Growing Your Sleep Consulting Business on Instagram with Allison Henderson

Links: Sleep Consulting on Instagram

Website: Allison Henderson Coaching
Instagram: @allisonhenderson_coach
Podcast: The Ambitious Coach Podcast

If you would like to learn more about Becoming a Sleep Consultant, please join our free Facebook Group or check out our CPSM Website.

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Transcript:

Intro: Welcome to Becoming a Sleep Consultant! I’m your host Jayne Havens, a certified sleep consultant and founder of both Snooze Fest by Jayne Havens and Center for Pediatric Sleep Management.

On this podcast, I’ll be discussing the business side of sleep consulting. You’ll have an insider’s view on launching, growing, and even scaling a sleep consulting business. This is not a podcast about sleep training. This is a podcast about business building and entrepreneurship.

Allison Henderson is an international business coach & social media specialist for ambitious coaches and sleep consultants who are looking to grow their online businesses through social media. Allison’s background is in event and radio sales, and she has worked with top brands across the country.

In the past 4 years, she has worked with over 200 sleep consultants & female coaches, in a variety of industries, teaching them how to make money and get clear on their sales and marketing strategy. Allison has a unique way of looking at business through spirituality, growth and mindset practices, and energetics which has helped her grow her business with flow and trust. She is the founder of Social Media Sales Blueprint and Social Selling 101, her signature business coaching programs. Her programs have helped coaches triple their income, close over a dozen clients in one month, and replace their corporate income.

Jayne Havens: Allison, welcome to the Becoming a Sleep Consultant Podcast. I’m so excited to have you today.

Allison Henderson: Yay! I’m so excited to be here. Thank you, Jayne, for having me.

Jayne Havens: I think this is maybe our third time. Really, probably second time actually interviewing you, but then I used the third interview from something else. So, this is your third time on the podcast, I think.

Allison Henderson: Well, yeah. You’ve been in my world for at least a couple years now.

Jayne Havens: I know.

Allison Henderson: Yeah, so thank you for just being a part of my life. Thank you. I know there’s a lot of people that I’ve coached that are probably listening to this, too.

Jayne Havens: Familiar voice, right? It’s a familiar voice on the Becoming a Sleep Consultant Podcast. I wanted to bring you on today to paint a picture of what it looks like for a sleep consultant to use social media, specifically Instagram, to grow their business, which is totally your jam. That’s why we’re talking. I think that for some people, this can feel really overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be, right?

Allison Henderson: Absolutely not. Social media. Let’s be real. All your ideal clients are consuming social media every single day. We can’t ignore that a lot of people, when you first wake up in the morning, you’re checking your socials, right? We come on here to learn. We come on here to see what’s really going on in the world. When you’re struggling, guess what? You’re coming on social media to find your answers, right? You find your people.

Social media has been the easiest and fastest way for people to grow their online businesses. It’s just a matter of learning how to do it. That’s really — in my mind, I’m like, it’s just sitting down and saying, okay, I’m ready today. What’s my first step in all of this?

Jayne Havens: I think that the biggest fear that I hear most often when faced with the idea of growing a business on social media is that they’re going to have to build this big audience. Can you speak to that? I mean, I don’t have a huge audience. So, I don’t know. I don’t think that you need that.

Allison Henderson: I think that is one of the biggest misconceptions. It’s like, “Oh, I need to spend all these months trying to build up my audience, and then I can sell or something.” But that’s not true at all. If anything, it comes down to the right audience.

You can have, say, 500 or 5,000 people. To me, anything really under 10,000 people is a small audience when I think of Instagram and that sort of stuff. Yeah, you don’t need to have this mega huge audience to build the business that you want to build. Like I said, it comes down to having the right audience and speaking to the right people.

Jayne Havens: I remember when I was first starting my business as a sleep consultant, I actually did use Instagram to grow my business at first. I don’t really use it so much anymore, but I did. I started with just a network. The only people that were following me were my own friends, my own family members. Then it was sort of like friends of friends.

I was able to build a pretty substantial business early on just from a very small network. I probably had like 300, 400 followers for a long time. It wasn’t like I just started my sleep consulting business and had 5,000. I think I just hit 6,000, which I know is still considered small.

Allison Henderson: Yeah, I’m at the same range as you. I’m around that 6,000 mark. I might grow like 1,000 a year. It’s like nothing crazy upon us.

