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Interview with Val Hudson _The Family Sleep Coach
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We kick off our Mom segment this month with an interview with Val Hudson your local family sleep coach. She speaks about her business and being a mom and balancing mom life and a business.
Hey guys, it's Carrie Ann, your host of the Hub and a founding member of Thrive Hub. Our mission at Thrive Hub is to empower new and inspiring entrepreneurs in our local community by connecting them with experienced business owners. Whether you need guidance on starting your venture, building your network, or tackling business challenges, we're here to help you get up and running.
SPEAKER_02Hi everybody, it's Carrie Ann and welcome back to the Hub. On today's podcast, I have Val Hudson with me from the Family Sleep Coach, and she's going to tell you a little bit about her business and we're going to talk Mama Peneurship because both Val and I are moms, and we're just going to kind of give you some tips, tricks, our experiences as being moms and having our own businesses. So Val, welcome to the hub.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. It's so good to be here.
SPEAKER_02I'm so excited to have you on. Can you tell us a little bit about the Family Sleep Coach and like what it's all about?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. So the Family Sleep Coach is a pediatric sleep coaching company that I started several years ago and have grown into doing in-person pediatric sleep coaching, virtual sleep coaching, as well as in-person newborn care.
SPEAKER_02So fun. You get to hang out with little babies at your job. I love that. Okay, so I, as a mom, have some questions for you and how you got your business started. Like what inspired you to start your own business?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. So I have, I'm a mom of three. I have twin boys who were born during the COVID pandemic. And I knew that I had no idea what I was gonna do with twins. Um, and I didn't know if we'd have any help, right? Because within COVID, we were all kind of like separated. Yes, we didn't know what we didn't know what that was gonna look like. So I told my husband, I said, we need to figure out two things eating and sleeping to be able to take care of these babies.
SPEAKER_02Because isn't a lot of times twins like on opposite schedules? Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You worry about them being on opposite schedules, or what if they had feeding struggles? And um, you know, I was gonna be on um a maternity leave, but my husband was a full-time student at the time. He had gone back to school, and I knew I needed to be able to like get him to class and not fall asleep in the middle of a lecture. So um I just I poured over everything I could to learn about baby sleep, and my sweet little boys came along, and when they were 10 weeks old, um, which was six weeks adjusted because they were born a month early, they started sleeping through the night, and I thought at 10 weeks? Yes, at 10 weeks. It was the week of Christmas, and I thought these babies are just perfect, and they would have done this no matter what. Um, my nephew came along about six months later and I did it again. My daughter came a year later, did it again. And by then I started to get this um kind of reputation amongst friends, um, family members where I would get texts or phone calls and wanted your advice. Yeah, they wanted to know what I was doing. And I I remember sitting down telling my husband, I wish I could support all the moms I knew in this way because I was enjoying my kids. I was sleeping, they were sleeping, I was seeing how healthy they were developmentally, they were just thriving. And I and my husband was said, Well, why can't you? Like, just figure out a way to support moms in this way. Um, and so I did a certification program and started the Family Sleep Coach as a little side hustle in 2022.
SPEAKER_02That is so amazing. And the fact that your husband said, Why not? Like, that's kind of like my motto as a mom. Like, why not try something, especially if you're excited about it and you really want to do it? So, how as a mom, because I know I have some struggles too with my business, how do you, you know, balance work responsibilities with your family? Because I feel like you might keep a little like untraditional hours of working.
SPEAKER_03Right, yeah, absolutely. So, when I, you know, for virtual clients, that can look like a lot of different things because I'm supporting them. It could be across the country or across the world, and it's a lot of text support and phone calls. Um, and so in those moments, I'm really honest with my kids and I just tell them, like, hey, mom is helping a little baby sleep tonight, and I'm gonna need to be on my phone a little bit more, or I need to take this phone call or answer this message really quickly. Um, and I just try to be honest with them about why I'm on my phone while we're together. And then with in-person clients, that is of course me going to someone else's house at bedtime and staying all night. Um, and so I try to make sure that when I'm with my kids during the days on those times that we're I'm really focused on them and paying attention to them, spending a little bit of quality time, and um also making sure that you know they have everything they need before I go in person.
SPEAKER_02That's that's a great idea. Like, even just this morning I was sending an email in the school, like drop offline, and I had to tell my kids because they're like mom, mom, mom. I'm like, guys, I just need I'm just sending an email for work, give me one minute, and then we can like focus on getting you ready for school. So just communicating with them, I think, is very helpful. So they know that you're working and that you'll get to, you know, be with them when you can be with them.
