Sound Sleep and Starting a Consulting Small Business
Ever wonder about the backstory behind a new start-up business? After getting her son to sleep through the night, friends and acquaintances started asking teacher Dana Obleman for advice in how to get their children to do it too. She soon realized that helping parents solve their children’s sleep problems was what she really wanted to do. With all the people asking for her advice, she saw that there was a market for it. As a new mother, Obleman realized she didn’t want to go back to work full-time so soon, and at the end of her maternity leave, she decided to take a leap and started a business for the first time. With $1000 she borrowed from family, she built a website, got business cards, and within a few months she was making more money working part time doing what she loved than she had as a full-time teacher. Obleman calls it, “The greatest job in the world.”
With a tried and true successful method, more and more people started contacting Obleman to teach them how to build a consulting business like hers. She was hesitant at first, thinking that she’d be training her competition, but then she realized that the need was so great and she didn’t have enough time to consult one-on-one with everyone who needed help. Since that time, she’s trained over 200 Sleep Sense consultants around the world.
Unlike other programs, The Sleep Sense Program accommodates different parenting styles, and allows parents to develop a plan they feel comfortable with, based on what they know about their child. Parents get an easy-to-follow, step-by-step plan that allows them to make choices to determine the right approach for each child, and specific guidance on how to measure success.
Studies show that there are clear benefits to getting enough sleep and developing healthy sleep habits from an early age. Children with healthy sleep habits have been found to do better in school, have higher IQs, lower risk of obesity, better test scores, and (in boys) a lower risk for hyperactivity. Well-rested children are curious, energetic, happy, playful and eager to learn.
Sleep Sense consultants are hand-picked by Sleep Sense creator, Dana Obleman. Since is inception in 2003, The Sleep Sense Program has helped more than 57,000 parents improve their children’s sleep.
One such consultant, Cassandra Mosmen’s kept hearing friends with children complain how difficult it was to get them to sleep through the night. She decided to be prepared when she was pregnant and started studying up on how to get infants to sleep through the night before she gave birth and avoided this problem as best she could. She started to instill good sleep habits in her daughter as an infant. “It worked and my daughter was a great sleeper. So I started with my other children from day one, and they were great sleepers as well.” She noticed that people kept asking her for advice on how to get their children to sleep through the night, and decided this was something she’d like to turn into a consulting business.
After eight years as a stay at home mom, this former early childhood educator decided to follow an entrepreneurial path, committed to helping mothers improve their children’s sleep. She looked for the best way to go about starting her sleep consulting business and chose to get certified as a Sleep Sense Pediatric Sleep Consultant. The certification combined with her educational and work experience in early childhood development, enabled Cassandra to help babies and their families get more sleep.
“It’s something that can definitely be taught.”
Cassandra chose to go with Dana Obleman’s Sleep Sense certification program because she agrees with the Sleep Sense philosophy and methodology and because the training and business model are easy for consultants to follow and build successful businesses.Mosmen is working to build her own consultancy brand, Cassandra’s Sleep Consulting, modeling the success of her teacher and mentors. She’s already built a beautiful website and has a number of clients.
“After undergoing extensive training through the Sleep Sense Certification Program as well as other ongoing sleep education, I have been able to help many families!”
“Hiring a consultant is very different than just reading a book,” Cassandra said. In addition to their consultations, clients get two to three weeks of phone support and email contact between appointments.
Benefits to starting your own consulting business:
- Doing something your passionate about that helps people
- Being your own boss
- Greater income potential
- Not having to answer to anyone else
- Flexible schedule
- Ability to be at home for your children and family and not miss any important events.
“I am VERY passionate about what I do. I absolutely love helping families sleep better, because lets face it, sleep is everything!”
“Sleep when the baby sleeps” is easier said than done! She works with parents of newborns to four year olds to know what to really expect when it comes to sleep (beyond what the books say), and teaches them how to instill healthy sleep habits in their children.
People starting consulting businesses can often find grants on GrantWatch.com, or use crowdfunding, or apply for loans toward start-up costs or expanding their businesses. Some of the expenses Obleman and Sleep Sense mentors recommend in starting a consulting business include building a website, advertising and promotion, creating awareness for the new business.