Jayne Havens: It’s very small.

Allison Henderson: Yeah.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, I agree with you. I think it’s the right people. Because if I think back to who my very first clients were when I launched Snooze Fest, my first clients were all largely friends of friends. They were people that I didn’t know personally, but I was like one or two steps removed from them. It would be like my old college roommates, best friend from high school, or something like that.

Allison Henderson: Exactly, yeah. I think that is one of the things. Use your current network first. Then see from there. Okay. Who do you know that is also struggling with this? I tell my clients all the time, like, use your current network and ask for referrals. “Do you know anybody that’s struggling with this right now?”

It might not be them. Maybe it’s not the college roommate, but it could be the college roommate’s friend of friend of friend or whatever. Over time, word of mouth is the best form of advertising. So, the more clients that you get success with, the more that they’re just going to be shouting from the rooftops that they need to be hiring you. They’re going to be sharing more of your content and tagging you in more posts.

Like I said, social media is a great way to have your past clients or friends and family to be sharing more about who you are and what you’re all about.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, actually, you sort of hit the nail on the head if I’m thinking back to when I first started my business. I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast are either thinking about becoming a sleep consultant. Maybe they’re brand new sleep consultants, and they’re trying to figure out. Like, okay, I’m listening to this Allison Henderson and Jayne Havens talk about how to find clients on Instagram.

If I think back to what my strategy was in the very, very beginning, my strategy was just to keep my friends and family interested and engaged in what I was up to. It was just a way to remind them regularly that I existed. Because if I could share interesting, valuable, and maybe funny and cute content on Instagram, they would watch it. Then they would remember, “Oh, Jayne has this business.”

Then maybe they would be, at lunch, with a friend. Their friend is talking about how they don’t sleep because their eight-month-old is up all night. They’re like, “Oh, I keep seeing my old friend from college on Instagram. She started a sleep consulting business.” Then next thing you know, I have a referral. That was my approach in the beginning. It was literally just trying to keep my own circle in the loop with what I was doing professionally.

Allison Henderson: Absolutely. I think we talked about this before, too. It’s like leading with passion and excitement. Just sharing like, “I have this brand-new business. I’m so excited to help new moms get their babies sleeping through the night. Wow. I’m just so excited for this.” That, in itself, when you come from that place of, “I’m here to help. I’m here to give. I’m just so excited to have this business and excited to help you,” that can easily get you clients too.

Jayne Havens: Beyond sharing on social media, which is what I did in the beginning. I just shared a lot about what I was up to as I was growing my business from infancy — we’re going to use the baby metaphor — all the way through the toddler and preschooler years. I always tell this to my Center for Pediatric Sleep Management students and grads. I always took the approach that you use social media the way it was intended to be used, which is, it is a social network.

So, if you’re going to use Instagram or Facebook to grow your business, you should use Instagram and Facebook the way that they were intended to be used, which is to make connections. It’s not necessarily to like sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, but it’s to talk to people that you are connected with online, that perhaps would be a little bit more challenging to communicate with if you were just trying to communicate with them in real life.

Allison Henderson: Absolutely, yeah. If I can tell somebody right now how are you going to build your business this year, it’s going to be please just make connections. Talk to people. Who’s going to be buying your programs? Who has this money? It’s people. So, sometimes you need to get over this fear of people. Literally, for me, I teach a really genuine, simple approach to just starting conversations.

Jayne Havens: What does that look like?

Allison Henderson: Sure. It could be like you go on a story today. You’re like, I’m so excited to share — maybe it’s like a little mini training or something that you did. I’m going to do a little mini training on what is this sleep regression, and why I’m going to this right now. Here’s a simple thing that maybe can help you today.

At the end of that, you can say, “If you’re really struggling with this, here’s a poll right here. Click Yes. I’m happy to help you in a DM conversation. I’m happy to privately message you and learn more about your situation, and see how it can help you today.” Then from there, if they click yes on that poll, you’re going to slide into their DMS. Slide right down in. Just say, “Hey, I saw that you said yes on my poll. I’d love to be able to help you through this. Tell me a little bit more about what’s going on.”

That person is obviously saying yes, I need help. I am struggling with this. However, some people aren’t going to be actively clicking the polls, but they might be viewing your stories.

