How does one start their career with no professional experience?

I have had something on my mind since the day I graduated. As a freshly graduated college kid I was beyond excited to put my degree that i worked so hard for to good use and start my journey to my career. I soon came to a realization that I'm sure many of you have also experience. That realization was this: 90% of the jobs I was applying to required me to have years of professional experience. So i'm sitting here scratching my head and thinking to myself, how do I go about getting the experience I need when all of the jobs I can apply for require previous experience to begin with?! I understand one has to start at the bottom and work their way up but the more I search the more defeated I feel when I can't use my degree that took so much time and effort to complete. Not to mention way too much money.