Lactation Business Coaching With Annie And Leah

The Lactation Business Coaching Deeper Dives feature experts from inside and outside of lactation sharing their wisdom, insight, and practical hands-on tips. Enjoy this free 10-minute sample with our June guest, Shelly Taft LPN, IBCLC, CBE, ISE.Shelly runs a busy practice just outside Boston, MA. She created and is the host of The Baby Pro Podcast and founder of The Baby Pro Bistro, a unique membership site for new and expecting parents. Shelly also crawls through mud under barb wire for fun and I bet she'll answer questions about that, too.The recording will be available a few days after the event. In this episode, we will cover: Balancing growing Baby Pro while juggling a busy client load + working in the hospital Shelly's strategy behind creating and repurposing social media content How she's using podcasting to reach families  Like this episode? Want more?The LBC podcast is ALWAYS free, thanks to contributions from supporters. Every contributed dollar counts and so do our contributors — as a thank-you gif

As a lactation consultant, you keep track of so many things on a daily, weekly, and even hourly basis. Client care, business operations, keeping up with social media, and staying current with your clinical training can become overwhelming… and sometimes important things can slip through the cracks, both in terms of your professional practice and your family life. Tasks you hate and projects you love can both pose challenges to productivity, but implementing the right productivity hacks can help you stay on track, prioritize effectively, and maintain a healthier work-life balance.Time blocking is a great way to focus on one task at a time while allowing yourself some mental rest within the structure, and it’s especially useful for content creation. Bullet journaling is a freeform way to keep up with tasks — and it can take whatever form or function works best for you.In this episode, we dig into these and other productivity techniques that allow us to keep organized, increase productivity, and get everything d

‘Sparking joy’ became a nationwide sensation after clutter consultant Marie Kondo’s show Tidying Up landed on Netflix in 2019. Her de-cluttering KonMari method is based on the idea that you should throw away anything that doesn’t bring you joy —and this method isn’t just effective for de-cluttering your home, but your private practice workflow as well!Are there aspects of your private practice that don’t bring you joy? Do they leave you feeling overwhelmed or burnt out? Are they taking up space that could create room for exciting new opportunities? Is there literal clutter in your office that distracting you from staying focused?It’s important to regularly take a moment to reflect on what we have and what we use in our private practice, whether that’s our tools, our software subscriptions, our systems, our commitments – even down to the language in our intake forms!If your plate or your consult bag is too full, you need to stop and consider what sparks joy… and what you should consider setting aside.“I’m ofte

Life is stressful enough. As you may know, life as a business owner is even more stressful.While many people think of self-care as spa days or long yoga classes, effective self-care doesn’t have to take up an entire afternoon or cost you any money. There are many small things that you can fit into your schedule each day to maintain a healthy balance and keep you calm and centered.This episode is all about reducing (and preventing) stress through easy-to-implement self-care hacks. We share our top tips and habits for stress reduction and prevention — we talk about how to set and maintain effective boundaries, the importance of honoring your energy levels, how to tap into what your mind and body truly need, and the vital role of your community in self-care.As a bonus, you’ll get a sneak preview of the topic of our upcoming Deeper Dive — see the link below to learn how to register.“I know that my mood and my energy and my sleep and everything is improved when I’m exercising.” In this episode, we will cover: Our

Small business owners are at especially high risk for burnout, as we often take on multiple roles and feel we need to be driving our businesses forward all the time. But constant productivity actually hurts us in the long run. When we reach the point of burnout, we no longer perform at our best, and it can take weeks (or longer!) to fully recover.Brandie Mitchell, RN, NC-BC is a Board Certified Nurse Coach specializing in holistic, personalized health coaching for women ready to reclaim their health from autoimmune disease, anxiety, depression, pain, insomnia, and fatigue. She also supports women during pregnancy and postpartum for a healthy and empowered transition into motherhood. Brandie empowers women and families to take ownership of their health, overcome anxiety and overwhelm, and move from where you are to where you want to be in your body, health, and life.Brandie looks to natural and energetic cycles as inspiration for creating a way of life that’s healthier, more productive, and more sustainable. O

