I started out, I was throwing coaching events in New York City and charging $20 or $30 per person. I was doing all the things: handing out flyers about my workshops to people on the street, making food for the events in my kitchen, presenting and coaching at the events. I spent 30 hours a week on my business—on top of other jobs that paid the bills–and I was barely making 10K a year. But I was “hustling” and “grinding” and doing what everyone says you need to. 

I bought into the idea that you have to be the last person leaving the office or up working on your side hustle until 3am and that you can wear that as a badge of courage. I thought I had to work really hard to be successful. That I had to prove my worth. I was wrong. Grind energy that leads to burnout isn’t the “entrepreneurial journey.” It’s just masculine energy. 

Burns: If that’s masculine energy, what’s feminine energy? And how did it lead to your success? 

Shahjahan: Once I stopped thinking of myself as a “woman in a man’s world” and instead as a “woman in the world,” things started to take off. But when I started my business, I didn’t realize that you actually have to choose joy along the way. I didn’t know that just because you want to be super successful doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the process and be super sensual as a part of it. You have to prioritize time for getting centered with meditation, spending time with friends who will lift you up and having a dance party in your living room to spark creativity. That’s a little glimmer of what feminine energy is all about. It’s more about “allowing” than “doing.” In the entrepreneur space, people feel like they have to have masculine or boss lady energy. But some of the most successful people are leading with their heart. Don’t underestimate that your clients want to be able to feel your humanity. It’s not all business. It’s also about creating a heartfelt connection.

Burns: How did you start to move the needle with your coaching business? 

Shahjahan: I stopped thinking I had to be everything to everybody. In the beginning I wanted to coach people on how to fulfill their dreams whether they wanted to be the head of a corporation or pick up and move to Bali. But I wasn’t honoring my expertise or honing my true talents. Finding my super specific niche was a game changer. 

Once I started focusing on empowering single, professional women who are tired of attracting the wrong man into their lives, I unlocked my own powerful career. One of the things my clients love about me is that I’m a straight talker and get straight to the heart with no BS. My method is very different to what other people are teaching because I’m showing women how critical it is to focus on themselves—not their partner or the relationship—first. 

I should also remind people not to underestimate the self-development part of your journey if you want to be successful—and be happy. Doing mindset work completely shifted my trajectory. If deep down you don’t believe you deserve to do well—if you haven’t unpacked your ‘deservability’—it doesn’t matter if you have the best strategy in the world. You won’t succeed. 

Burns: Once you decided to focus on self-love, how did you figure out how to model your business?

Shahjahan: Once I’d done the inner work on myself, I had the courage to stop playing small and start charging more. At first, I raised my prices to charge $8,000 for a three-month program of one-on-one coaching. It’s what lots of other coaches were doing, but I soon realized that model wasn’t in alignment with me. I needed the energy of working with a group of people. So I enlisted a business coach to help me design a group coaching model that had a higher price point and a shorter enrollment time. In three months, I was making six figures. To continue to grow my business, I create five-year plans and work backwards from there with goal-setting.

What’s important on your journey when you’re working with coaches and mentors is to question if they’re right for you. Is it a healthy alignment? Is it good for you? You have to be really discerning in the coaching industry. Make sure the person you choose isn’t just talking the talk but they’re also walking the walk.

Burns: What is your unconventional advice to individuals who may be looking to make a change or experiencing hardship and looking to follow their dreams and find success?

Shahjahan: Be courageous enough to first admit to yourself that perhaps you are out of alignment with your purpose and dreams. Once you say it aloud, you can then begin the process to shift out of the difficulty paradigm into one more connected to your heart, joy and pleasure. Then, prioritize rest. Instead of thinking you’re a superstar by pulling an all-nighter, realize it’s actually the opposite. Give yourself permission to take an hour to sleep, meditate or lay down is one of the most powerful things you can do as an entrepreneur. 

Next, build your confidence and certainty. I like to spend 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night feeling into what I’m out to create and speak into it as if it has already happened. I allow myself to get really quiet and visualize being that woman who has a phenomenal business and incredible clients. The more energy and focus you put on having what you want, the more inspiration, confidence and certainty you’ll build in yourself. Professional athletes will do this to overcome physical injuries. You can do this to overcome mental blocks. 

Finally, be unapologetically you. Connect with the energy and power you have as a woman. We’re often running away from that but it’s time to embrace it. I know it’s going to ruffle some feathers to say this but try dancing naked in front of a mirror or upleveling your underwear so that you feel feminine underneath your work outfits. At first, you’ll feel out of your comfort zone, but you’ll also feel free in your body, get you relaxed and tap into inspiration that could change everything.

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