I think Instagram stories is probably the easiest way to see who’s really paying attention to you, just because you can actually see the people’s names that pop up. Oh, they watch my stories every single day. This is why it is important to stay consistent with your stories and with your content. It’s because you want to see who is paying attention to you. It could be still friends and family, especially at the beginning. That’s totally fine.

When you are posting and when you have these people pop up, that’s when it’s okay to say, hey, thank you so much for watching my stories today. You don’t have to acknowledge that maybe they didn’t actually click a poll or do anything. It could have just been like you posted a funny mom reel about how exhausted somebody was or something like that.

You can say, “Hey, I see that you watch my stories every day. I’d love to just learn more about you. Is there anything that you feel like you’re struggling with right now? I’d love to create specific content for you.” Lead with value. Be a resource for them. Help somebody. That’s the thing. They’re coming on your profile, consuming your content. Because a lot of times, they need help with something. But sometimes it’s not so obvious. They’re not screaming from the rooftops that they need help with this.

With a lot of what you do, they need help with naps. They need help with getting their baby to sleep. They don’t want to have early morning wake up. There’s a lot of simple things that you know your audience is struggling with. So, of course, talk about that in your content. But really, sit there and ask somebody, like, “Hey, you just started following me. Thank you so much for the follow. I’d love to be able to help you through your motherhood journey. What do you feel like you’re struggling with right now? I’d love to be able to create some content for you.”

When I come from a place of that — easily, I’m asking a question — they’re going to reply back. If I’m just like, “Let me know if you want more information,” they’re not likely going to say, “Yes, I would like more information.” Sometimes that does happen. But I don’t use ‘let me know’ a lot at all. I should say at all. I don’t use ‘let me know’ a lot in my DM conversations. Even with my conversations with my clients like in a Voxer message. I’m like, “Tell me more about what’s going on. Actually, explain it to me. I’d like to explore more into the situation. Tell me more about what’s going on.”

When we ask questions or when we ask those open ended, like you need to reply back to me, they’re going to reply back to you. Anyway, my conversations with people is just, we want to ask really good, powerful questions if you can.

Jayne Havens: And we just need to start the conversation.

Allison Henderson: That, too.

Jayne Havens: Here we are. You’re giving all of this value of what to actually say in the conversation, which is hugely valuable and bonus material as far as I’m concerned. But how about the fact that a lot of people are just scared to just introduce themselves and say hi.

It actually happened to me the other day. Just on a whim, I was feeling — you know what, I probably had gotten off a conversation with you, if I had to guess. I was probably feeling like in this ‘work my Instagram’ type of mood. I got a new follower. It was a mom. Her profile picture was a mom. In the picture, she had her little baby on her hip. So, she followed me. I was like, you know what? I’m going to follow her back, and I’m going to send her a message.

So, I followed her back and I sent her a message. I said, like, “Hey, thanks so much for the follow. I see that you have a little baby in your profile picture. Are you, by any chance, struggling with her sleep?” She was like, “Yes.”

Allison Henderson: Yes, it’s so simple.

Jayne Havens: She was. It’s funny, because I haven’t done stuff like that in a long time. Because my business at this point is pretty well-established. Most of my clients come to me by way of word of mouth. I’m not actively sort of working Instagram that way anymore, but I just was in a mood. And I did. Next thing you know, she’s on a discovery call. She actually is a paying client. I actually had my kickoff call with her today.

Allison Henderson: That’s amazing.

Jayne Havens: That is a real thing. That works. You have to talk to people in order to show your value. But sometimes I think it’s just the first step of making that introduction.

Allison Henderson: Absolutely. I love how you said that, like how simple. It’s just like, “What’s going on? Are you struggling with sleep?” I think this is what we need to remember: they’re following you. It’s almost like they’re hitting that subscribe button. They want to hear from you.

Jayne Havens: They’re coming into your kitchen.

Allison Henderson: Yes, they’re following you for a reason. I know sometimes it will be like, “Oh, I don’t want to annoy them if I send them a DM.” No, they want to hear from you. They want to hear from you. So, I love that how easy that was. Oh my God. Isn’t that amazing? You just asked a question. They said, “Yes, I’m struggling,” and bam, on a discovery call.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, I was sitting with my husband when I did it. I was like, I never do this.

Allison Henderson: Actually, I should do this more often.

Jayne Havens: Then in the middle, I was like, oh, maybe I should do this. It actually worked. Sometimes it’s that easy. Can you break down maybe your top three best practices for landing clients on Instagram?