“Organized” can mean a range of things. You could have everything in your office down to your pens organized by type, color, and function. You could have a perfectly organized filing system and a chaotic decorating scheme. Or you could have a gorgeously minimalist office aesthetic… and messy desk drawers. What’s important is that the systems and setups you put in place work for you. When organizing your office, you should have one major goal in mind: making it easier for you to do your very best work in that space.There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to organizing your home office. Depending on your space and budget, setting up your perfect home office may involve purchasing new organizational furniture or just thinking outside the box to optimize your current setup. In this episode, we explain how we’ve set up our own home offices – everything from the furniture we use to the way we handle incoming documents.“Outer order brings inner calm… I can totally sense that when I look around my workspace.” I

A skilled bookkeeper not only inputs your transactions, but can help you cut costs, improve cash flow, and unlock opportunities for growth.A bookkeeper with experience in your industry will know the regulations and standards that need to be followed and will actually be able to save you money at tax time. Your tax accountant will charge you a lot of money to fix inaccurate books – often more than it would cost to hire a part-time bookkeeper!Bookkeeper Joselyn Martinez is a self-proclaimed numbers nerd. Four years ago, she started her own company, Balance Financial Solutions, which is dedicated to supporting small businesses and helping them build financial success. She has expertise in private and public accounting and managed an acquisition that converted a private company to a public company. She earned her Masters of Accounting with the distinction of Summa Cum Laude and is an Adjunct Instructor for her alma mater. Her passion led her to open her own business so that she can help small businesses achieve t

While there are always parts of running a business that some people will love more than others, most people can agree on one thing: tax season is a pain.But it doesn’t need to be. There are things that you can do to make tax season run much more smoothly for your practice.From setting up systems and accounts to choosing your business structure, to dealing with financial complexity, this episode is a primer for getting your practice through tax time with fewer headaches. “How can I keep as much of my money as possible, in the most ethical way possible?” In this episode, we will cover: How to have a profit-first mindset (04:50) The importance of professional guidance when determining your business structure (06:00) How to access our monthly Deeper Dives, where we learn great tips from top experts… and each other (10:20) The difference between “business expenses” and “the cost of doing business” — and what it means for your practice (11:42) What separate accounts and credit cards do you need (18:00)   Links and

Behind every great lactation consultant is an incredible administrative assistant.Our guest for this episode is Amanda Sherwin, the owner of The LC's Concierge, a virtual administrative business that provides services dedicated to meeting the needs of lactation professionals working in private practice.Amanda used skills acquired through her past careers as an elementary school teacher and camp director to help her build her business. She was drawn into the lactation world through her decision to breastfeed her two beautiful children – a choice that she made the moment she discovered that she was pregnant.She took prenatal and birthing classes and bought books, but still found breastfeeding her firstborn to be incredibly challenging. Amanda reached out to Beth Myler at Mahala, who diagnosed her baby with posterior tongue tie. Within a week of being treated, Amanda’s daughter gained 12 ounces.When Beth decided to return to school for her nurse practitioner’s degree, she asked Amanda if she’d be interested in p

It takes a village to run a thriving practice and hiring an administrative assistant is a crucial step toward building the business of your dreams.Hiring a great admin pays off financially but also emotionally, as you’re able to focus on the tasks within your skillset. This helps you feel less drained and more fulfilled and allows you to provide better care to your clients.Leah has worked with admins for nearly seven years, and they have handled all aspects of her business apart from the clinical work, including invoicing, bookkeeping, and project management.Annie hired her admin when she started getting too many appointment requests to keep up with and realized that in order to be able to help new clients, she’d need to free up more time. Her admin handles incoming requests, intake forms, customer service, patient charts, and so much more.“Ever since I’ve been able to shift out of having to do some of that stuff, my energy level and my passion for my work has increased as well.”In this episode, we will cover