SPEAKER_03And they understand. Yeah, and I also make sure that like they know, hey, I'm you know, I don't, you know, I don't sit down at my desk for eight hours like dad does and and work and take those kind of calls. My but my work does allow me to work from Giggles and Grow or work or take a phone call or answer a text message from the playground or the splash pad. So I also try to make sure that like they know this, you know, this job allows me a little bit more flexibility than I would have if I was, you know, working for someone else.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and I tell my kids too, I'm like, mommy's work helps, you know, us go on vacation and buy fun things and stuff like that. So just communicating with them, I think, is even at a young age that they'll they'll understand it a lot more.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02What advice would you give another mom who wants to pursue like entrepreneurship or start like a side hustle?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I would say the same thing my husband said to me. Why can't you? Just just you know, just get started. It doesn't have to be this all in, it takes over from your nine to five right off the bat. I started this very slowly. Um, and I didn't throw a ton of money into it in the very beginning. I did as much free marketing and just, you know, getting in front of people as I could before I even spent money on any type of marketing materials. I still don't do any type of paid advertising. Um, I'm trying to build this very organically and which means a low overhead cost. I like that. Um, because that can be a huge thing, you know, if you're trying to buy into a franchise or you're thinking you have to spend all this money on Google ads or, you know, social media marketing, you don't. Just do what you can with what you have and talk to people. The more people that know about your business and what you do, the more mark free marketing you have because they're out there telling people about word of mouth. Exactly. Word of mouth marketing, and especially for other moms, like we talk. We do playgrounds, playgrounds, school pickup, play dates, we talk to each other. And when you have that trusted, you know, mutual person saying, Hey, I know someone who does this, or I know someone who can help, that goes a long way.
SPEAKER_02Yes, especially like in your profession that if you were able to help a family get a baby to sleep, and then the parents can sleep, like I'd be raving about it. Um, because sleep helps everybody. Absolutely. What is your proudest moment as a business owner?
SPEAKER_03Mine was absolutely when I went from side hustle to full time. Um, it took several years before I really felt comfortable and confident and ready to do it, but I took my time. I had I had goals set as far as you know, when I could do it financially, what that looked like, you know, with like savings and all those things, and also how things would shift at home. I was able to take my kids out of full-time daycare, which of course saved a lot of money, um, but also gave me some extra time with them while I knew I was gonna be shifting to less traditional work hours. Um, so I set those goals for myself, and um it's been it'll be a year next month that I moved into doing this full time.
SPEAKER_02And guys, you cannot see Val's face, but she's just glowing when she's talking about this. She's so passionate about her business, and you can tell, and I love it so much. Uh okay, and I think this might be a question that a lot of moms have is what skills do you think are the most important for moms? Because a lot of moms think like, I can maybe only be your mom, or a mom is all I know. Like, what skills do you think are most important when you start a business as a mom?
SPEAKER_03I think just the passion to do it. So finding something that you love and you really care about, something that you will be excited to do, because you do have to, that's what's going to drive your your um your discipline to get up in the morning and say, okay, today's my marketing day, here's what I need to do, or today is, you know, kind of my CEO day. This is what I need, I need to do taxes, or I need to do all these other things. Um, so having the passion will drive that discipline to get all the things done and to set aside that time where you can say, nope, I'm gonna sit down, my kids are at school, or my kids are with grandma, or my kids are outside, and I can sit and focus on this and not feel like I have to get up and do a load of laundry or you know, take the dog out or do all of those things. So having the passion to drive the discipline, I think is gonna be the biggest goals. You don't have to be a social media expert. You don't have to be a, you know, you don't have to be former marketer, you don't have to have, you know, run a business for someone else before. Um, if you think about really what have you done in in running your household or working for someone else, you have done all of the things, you have all of the skills. Now you just need to put it to work for yourself instead of for somebody else.
SPEAKER_02I love that so much. And I love that you say that you don't need to have like professional education on all those things because I don't and you don't. And we both have some really great businesses. And what is the last question I'm gonna ask is how do you stay motivated during the tough times? Because I know like um you're a sleep coach, but sometimes moms are tired and um the kids are just, you know, extra have extra energy in a day and things just aren't getting done with your business. So, like, how do you stay motivated and kind of balance that that work life balance?
SPEAKER_03I love that question. So I think in the you know, in the moments where with my family things feel like I'm getting drawn away, um, I set boundaries. And sometimes that's a boundary with work where I prioritize my family in those moments and throw myself into that because I find that when I, you know, when I do that, then pulling back away and focusing on my business is easier in a sense because my kids have what they need. They've gotten that one-on-one time and attention. Um things get tricky with clients, I just remember why I do what I do. And you're right, moms are tired. That and you know, having a kiddo that doesn't sleep is a very emotional time. Um having a kiddo that doesn't sleep is a very emotional time. And I'll have moms who reach out a lot more than others, and I have to remind myself in those moments that I am her confidence, I am her support person in those moments, and the more I can lean in and give her what she needs, the better she is going to feel as a mom for years to come. I love that.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much, Val. I had such a great time asking you and learning about your business and moms, like just like Val said, like, and I am doing too, like, why not try something new? Like, and if you want to start a side hustle or you've had a dream or idea, the Thrive Hub is here to help, and you got mom appreneurs that we can um assist you and guide you and help you with everything that you need to get that business up and running. Thanks, Sal, for joining us today. Thank you.
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