Podcasting from the Car, with Jayne Havens
In this episode of the Becoming a Sleep Consultant podcast, I’m trying something new—recording on the go! Inspired by last week’s guest, Amber Lilyestrom, I reflect on how I designed my sleep consulting business around my dreams. From starting as a stay-at-home mom wanting to feel productive to creating a flexible business that lets me prioritize family and self-care, staying true to my original vision has been key. Jayne Havens
I also share why it’s important to focus on your own goals, not someone else’s, and how building a business that works for you can make all the difference. If you’re dreaming of starting your own sleep consulting journey, let’s connect—I’d love to help you map it out! Jayne Havens
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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.
Jayne Havens: I’m doing something that I’ve never done before, inspired by a new friend that I made. Her name is Amber Lilyestrom. She was on my podcast last week. So if you haven’t had a chance to listen to our conversation from a week ago, definitely check it out. She told me, when we were chatting privately, that she records a lot of her podcast episodes when she’s just on a walk, she’s out and about. That’s when her best thinking is accomplished. And I often think about how my best thinking happens when I’m driving. So what I did was I decided to just pop in an air pod. I am driving home from a tennis lesson, and I just thought I would record a quick podcast episode and see how it goes.
In the spirit of sort of circling back to what we discussed last week, which is all about designing your business around your dreams, I thought I would tell you a little bit about how I designed my business around my dreams.
When I first got into sleep consulting, I was a stay-at-home mom. I had two little kids. And all I wanted was to be able to use my brain, to think critically, and to have something of my own that was outside of parenting. I wasn’t looking to make six figures a year. I wasn’t looking to build an empire. I just wanted to feel smart again. I wanted to feel productive. I wanted to have something of my own. And if I earned a little money while doing it, that was going to be absolutely fantastic. That was my dream. That was my mission. And that’s why I got into sleep consulting.
However, many years later, I’ve built this really wildly successful business that I’m very proud of, but I have to constantly remind myself about my original dream. My original dream was just to use my brain and still get to be present with my kids and still do all the things that I love to do and that I prioritize in my life. And so I thought today, while I’m driving home at 2:10 from a tennis lesson — every single week, I take a tennis lesson with my oldest friend from 1 to 2 PM in the middle of the day on a Tuesday — and it’s just the greatest feeling that I’m able to run a successful business and do all the things that I need to do for work and still take time for myself. That is my original dream.
So I’m reflecting. I’m feeling great about it. If I even think back to yesterday, my daughter, Ivy, out of nowhere, had this little sort of — excuse my language — half-ass stomach bug. She wasn’t really sick the way you think of as a stomach virus, but she was just having stomach pains. She had no appetite. She really just wasn’t herself. And it was literally nothing for me to stay home with her. I didn’t have to take a day off from work. I didn’t have to call in sick. I didn’t have to use PTO. I literally was able to just manage the day with her home. I worked, but I had a light workload. So I was able to tend to her but also manage everything that I was managing for work.
Again, this all goes back to my original dream, which was to design a business around my life and my lifestyle. And heading into the holiday season, we’re coming up on Thanksgiving, I’m going to be spending some time really reflecting and being thankful for everything that I have but also staying true to myself and reminding myself why I decided to start this business, how I got into this line of work, what I wanted it to look like when I first got going and, frankly, what I want it to continue to look like as it grows.
I’m going to be taking some time off for Thanksgiving. My family is going away. Between Christmas and New Year’s, we’re going to be in the Dominican Republic, which I’m just so looking forward to taking time off. I’m actually going to be taking a break from clients while I’m away. I’m going to start really winding down. I need to look at my calendar. But I’m going to start winding down about two weeks out from that trip so that when I go away, I can be truly present with my kids and enjoy the beautiful weather and all of the fun activities that we’re going to do. And I just, I’m going to continue to remind myself why I got into this line of work, what I want my business to look like, and make sure that both my dreams and my reality are aligned.
So I share this with you today. If you are growing a sleep consulting business of your own, and you’re trying to figure out how to juggle your life and your business and how to manage it all in a way that works for you, I encourage you to really be thoughtful and really think long and hard about what you want your business to look like. It’s really easy to take a look at what other people are doing and to follow their dreams instead of your own. I think it’s most important to really focus on your own goals, your own dreams, and to tune out all of the noise. I know. Easier said than done.
And if you are somebody who is interested in becoming a sleep consultant, and you’re not quite sure how you’re going to juggle your personal life and your work life, I guess what I would say to you is that I would love to talk to you about it. Let’s find a time to connect, hop onto my calendar. I love speaking with perspective entrepreneurs, people who are interested in starting their own businesses but haven’t quite pulled the trigger on putting that into action yet. I’d love to connect with you. I’d love to hear about what your day to day looks like. I’d love to hear what you’re juggling and what you dream for your own business. Let’s map it out. Let’s talk about it together and figure out if this would be a great fit for you.
I hope you enjoyed this episode recorded in my car. Timing is perfect. I’m pulling into my driveway. And in about seven minutes, I have a discovery call with a mom who I’m very excited to speak with. She has a little two-year-old who is struggling to fall asleep and back to sleep independently. She was actually a referral from a current client that I’m supporting right now, who also has a two-year-old who’s doing so well with my support. I am going to have that conversation, take a shower, go pick up my kids from school and carry on with the rest of my day. So I hope you enjoyed this car ride episode. And I will be back next week.
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.