The Power of Taking Action Early with Stella Kontak
If you’ve been waiting to feel “ready” before starting something new, this episode is going to challenge that thought.
Today I’m joined by Stella, a full-time corporate professional, mom of two, and certified sleep consultant through Center for Pediatric Sleep Management.
Stella is just five months into her business and she’s already supported 20 families. Stella didn’t wait for everything to be perfect before getting started. She took action, figured things out as she went, and put herself out there even when it felt uncomfortable.
In this conversation, we talk about how she landed her first clients, how she’s using social media in a way that actually works for her, and what it looks like to move through imposter syndrome instead of letting it hold her back. Stella shares honestly what it looks like to juggle a full-time job, two young kids, and a growing brand new business.
If you’re on the fence, this episode is your reminder that you don’t need to have it all figured out to get started. You just need to begin.
Links:
Website: Stellar Baby Sleep
Instagram: @stellarbabysleep
If you’d like to learn more about becoming a Sleep Consultant, please join our Facebook Group: Becoming A Sleep Consultant
CPSM Website: Center for Pediatric Sleep Management
Book a free discovery call to learn how you can become a Certified Sleep Consultant here.
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.
If you’ve been waiting to feel ready before starting something new, this episode is going to challenge that thought.
Today I’m joined by Stella, a full-time corporate professional, mom of two, and certified sleep consultant through Center for Pediatric Sleep Management. Stella is just five months into her business and she’s already supported 20 families. Stella didn’t wait for everything to be perfect before getting started. She took action. She figured things out as she went, and she put herself out there even when it felt uncomfortable.
In this conversation, we talk about how she landed her first clients, how she’s using social media in a way that actually works for her, and what it looks like to move through imposter syndrome instead of letting it hold her back. Stella shares honestly what it looks like to juggle her full-time job, her two young kids, and a growing brand new business. If you’re on the fence, this episode is your reminder that you don’t need to have it all figured out to get started. You just need to begin.
Jayne Havens: Stella, welcome to the Becoming a Sleep Consultant Podcast. I’m so excited to chat with you today.
Stella Kontak: Thanks for having me, Jayne. I’m excited to be here too.
Jayne Havens: So before we get started, tell everybody a little bit about you, if you’re comfortable sharing a little bit about yourself personally, professionally, and why you decided to get certified to be a sleep consultant.
Stella Kontak: Yeah, I’d love to. So I’m Stella Kontak. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, but will always be a Midwest girl at heart forever. I am married, and I have two young girls. So I have a four-and-a-half-year-old and a 16-month-old. So I can definitely relate to all the moms that I help with right now and just as exhausted as well. But yeah, I am joking right now. I say that I have two full-time jobs right now. I do work in corporate America, and I lead a small team in supply chain and procurement. Also, I recently launched my sleep consulting business about five months ago. I launched in November. It’s just been really busy but really fun. I’ve really enjoyed it.
Just a little bit about the why I did it, I, just like many of you, I loved sleep training my daughters. And the minute they both were sleeping through the night, it was just such a rewarding feeling that I started to help then my friends and family to get to that same point, and just really enjoyed it for fun. In the back of my mind, I was like, I want to maybe do this. Could this be something bigger and maybe do this as a full-time job someday, or even like a side gig? But of course, during that time, I was in the trenches, and I did not have time to think about it really.
But then really, last year, a friend of mine who actually went through your certification as well—Alyssa, she was on the podcast too. She’s wonderful—she shared that she was going to join your course. I just got really interested, and I was like, “This is a sign. I need to do it.” And I did it, and it’s just been wonderful so far. No regrets.
Jayne Havens: Yeah, and you’ve had a really strong start. You’ve been in business for five months. You’ve already supported, you told me, 20 families—which is incredible, especially because you’re really just doing this part-time.
Would you say that you were scared to get started, or you just jumped right in?
Stella Kontak: I would say a little bit of both. I had no idea what I was doing when it comes to social media or building a website. Thankfully, your course was super helpful in both of those things, and I was able to kind of parallel path. And so while I was taking your course, I did some of that on the side. I didn’t spend too much time on it. And I think that’s what helped me. It was just doing it really quick. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and just do it and just kind of don’t let your fears slow you down.
