Today we’d like to introduce you to Janay Lavon.
Hi Janay, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always been someone who loved creating, teaching, and helping people bring ideas to life, but I didn’t initially know that those things would eventually become such a big part of my entrepreneurial journey.
A major turning point came in 2019 when I published my first book and became an author. After the book was released, people began reaching out and asking me how I did it, how they could publish their own books, and whether I could help them through the process. What started as me simply sharing what I had learned eventually grew into Awaken U Publishing.
That experience taught me something that has shaped so much of what I do now: sometimes the thing you create for yourself reveals a problem you’re equipped to help solve for someone else.
From there, my entrepreneurial journey continued to evolve. I started recognizing that publishing was only one expression of something I had really been doing for years, which was helping people take what they know, organize it, develop it, and turn it into something useful.
My professional background in training, leadership development, facilitation, and speaking naturally connected with that. I’ve spent years helping people grow professionally, communicate more effectively, develop as leaders, and take ideas from concept to application. Eventually, I began seeing all of those pieces together instead of viewing them as separate parts of my life.
Today, I’m a business strategist, publisher, speaker, and facilitator. I’m especially passionate about helping people recognize the value of what they already know and think more creatively about what they can build from it.
I think that has become one of the biggest themes of my own journey as an entrepreneur. I didn’t wake up one day with a perfectly mapped-out business or career. One opportunity kept revealing another. Becoming an author led me into publishing. Publishing opened my eyes to how many people had great ideas but needed help turning them into something tangible. My work as a trainer and facilitator showed me how much knowledge people possess that they often don’t recognize as valuable outside of their job.
Over time, all of those experiences have shaped the work I’m building today.
I’m still evolving as an entrepreneur and creative, but I think that is one of the things I enjoy most about it. I’m constantly asking, “What else can be created from what I already know, what I’ve experienced, and what I’ve learned?” And now I get to help other people ask themselves that same question.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, not at all. Entrepreneurship has stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. I’ve invested money into ideas that didn’t work, created things that never launched, changed direction, questioned myself, and had to learn how to keep building while maintaining a full-time career and everything else that comes with life.
I’m also a late-diagnosed ADHDer. I was diagnosed at 37, and that explained so much about how I had been navigating life, my career, and entrepreneurship without even realizing it. I’m naturally a big-picture thinker with a lot of ideas, which is a gift, but I’ve also had to learn how to focus, prioritize, create structure, and actually finish what I start. My diagnosis gave me a better understanding of how my brain works and helped me stop measuring myself against the way I thought I was “supposed” to operate.
One of the hardest seasons came in 2023 when I was laid off from what I considered my dream job in tech. I had done what so many of us were taught to do: earn the degrees, work hard, build a career, and do everything “right.” Then a decision I had no control over changed everything. I spent months unemployed, submitted hundreds of applications, experienced rejection after rejection, and had to use savings I had worked hard to build.
That season really opened my eyes to how much security I had placed in one source of income. I realized that no matter how hard you work or how much you love what you do, circumstances within a company can change overnight. Thankfully, I already had my business, but the layoff made me much more intentional about building multiple streams of income and creating things that I own.
My faith in God carried me through that season, but it also challenged me to be a better steward of the gifts, knowledge, and opportunities He had already given me. I stopped looking at entrepreneurship as simply something I did on the side and started recognizing the importance of building income and assets beyond one paycheck.
I’m still learning how to balance all of those pieces: my career, entrepreneurship, creativity, ADHD, and all the ideas I want to bring to life. I don’t have all of it figured out, but I’ve become much more comfortable with the fact that my journey doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Roberson Agency?
The Roberson Agency is a business strategy and development company that helps people turn what they know into something they can own, package, and monetize.
I work with people who have knowledge, skills, experiences, stories, or ideas but may not know what to do with them. That could be a professional who has spent years developing a skill, a pastor with a message or framework they’ve been teaching, a thought leader with ideas they want to build around, a single mom looking for another stream of income, or simply someone who knows, “I have something, but I don’t know how to turn it into a business.”
That’s where I come in. I help people identify what they already have and determine how it could become an offer, service, digital product, training, workshop, program, book, or another income-generating asset. Then we work through who it’s for, the problem it solves, how to package it, and how to position it in a way people understand.
Publishing is also a big part of what I do. Through Awaken U Publishing, I help aspiring authors take their ideas and manuscripts through the publishing process and turn them into professionally published books. And because of my background in training, leadership development, speaking, and facilitation, I naturally think beyond simply creating something. I’m always thinking about how the knowledge can be organized, taught, applied, and used to create impact.
What sets my work apart is that I don’t start by telling people what they should create or push them to learn a new skill. I start by helping them recognize what they already know. Sometimes we dismiss what we know because it comes naturally to us or because we’ve only used it at work, in ministry, at home, or while helping other people. I want people to realize that what feels ordinary to them may be incredibly valuable to someone else.
That’s really the thread that connects everything I do: helping people recognize the value in what they already know and turn it into something tangible that can create impact and income.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I think I’m a calculated risk-taker. I don’t believe taking a risk always has to mean making some huge, dramatic decision or completely turning your life upside down. For me, some of the biggest risks have been choosing to bet on myself before I had proof that everything would work.
A big part of that has been entrepreneurship and putting myself out there publicly. Showing up online, sharing my ideas, creating offers, putting a price on my work, and asking people to invest in something I created required a different kind of confidence. There’s vulnerability in allowing people to see what you’re building, especially while you’re still figuring some of it out yourself.
But I’ve also seen what can happen when I’m willing to take that risk. I’ve had $10,000+ months in my business, and those moments were bigger to me than simply hitting a revenue number. They showed me that something I created from my own knowledge, skills, and ideas could generate real income. That changed the way I thought about what was possible for me.
I’ve taken financial risks too. I’ve invested in coaching, programs, tools, and ideas without knowing exactly what the return would be. Some things worked and others didn’t. Entrepreneurship has taught me that risk doesn’t guarantee a reward, but it almost always gives you information.
I’ve also learned that staying comfortable carries its own kind of risk. At the same time, I don’t believe betting on yourself requires being reckless. I have a career that I enjoy, and I don’t believe entrepreneurship only counts if you quit your job and go all in. For me, betting on myself has meant building alongside my career, creating additional streams of income, and investing in ideas I believe in.
My faith plays a huge role in that. There have been plenty of times when I couldn’t see exactly how something was going to work, but I believed God was leading me to move. I’ve had to learn the difference between waiting for wisdom and waiting because I’m afraid. I pray, I plan, I seek wisdom, and then there are moments when I have to trust God enough to take the next step without knowing exactly where it will lead.
My relationship with risk has definitely evolved. I still ask questions and think through my decisions, but I don’t need every detail figured out before I move anymore. Sometimes the risk is making the investment. Sometimes it’s launching the idea, raising the price, posting the content and allowing myself to be seen, or realizing something isn’t working and being willing to pivot.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://therobersonagency.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janaylavon
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janay.roberson
