The Juggle is Real: Motherhood and Entrepreneurship with Sam Hirschel
The Juggle is Real: Motherhood and Entrepreneurship with Sam Hirschel
A lot of people assume that when you start a business, you need to be all in.
You need a full workday.
A quiet house.
Reliable childcare.
A clear schedule.
But that’s just not realistic for most.
This week on the Becoming a Sleep Consultant podcast, I’m joined by Sam Hirschel. Sam is the mom of a three-year-old and has built a thriving sleep consulting business while navigating school drop offs and pick ups, nap schedules, and all of the unpredictability that comes with raising a young child.
One thing we discussed is how easy it is to convince yourself that you’ll get started later.
When the kids are older.
When you have more time.
When life settles down.
The reality is that every season brings a new set of challenges. The goal isn’t to wait for life to become easier. It’s to figure out what is possible right now.
In this conversation, we talk about setting boundaries with clients in order to protect family time, asking for help when you need it, and building a business in a way that actually works for your family.
We also talk about something I know so many mothers can relate to: wanting something that belongs to you, while still being fully committed to your role as a parent.
Whether you’re thinking about becoming a sleep consultant or you’re simply trying to balance work and motherhood, I think you’ll see a little bit of yourself in Sam’s story.
Links:
Website: Go To Bed Sleepyhead
Instagram: @gotobed.sleepyhead
If you would 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.
Jayne Havens: Sam, welcome back to the Becoming a Sleep Consultant podcast. I’m so glad you’re here with me today.
Sam Hirschel: Thanks, Jayne. I’m so happy to be back.
Jayne Havens: Before we get started, share a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you were doing before you decided to become a sleep consultant. Give us a rundown.
Sam Hirschel: So I live in New York City. I have a three-year-old son. Before becoming a mom, I worked in TV. When I was pregnant, I thought that I would go back to that life because it was just something that I knew. But I was never really fully fulfilled. And so after I had my son, I realized that that wasn’t what I wanted to do. And it also wasn’t sustainable to be a mom and be gone for most of the day.
I actually, candidly, we’ve known each other a very long time. And so right before I had my son, you and I had had a conversation about sleep and just a lot of the questions that I had going into about to be a mom for the first time. And it always kind of stayed with me. And the first year or so of his life was full-time mom mode, and then I started thinking about what I wanted to do for myself. And I always kept coming back to wanting to have my own business and also being kind of obsessed with sleep.
I was unofficially helping friends and other people that I came across who were friends of friends. I reached out to you and I said, you know, this is something that I really want to do. And when I got to the point that I was able to really dive in a way that I wanted to, I started the course. I finished it really fast because I was really passionate about everything that was involved and started my business.
Jayne Havens: So you finished the course, I think about a year ago, maybe a little bit more. And you’ve been, I would say, in business for real for about nine months, right? When along those lines did you really realize that this was a real business, not just something that you were dabbling in for fun?
Sam Hirschel: Going back to the first time that we had the conversation on the first episode that I did, I was doing everything myself. I really wanted to handle all the scheduling and handle all the invoicing and really just kind of be my own everything.
It was when I farmed out, so to speak, a lot of the work. I got Acuity for my calendar, and I launched social media. I launched a website that I really felt, okay, this is official. Even though it had been official for so long before that, it was the second launch that really gave me almost like a new life for this business that was already running itself after I really had success with several families. And I really started feeling confident in my own skin that I felt like I had a real business. And then it kind of was a relaunch when I went online, so to speak.
Jayne Havens: I know that something that has always been really important to you is prioritizing your position as a mother, first and foremost. I’m wondering how you’re feeling juggling, prioritizing your three-year-old and being a really present parent and also growing what is shaping up to be a really successful business.
Sam Hirschel: It has been a challenge at times. I am somebody who dives into something I really love and something that I want to do. And I think in the very beginning, I wasn’t holding as much of a boundary. I was taking any appointment that I could get. I was skipping weekends. I was working at times that I really didn’t want to just because I felt like I needed to. And so that’s one of the things that I can confidently say: you don’t need to do that.
