Solopreneur success stories; inspiration to write your own

Looking for inspiration for your knowledge business?

Whether you’re just starting out or are looking for ideas to grow and scale, it can help to see sole proprietor solutions and course examples, and to learn how others have navigated their own business journey.

We hear you, and we’ve got your back!  

Keep reading for eight Kajabi success stories that will inspire, push you towards your online dream, and see the sole proprietor solutions they've found to grow their businesses.

1. Courtney Boudet - from photography student to professional bookkeeper

Our first solopreneur example is Courtney Boudet, a Profit First Professional and a Quickbooks bookkeeper for over 20 years. She helps small business owners with their bookkeeping challenges by offering various online support and training sessions.

Interestingly, she started her career in photography. But over and over again, she found herself offering bookkeeping services to local businesses, even lending a helping hand to her husband's business.

Those early days, her business was often mismanaged and chaotic, says Courtney. She was consumed by work and didn’t have time for her kids and family. She felt that if she stopped working, everything she had built would crumble.

However, her growth mindset and passion for helping the local community with bookkeeping ultimately helped her turn things around.

Today, Courtney’s business runs like clockwork. It’s efficient and fun to operate. She sells a variety of paid bookkeeping services and coaching sessions through her website. This includes everything from setting up her client's bookkeeping systems to offering fully managed services.

As she exclaims in the video, "now it's like freedom!" Her online business continues to thrive, and the best part is, she’s able to enjoy a lot more time with her lovely family.

Kajabi's contribution to Courtney's success story

Courtney has broken her customer journey into three easy steps, which she outlines on her home page. With Kajabi, she doesn’t need a big, complex website. Her homepage and about page tell her story so well, she can attract her audience and build her business without working 24/7.

2. Alla Driksne - from little Latvian girl to Baltic cuisine teacher and influencer

Alla Driksne is a Baltic chef, food blogger, and the founder of Allasyummyfood.com. Through her passion for cooking and sharing her food online, she has garnered more than 350k followers across all major social channels.

Alla was born in Latvia and moved to Britain when she was still young. She graduated from the renowned London School of Economics.

Even as a young girl, Alla was interested in Baltic cuisines and cooking, thanks to her mother and grandmother's strong Latvian roots. So it is no surprise that, after her graduation, she chose to train at West Minister College as a French Pastry Chef.

Today, her content has become a go-to resource for people around the world who enjoy cooking delicious food. She’s also successfully monetized her foodie passion through paid virtual cooking classes, cake lessons, and exclusive memberships for her most loyal followers.

As Alla says, “If there is one thing I have learned, it is the power of positivity. And when you decide to shift your mindset, anything is possible!” That’s a mindset we see often in solopreneur success stories.

Kajabi’s contribution to Alla’s success story

Alla has a beautiful website loaded with full-color foodie images. With Kajabi, she’s created cooking courses and a membership for people who want to cook Eastern European cuisine. 

3. Angel Santos - from one-time NASA job applicant to course coach

Angel Santos is an inspiring example of a woman who has always believed in herself. Through her academy and as a course coach, she helps women transform their expertise in any subject into highly successful online courses. She believes that God has given everyone a creative gift that’s meant to be shared to make a difference in the world.

Angel creates a lot of free content to support women entrepreneurs, giving them sole proprietor solutions designed for them. In addition, she runs her own paid online courses and memberships, teaching women how to create and sell online courses.

While there are many things you can learn from Angel, the five life and business lessons she shares in her own backstory are definitely worth a read.

Kajabi's contribution to Angel's success story

Angel leads by example. She pulls out the stops, showing her audience what’s possible when you create digital courses to build a knowledge business. Angel recommends (and uses) Kajabi to run every aspect of her business. Which means she can focus on creating teaching videos like this one. 

4. Suzanne Jeffreys - from horse trainer to stress management expert

Suzanne Jeffreys is a Tai Chi instructor, certified nutritionist, and speaker who teaches busy women to stress less, eat healthier, and live more fulfilling lives.

Born in Virginia and brought up in New York, she is a wife, mom of three, stepmom of four, and grandmother of seven. As you might guess, she knows first-hand how chaotic life can be, especially when you’re running a growing business on the side.

Over the years, she’s been able to successfully translate her 30 years of teaching experience into online health classes and fitness products.

