This is part of a series called "One Entrepreneur's Journey," where I'm talking with solo entrepreneurs about their successes (and failures) along the path of entrepreneurship.

In this interview, I spoke with Shannon Laackmann, Psychic Cowgirl, intuitive counselor, and rancher who helps her clients figure out their hopes for the future and then gives them the tools to empower them to achieve it.

Tell me a little about your business.

I am the Psychic Cowgirl, and I'm an intuitive counselor and a spiritual healer.  I use my talents to connect to universal energies to inspire, motivate, and empower people, mostly women.  A lot of my clients actually end up coming to see me because they're in abusive relationships or had abusive situations, and they just want to get rid of all that crud that's in their life.  My passion is empowering people, especially women, and my biggest message is letting them know that they're not alone on this journey, that we do actually have a team of heavenly helpers, if we just know how to listen and tune in to their guidance.  They send us messages constantly, and it is really empowering to know that you're not alone and that you have access to this unconditional love.

How did you get started in this line of work?

I've always been able to do this.  I just focused on what my passions really were and what I did naturally, and it just kind of evolved.

A lot of people have a problem connecting their talents and their passions with a business opportunity, and they worry that they are going to be able to, in fact, find clients and find people who are going to be willing to pay for their product or service.  It seems that you were able to get passed this.

I had to get rid of my limiting beliefs before I could do this.

Did you kind of set goals for yourself, as far as what you wanted to accomplish?

I made my dream board, and I wrote how I wanted my business to make me feel, how I wanted it to work (it had to work on the Internet, and I had to just do work on the phone, and people could come in person, but it had to be a little more flexible than having a storefront), so I made my manifesting list and my dream board, and I just focused on it and became aware of opportunities as they came up - paying attention.

So, it was more about how you wanted your life to be rather than specific goals or outcomes for the business itself.

When I started, I did get tangled up in trying to do it the traditional way and setting specific goals, and it didn't work for me.  All it did was make me upset, so I had to figure out a better way.

So, how do you approach your day then?  With traditional goals and set milestones and metrics, you obviously break those down into concrete steps that you have to do on a daily basis to move the business forward.  How do you focus your day coming from this direction?

I still have lists and things I want to accomplish.  I still do short term goals.  The difference is, I don't attach to the outcome.  If it doesn't work that way, I don't beat myself up over it.  I show compassion for myself and say, "Okay, there's a purpose it doesn't work that way.  Let's figure out how to make it work a different way."

It seems like it's really about getting out of your own way.  How did you accomplish that?

I paid attention to my energies, and when I could feel that it wasn't working, I didn't try to force it to work.  I let it go and tried to figure out how to make it work in another way that did feel good in my energies.  When I realized that my perspective is unique and I have to figure out what feels good to me and work from that point, that's when I found success.

Well, that seems to be one thing that you're getting right in order to attract success.  What else do you think that you're getting right in helping to build your business?

Attracting people that have different strengths than I do so that I'm able to focus on what I'm strong at, and anything I'm weak at, they come along and help me fill those gaps.  When you're a solo person in business, you think you can do it all yourself.  Until you realize that trying to do it all yourself is actually sabotaging you, because you don't have time to focus on the things you're good at, you get bogged down in these details that you may not be so good at.

What do you find are the most helpful things to outsource in your business?

I always try it first.  I try it, and if I find that it's dragging my energy and I'm just getting cranky doing it, those are the things that I outsource to my virtual assistant.

How about things that you struggle with?

Blending the whole business and family and ranch and everything that I do, that's a big one.  That's where being able to be flexible helps, you know, because some days, the cows get out, and I spend two or three hours putting them back in and fixing the fence, and I don't get to do ordering for the store and followups on clients.

One of the benefits of being an entrepreneur, though, is that you have that option of when your kids get sick, you can say, "I'm not working today."  You don't answer to anybody else.

What lessons have you learned as an entrepreneur?

Be careful who you ask advice from, because some people have their own perspective that's not in alignment with yours, and if you try to force yourself to be in alignment with that advice, it's not going to work.  Really know who you are and what your intention for your business is so that you have some sort of stable point that you can work from.