I think once I started not doing my own scheduling, I was really able to hold that boundary better because I just wouldn’t put a weekend in my calendar. So if someone had asked for it and it was something that worked better for them, I would do it over nap time so I wasn’t missing time with my son.
A lot of this business is run on your phone, constantly texting with your clients or potential clients or searching for schedules on my phone, whatever it might be. I’m very conscious of not doing that in front of him. And that is something that I’ve also kind of had to learn to balance because, in the beginning, I was not doing that. So I feel at this point that I really can hold that boundary. Because my time with him is precious.
I want to portray to my clients that I am holding boundaries in the same way that I ask them to hold boundaries with their children. And so I’m not somebody who’s going to tell you to do something that I wouldn’t do. And I find that they really respect that. I haven’t had any pushback—”Where were you? Why weren’t you here?” I try to preload my clients’ expectations if I’m going to be unavailable. For instance, for this recording, it’s falling over nap time for several families. I let them know I’m unavailable from this time to this time. If you need anything, send me a message. I will be back.
And I do that same thing when I’m with my son. You know, if it’s something that I just do not want to be on my phone, I will say I’m unavailable in this time. And I find that that helps me too to be more present, both for them fully and for him fully.
Jayne Havens: One thing, I think you and I, we have a lot of similarities in the way that we started our businesses. Both of us were stay-at-home moms when we got into this line of work. We both had spouses who worked very, very hard.
I’m wondering if there’s been any sort of shift in the dynamic of your household with your husband. Has he taken on any new responsibilities as a result of you being busy with work? That’s something that was a big thing in my household. Once I got busier with my business, I had to sit down with my husband and say, “Hey, I know that I’ve always been in charge of X, Y, and Z, but here’s where I could use some help.” I’m wondering if you’ve had any of those conversations yet.
Sam Hirschel: Absolutely. He is so supportive and also so present just in general as a dad that I think the shift that has needed to happen at times has come naturally. I think he’s really embraced it. My son has also really embraced it. He’s in a huge daddy phase right now, so it works out well.
But I have. Just last weekend, kind of the exception to the rule of I’m not working on the weekends, I kind of found myself in a position with the end of school and the gap between camp of not having time to work, where I said, “I need this entire day to write plans. I just need to do it so I don’t feel like I’m underwater, and so I can make sure that I have everything ready for my clients.” He just said, “Okay.” And from the moment I woke up and my son woke up, we had breakfast, I went upstairs into the club in our building, and I worked the whole day. He did nap and meals and all the things.
I think he’s really happy to do it, even though he’s so tired from working hard himself because he sees that I’m happy. He sees that I feel fulfilled with what I’m doing. And I also share with him the wins from clients. If a baby falls asleep for the first time after trying, I will tell him. And so he’s experiencing it along with me. And so I think that it’s made the conversations that we’ve needed to have easier because he’s all on board for wanting to help me succeed.
Jayne Havens: Yeah, I think having a supportive spouse when you’re starting a business is so important. It really is, I think, on some level, make or break. That’s not to say that you can’t do it without the support of a spouse, but it really does make it so much easier.
In my case, when I came to my husband and said, “I’m underwater. Here’s what I need,” I think he was actually so grateful for the opportunity. Because he thought that we just had this sort of division of labor, right? He was in charge of certain things. I was in charge of certain things, and that’s just the way our household ran. But I think, on some level, he wanted to do some of the things that I was taking responsibility for. And so once I got busier with work and was more inclined to pass off some of those responsibilities with the kids, he was like, “Oh, this is great. Now I finally get to do this.”
I think it was really beneficial for our marriage. It also gave us more to talk about. I sometimes felt like, oh, all I have to talk about is what the kids ate for lunch today or how good of a nap they took. And to be able to talk to my husband about a family that I was helping, or a new client that I signed on, or some new relationship that I built with a preschool director or a pediatrician, it felt like, okay, we can have adult conversations now in a way that feels so much more on an even playing field. Have you felt that way as well?
