Year One Is A Wrap: The Honest Truth About Building My First Online Horse Business
I want to write the article I wish someone had written for me before I started.
Not the highlight reel. Not the polished version. The real one, with the numbers, the mistakes, the coaches who changed everything, the program that took $8,000 and gave me almost nothing back, and the honest accounting of what I would do differently if I were starting over today.
Year one of Cowgirl Life Co. is officially a wrap. Here is what actually happened.
The Three Products: What I Built, What I Made, What I would do again
I launched three products in year one across three price points. A low ticket, a mid ticket, and a high ticket. I sold all three. Here is the honest breakdown.
Low Ticket: Cowgirl Calm
This course took an enormous amount of time to build. It is loaded a three-day program with a ton of bonuses, strong video content, and outstanding one-time offers. I had an incredible online business coach who specializes in working with yoga teachers help me design and build it, and the end result was something I am genuinely proud of.
What I learned: a robust low-ticket course is only profitable when people buy your order bumps and one-time offers and when you have an audience large enough to sell to. I had neither at the time. Going forward,
I will keep making low-ticket offers but make them smaller, easier to digest, and faster to produce.
Mid Ticket: Brave Again 40-Day Challenge
This has been my most joyful launch. A 40-day challenge for horsewomen who are afraid of the animal they actually love, built on the Kaizen principle of small yeses stacking into something transformational. The community energy this creates is unlike anything else I have built. I plan to run this quarterly.
High Ticket: Cowgirl Ignite
My highest revenue product and my most complicated relationship with a product. The one-on-one work is deeply gratifying. But the honest truth is that high-ticket coaching took far more hours than the price reflected, and the marketing required to bring someone into a high-ticket commitment is a job unto itself, one I did not enjoy as much for due to the time versus money angle. Going forward, Cowgirl Ignite is reserved for the right person at the right time.
The Real Numbers
Yes. I spent more than I made. And I am telling you that on purpose because I think the silence around first-year numbers is one of the things keeping aspiring equine business owners from starting. Year one is often an investment, not a profit center.
Revenue earned vs Business expenses for 2025-2026
Where I Spent Wisely, and Where I Did Not
The coaches and programs that genuinely changed what I was building, and the one that did not.
The $8,000 program promised $10k months using a strategy almost entirely dependent on cold outreach to established colleagues, which, in your first year of business, you simply do not have yet. Do your research before you invest at that level. Ask to speak to first-year business owners who completed the program. Ask what they built and what it made. That question alone will tell you everything.
What I Did Right, and What I Wish I Had Done Differently
I experimented constantly in year one. That gave my algorithm whiplash and also gave me clarity I could not have gotten any other way. I know now what brought me joy and what gave me headaches.
What Year Two Looks Like
Year two is about taking everything I learned and actually implementing it. One focus. One lane. Hit it hard and stay committed to it.
If you are in your first year of building an online horse business, I want to leave you with this: the messy middle is real and it is normal and it does not mean you are doing it wrong. It means you are doing it. Keep going. Take notes. Be honest about what is working. And find the people who tell you the truth because they are worth more than any course.
Alicia VanderGriend
Cowgirl Life Co.
Alicia VanderGriend is a certified wellness coach, marine biologist, and former project & proposal manager with 25+ years of experience leading complex, high-stakes work.
She is the founder of Cowgirl Life Co., a horsewoman lifestyle brand built on showing up brave and confident in our bodies, minds, and wallets, and feeling the greatest expression of freedom. She lives and rides her three mustangs in the Pacific Northwest.
Follow at @cowgirllifeco on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
This article is from the October 2026 issue of Equine Business Magazine
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