A CPSM Graduate Spotlight: Harlee Maddocks

 

Harlee is a Certified Sleep Consultant with 10 years of experience working with children with special needs, with the last 4 years working as a Special Education Preschool Teacher. She has always highly valued her sleep, so when her daughter was born, she knew she couldn’t function as a sleep-deprived mom. She learned all she could about newborn sleep, and eventually sleep trained her daughter at 5.5 months old. At that point, many of her friends who had babies around her age were reaching out asking her to sleep train their kids.

After sleep training her third friend’s child, she decided to make this a career. She enrolled in CPSM and launched her sleep consulting business, Rested Remedies, less than two months later. Since then, she has helped sleep-deprived moms transform their motherhood experience through shifting their mindset around crying and teaching their children independent sleep skills.

 

 

Links: Nursing to Sleep Consulting

Harlee on Instagram: @restedremedies

Harlee’s Business Coach: Giuala Geurrieri

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

Book a free discovery call to learn how you can become a Certified Sleep Consultant here.

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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.

Harlee is a Certified Sleep Consultant with 10 years of experience working with children with special needs, with the last 4 years working as a Special Education Preschool Teacher. She has always highly valued her sleep, so when her daughter was born, she knew she couldn’t function as a sleep-deprived mom. She learned all she could about newborn sleep, and eventually sleep trained her daughter at 5.5 months old. At that point, many of her friends who had babies around her age were reaching out asking her to sleep train their kids.

After sleep training her third friend’s child, she decided to make this a career. She enrolled in CPSM and launched her sleep consulting business, Rested Remedies, less than two months later. Since then, she has helped sleep-deprived moms transform their motherhood experience through shifting their mindset around crying and teaching their children independent sleep skills.

Jayne Havens: Harlee, I’m so excited to have this conversation with you today. Welcome to the Becoming a Sleep Consultant Podcast.

Harlee Maddocks: Hi, Jayne. Thanks for having me.

Jayne Havens: So before we get started, tell us a little bit about you. What’s your professional background, and why did you decide to get certified to work as a sleep consultant?

Harlee Maddocks: Yes, so I started working in the field of special education about 11 years ago. I really focused on working in-home with children with special needs while I was working on my undergrad. Then I did my internship in preschool setting not thinking that’s where I wanted to go. But my supervisor told me I had a calling for it, so I just went with it.

From there, I started working as an assistant teacher in special purpose preschool programs and then continued to follow that calling until I got my teaching certificate. And I loved doing that. I still love doing it. I do that as my full-time nine-to-five job. But then, I had my daughter. As all things tend to shift when you have children, I realized that I just didn’t want to be tied down to that nine to five anymore. I wanted freedom. I was tired of dealing with daycare struggles. Every time my child is sick, I have to scramble to find somebody to watch her, or I feel like I’m letting my job down. So I just wanted a way to have financial freedom.

Along the way, I fell in love with baby’s sleep. When my daughter was three weeks old, I decided I’m not cut out to be a mom who doesn’t sleep. That’s just not in my blood. It’s not who I am. And so I did everything I could to learn about baby’s sleep. I had her sleeping 12 hours a night by 11 weeks. I did that just simple shaping strategies, just really going off of her cues. We did that for five and a half months.

She slept in the room with me. But I didn’t really deal well with the usual baby sleep sounds. So while she was sleeping through the night, I was not. So when she was five and a half months old, I decided to move her to her crib and formally sleep train her. I just really connected with the process. I really loved the information. There was just something about it that really lit me up inside. And so I started helping my friends. There’s a group of girls around my age that we all had babies basically a month apart. And so then I started helping them. I had their babies sleep trained.

Then one day, I was sitting with a student. They were busy in a therapy session. I was texting with a friend, helping her. That’s when it hit me. Like, is this a thing? Can I do this professionally, make money from it? And so that’s when I started Googling, and I found you. Gosh, I think it was just a couple of weeks of going back and forth. We had some conversations in the DMS. I was like, okay. This is it. This is my calling. And I went from there.

Jayne Havens: And you never looked back.

Harlee Maddocks: I never looked back.

Jayne Havens: So you enrolled in the course in May of 2023. I checked my records. You completed the course in just about a month. I’m wondering if you could share a little bit about what it looked like for you to juggle your learning with all of your other life responsibilities.