Sam Hirschel: Very much so. I think as much as I have absolutely loved being a stay-at-home mom, I’ve loved being there fully for my son. You’re right. Everything we talked about was everything that happened in his day and really nothing from myself because my world revolved around him.
Now there’s this kind of spark when I say, “I have a meeting at 10:30,” or, “I have a call at one, and I’m going to be off at two.” And then he tells me when he has calls. And it does feel—it feels good. And it then feels good for him to tell me about what’s going on in his work and for me to maybe run something by him that I’m not quite sure how to handle or if I’m approaching it in the right way.
He’s really good at saying, “You know what to do. Your instinct is right. Why are you questioning yourself?” and bringing me back down if there’s ever a time that I’m not quite sure. And then when other times I’m not sure and he’s not going to know, I come to our community and I ask them as well, which is another great thing. So I don’t ever really feel alone in this process. I think that’s really important, whether it’s a supportive spouse or colleagues or mentors or friends that really help you out.
Jayne Havens: I know that every day for you on some level looks different, but can you give us an idea of what the juggle looks like? Tell me, from the time your son wakes up, what you’re doing to support him, and then where you’re finding time in the day to work on your business?
Sam Hirschel: I’m up way earlier than he is because I’m a crazy person who likes to have time for myself. So I’m up 4:45, 5:00 a.m. But that’s also because I come from a world in which I was always up at 4:45, 5:00 a.m., so that comes naturally to me, and I find I feel better that way. I get up, I have my coffee, I check my emails. I go to the gym. I check all my social media now to see if there’s any DMs from anybody, go over what my day looks like.
Now he’s in camp. He was in school, so my working hours are really after I drop him off and pick him up. So say 9:00 to 1:00, 9:00 to 12:00, whatever it might be. I usually hold calls or work on plans during that time. Then I pick him up, and the same happens for nap. He’s three, holding on to nap for dear life right now. But I also know that at some point that will be gone. My hope is that when school gets longer, it kind of offsets. I also hold calls during that time. And then the afternoons are mine with my son.
So my working time is really when he’s either sleeping or he’s doing an activity or at school. And then in the afternoon, we’re together. We do an activity. I do dinner with him, where my husband also steps in. He works from home half the week, and so on days that he does work from home, sometimes I’ll hold calls post-dinner time before bedtime.
It’s a hard line for me that I’m always present for bedtime. I will hold calls post-bedtime if it works out better for a family. I find that if both parents can’t be on a call during a working day, which I understand, I will do it at night. But I keep that off the calendar too. It’s something that I will say that I can do if I know that it will work out, but it’s not something that I will just let someone blindly book.
That’s my day. I try to then spend some time with my husband, which we’re both kind of tired, but we have our shows for ourselves. I try to not do work during that time if I can. It doesn’t always work out that way. But for the most part, I think having specific blocks of time for work, having specific blocks of time for my son, and having specific blocks of time for my husband helps me not feel underwater in any of those three very important categories.
And so keeping that structure is helpful. But also, there’s flexibility. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way. I think I teach my clients structure, yet flexibility. So it’s the same way. I leave room to change things if I need to, but that’s pretty much my day-to-day for the most part.
Jayne Havens: Let’s talk about growing your business. You’re supporting, I think, about five to six families a month, which is incredible, by the way. You should be so proud of yourself.
I’m wondering what your marketing strategy looks like. How are you finding these families to support? I would love for you to share a little bit about the fact that you didn’t have a website or social media for months and months. This is a recent development in your business—that you have an online presence. So I’d love for you to share a little bit about your marketing techniques and what it’s looked like for you to organically grow a successful business.
Sam Hirschel: So when I first started out, I was really just helping friends and friends of friends with their kids—really getting the feeling of working with a client without actually really working with a client. I was in mom groups and reached out to my pediatrician and said, “Hey, send someone my way.” Because technically, I had a business, even though I hadn’t had a client yet.
