How to Start a Sleep Consulting Business: $10k/mo Helping Babies Sleep

Jayne Havens went from being a “bored stay at home mom” to running a multi 6-figure business in just a few short years.

This is a 2-for-1 episode where we’re going to learn about starting a service business from scratch and selling an online course.

In Jayne’s case, the service business is coaching parents to help their babies and toddlers sleep through the night.

Then, after earning thousands of dollars a month doing the coaching, Jayne created an online course teaching other people how to do what she did.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

• how Jayne got started coaching parents on how to get their babies and toddlers to sleep better
• why she decided to start the online course component of her business
• the methods she’s used to grow both sides of her business

Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas

The Idea to Start a Sleep Consulting Business

“Prior to becoming a sleep consultant, I worked in catering sales,” Jayne told me.

When Jayne’s son was born, she decided to leave her job and become a full-time stay-at-home mom.

Jayne said she loved being a stay-at-home mom, and four years later she had a daughter.

It was after the birth of her daughter that Jayne said she started wanting to explore working again.

“I was feeling burned out from the stay-at-home mom life, and was really itching to have something to exercise my brain and to get the creative juices flowing again,” Jayne told me.

Jayne told me she decided to get her sleep consultant certification, “on a whim.”

The topic wasn’t completely new to her, Jayne had been good at getting her own kids to sleep through the night.

She had also helped friends with their kids, and learning about how to help kids sleep better had been a hobby of hers for years.

She decided to start TheSnoozeFest.com as a passion project but told me it quickly turned into a legit business.

The Importance of Getting Certified

Jayne told me she was already well-read on the topic of improving babies’ sleep. She had been through it with her own two kids and felt well qualified.

But she still considered it important to take a course and become certified before providing her services to others.

Jayne said there were two main reasons for this:

1. It gave her more confidence in the field of sleep consulting and working with clients.
2. She learned a lot more through taking the course. Jayne said the education was valuable to her work.

How to Find Your First Sleep Consulting Clients

Jayne told me she found her first client in a Facebook group.

Jayne said she was already “lurking around” in various groups for parents looking for advice on how to get their kids to sleep through the night better.

When she would see a question posted in a group, Jayne would answer their question and provide actionable advice.

She did this for a while to build up trust within the groups before ever pitching her service to anyone.

After a while, when Jayne would answer a question she would let people know that she is a professional in the field of sleep for infants and toddlers and that she could help them further on a 1-on-1 basis if needed.

Jayne would give them a link to her website, so they can find out more about her. As well as a direct link to her calendar to schedule a free 15-minute phone call.

“Giving people access to reach out to me, while also providing a ton of really valuable free advice is what made people trust me and want to reach out and hire me,” Jayne told me.

In addition to answering questions that cropped up in the groups, Jayne also held free Q&A sessions with the blessing of admins.

This was a way of building even more trust as an expert, and also demonstrating to the group admins that she was there to provide value to the group.

How Competitive is Sleep Consulting?

“I knew that people were paying money for it [sleep consulting for kids], I didn’t invent the idea,” Jayne told me.

When Jayne decided she was going to get certified, she Googled child sleep consultants and could see there were plenty of people doing this as a job.

She didn’t look into them in any detail. Instead, Jayne told me that she just needed to decide what she was going to charge and what her services were going to look like.

How to Price Sleep Consulting Services

Jayne started out charging $425 for a 2-week consultation. She’s since raised her price to $600.

Jayne explained that this might seem a little low for two weeks of work, but she’s not present or available to clients all the time.

When working with a new client, Jayne said she starts with a phone call to find out what their specific needs are. She then writes up a thorough sleep plan for them.

Those two things set up most clients for success. Jayne also provides text message support throughout the two weeks and ends on a phone call to wrap things up.

“All in all, most of my clients really only require about an hour and a half or two hours work,” Jayne told me.

Other Marketing Channels to Find Sleep Consulting Clients

Other than Facebook groups, Jayne said that almost all of her new clients come from word-of-mouth referrals.

Jayne doesn’t actively do anything to encourage her clients to recommend her, she said it happens organically due to the difference she’s making in people’s lives.

Having a child sleep through the night has a huge impact on the parents and the whole family dynamic.

Jayne explained that when parents go from being constantly interrupted and having poor sleep due to their child waking through the night to a blissful night’s sleep, they tell other parents.

A little touch Jayne does do is to send a handwritten “thank you” note to the parents with a small gift for the child at the end of the relationship.

Jayne said she doesn’t do this for referrals. But this gesture goes a long way and will certainly help.

Networking and Connections

Jayne has also seen some business come her way through the connections she’s made in her industry.

Jayne said she doesn’t network as hard as she sees some other sleep consultants doing, but over time she’s made some valuable connections.

For example, she’s had business referred to her by her child’s preschool director and a friend who is a family photographer.

A Day in the Life of a Sleep Consultant

“Frankly, it looks different every single day,” Jayne told me when I asked what her workday looks like.

That said, generally speaking, a typical day for Jayne looks like this:

Jayne starts the day by texting all of her clients to see how their night of sleep went. She’ll answer any questions and provide advice via text.

Jayne then takes care of her own kids, getting them ready for school and doing some other chores.

Her calendar doesn’t open up for calls until about 10:00am, so Jayne has an hour or so to herself to take care of any personal things.

From 10 am until about 2:30pm Jayne is taking calls from prospective clients, talking with her current clients, hanging out on Facebook, and doing other business-related tasks.

The important thing to Jayne is that she’s managing her own schedule around taking care of her family and doing the things she wants to do.