Allison Henderson: Yeah, absolutely. The first one, we kind of already discussed this. It’s like make connections. Actively build. Start to build your following a bit, and then see who is following you back. Then, once again, start that conversation. How are things going?

This is maybe number two: create content that is actually relevant for this mom who is struggling right now. We have to think of our content almost as like if we can really lay out all the problems this mom is having right now. How can I help her through this? Relevant content that’s really going to connect emotionally with this mom if you want her to consume more and more and more of your content.

If we’re just creating content that’s a little fluffy — which there is a time and a place for like funny reels and funny videos and that sort of stuff — if that’s all you’re posting, a lot of times they’re going to be like, “What is she actually selling? What does she actually do?” Why are they following you? They’re following you because they want more information. They’re looking for some education. They want to solve a problem that’s happening in their everyday world.

If you can really think of what are the thoughts that this ideal client is having of yours right now, this mom who’s struggling right now, what are her thoughts? But also, what is she afraid to say out loud? What’s really going on in her day-to-day world? Everybody is going to have a little bit of like what you can consider an ideal client. But if she’s a working mom, okay, it might be a little bit different from a stay-at-home mom. But create content specifically for her, okay? That’s number two.

Number three, I highly suggest to sell. We can’t forget that we have a business and that, yeah, we just need to share about what we offer and what that transformation is that we’re going to be putting them through. When I say that, it’s more like what is this big problem that they have, and what exactly are you going to help them achieve. That’s the stuff I want you talking to them about. Who are you helping? What can you really help them achieve? What are those big outcomes that they’re going to get when they’re working with you?

I think, a lot of times, the big thing is we talk about the number of calls or the type of support they’re going to get. Don’t get me wrong. That is important to talk to them about. That’s not really the reason that they’re buying you. They’re buying you because they know that you are going to help them solve a big problem that’s happening in their everyday life right now. They don’t want to feel that way anymore, right? So, they’re hiring you because, really, they need assistance. They need help. When they can really understand — you can do this through your content. When they can really understand that you get them, you understand what they’re going through, they’re going to take that action on the next step which is to book that free consult, to book that discovery call with you.

It’s talking to people. Number one, talk to people. The more people that you talk to, the more money you will naturally make, okay? Number two, create relevant, specific content for this ideal client that you have. Number three, just don’t forget to talk about your offers. Talk about what you sell. You don’t want to ever make somebody wonder what you sell or get super curious. Okay. I wonder what you sell. Just straight up say, this is what I sell. I don’t want people to tip toe around that. Because the more clear you are about what you sell, the easiest it is going to be for somebody to say, “Oh, I’m going to take an action on this, and I’m going to actually book a discovery call now.”

Jayne Havens: Yeah, and I think, to be clear, we’re not selling — you touched on this. We’re not selling the phone call, the sleep plan, these. We’re selling a full night of sleep, a rested child, a happy family. That’s what we’re selling.

Allison Henderson: Yeah, absolutely. Really, if you can get down to what is this mom really desire, like she wants to have more me time. She wants to be able to put her baby to bed and not have that struggle anymore. I just think, so many times, we’re just not always touching on that because maybe it’s too cliche. Bath time by yourself, or reading a book, or watching Netflix with your husband. I’m like, but that’s what they want.

Let’s be real. A mom just wants to be able to relax sometimes for a couple hours before she goes to bed. That’s okay to just admit that. I know, it’s like what I said, sometimes it might sound a little cliche to say you want to watch Netflix and just relax. Well, that’s what she’s really desiring right now. When you really are thinking about your content, it’s okay to just say something that’s like, what is a thought that she has, or what is she afraid to say out loud, and talk about that.

Jayne Havens: Speaking of content, let’s move on to reels. I personally find reels to be really overwhelming. I went through a small phase, I think, when reels were new, where I dabbled in reels. But it would take me two hours to make a 30-second reel. I was like, I can’t do this anymore. This is not for me.

Can you sort of break down maybe a more manageable way to use reels in your sleep consulting business that’s not creating this necessarily viral content? It’s more than that. I know it is. But maybe you can help us break it down. What can sleep consultants do on reels that feels less insane than what I was trying to do when the reels first came out?