It took really one client, and then it was a snowball of referrals, which I know we talked about before. It made me really confident to know that all of these people were reaching out to me because of this family that I helped, and then they referred me to other people. And so it really was almost 100% referral-based business for the first several months. It was at that point that I knew at some point this was not going to continue.
As much as I love doing everything myself, I also didn’t love the back and forth of, “Hey, what time works for you? What time doesn’t work for you?” I know we had talked about, well, hey, I can get a calendar without actually having a website, but I wanted it all to come together. And I had found myself on more than one occasion being asked for, “Hey, can you send me your website?” or “Can you send me your Instagram?” And I didn’t have it.
I started realizing that for me— because you do not need to have it, and I feel like I’m proof in the beginning that you don’t. But for me, I needed to take that next step and enlisted one of my very best friends to help me build my website and my Instagram.
And so now my marketing is being in groups, reaching out to friends, giving anybody who I meet who has a baby, “Hey, reach out to me,” you know, my information, and also Instagram. I’m starting to really kind of love interacting with people that I don’t know, who don’t know anybody that I know, and getting referrals from them as well.
Am I marketing and building a business off Instagram? Absolutely not. But I think that if somebody wants to get to know me a little bit better, I find that’s the best marketing I can give. Because I’m very intentional about everything that I post. I’m very intentional about my voice and that I want to be like a friend and somebody who is going to lift you up in this experience—maybe make it not so clinical, but more of, “We can do this,” like teamwork.
I enjoy that part of it. So I think that’s where I’m able to kind of show my personality really well. I don’t have any Google reviews. I haven’t really kind of stepped out into ads or anything like that. Is it possible in the future? Absolutely, because I think you’re always trying to grow in some way. But for right now, it’s primarily reaching out in groups and trying to build online.
Jayne Havens: Is there anything that you put into place in your business, either from a marketing perspective or on the client side, that you just felt like this doesn’t work? Either it wasn’t resonating with you, it was advice that somebody told you to do something and you tried it and this isn’t for me, or do you feel like everything you’ve done has really, truly been from your own mind, your own heart, and you feel like everything’s worked as it should?
Sam Hirschel: Yeah, I think I’m so intentional, to the point where my plans are very specific and also in my voice. I really make sure that I’m not giving any advice that I wouldn’t do myself. And so I’m taking bits and pieces of things that I’ve learned, but I’m also making them uniquely mine. So I feel like, so far, I haven’t really felt that way.
I have gotten into it. There have been a few situations where I really haven’t been sure. There was one recently that I just didn’t really feel comfortable with, and I stood my ground. I think in those instances, I came to the community and I said, “What am I supposed to do about this?” I think that being true to yourself—and even if you get advice that might sound like it’s better, if it’s not really ringing true to you—stick with what you know. And so far, that’s really how I’ve operated. So I think I’m really proud of the work that I’ve done so far. And I hope that continues.
Jayne Havens: You should be. You should be.
Do you feel like growing a business has been easier than expected or harder than expected, or maybe somewhere in between?
Sam Hirschel: It’s the most humbling experience. Because I think, for me, like I say, I want to go all in. I’m like, “I want this huge business.” But, like, it doesn’t work that way. And that’s also okay. There are times where I’ve looked at my husband and I’ve said, “I have no discovery calls booked. I have no clients. I have nothing on the horizon.” And there are times where I’m busy and I don’t have any time for myself. And so it ebbs and flows, and that’s okay.
I also know that this is full-time to me because I also am a full-time mom. But it’s really part-time when you look at it. I’m really only working a few hours a day. And so I can’t expect it to blow up in the way that if I was spending twelve hours a day. So it is hard in that I sometimes want to just work all the time, and I know that I can’t. And it’s also been easy in a way because I love it. And so it doesn’t really feel like work.
But growing a business is hard, and growing a business takes work. I could very well have no clients next month. I also know that that’s not necessarily indicative of what I’m putting out there. It’s just that this is really hard. Like, even the best people have a hard time. I feel like there’s always room to grow. There’s always room to improve.
