Dana Obleman: Hi, everybody. This is Dana Obleman. I’m the creator of the Sleep Sense program. Today I am having a chat with Shan Roth. She is a Sleep Sense consultant from the Calgary, Alberta area, and she has agreed to have a little chat with me today about her career. Hi Shan, thanks for being here.

Shan Roth: Hi Dana, thanks for having me.

Dana: I wanted to find out a little bit of information about what made you decide to become a Sleep Sense consultant in the first place?

Shan: Ever since we had our first daughter, my husband and I were very passionate about teaching her great sleep skills from the get-go. It was a natural fit. We were passionate about teaching all our children to sleep. Then, when my sister started having children I started teaching them, giving them the tools, how to teach their children to sleep.

When the opportunity came up to be a sleep consultant, we felt it was a perfect fit for me and it has been wonderful ever since I’ve been doing this for the past two years. It’s fit in very well with our lifestyle. I have three kids so you can imagine it’s very busy in our household, but I’ve managed to do sleep consulting and still be there for my kids whenever I need to be so. All and all it’s a win-win situation for my whole family.

Dana: That’s wonderful. I know it’s always nice to be able to pop out if they’ve got a field trip, or doctor’s appointment, just nice to have that flexibility.

Shan: Yeah, the flexibility has been fantastic. Basically I’ve set my own schedule.

Dana: That’s one of the perks, for sure. When you were thinking about joining — what kind of reservations did you have about starting your own business?

Shan: I was a bit nervous. From the sleep side of things I was confident that I could do it and things would go well. From the business side I didn’t have that same kind of confidence. I didn’t have a lot of business experience, but everything fell into place quite quickly after I started and I have to say if it wasn’t for you, Dana, giving us that “business in a box” package, that I would have never ever done this opportunity on my own. I wouldn’t have the guts to do it.

Your support really helped out to get everything up and running in the early days for sure and then the continued support has been fantastic. Also the cost, I know it’s the big thing, how quickly will I make that money back and I was pleasantly surprised. I think it was within six months I’d made the big chunk of money that I had paid to start out and then everything on top of that was income for that first year. That was great.

Dana: I think for many people if you don’t have any kind of marketing background or experience it could be a little daunting to think about how will I make myself known and where will I advertise and what kinds of things can I do to spread the word? I am happy to hear that you felt supported in that.

Shan: Yeah, absolutely, it was great. I have so many marketing tools up my sleeve now that it will probably take me years to use them all. It’s been really good.

Dana: When you were thinking about starting this business, what did your friends and family say when you announced you were going to take this plunge?

Shan: Everyone was pretty supportive. Most people said, “Oh, it’s going to be a perfect fit for you.” I have to say the least supportive person was probably my husband, because he was wondering how it was going to impact our family and he was used to having me home and he was the one who took the time to adjust to the change.

But it didn’t take very long. He realized that it was a good thing I was doing and he started drumming up business for me at work too, so that really helped us as well. Probably after six months or so everyone adjusted and I started to learn how to manage work and the home-life balance which is really important when you run your own business as well.

After we figured that out, then it was great, everyone was very supportive throughout the whole process.

Dana: That’s great. He must be proud of you, for how well you have done.

Shan: Yeah, it’s surprising. We didn’t know when we set out together during this really where it would take us and within the two years it’s gone way beyond our expectation. Yeah, he is proud and really happy with how things have gone.

Dana: Did you look at any other training programs besides Sleep Sense and if so what made you pick Sleep Sense over the other ones?

Shan: I did not. No, because I actually wasn’t necessarily looking to go back to work. This opportunity came up and it was such a perfect fit, I could not pass it up. I did not look into other programs. However, since becoming a Sleep Sense consultant, I have been familiar with lots of the other programs out there, and I have to say the training and support in this, I have not seen anywhere else.

I think I mentioned to you there are few other ones in my area that have gone through different programs and they are actually coming to me now for support because they have no confidence in what they are doing.

Dana: Wow. Yeah, that’s great to hear. I’m pleased that you feel you’ve been well supported in this journey.

Shan: Ongoing support is fantastic, I feel. Two years into it, I probably feel more supported now than even in the beginning. Because now I have you but now you also have our network of consultants that we’ve become good friends and know each other. Any time you have a tricky situation or case that you aren’t sure what to do, you have 25 other people that are there to provide you advice. The Sleep Sense family is fantastic as well.

Dana: I have been really impressed with that. That was my dream when I started this, that we would become a supportive network for one another and it’s exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. I’m just blown away by how much you all support each other and it’s been fabulous to watch.