Harlee Maddocks: Yes, I was just so excited about this. The content that I was learning, it was just something that really excited me. And so I prioritized that. Evenings after I put my daughter to bed — luckily, at that time, she was sleeping a lot more than she does now. She’s still a great sleeper. She was sleeping 14 hours a night. And so she was going to sleep early at six o’clock at night and sleeping until seven, eight o’clock in the morning. I would do the course after she went to bed. I would get up at 4:30 in the morning and do it. On the weekends, I would send her off with my sister or my husband. I just really put that first.

Jayne Havens: I always say this to people. People don’t believe me because I think most people who are interested in becoming sleep consultants, they have other jobs. I mean, sometimes I’m approached by stay-at-home moms who want to do this while raising their little babies and toddlers. But for the most part, people come to me — they’re teachers. They’re nurses. They’re accountants. They’re paralegals — and they’re looking for some sort of a passion project, or a side hustle, or maybe they’re looking to transition out of their full-time job.

People always say, like, how am I going to have time to do this? When am I going to do it? Literally, what I hear from people like you every single time is that you wanted to do it. You’re enjoying doing it. It was something that was like a treat to get to work on. That makes it so much easier. Because we all have busy lives, right?

And so in order to get this stuff done, I think you have to want to do it. Then you also have to really be passionate about it and enjoy it. And if you do, then, at least what I’ve seen from people like you and others who have graduated from the program is that they wanted to finish it. They’re excited to log in and watch a video or read for 30 minutes, whatever that looks like. You want to get it done as soon as possible.

Harlee Maddocks: Exactly. It was just something I knew I wanted to start this business really soon. And so I just, yeah, I made —

Jayne Havens: You made the time.

Harlee Maddocks: It was the top thing on my mind, yeah.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, I love that. So you’re definitely off to a really strong start. I know you just launched your business this past summer, and you’ve already supported a really solid handful of families. Would you be willing to share a bit about how you landed those first paying clients? I think everybody is always worried about like, how am I going to connect with moms? Where do I find people who want to work with a sleep consultant? What did that look like for you?

Harlee Maddocks: My business has really evolved pretty quickly. It’s been seven months since I’ve officially launched it. The way I did it in the beginning was a lot of local connections. I did some pro bono work with my friends to get their testimonials. Then from there, the word of mouth really spread. It’s actually funny. My first client, I don’t even know who they are. I don’t know how they found me, but they found me within days of launching. I just thought that was so funny. But for the most part, those first few months were really just word of mouth.

Recently, I would say, in the last three months or so, I’ve really honed in on social media. I’ve hired business coaches to really teach that to me. I’m a teacher. I’m not a business person, so it was a big learning curve for me. That’s when I found my business to really start growing. It was once I invested in more education.

Now I get all of my clients from social media. I make connections. Through there, I have a lot of conversations in the DMs. I use Instagram. Actually, this morning, before talking about prioritizing time and making it work, I got up super early this morning. At 7 AM, 6:30 I actually think it was, I had a plan review call with a mom in Italy. This business has just — it’s opened up so many doors for me. But social media has really just helped me to extend my reach.

Jayne Havens: I love that you’ve really — I think you’ve maybe stepped a little bit outside of your comfort zone with the whole social media thing. Clearly, you’re a natural. You’re good at it. But it’s interesting that you started with local connections, and that was working for you. Really, you took the next big step in your business, which was to formalize a process and really hone in on a strategy. I think when we’re first getting started, it’s a little bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. That works. It does work. I still do that in my business.

But at a certain point, you figure, alright, I’m actually going to get some systems in place. I’m actually going to learn how to use a certain platform to my advantage and use it well. Do it in a way that works for me, and that serves me and that I’m enjoying. It sounds to me like that’s what you’re doing. I’ve never really taken a liking to growing a business on social media. But I see that for some of my CPSM grads, it works really well. So I love that you took it upon yourself to learn from somebody else. You don’t have to figure out everything on your own. I love that.

Also, I’m glad you said that you invested in business coaches and people to teach you how to do this stuff. I think so many people are scared to do that. Because they think I’m just getting started in my business. I don’t want to spend any more money. You definitely can go at it alone 100%. But setting yourself up with support and education, that’s what we do as sleep consultants, right? So if we’re offering that support to our clients, why not get it for ourselves? I love that you did that.

Harlee Maddocks: Yeah, you just said it. We tell our prospective clients that there’s help out there that knows exactly how to solve their particular problem. Well, it’s the same thing with a business coach. We don’t need to sit there and guess and have anxiety about where your next client is going to come from. That’s been, again, where my business has just really grown. I’ve had a lot more confidence in my businesses. Because I know when I wake up in the morning, I know exactly what I’m going to do and how I’m going to find my next client and help my next mom.