Like this episode? Want more?The LBC podcast is ALWAYS free, thanks to contributions from supporters. Every contributed dollar counts and so do our contributors — as a thank-you gift to our top-tier members, we offer monthly LIVE Deeper Dive sessions with experts and access to all previous Deeper Dive sessions — check out our upcoming Deeper Dives and become a member! All contributions count; join at one of our starter levels here!Show Notes: Launching Your Lactation Business (Bonus Rebroadcast) Turn downtime into marketing time with Leah’s Marketing Tip Starting a private practice as a lactation consultant is hard! But you can do this I hear you love being a breastfeeding volunteer! That’s awesome! Here’s how Leah make it work without impacting her private practice. Not feeling the volunteer vibe anymore? Annie shares how she came to the difficult decision to retire from her beloved volunteer work. Why you shouldn’t just put yourself out there and hope for the best. Your future self will be much happier if y

This episode is the second installment of our Business-Related Goals podcast exploration. In Episode 45: Setting Business-Related Goals, we unpacked the ways in which we can use the SMART goal setting strategy to create the light at the end of the tunnel. In this episode, we discuss the ways in which we build the tunnel to get to that light. Learn how Annie and Leah have used systematic thinking to break big goals into smaller, more palatable tasks and how this strategy has helped them feel more successful, less overwhelmed, and has ultimately led to greater achievements in their private practices and beyond.This episode will help you learn how small, manageable tasks will help propel you forward and boost your confidence by evoking progress. You will also learn the different platforms out there that can help keep you moving along with your eyes on the prize. This systematic thinking has roots in Backward Design, an instructional design method educators use. It involves the creation of an instructional goal a

We love Pinterest - we’ve used it as a way to keep those picture-perfect ideas for classroom parties, favorite outfits, and delectable recipes. It keeps everything neatly organized and easily accessible. What we did not realize is that some savvy consultants and business people are harnessing Pinterest on an entirely different level. Turns out, Pinterest isn’t just a useful virtual filing cabinet, it also holds the capability to create community, is a fantastic way to educate, and it can create traffic to your business. The bonus is it is FREE! On today’s show, Annie and Leah chat with Missy Campbell all about how to best utilize the magic of Pinterest in your business. Missy shares with us how it’s not just for recipes and outfit ideas but the powerful tool it is for our service-based businesses. We learn some of the ins and outs of Pinterest and how this search engine can help extend the life of our content so we don’t have to spend hours a day on social media. She breaks down for us how to get started usin

Most of us in private practice set out with the goal to help parents and babies breastfeed. All of a sudden, we find we have a private practice business in our hands. And just like those bundles of joy in the arms of the parents with which we work radiate endless potential, our business pulses with a similar potential for growth and a life of its own. Goals begin to ruminate and make their voices known. Which goal to grow? Which to hold on to until another date? This can be especially difficult when the potential seems equal for all of them. Where to begin? Setting business-related goals can be invigorating and daunting at the same time. This episode is the first part of a two-part installment on setting and reaching business goals. Our time together focuses on how we can harness the power of our internal tendencies and mesh them with the SMART goal-setting strategy. Tune in to grow with us!"And how can I set myself up to be able to execute these small tasks that are going to actually reach my big goal, you k

Shondra Mattos, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, IBCLC, LLL Leader, Owner of Mattos Lactation, and all around amazing person joins us to drop some helpful tips about using SEOs to drive traffic to your sites and put your hypothetical neon sign out there in the world. Shondra Mattos is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, LLL Leader, and Owner of Mattos Lactation, a location-independent Lactation Practice. She also owns and operates SM Business + Marketing consulting- helping lactation professionals build a strong business foundation and develop strategies that lead to success. In addition to serving families and helping business owners, she helps established and aspiring LC's gain a deeper understanding of complicated topics relevant to the lactation field and offers one-on-one and group tutoring to lactation students. When she is not nerding out on boob-related science, she spends her time hanging out with her husband and daughter, watching Youtube, and eating cookies.Learn how her