Shan: Yeah, it’s really a great feeling knowing you have all the other ladies behind you. Just the conference that’s held every year is fantastic, too. I think some of us plan a trip outside of Sleep Sense just to go see each other so it’s a get-together once a year and share all of our knowledge and get new tools that we can use going forward.

Dana: What would you say has been one of the bigger challenges for you with starting your own business?

Shan: I think the biggest challenge for me is I just invest so much emotionally into it. When you work with a family, you want to see them succeed so badly that sometimes you take it personal and take it upon you to give everything you can, even when you know that they’re not following your advice and I hate to say it but I’ve lost sleep over clients that I have worked with because of trying to think about what you can do to help them in the best way possible.

For me, that’s one of the hardest things, to keep work at work. Sometimes it’s really hard.

Dana: That’s a challenge of every entrepreneur, how do you close the door at the end of office hours and shut that off. I have also in the past lost some sleep over some clients or two. I definitely know how that feels.

What would you say as far as your career satisfaction if you were to compare it to any other jobs you’ve had in your life? How would you rate your career satisfaction currently?

Shan: Out of 10, I’d say 10 out of 10. For the amount of work that you put in for the benefit you get out, it’s way beyond anything I’ve ever done. I was a teacher before I had children and the amount of work I put into my teaching for the amount of money I got out of it, the ratio is definitely lot less than there is now.

I’m very, very satisfied, like I said earlier it has gone beyond my expectations. I am meeting my goal of how many clients I want to see every week, so I can’t ask for much more.

Dana: That’s wonderful. I know you mentioned earlier that you were hitting your goals and that you felt pretty confident with the way things have been going, what kind of plans do you have for the future as far as your business goes?

Shan: I’m hoping that once all of my children are in school then I can take it to the next level. Right now I’m seeing between two to four clients a week and then I can see four consistently because I will have more time.

I’d like to do more presentations for mummy groups and organizations that need help with sleep such as day cares, things like that. I’ll definitely pursue those options a little bit more in the future. My hope is just to continue getting my name out there and building my reputation in my area as being the one everyone wants to go to when they need some help with their children’s sleep.

Dana: That’s great. I think that’s been something really cool on my end as I get to see each of your careers blossom and it really does have the potential to grow and I think one of your challenges — and correct me if I am wrong — has been really trying to keep yourself to your quota per week. [laughs]

Because it is tempting and you can quickly start to feel little overwhelmed with your commitments to family and your commitments to your business and I look forward to the coming years when you do have a little more time to dedicate and I’m absolutely sure you will be reaching your goals then, too.

Shan: Yeah, it will not be a problem. I feel like I’m busting at the scenes right now sometimes…

Dana: It’s a good problem to have.

Shan: Absolutely. A problem I didn’t expect to be happening this early on. Yes, I am very happy. The nice thing is that my husband always tells me, it’s your choice. You can set your goals and do what you want. If you only want to see two clients a week then that’s what you see, which is wonderful — you have that flexibility.

Dana: Absolutely, that’s fabulous. One last question, if anyone was listening and thinking about becoming a Sleep Sense consultant what would you have made recommendations on what they should decide?

Shan: If you are looking to be sleep consultant, I’d say go with Sleep Sense hands down, don’t even bother looking at any of the other programs out there. I would also look at what’s in your area, for sleep consultants and Sleep Sense consultants, to be sure that the market is not saturated with consultants because I know sometimes that can be a little harder to get established.

I have had nothing but a wonderful experience with Dana and Sleep Sense, and I’d say if you are thinking about it, go for it. It will go as well as you think it will, if not better.

Dana: Great to hear. I really appreciate you taking some time for me today. I hope that that gave our listeners a better snapshot into the life of a Sleep Sense consultant, what kind of expectations they can have as a result and like any business, Shan, I am sure you would agree that you get what you give to it.

Shan: Yeah, absolutely. The more you give, the more you get.

You get what you pay for with the program. You could probably do some kind of online training at much a smaller price but you get what you pay for. Then you have very little support and probably not a lot of confidence to jump into your business.

Dana: I agree and that’s one of the things when I was planning the program and pricing it out is that I really want people to take it seriously for one, with a bit of an investment behind it. I know that gives people motivation to really commit to it 100 percent and I do truly in my heart want all of you to be successful, so I really do make it a top priority to be here for my consultants and to support them and help them in any way that I can.

Shan: You have done that, thank you.

Dana: [laughs] All right, Shan. Thanks again and go have a fabulous day. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Shan: Thanks Dana, same to you.

Dana: Take care.

Shan: Bye.

Dana: Bye-bye.