That’s what I’ve really loved about Instagram. I do love social media because I love talking to these parents. I love meeting new people from all over the place. I sleep trained a baby in California. I’m in Maine. So I just thought was so cool. I’ve just had the opportunity to meet people everywhere and help so many more people than I would have if I had just stayed with my local connections.

Jayne Havens: It sounds like you had some success in your local community. But the world is our oyster. You had a family in Italy that you worked with. You had a family in California that you supported. You don’t just have to help your friends and friends of friends. The internet is your friend. And how amazing is it that you were able to connect with these people. Without the Internet, without Instagram, you never would have crossed paths with these families. How special is that?

Harlee Maddocks: Exactly. Actually, one of them that I met, she was filling out the intake form. Well, so we got on the call. We realized that we both work for the same — I work for part of the main education system, and she works in the southern Maine branch. We have the same exact job, just different ends of the state. And now to this day, we were texting last night. We become friends. And so it’s just, I love the connections that this business has brought me and the mom community as a mom myself.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, I feel the same way. Yeah, absolutely. Would you be willing to share maybe a success story? Is there a particular family that comes to mind that maybe came to you in a rough spot, and you were able to turn it around for them?

Harlee Maddocks: Yes, so the one that comes right to mind for me is the one that I’m currently working with. We’ll wrap up at the end of this week. When we met, they were waking five to six times a night. Breastfeeding, the baby wouldn’t go to sleep unless somebody was feeding or rocking her. The parents — she’s almost a year old — so they haven’t been sleeping for an entire year. She has two other kids that took the sleep training good. And so she didn’t feel the need to hire out or anything like that.

But this baby, it’s third baby, last baby, has a special bond with mom. She couldn’t find something that clicked. And so we got on the call. I reviewed everything with her, and she didn’t believe me. She did not believe that this would really work, that it could be that simple.

The first night was a little hard. I made sure to be available. I had my husband put my daughter to bed so that I could be really present with her through the process, make sure that she doesn’t go in and pick up. She held firm to it. The baby did pretty decent, a few wakings throughout the night. I had to do a few check ins. Then the next night, she texted me after the baby went to bed. It was less than 10 minutes, she’s out like a light. She did not wake up all night long. She had to actually wake her up after 12 hours the next morning.

That baby, all she wanted was space. That’s what I think parents don’t — it’s hard for them to see it when they’re really in the thick of it. But when their baby is fighting them, I often hear, well, it used to work to rock them to sleep but now they’re just fighting me. That baby is telling them that they want space, and the parents just can’t see that. That’s all that baby wanted. It was space. That one has been really cool. That was the quickest one I’ve had. One night, she was done.

Jayne Havens: Yeah, that one hard night, and then bedtime the second night is pretty easy. Then the baby is sleeping, and that’s the end of it.

Harlee Maddocks: Yeah.

Jayne Havens: I see that a lot with babies that are between 10 and 14 months. Right around that one-year mark, they want to be sleeping so badly. And when their parents just give them what I like to call a ‘moment to try,’ when their parents give them a moment to try or an opportunity to try, they get it super fast and they sleep. Because at that point, it’s never really about eating. And if you give them an opportunity to just try and fall asleep in a new way, they’re done. That’s it. They get it.

Harlee Maddocks: Yeah, exactly.

Jayne Havens: That just makes me so happy. I always think about entrepreneurship and what leads to somebody having success versus somebody else who’s really on the struggle bus. When I asked myself this question, in my mind, it always sort of boils down to mindset, having your head in the right place. Would you agree with that? Would you agree that having confidence or the right mindset is what has led you to have early and rapid success in your business, or do you think it’s something else?

Harlee Maddocks: No, I agree completely. It wasn’t really until recently this most recent business coach that I’ve been working with has really honed in on my mindset.

Jayne Havens: Who are you working with? Will you share?

Harlee Maddocks: Yes. It’s Giulia Guerrieri. I hope that I’m not butchering her last name, but she is incredible. It is the best — Well, I’ll say the best investment I ever made. CPSM was the best decision I ever made. But yeah, gosh, I will have to send you the link because I cannot spell her name. She’s Italian.

Jayne Havens: Okay. No worries. We’ll include her information in the show notes. Because I think a lot of people who listen to this, they’re either already sleep consultants, or they’re thinking about becoming sleep consultants. I’m all about getting people set up with the right support. I always say that CPSM is comprehensive and that we do teach business building and entrepreneurship. We do teach our students how to get on to this discovery call and talk to a family in a way that hopefully makes them feel really comfortable. We talk to you about how to grow your business, whether it be on social media or off. All of that is inside of the program.