And so just one day, I decided just to post on my—like, make a business account and post on it and post it on my personal account. I was so scared. But literally, that day, I got two clients through referrals. And so I think just little positive wins just kept me encouraged. I still am scared sometimes. I have no idea what I’m doing on social media, and I make mistakes. Definitely, that imposter syndrome is still there. But yeah, I think that really helped me. It was just go. Just do it.
Jayne Havens: So those first two families that you supported, were they friends of friends? Like people in your network saw your post and shared that information with their people, their friends, and that’s how you landed those first two clients?
Stella Kontak: Exactly. Yes, through friends.
Jayne Havens: Okay, and then what about the other 18? Are they coming from social media? Are they coming from referrals? How are you finding families to support?
Stella Kontak: I would say that’s one of the biggest things right now. I would love to get a stronger referral base through local pediatrician offices or local doulas. But right now, a lot of it, I am still grinding. I am still hustling and finding them all through social media. I mean, yes, some will go through referrals, but most of it is surprisingly social media.
Jayne Havens: Does that feel comfortable for you? I don’t know. When I first started my business, I also did the same. I spent a lot of time on social media. I don’t love social media. I don’t love content creation, is what I will say. I don’t want to create reels. I don’t want to create carousels on Instagram. But I’ll hang out on Instagram and I’ll connect with people, or I’ll hang out in Facebook groups. Do you feel the same? It’s less about content creation, more about just talking to people and connecting?
Stella Kontak: For me, it’s a bit of both. So when I first started, I was all over the face of mom groups. People were commenting like, “You comment in there a lot.” I was just really trying to make connections and try to really bring value and be helpful day one. But it was taking up a lot of my time. I was in those groups posting all the time. And while, yes, I was finding some success, I was finding myself to be on my phone way too much. That’s one of the boundaries that I’m really trying to find balance in now, actually.
And then I recently found out I’m actually having a ton of fun making reels. I didn’t think I was going to. I thought it was super daunting at first, and then I kind of started dabbling in it. I’m finding small success, where I don’t have a big follower count. I have 200 followers on my Instagram, but I’m getting like 3,000 views on my reels, which, again, it’s not like it’s not going viral.
Jayne Havens: No, that’s very significant. If you have 200 people following you and 3,000 people are seeing your content, that’s incredible.
Stella Kontak: Well, thanks. Yeah, and it’s just very encouraging. And like I said, it’s really fun. It’s been a fun creative outlet for me. So I’m not a creative person, but I’m finding a lot of joy. And it doesn’t take me that much time. These Facebook groups, I would say it was really time-sucking. And these reels, it’s a fun hobby of mine. So I’ve found a good balance where now people are watching my reels. They’ll like the reel, or they’ll add me as a follower, and then I can instantly just message them and form that connection that way. It just feels more natural.
Jayne Havens: Okay. That is really great. I love that. It never occurred to me to run my business that way, but good for you. And I’m glad that’s working for you.
Stella Kontak: Thanks.
Jayne Havens: Let’s talk about time management. Because you are working full-time, you have two little kids at home, and you’re running this sleep consulting business, and it’s nothing. You’re supporting, what, four or five families a month, and you’re working on business development and client support. How are you juggling all of that?
Stella Kontak: Yeah, I would say it’s a big emotional rollercoaster ride. Some days I feel like I’m failing at all categories—like failing as a mom, failing as an employee, owning my business. But some days I feel very full of, you know, I actually accomplished a lot today, and I’m having a blast with my family. So I would say the adrenaline with running your own business, no one ever told me how the highs and lows are drastic. And the energy, it’s been pretty amazing. So I would say I’m still trying to figure that out, though, trying to find that balance and boundaries.
I did buy Brick. It’s something that monitors my phone. So definitely, I physically cannot have access to my social media accounts or emails when I’m with my daughters in the morning and at night at bedtime. So that’s really helped me create that boundary. I have a really long to-do list, and I separate them out by the different categories. I’m a very type-A, visual person. I handwrite all my to-do list still, and that just helps me feel more organized in my day-to-day life too.
Jayne Havens: And is your day job, like your corporate America job, flexible in the way that like if you need to take a call with a sleep client in the middle of the day, you can? Or are you really taking all of those calls outside of traditional nine-to-five business hours?