Allison Henderson: Well, there’s definitely an aspect of talking. They’re 90 seconds, the longest ones are. You can do a 30-, 60-, 90-second reel where you’re actually educating them on something that you feel really comfortable talking about, something that you feel really confident talking about.

What I would suggest is to really just prepare and write it out, write out what are you going to say, and practicing that. You can have your phone in front of your computer and read off of it. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t have your cheat sheet, because you can. So, that’s my biggest thing. Just prepare as much as you can so you’re not having to re-record it like 100 times to “get it right.” Because, yeah, that takes way too long.

Jayne Havens: So, they don’t need to dance to some songs and have all that stuff?

Allison Henderson: That is a strategy, too. Because there’s viral audios right now that you can sit there and go — I’m sorry. It’s trending audios. Yes, you can. They’re like between 7 to 9 seconds. It’s the sweet spot right now with Instagram reels. That’s a short form piece of content that people can see. Maybe it’s just like a headline. You want it to have, I call, the scroll stopping headline. What is something that’s going to say, oh, that’s what I’m experiencing right now, that’s something that’s happening in my life right now?

You can do some pointing and dancing, if you really want to. If that’s a part of your personality, go for it. But if you’re not somebody that that comes naturally to you, trust me when I say you do not have to do that. You can have reels where you’re sitting at your desk, playing with your dogs, playing with your baby. Imagine that, playing with your kids.

What are you just doing habitually every single day? All you’re really doing is throwing some audio on it and putting a caption on it. I don’t want people that feel like, oh, I have to technically crave out a massive amount of time for these reels. You don’t. If you are a stay-at-home mom and you’re running this business or want to run this business, and you’re just really playing with your kids today or you have a newborn at home, just take a video of you and your newborn, just loving on your baby. Put some audio over it and put a caption on it.

Honestly, that’s kind of how I feel. Sometimes we’re making it out to be so much harder than it has to be, when, really, in your everyday life — this could be like your husband too. When he gets home from work, hey, take a quick little video of me just holding the baby. Imagine like a 7 to 9 seconds or whatever how long that audio is. That was something really simple.

You could have these things, I call them theme days, where it’s like every Monday if you know that you don’t have any distractions at home, you can say 7am to 9am, I’m just getting all of my content done for the week, like I’m going to record the reels. I’m going to just get everything ready to go. So, you don’t have to worry about posting every day or just having that nervous feeling of like, what am I going to post today?

Just spend one afternoon or one morning just getting it all done. When you’re in that energy of creating content, I get way more content done. But when I’m like, oh, crap, I only have 15 minutes during that time to get this done, I have some anxiety about that. But if you are somebody that needs to have that organization, carve out just a block of time, and try to get it much done as you can.

Jayne Havens: Would you say that those sort of 7- to 9-second short reels with a trending audio are more designed to increase your following in an ideal world whereas the first type of reel that you were talking about, where you just sit down and teach something in 90 seconds, that’s more value for your existing audience. Would you say that’s fair?

Allison Henderson: Yeah, 100%. The little ones, yes, can get people to your page. But we still have to claim and own our authority. We are a leader at what we do. Those quick, little dancing reels, I’m going to be honest, you can’t just do those and have people hire you. They need to know that—

Jayne Havens: If you’re just doing that, then people are just watching you because they think you’re entertaining. They’re not seeing you as somebody that’s worthy of working with, right?

Allison Henderson: Yeah, so, there’s definitely some fine lines between, I call, infotainment. You want to be somewhat entertaining and still educating them on something or giving some sort of value, whatever that is. But you want them to keep coming back to your page, right? So, you have to, like I said, create that relevant content that’s going to be like, I can’t wait to consume more. She’s nailing it on the head. I always learn something from her, whether that be about a sleep consulting tip or just like a mom hack that I’ve learned. I just want to share this with you.

It can be so much more than the education that you already have. But you want them to keep coming back because of who you are and what you’re all about. At the end of the day, they’re buying you. They’re not always just buying the education that you’re teaching. But it’s how you teach it, how you talk, your beliefs and just your way of life. That, to me, is super magnetic of just how that person lives her life. I don’t know. I love hiring coaches just because of who they are, not just because of the information that she’s always teaching me or whatever.

Jayne Havens: What do you say to the person that says, “I don’t like to put myself out there, or I feel awkward on video?” I’m sure people are listening to this cringing inside, thinking that they have to make a reel, which, by the way, I should say that you don’t. There are plenty of people who are sleep consultants who do not use social media to grow their businesses. We have podcast episodes about that.