Kajabi's contribution to Suzanne's success story

Suzanne builds her list by offering a digital newsletter to her subscribers. She uses Kajabi’s landing page builder and email marketing software to make that offer. In just a few clicks, she was able to build this beautiful landing page, including a video and opt-in form.

“Kajabi is a lifesaver for us solopreneurs who teach!” — Suzanne Jeffreys

5. Leonor Herrera - from process nerd to business coach

Leonor is a business coach who’s on mission to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. She does that by designing strategic systems, planner, and programs for growing a successful business.  

Her website is full of free resources that can benefit anyone struggling with scaling systems. Leonor also offers multiple paid courses, workshops, and resources. 

Kajabi's contribution to Leonor's success story

With Kajabi, not only can Leonor easily create offers for her community, she can present them in a way that’s easy to browse and buy. Her website is authoritative and useful, which builds confidence in her students. That wouldn’t be possible without Kajabi’s landing page builder and  course creation software.

6. Jamie Myers - from running leadership programs to helping women shine

Jamie is the founder of Shine Life Design, a coaching business for women to discover and lead soul-fueled lives. She offers retreats, online courses, and community memberships. She is based out of Utah and lives with her husband and two sons. Through her retreat programs, Jamie has built a very active community of smart, funny, and kind women.

She sums up her own inspiration for Shine Life design with a quote from Martha Graham:

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

Kajabi's contribution to Jamie's success story

On Shine Life Design, Jaimie sells physical products as well as digital courses and coaching. Wth Kajabi, she doesn't have to find another software to sell her wares. Their shopping cart makes it easy to build an online store, where visitors can learn about her products, view the images, and buy.

7. Claire Peirson - from primary teacher to child therapist

Claire is an anxiety management child therapist and offers support and guidance to young children and their parents.

She started her career as a primary teacher and was fascinated by the enthusiastic response she got from her students when they experienced her teaching techniques. Since then she has been helping young children develop confidence and flourish with a positive mindset.

Through her website Raising Mentally Fit Kids, she is able to offer online classes and memberships that parents can buy for their children or themselves.

To help spread her message of positivity and growth, Claire also runs a popular podcast, Raising Mentally Fit Kids for parents. She gives her listeners smart tips on positive psychology and how to raise their children with confidence.

Kajabi's contribution to Claire's success story

Claire used Kajabi’s fully integrated website builder to create a website that showcases her products and content. Because Kajabi is designed for creators, she can easily promote her podcast and videos with her audience — without knowing a line of code.

8. Diane Bleck - from visual thinker to visual teacher

The last of our solopreneur examples is certainly not the least. Diane Bleck is founder of the Doodle Institute, and an artist, author, and guest speaker. Through her unique way of using doodle drawing activities, she helps visual thinkers unlock their creativity at home, school, or work.

She has helped brands like Nike, Disney, and Google bring their creative ideas to life in her 20+ years as a visual facilitator and innovation expert. Now, through the Doodle Institute, she offers a series of online courses that teach everything from the basics of doodling to advanced lessons on digital doodles.

Diane enjoys a big social following on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, thanks to her novel, highly visual presentations. If you enjoy doodling or want to learn the skill, she is definitely the resource you’ve been looking for.

Kajabi's contribution to Diane's success story

A great website doesn’t just tell people about your products. It also shows off student work, so prospective customers can visualize what they’ll be able to do after taking your course. Kajabi makes it easy to share testimonials, illustrations, and other credibility-boosting elements.

Your story can also inspire, my friend!

We’ve shared eight solopreneur success stories, but there are hundreds more. And all of them have one thing in common. Each person who has built a thriving business on Kajabi started with the belief that their unique experiences and knowledge could transform lives. And they make it their mission to share that knowledge with the world.

You also have talent to share. Since you’ve read this far, we suspect you already know that. 

We know it too. That’s why we built Kajabi — to give you the tools you need to build a knowledge business without having to piece together a complicated tech stack.

Let yourself be inspired by these Kajabi Heros. Focus on your strengths. Maintain a growth mindset. You’ll be surprised what you can do by leaning into your greatest passion.

At Kajabi, our passion is giving your passion a voice in the online world. Join us for live Q&A webinars every day, Monday through Friday. Register today to learn everything you need to know to succeed as a knowledge entrepreneur, including selling products, Kajabi themes, pipelines, webinars, and the Kajabi Partner Program. 

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