That being said, for some people, for many people, it’s not about just getting the information. It’s about having the support and the accountability and working with a coach or a strategist. I love that you’ve leveraged that for yourself. I want to make sure that these coaches that are doing a great job are getting credit. I want to make sure that the sleep consultants that I know have access to these resources if they feel that they would benefit from additional support.

Harlee Maddocks: Yeah, she’s really amazing. And like I said, the mindset piece has been really huge for me. She focuses a lot on manifestation. That’s just been something that’s been really new to me, but it’s made a really big difference in the way that I look at my sleep clients too.

Because when they’re going right from the start and saying like I don’t know if this will work for us or if this works, they’re already going in with the mindset that they’re looking for a problem. And so since I’ve worked with her, I really shifted a lot of my work towards that mindset piece for the parents. That’s been a huge success for them, too. I’ve really seen it happen quicker for them. They believe in themselves.

For me, in my business, basically, I just stopped telling myself, like, if I get another client, all those limiting beliefs that you tell yourself that really are just weighing you down. Just put faith in the future, and I’m going to get the next client, that’s just — yeah, I would say, yes, my mindset is in the right place now. It certainly wasn’t in the beginning. It’s scary when you start a business. It’s a new field for you. I’m 11 years into working with kids. But to actually be a sleep coach, that’s new to me. So it’s taken a pretty good mindset shift to get to where I am now.

Jayne Havens: I always tell people that they are the only ones getting in the way of their own success. And really, I do believe that that is true. There is plenty of business to go around, not just in sleep consulting, in any field. We never talk about competition like if you wanted to be a physical therapist or if you wanted to be a hairstylist. It doesn’t matter. There’s enough business to go around. And if you truly commit to excellence and providing your clients with a high level of support, and you’re really good at what you do, and you believe that you’re capable of growing to the next level, I’m 100% sure that it is possible and it will happen for you.

I see it every day in my work. I see people like you believing in themselves and deciding that it’s not ‘if it’s going to happen.’ It’s ‘when it’s going to happen.’ It might not happen this week. It might happen next month. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen yet, and you’re still working on it. You’re going to get there, and you’re not going to quit. You’re still moving the train along. And as long as you’re taking those baby steps in the right direction, you’re not failing. You’re not quitting. You’re not giving up. You’re just working on your business, and it’s growing maybe not on the exact timeline and trajectory that you had planned for yourself.

You know what? Sometimes maybe you’d get surprised, and things happen early, right? I think, for you, at least when I look at your business, you’ve grown really quickly. Maybe you didn’t even expect that to happen. Maybe you thought it would take you longer. The earlier you can get your brain in the right place, I think the earlier it happens for you.

Harlee Maddocks: Exactly, yeah.

Jayne Havens: Do you have goals for yourself? I always like to ask that question. Because we’re all growing, all of us, or at least we’re working towards that. So do you have plans? We’re in the beginning of 2024. Do you have goals for this year? Do you have a five-year plan, or are you just sort of taking it for what it is and enjoying the ride?

Harlee Maddocks: I have a goal for this year. I would like to put in my notice for work before the start of the next school year, so I hope to get through. You know what? Maybe even before summer, because I do work through the summer as well. But that is my ultimate goal. It’s to be able to put in my two-week notice before we roll into the next school year.

Jayne Havens: I love that, and I love that you are brave enough to say it out loud. Because people heard you, and now we’re going to be watching. I think you’re going to do it because I think you believe that you’re capable. I think you’re going to work really hard and make sure you get to that goal. That’s what it takes. I think it takes saying it out loud, admitting it, putting it out into the universe, and then just doing whatever necessary to make it happen. I fully believe you’re going to do it.

Harlee Maddocks: Yes, I hope — actually, I shouldn’t say that. I shouldn’t say I hope so. I will.

Jayne Havens: I think so. Before we wrap up, where can people find you? Definitely share your Instagram. If you want to share your website, whatever you’d like to share.

Harlee Maddocks: I’ve actually shifted away from my website just because I really wasn’t seeing that much traffic, and so I’ve just really been focusing very heavily and solely on Instagram. So you can find me on Instagram @restedremedies. I have a Stan Store connected to that where you can see my services, my freebies. I offer a free course. Yeah, everything’s right there on Instagram.

Jayne Havens: Awesome. Thank you so much for having this conversation with me. I cannot wait to see where you are one year from now, and congratulations on all of your early success.

Harlee Maddocks: Awesome. Thank you.

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.