“The whole point of me starting this business was to continue to be that stay-at-home mom that I was. I just also wanted to use my brain and make some money,” Jayne told me.

Most of Jayne’s communication with clients happens on the phone, so she’s able to take calls and respond to clients while she’s out and about.

From Free 15-Minute Call to Paying Client

Jayne converts most of her clients from the free 15-minute calls anyone can book with her.

Jayne told me she makes it clear to prospective clients that the free call is not an opportunity to get free advice.

The purpose of the call is to hear about what they’re struggling with, get her head around their specific situation, and for Jayne to paint a picture of how she can help them.

Jayne tells prospective clients that if they want to work with her, they can go to her website and sign up.

Creating a Sleep Consulting Certification Course

The other part of Jayne’s business is the Center for Pediatric Sleep Management (CPSM), which is her own sleep certification course.

Jayne said she decided to start CPSM for a few reasons:

1. Jayne likes challenges and said she is hungry for success.
2. The other sleep consulting courses on the market were lacking in certain areas. Jayne thought she could create a more comprehensive certification program.
3. Jayne wanted to empower sleep consultants with the skills to start and grow their own businesses and included modules on this.

Jayne said she really enjoys the entrepreneurial side of being a self-employed sleep consultant and thought it would be fun to teach this, too.

Not only do students taking her course come away with a certification in sleep management, but they also have the tools to start their own business as Jayne has.

Marketing and Selling the Online Course

“This was really outside of my wheelhouse if I’m being completely honest,” Jayne told me.

Jayne had never even heard of any teaching platforms and tech used to host digital courses like Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi when she decided to create her course.

Jayne hired someone to help create the course curriculum. She worked closely with them to create the course how she wanted it, and used Thinkific to host the finished course material.

Jayne then started building a list of people who showed an interest in becoming sleep consultants through Facebook groups.

She would DM people and ask if they were interested. If they were, Jayne would tell them her course was going to go live soon.

By the time she launched her course, Jayne said she had around 300 people on her email list.

Jayne said she launched her course to her list at a discounted price and sold 7 courses. A few days later she had a few more signups and had made 10 sales.

Jayne then created her own Facebook group called Becoming a Sleep Consultant. She said this was a real turning point for her business and how she grew her student numbers.

Using a Facebook Group as Top of Funnel

Most people join Jayne’s Facebook group either by finding it organically or because she’s been promoting it and invited them.

New members are asked a few questions, one of which is if they’re interested in receiving a free ebook on becoming a sleep consultant.

If they say yes and hand over their email address, they’re added to Jayne’s email list along with being sent the ebook.

Jayne also tags new members to introduce them, asks them if they have any questions, and directs them to helpful resources and some of the previous Q&As she’s held in the group.

Course Price and Availability

Jayne decided to make her course available all year round, as opposed to opening it up for enrollment periodically.

Jayne explained that she likes this approach as it smooths out new sign-ups throughout the year.

This means she doesn’t have spikes in her workload onboarding new members and reviewing their assignments.

Jayne has priced her course at $2,450. Although she does offer discounted pricing regularly and said this is working out well.

For example, Jayne offers a $250 discount at the end of her email sequence for new subscribers.

She will also make this offer to someone if she’s on a call with them and feels like they’re really close to signing up and need a nudge.

Affiliates and Joint Promotions

Jayne also has an affiliate program for her certification course. This means anyone who becomes an affiliate gets a commission when they refer someone who signs up.

She said a few of her affiliates have large communities with good authority in their own space and these are converting well.

Sometimes Jayne runs a promotion with those affiliates, and she sees a spike in sales as a result.

“Their audience already trusts them, so then they trust me,” Jayne explained.

Tech and Tools

Some of the main tools and tech Jayne is using to run her business are:

• AcuityScheduling – The calendar software Jayne uses to enable people to book 15-minute calls.
• Showit – Drag and drop website builder Jayne used to create her site.
• Canva – Graphic design software Jayne uses to create custom graphics.
• Thinkific – Software Jayne used to build and host her course and curriculum.
• ActiveCampaign – Email software Jayne is using to manage her email subscribers. Here’s my full ActiveCampaign review and demo.
• Group Leads – A Chrome extension that Jayne uses to automatically send new Facebook members a welcome message and adds them into ActiveCampaign.
• ThriveCart – Software Jayne is using for her checkout cart as it’s a smoother process than using Thinkific.
• Zapier – Jayne uses this software to sync customer data across platforms.
• Zoom – Video conferencing software Jayne uses to work with students.

What’s Different From Your Competitors?

Jayne told me she doesn’t pay attention to what her competitors are doing. “I’m in a competition with myself,” she told me.

She doesn’t feel threatened by competition, either. There are more than enough kids and parents in need of sleep consulting, Jayne explained.

Jayne told me she thinks the keys to her success have been to keep challenging herself, trying new things, and seeking support from others.

What’s Next?

“I would love to find somebody to help me sell the course,” Jayne told me.

Jayne has been trying to build a sales team but is struggling to find the right people.

She’s approached students who have been through her course. But they’re more interested in putting what they’ve learned into practice and building their own business.

Jayne said she is also going to focus more on growing her organic and social media traffic.

She has recently hired a Pinterest manager and will know more about how well that platform works in the future.

Jayne’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation

“Brush the fear aside.”

Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas

Links and Resources from this Episode

Sponsors

• Skillshare – Get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership, with unlimited access to 30,000+ on-demand classes!

Want More Side Hustle Show?

The award-winning Side Hustle Show is a
Top 10 Entrepreneurship podcast
with over 1,000 5-star ratings!

Listen in your favorite podcast app or directly in your browser.