But for the sake of this conversation where we’re talking about using Instagram to grow your business, what do you say to the person that says, “I don’t like to put myself out there, or I feel awkward making this type of content with my face and my voice?” What do you say to that?

Allison Henderson: Well, let’s be real. It is uncomfortable at first. At first, it’s a slow build of confidence that you’re going to naturally get. The biggest thing is just be prepared. That’s why I was saying earlier, if you got to have a little cheat sheet, of what do I really want to say, practicing it. If you are somebody that like feels like, “Oh, my hair needs to look a certain way, or I need to be dressed in a certain way,” at the beginning of your business, it’s totally fine to show up as your most competent self. Does that person wear a nice outfit? Does she do her makeup? Does she do her hair?

Or, you can be like us right now where we’re just like in T-shirts and sweatshirts. I did my hair today, but I have no makeup on. I got nothing, right? It’s just one of those things of like, over time, you will build that confidence. But it’s just small baby steps. Like I said, some people do have a real fear of putting their face on social media. There’s definitely other ways, but they need to know your face. They do need to know who you are, who’s behind the business.

Like I said, there’s other types of reels. You could do your research too, like what kind of reels. I actually see people are giving a lot of great information with like maybe utilizing a lake or their backyard forest or whatever that they have. They’re throwing some music on it. So, there’s other things that you can do. It doesn’t always have to be your face in every single video or every single reel. But over time, they are going to want to see who you are and what you’re all about. So, we can’t really ignore that.

Your face is your logo. I want your cute face popping up all the time. I want people to remember you. It’s one thing they know that you exist. But then, they need to remember that you exist. That’s why showing up consistently and them seeing your face is really important.

Jayne Havens: I think that for those who are scared of putting themselves out there, we’re all scared. We’re all scared, every single one of us. Nobody believes me when I say that I’m scared. But I promise you that I am. I do scary things all the time. What Allison said earlier is so true, that it does get easier. It gets less scary the more you do it. Whenever I do something new, it feels scary. But then, once you do it once, it’s not as new as it was before. Then you do it again and again and again. Then all of a sudden, it’s not so scary anymore.

Allison Henderson: I actually was just having a conversation with one of my clients in Voxer. Of course, when you work with me, I challenge you. I’m like, you got to do some of this stuff where you’re showing your face and talking to the videos and all that stuff. She was like, I’m so happy to that. She ended up getting a client off on one of her videos. She was just like, “I didn’t really realize that my clients really need me.” The more clients that you have, it’s just like, wow, there are so many people out there that really need your services and what you offer. It’s just one of those things until you start getting those clients. It’s kind of hard to see that.

But trust me when I say like, people need you now more than ever. So, you hiding behind the camera is not doing anybody — you’re doing them a disservice. Even you not selling is a disservice. Getting over it, you just maybe ask yourself some questions like, what’s really the big fear of me showing my face? What’s the big fear of me selling? What’s really going to happen? What is the worst-case scenario?

I always like to remind people, a lot of the the fears, it’s usually like some family members or people that are closest to them, what are they going to think of me when I decide to do this? Trust me when I say it’s not easy at the beginning. Because, yes, you do have friends and family that are watching. But, once again, tap into the big picture here of like, there’s moms out there right now that really need me. My friends and family are great, and I want them to share my content. I want them to love what I do. But sometimes I just have to look at the big picture of like they might never buy, and I’m not creating content for them.

Jayne Havens: I think that the biggest fear — the one that you touched on, I think, is significant. Perhaps, the biggest fear is just the fear of somebody saying no to you or the fear of failure. People, I think, don’t put themselves out there, whether it be on social media or anywhere else, because they’re afraid that if they do put themselves out there and they don’t get the feedback that they’re looking for — which eventually is ultimately like the paying client — if they don’t get that, then it feels like rejection.

I think that can feel really hard. But what I always tell people is like, by you not putting yourself out there, you’re sort of rejecting yourself. You’re getting rejected before — you’ve rejected yourself so that nobody else could reject you, which is a really silly thing if you break it down. You’re not even giving people a chance.

Allison Henderson: Yeah. Wow. I got goosebumps by you saying that. Gosh, that’s so true. Your self-judgment is what’s really stopping you. Sometimes, yes, it is the fear of other people, but it’s also how you see yourself. There’s definitely some serious mindset impact in there that some people need to do. Like, really, what am I so afraid of?