Back to your question before, sure, I’m really proud of what I’ve done, but there have been times where I wish maybe I had handled something a little bit differently. I think it’s important to recognize that to make yourself better for the next person, especially because this is so new. I know very little. I’m a new business, and it’s all a learning experience. I think that whether you have a lot of success in the beginning or you’re constantly looking for your first client and you’ve been doing it for two years, both experiences are the same in one way, in that it really is just a constant learning experience. It’s been amazing and hard.
Jayne Havens: I think that’s a fair way of putting it. I think in the online business-building space, there are a lot of business owners, coaches, strategists who love to tell you that everything can be so easy if you just do X, Y, and Z. I’m not one of those people. I’m very transparent about the fact that growing a successful business, on some level, takes some hard work, some grit, some resilience, some persistence.
But I think that you’re a proof, and I would like to think that I am too, of the idea that when you really lead with passion and excitement and joy and satisfaction around the work that you do, that you grow from there. I think that you’re absolutely proof of that. You’ve always just shown up with, “I really like this. I’m really enjoying myself, and I really want to help people.” And I think that energy is what ultimately leads to business growth and development in time.
Is there anything that you can attribute to your own success? I think that you’ve had some pretty early and rapid success, right? Right before we hit record, you told me you’ve supported— what was the number? Was it fifty-seven families this year? Something like that, right? We’re only in June. So six month of the year, fifty-seven families. I think that’s incredible. Is there something that you can credit to your success? What would you say has been the reason that you are doing well in your business?
Sam Hirschel: I have to think about that for a second. I think I’m myself. I’m giving families, or at least I’m trying to give them, the experience that I wish that I had had.
Being a new parent is scary. I was a new parent at a time where most of my friends had older kids, and so I did feel very alone in the beginning—not because of a lack of wonderful parents and the friends that I did have, but because I didn’t really have any friends who had babies the same age. And I didn’t really meet my mom group of friends until my son started school and a few classes here or there. I have some great friends that we met in baby classes. But that’s not really a village. That’s like a friend here or there.
And so I really try to show up for clients and give them the person that I wish that I had had in that moment. Because teaching your child to do something new, changing up a routine that feels familiar, holding a boundary for a toddler who is asking for you is really hard. I also know that because I have a child that age. And so I really try to give them that person. I think that that’s resonated. I hope so.
I feel like the fact that I have a lot of referrals, it’s reflected in that way. I think that just being true to myself and being true to my clients, and also setting realistic expectations. I am very real with my clients. I’m like, “This is not magic. Your child is not going to wake up tomorrow morning a new person. This is teaching them something new.” And I think all of those things combined—the way that I present myself to them and the way that I present this work to them—I think has really resonated. I think that that has led to repeated referrals.
Jayne Havens: To me, you seem so confident in your work. I think you know that you’re good at it, and you know that you’re giving your clients a really incredible experience—two things that are both true, by the way. I’m wondering if you always felt so confident or if that’s something that has evolved over time.
Sam Hirschel: I think, for me personally, when I’ve really enjoyed something or really felt passionate about something, I’ve always been confident in it.
Am I still learning? Of course. There are times where something will happen with a client that, of course, I constantly go back for help. I think both things can be true, right? You can be confident and know that you can support a family well, but also maybe have questions about the actual facts of things to make sure that you’re giving them the right advice. I will never say that I know something off the bat. I always ask because I think that’s important too. I don’t ever want to show up in a way that’s like, “This is the only way that you can do something,” because that’s not true.
And so, yeah, I do feel really confident because I feel really passionate about it. This is one of the few things in my life. And the other is being a mom, which I think the two things kind of go hand in hand. I love this parenting space so much, and I think that that really drives me and gives me the confidence to show up the way that I do.
