Sarah: From long-haul flight attendant to internationally certified baby sleep consultant
From long-haul flight attendant to internationally certified baby sleep consultant
When Sarah’s first son was born in 2014, he was “the world’s most horrible sleeper”. Sarah wasn’t prepared for the toll this took, despite knowing what sleep deprivation felt like following her years working as a long-haul flight attendant.
“I was home in New Zealand [from Seattle] and came across Baby Sleep Consultant. I booked in with them and got to work improving our household’s sleep. It changed – saved, really – my life at the time, and I realised I wanted to be able to do that for other families.”
From just an idea to internationally certified
When Sarah returned to the States, she could see that accessible support – like what she had been able to tap into in New Zealand – simply wasn’t available. “It’s a fast-growing industry now, but back then there weren’t the options available. You could book with an individual consultant for a personalised plan, but the cost was prohibitive for a huge amount of families.”
Sarah wanted to change that. So, in 2015, she trained through Baby Sleep Consultant Training. “Having been supported by them successfully already, I knew that I liked their philosophy and the emphasis they put on the scientific basis of sleep.”
“I’ll admit that it was a bit of a shock to get back into study, but the self-paced nature of the course was perfect for me while I had my son at home,” Sarah shares.
It was important to Sarah that, if she was going to make this change and reskill, that she do it properly. “It was my dream for this to become my career – not just something I was dabbling in while I was a stay-at-home mum. I wanted to be really professional from the outset and set up a proper platform that would enable me to grow.”
Sarah’s work through the Baby Sleep Consulting Training course helped her to do this, giving her the solid theoretical base that she could then apply “out in the real world” how she wanted.
“I also had the most amazing support with my mentor Sacha, who I believe is a pivotal part of my success today. I truly think having that one-on-one support from a mentor was key! I cannot say enough good things about her and the relationship during the process that allowed me to be successful,” adds Sarah.
Building towards a business
Even with support, the transition from the end of the training course to setting up her business was a significant leap. Sarah hadn’t had any prior business experience; “It was a very big learning curve,” says Sarah.
Ensuring her goals were realistic and working to always remember the reason she started on this journey have helped in Sarah’s case. “It certainly wasn’t easy, and I’m still learning and growing in this now!” In fact, Sarah confesses that her business looks quite different now to what she was envisaging when she started out.
“When I first started out, I always thought that I would expand and bring on other consultants too, however, it took longer to get there – alongside growing our family – than I originally envisaged. I didn’t want my business to get to the point where it took me away from being able to spend time with my kids, or to cause so much stress that it just wasn’t worth it. However, I’m thrilled to report I just took on another consultant six months ago.”
Sarah’s advice to others wanting to pursue this career is to go for it! “Having happy, sleeping families whose lives have changed by working with me is unbelievably rewarding,” Sarah adds.
We couldn’t agree more!