Jayne Havens: I think, to some degree, the Internet can be a scary place, right? Instagram is overwhelming. For a lot of reasons, Instagram can be really overwhelming. And so can Facebook, TikTok, whatever. It’s all overwhelming.

I see it as a really amazing tool. For me, social media allows me to connect with people that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to connect with in real life. That’s how I look at it. Yes, that means I need to put my face on screen. It means I need to use my voice, use my face use. That means that I need to show up.

But if you’re not showing up on Instagram, or Facebook, or whatever, then you need to show up somewhere else. I just like to show up where the people are. For me, it’s less about Instagram. I tend to show up on Facebook a little bit more. But it doesn’t matter really where you show up. You just have to show up somewhere, right?

Allison Henderson: Yeah, pick one platform. Really decide that this is the platform that you’re going to dedicate with building your business. You can dabble in others. But really, I think some people think they need to be everywhere at the beginning. I’m like, for the first year, if not even two years, get really good at one platform and hang out there. Then figure out where are your other, where are they hanging out also on this platform, your ideal clients? Then hang out there, and talk to people. Be a resource for them.

I also teach people how setting up collaborations, sometimes just getting in front of somebody else’s audience that’s also filled with your audience. Jayne has invited me into her community, right? That has helped me tremendously. It’s like setting up a collaboration. Just simply asking, “Can I do a presentation that can help other moms inside your group? Can I be a resource for them? Can I help them,” that’s a whole another way that you don’t have to be constantly putting yourself on your Instagram page or inside of a Facebook group. But it could just be like, “Hey, I do a Q&A or a presentation just to help this small community grow.” That’s another simple way for you to easily get more sales calls. Just go inside somebody else’s community and be a resource.

Jayne Havens: Or you go live on with somebody on Instagram, right? It shows everybody who’s — let’s say, you and I go live together on Instagram, it will show my followers and your followers our content, which is great because we’re sort of cross promoting.

Allison Henderson: Absolutely, yeah. There are so many people out there that also want to build their Instagram page, right? This is the thing I want you to remember. Maybe it’s a mom blogger, your local mom blogger that you’ve probably been following for a while. You love her. She might have, say, 20,000 or 100,000 followers. You’d be surprised. This woman wants to help her community. She wants to help her audience on Instagram.

So, don’t feel like you can’t straight up ask them like, “Hey, I am a sleep consultant. I have a presentation that I really think could help your audience. Would it be okay if we set up a collaboration together where I’m mainly just answering a Q&A or most frequently asked questions, whatever that is?” A lot of times, these people, they need people like you. They can’t do it all themselves.

Jayne Havens: They need content.

Allison Henderson: They need content, yeah. So, do not be afraid to just — it is guts. It’s guts to say, “Hey, can I be a resource inside your community? Or, can we go do an Instagram live together?” Whatever that is. “Can you share a masterclass that I’m going to be hosting?” It could be something like that.

Like I said, you’d be surprised the amount of yeses that you would get. But if you don’t even ask, you don’t even know. So, get the guts. Ask. Like I said, likely, you’d be surprised. People are excited to have somebody like you in your audience.

Jayne Havens: Where can everybody find you if they want to follow you on Instagram, learn from your reels? Tell us where this audience can find you.

Allison Henderson: Yeah, so, I hang out on Instagram, alisonhenderson_coach. I also have a podcast called the Ambitious Coach Podcast, where I do talk a lot more about strategy behind Instagram and social media overall, and a lot of the mindset stuff too. Because I know a lot what stops us from growing the most successful business that we can see for ourselves is the little mindset hiccups. So, that’s a lot of what I do as well. Follow me on Instagram. If you want to check out my podcast, the Ambitious Coach Podcast.

Jayne Havens: Perfect. Thank you, Alison, as always.

Allison Henderson: Yeah. Thank you, Jayne.

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Becoming a Sleep Consultant Podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, it would mean so much to me if you would rate, review, and subscribe. When you rate, review, and subscribe, this helps the podcast reach a greater audience. I am so grateful for your support.

If you would like to learn more about how you can become a certified sleep consultant, head over to my Facebook Group, Becoming a Sleep Consultant or to my website thecpsm.com. Thanks so much, and I hope you will tune in for the next episode.