Jayne Havens: It’s clear that you have the confidence to show up with your clients in a way that exudes that confidence and shows them that they’re going to be okay. I’m wondering if you feel that same confidence in showing up online, since that’s more new to you. Like when you’re posting on Instagram, do you have that same level of confidence that you bring to your work with client support?
Sam Hirschel: No.
Jayne Havens: No? Okay.
Sam Hirschel: I have to say no. Because I feel like Instagram is a whole other full-time job. It is a different animal, so to speak. I know what I’m putting out there is me, and so I feel good about what I’m actually putting out there. I think it’s also really hard when the platform is not giving it back to you. The algorithm is a crazy thing. No matter how much you can show up and post every day and respond to everything, sometimes they’re just not going to show it to people. And so that has been a whole other learning curve for me.
I’ve finally gotten to the place where I started the account, I think, in March. I was posting every single day because I just knew I needed to do that. Finally, this weekend, I looked at my husband and I’m like, “I’m not posting this weekend.” Like, it’s okay. And it was okay. Everything’s fine. And so maybe the confidence in that will come around.
But I have helped people in my DMs that have reached out to me because I’ve done a Q&A. I know it’s worth it. If I help that one person, then showing up there is worth it, whether I build an entire new client base from it. I don’t know if that matters as much, but I like the aspect of it. But yeah, I’m not quite as confident there.
Jayne Havens: Do you find yourself comparing yourself, your work, to other sleep consultants, or do you not really pay too much attention to that?
Sam Hirschel: I try intentionally not to pay attention. I think that comparison— I tell clients constantly: comparison is just the thief of joy. Comparing milestones with your baby or your toddler can be so, so hard. And I feel like the same thing with me. In the very beginning, I did look at a few others and I’m like, “Well, they have 10,000 followers. What did they do?” and want that. But I’m not them. They’ve been in business longer. We’re different people. They’re wonderful sleep consultants. A lot of them I’ve referred people to, and I thought they were a better match. And I hope maybe one day they’ll do the same for me.
I think we’re all in this together. I think it’s really important to support each other and know that there’s enough work to go around and to not get caught up in, “Well, what are they doing?” and “What should I be doing?” Because we’re different people. Much like babies are different, we’re different sleep consultants. That’s okay. There is somebody for everybody. So I’m really intentional about not doing that.
Jayne Havens: Do you have goals for the next year or so? What do you want your business to look like? As your son gets older and perhaps starts spending more time at school, do you anticipate that your business will grow with the increased time that you have available to you?
Sam Hirschel: I hope so. I hope that I can support more families at a time than I do now with that extra time. I also, if it stays this way, I’m happy, right? I think I can balance both with the way it is. But of course, I’m somebody who always wants a little bit more because I enjoy it so much—not for the success, but because I really love the families I work with. I get sad when our two weeks are up. It’s like meeting new friends, essentially. And I hope that they feel that way for me. And so I do hope that it expands in a way that I can keep doing this while supporting more families on a consistent basis.
I also have thought about other ways that I can continue supporting them that I don’t have the capacity for now. I do have some ideas for the future that I hope I can expand on next year, next five years, whatever it may be. I feel like I’m in it for the long haul.
Jayne Havens: When you first enrolled in CPSM, I’m wondering if you were questioning whether or not you’d actually have time for it, knowing that you were such a present mother and that was your top priority. And then looking back on it, do you feel like, yes, you have time to be a really present mom and also a present business owner?
Sam Hirschel: I think in the beginning, I was questioning a little bit only because I hadn’t done anything else besides just be there for him. The thing about the course that was amazing: I went at my own pace. I spent, at that time, some weekends and some naps and nighttimes kind of going through everything.
In the beginning, once I finished the course and launched my LLC, I felt like I didn’t have time. I almost convinced myself that I didn’t because he was home with me all the time. Looking back, sure, I could have fit it into naps and nights, but I kicked the can down the road a little bit. And only when he went to school did I say, “Oh, now I have the time.” I could have done more in the beginning. And I think that was a lesson for myself.
