It’s been a long time since I played and I was never professional, but I just powered through. The calluses build up relatively quickly if you keep with it daily. Sometimes I wouldn’t even play, just form chords for as long as my fingers would let me to reinforce the calluses

You could also try lighter-action strings. I’ve had some that were very heavy and absolutely not worth the pain. But as the saying goes, “you’ve got to pay your dues to play the blues”