Stella Kontak: Yeah, it’s a good question. Thankfully, my job is flexible, so I can take discovery calls and client calls during the day. I very much can be supporting my families and clients through texting basically all day. I do set boundaries of, if I’m going to be in a two-hour meeting, then, “Hey, I might not be as responsive during that time.” But yeah, I’m thankful that my job, I am fully remote, so I do get to work from home. And I do feel I can give the time when I need to.
Jayne Havens: You mentioned, once you launched your business, that you just were sort of like, “Go figure it out as you go along,” and not overthink it. Is that how you operate in general? When you’re excited about something, you just go for it without too much overthinking?
Stella Kontak: Funny because, well, yes, I’m definitely a planner, type-A, very organized, but I can be indecisive when it comes to big decisions. I read a book, though, around starting your own business. You do really need a different mindset for that, which is really getting out of my comfort zone. But just really don’t let yourself slow your business down was basically the motto. And it does not have to be perfect. I am a perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things, so it did help me to just go.
Like I said, the website is not perfect. I’ll have to go and fix it probably in a few months. I don’t love my logo, but it’s good enough. And like I said, I have no idea what I’m doing with my social media account, but I’m just posting every day and seeing what happens. And surprisingly, it’s been successful. I do think I do want to be a little bit more strategic moving forward of, here’s what I want to accomplish each month. So I am slowing down a little bit now, just trying to think forward-thinking. But right now, yes, I’m in just go, go, go mode.
Jayne Havens: I mean, I think you’ve had really, really great sort of like early rapid success. And if I think about the people inside of our community who have that, they just get out there. Like they see an opportunity, and they take it. They seize it. They’re not overthinking.
You said: “I have a logo. I don’t love it, but it’s good for now.” Exactly. There are things you want to change about your website. Okay, you’ll do that. And I really think I’m like that in my business. I’m very impulsive. If I have an idea, I just go for it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. If I tried it and it feels great, even if it didn’t work, I still do it again. And if it doesn’t, then I move on and I try something else. I think that, really, what I see in you is you’re just taking action. You’re getting out there. You’re excited about your work, right? I think you really like it. Right?
Stella Kontak: Oh, I love it.
Jayne Havens: It’s like bringing you a lot of joy.
Stella Kontak: Yeah, it does bring me a ton of joy. My husband always comments on it of, while it’s taking up a lot of time, it’s not stressful. And I love doing it. It just brings me a ton of energy. I’m not tired. I’m not exhausted. You know, when you talk to other moms or when I talk to my friends, they hate their jobs. They’re just so physically exhausted and mentally exhausted. And I don’t feel that way at all.
Jayne Havens: Do you have a client success story that you’re willing to share? Did you work with a family that really is a memorable one?
Stella Kontak: Yeah, I would say two. One of my first families were twins. And of course, I don’t have twins, and I had total imposter syndrome of, “Am I going to be able to help twins?” But it went really well. They actually had then an infant, and so I ended up helping the infant a few months later. We’ve just stayed connected.
I would say the ones that bring me a lot of joy—which again, this is both good and bad—is when I can really form a connection with them. We’re still texting. I love it when they ask me about, “What’s your favorite baby gear? What are your tips on travel?” I love just talking about baby stuff in general. And so just being able to talk in a personal way too is really fun for me.
And then the other one is I love helping—I know this sounds weird—anxious first-time moms. Because I’ve been there. They just really need someone to help them and bring them confidence that they’re lacking. And the minute that they have a baby sleeping through the night or they can find confidence in their own, it’s just such a rewarding feeling. And again, they’re just so grateful and thankful, and we stay connected. So that was another one too.
Jayne Havens: Yeah, I always love hearing from sleep consultants who love supporting those highly-anxious parents. Because that is exactly why we have jobs, right? This whole field is all about supporting moms who are really anxious to make a change to the way that their children sleep. The information is out there. They could Google it. They could ask a friend. They could ask ChatGPT. But none of that is good enough. Because at the end of the day, what they’re really looking for is emotional support and accountability. And so when I hear a sleep consultant say that they really love supporting those most anxious parents, it just makes me feel so happy. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones that give us this work. You know, that’s why we have a job.