You know, this past couple of weeks and the gap between school and camp, same thing. I lost a lot of the time. I had time. I didn’t have as much time as I actually wanted. That’s going to happen in all other areas where you’re not going to have what you need, but there’s always a little bit of time to do something. And so I think anybody can find a way to really fit it in, even if it means just posting in a couple of parent groups in the hour that you have or reaching out to the pediatrician or an OT or somebody. You can put in the time that you have to start building the blocks to a successful business.
Jayne Havens: Yeah, I felt that so much recently. My kids are also between school and camp. I just got back from an eight-day trip abroad with my mom and my son. I closed my calendar. I actually had to close my calendar two weeks ago so that I could be client-free while I was away and not have to juggle client support while trying to enjoy my European vacation.
I still found time to just reply to emails and take inquiries. I said, “I’m away. I can’t speak by phone this week, but here’s a link to my calendar. Hop on June 22nd or any day after, and I’m happy to connect with you.” And so I think there’s always time in the day. It’s just a question of how you’re prioritizing it.
Sam Hirschel: Yeah. And I think what you just said was also a lesson I learned in these past couple of weeks, which was I lost the time during the day. We could argue I lost 20 hours’ worth of workable hours, and yet I didn’t close my calendar. I closed it to actual calls, but I didn’t close it to clients.
And I found myself in a position where I was very grateful to get the workload that I had before. But I set myself up to be overwhelmed, where I needed help to be able to do something for my husband to get it done because I always want to show up one hundred percent for my clients and for my family. And I didn’t leave myself the room for that missing time that I had.
So I learned a lesson. Having a business is learning a lot of lessons. And that’s next time there’s a gap like this, it’s okay to say no, or it’s okay to say, “I would love to support you, but I’m available after X date. So let’s get something on the calendar then,” instead of trying to squeeze all of it in at a time that I didn’t have. So I’m glad that that happened so I know for the future that it’s okay. It’s okay to hold that balance and still support the people that you want to. And if they want to work with you, they’ll wait. They’ll wait the week.
Jayne Havens: Yeah. I mean, first of all, the way you’re feeling right now, I also felt many years ago when I was first getting started. I was afraid to close off my calendar in the first couple of years of my business because I didn’t want to turn business away.
Now I have enough confidence and momentum to know that if I close my calendar, people will be waiting for me on the other side, and that’s okay. I had lots of conversations with families two or three weeks ago where I was very upfront about the fact that I couldn’t start with them until the end of June. And for most of these families, they haven’t slept. Their child hasn’t slept for six months or a year or however long. Waiting another ten days? Okay. Most of them were totally fine to wait, you know? And if they weren’t, then it’s my pleasure to refer them out and to set them up with somebody else to help them. And that’s totally okay.
I was also thinking about the fact that my business actually felt slow in the week or two leading up to my vacation. And I felt like that was just the universe telling me, “Go have a nice time.” I didn’t have so many people on my calendar asking to start ASAP. That’s great. I didn’t have to turn people away. I could just enjoy that time leading up to my trip, have time to get organized, and go away and enjoy myself.
And now I’m back, my calendar is a little busier than it normally would be. And that’s okay. I’m going to juggle. And it’s still a juggle because my kids are still this week off from school and camp, so I’m navigating all of that. But that’s the beautiful thing about our business, is that we get to decide when we want to juggle and when we want to say, “You know what? I’m going to prioritize my family right now, and my calendar is closed.”
Sam Hirschel: Yeah, absolutely.
Jayne Havens: Before we wrap up, why don’t you share—since you have a website and since you have social media now—share all the goodies and let people know where they can follow along if they want to learn more from you?
Sam Hirschel: So my business name is Go to Bed Sleepyhead. gotobedsleepyhead.com is my website. My Instagram is @gotobed.sleepyhead.
Jayne Havens: That’s perfect. I am so glad that we got to have this conversation today. And congrats on all of your success in your business. I can’t wait to see where you land a year from now.
Sam Hirschel: Thank you. Thank you so much, 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.