On today’s episode, Annie and Leah break down for us what their follow-up strategies look like and how they’ve gotten to places where it works for them and their business. They discuss pricing, how to set the expectations with your clients, and how work/life balance comes into play. Annie shares with us how she has worked through her pricing model to include follow-up care with different types of clients. We also learn about some of the systems Leah uses and how she has made those work for her daily client follow-ups. Pull the curtain back and learn how Annie and Leah follow up with clients outside of their in-person or virtual lactation visits. Discover how your EHR and messaging platforms can help set and keep boundaries that are good for clients and help you maintain a healthy work/life balance so that you can caretake you and give care to your clients. When you strike this balance, you will be sending the ultimate love-filled message to your clients, “I believe in you.” Take a listen and grow with us! “Th

You know that the families who need us are using social media to find us, and having a presence is so important. But putting yourself out there on social media can feel so overwhelming. You're unsure where to start, especially with the million other daily professional tasks and personal responsibilities taking up so much time. We're right there with you!That's why we're so excited about this podcast episode with lactation consultant, doula, and social media expert Tiara Caldwell LPN, IBCLC. She runs through the different social media platforms, the way in which they are useful, where to begin, how to get your feet wet, and how to be the genuine YOU through what you post and share. Her tried and true approach will put you at ease and make you feel capable of connecting on social media in an authentic way with other professionals, clients, and potential clients. Take a listen and grow with us!Tiara Caldwell is a nurse, doula, and IBCLC in the DC metro area. She provides doula services, childbirth education, and

Few of us could have foreseen how the landscape of our practices would change so abruptly last spring. Many of us found ourselves scrambling to develop new protocols and explore the nuances of telehealth while also managing massive changes in our personal lives. It's been more than half a year, and we thought it was time for us to sit and reflect with all of you about how we can combine virtual tools with the tried and true in-person visits most of us love. We'll dig into time management, pricing, usage of each type of visit in the continuum of care, scheduling aspects, and much more. Annie and Leah talk in today’s episode about how the industry is shifting for IBCLC’s, and what it could look like to potentially offer a combination of both virtual visits and in-person care. There are so many things that go into deciding what is best for yourself and your client when shifting in your business. They cover why a combination might be helpful, different variations for structuring the costs of your visits, and how

You know that kismet moment when you start talking to someone and the brimming over of idea sharing makes you feel like you are on to something? Something that hasn’t been created yet and there is a big need for it in the world. Like you and this person can literally come together and give birth to something unique and extraordinary, just like the one-of-a-kind tiny humans with which we work.That is exactly what happened when we met and decided to collaborate on LBC. Here’s the thing, we are not the only ones connecting with colleagues and germinating ideas that can help to create the IBCLC world in which we all want to live. That is why we were SO excited to welcome Nikki Greenaway, IBCLC, aka Nurse Nikki, and Nekisha Killings MPH, IBCLC, RLC - the dynamic duo that makes Nikki & Nikki - to our most recent podcast episode - The Power of Collaboration. Their collaboration grew from identifying gaps and disparities in the pathway system and a deep desire to demystify and open up the process for black and br

Have you always dreamed of helping families with breastfeeding? In today’s episode of Lactation Business Coaching with Annie & Leah, we talk about how we became International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, also known as IBCLCs. We discuss the different pathways to becoming eligible to sit for the board exam and break down the biggest things we have learned in the years since we first certified.Annie and Leah break down what it looks like logistically to become certified and bust some myths on what some people might think it takes to become an IBCLC. They share with us their biggest takeaways now that they have both been certified for many years and some eye-opening experiences they’ve had. We get a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to become an IBCLC and who this might be a great path for."The piece of advice that I got and so grateful for was kind of like, Hey, heads up, you're going to have to always be learning.” In this episode, we will cover: Defining what IBCLC even stands for (