Stella Kontak: I mean, that’s so true. That’s really the most impactful thing that we can help them with, is really that. I always say, ChatGPT, I have a love-hate relationship with them. Because it just tells you what you want to hear, and they don’t really give the best sleep sleep advice from what I’ve experienced in the last five months when moms tell me what they’re Googling. And yeah, I agree that, really, we can truly understand and learn, but more importantly, just be their supportive accountability and being their cheer leader,
Jayne Havens: Recently, somebody told me that they asked ChatGPT for help with their child. They had given me the whole rundown of what was going on. And so just out of curiosity, I put it into ChatGPT to see what Chat would say compared to what I would say. It was totally different, totally different. And so, you know, that made me realize, “Wow. This is not necessarily helpful.”
And then I have those experiences outside of my work in sleep when I was just asking it to troubleshoot something with me, like a tech thing, and it had me running around in circles—not solving my tech problem at all. So, you know, I think it’s useful in certain — there are certain ways that you could definitely make use of AI.
Stella Kontak: Recipes.
Jayne Havens: Right. Exactly. That’s a great example. But it’s not for everything. You know, I use it like to polish my email. I’ll write a whole email and say, “Can you make this? Can you polish this?” Fine. But to have something, to have it create something for you from scratch when you’re looking for really, really tailored advice, I think Chat is not it.
Stella Kontak: I totally agree. I think it sometimes can be dangerous actually if we use it too much in our personal lives. Because, I mean, I’ve done a ton of research. It’s more of an affirming tool. They’re going to tell you what they think you want to hear, which when you’re using that for emotions, that can be really dangerous. But, yeah, I think it’s great for things like what you said around emails. I always do it for, like, quick recipes. “I have these ingredients. What should I make tonight?” I think that’s perfect. But yeah, I totally agree.
Jayne Havens: Where do you see your business — you’ve only been in business five months. Your business is literally an infant, right? Where do you see your business a year from now, two years from now, five years from now?
Stella Kontak: That’s such a good question, and I have no idea. But I think that’s the joy. Yeah, I think that’s the joy of it of, you know, I want to keep doing this. I have goals. I originally had four clients a month, but I increased it to, I want six clients a month this year. I do, by month, have things that I want to accomplish with local brand partnerships and national brand partnerships and things like that.
But definitely, I want to keep doing what I’m doing for a little bit. I’m not going to quit my full-time job anytime soon, my corporate job anytime soon. But I totally could see this being something that I only do maybe in a few years. But like I said, I’m just kind of, my eyes are open, wide open to the opportunities. And I’m, at this point, not really saying no. I’m just going and saying yes to everything that kind of comes on my plate.
Jayne Havens: I think really, you have grown so much in such a short period of time, which shows you how far you can actually go when you really give it time, right? I mean, your original goal, I think this was like a one-year goal, right? It was about to have four clients a month. That was, like, your first-year goal. And you’re five months in, and you’ve already done that. You’ve been doing that consistently. So I think this is totally just the beginning for you. And I think when we think about goals, it’s not all about, like, “How many clients a month can I support?”
Stella Kontak: Right.
Jayne Havens: Obviously, that’s where our brain goes, right? But there’s also, “How much fulfillment am I getting out of this? Is it fueling my soul? Is it making me happy? Am I feeling a creative outlet?” Right? There are so many things that I think we want to get out of our businesses that don’t necessarily make it into our goals that we put onto paper. But for you, I really feel like this is just the beginning. You’re just scratching the surface, and you’ve already accomplished your goal for this year. You’re already doing it. So I’m excited to see where you land another five, six months from here.
Jayne Havens: Do you want to share your website, social media, anything, so that anyone is listening can follow along?
Stella Kontak: Yeah. So my company name is Stellar Baby Sleep. And so my Instagram is @stellarbabysleep. I have a Facebook. And yeah, my website is stellarbabysleep.com.
Jayne Havens: Love that. All of it. Congrats on your early success. We will keep in touch.
Stella Kontak: Thank you.
Jayne Havens: I wish you all the best.
Stella Kontak: Yeah, thanks for having me. This was fun.
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