Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashlee Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ashlee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

Just two years ago, I began my business with the intention that I would only pick up a few appointments here or there so that I would have something to do outside of the home. In my third month, I had nearly 5x’d what I did in my first month, and realized that I had something really special.

I began advertising to local moms’ groups, and put my face out there as much as I could. I had a waiting list because the demand was more than I had child care for.

Eventually I needed some help with scheduling, so I hired a VA/administrative assistant, who took on tasks that I no longer had time for. Within 2 years, our team had grown to 9: Two staff and seven providers.

In that time, I hired a business coach and a marketing firm, who both helped guide me in areas I was not confident in. While that investment was scary, it was worth it.

I’ve put more back into my business and into payroll than into myself, and I know that soon I’ll be able to reap those rewards. But right now, it’s important for me to continue scaling because I know this is an investment not only in my business, but also in my community.

Ashlee, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Before I was pregnant with my first, I became interested in childbirth after watching the documentary “The Business of Being Born.” During my first pregnancy, I studied to become a childbirth educator and told my husband, “When I get a job as a childbirth educator, I’m going to become a lactation consultant.” I did just that, and worked as a childbirth educator at a hospital while completing my lactation internship at the same hospital.

Once I finished my internship, I landed a job as a lactation consultant at a pediatric office, but I really wanted to move back home to Kentucky, so after a year of working at the pediatric office, my husband and I moved our family to Kentucky. I started working for another lactation consultant during my third pregnancy (and during covid), and she was a wonderful mentor.

My family convinced me to start my own business, so I did that in January 2022. I knew my business was something special because there were hardly any providers doing the same thing as I was: Providing breastfeeding support to families in central Kentucky.

We set ourselves apart because we provide lactation support exclusively, and we are a judgement-free space; meaning we work with our clients to create feeding plans that are sustainable, rather than pressuring them into one feeding decision over another. We believe that parents should feel supported in order to bond with their babies. Parents receive enough judgement as it is; they don’t need someone else harping on them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media was something I started before my business even launched. I knew that my generation and those having children were spending a lot of time on social media and that they were going to be getting information there, so they may as well get reputable information!

I started to provide lots of information and education in an entertaining way, and people flocked to my page. They really enjoyed my content and engaged in a big way.

Then, I had a couple of reels go viral (one of them had 6 million views!) and more people started following me. Since I’d provided so much value for so long, they came to my page after watching my reels and realized they were going to get a lot out of following me, and one day I woke up and had 20k+ followers. WOW.

To be honest, being a social media creator is a lot of work. It’s stressful. I’m a business owner, and a mom, and add to that having to have new ideas constantly is a lot of work. So, I’ve sourced some of it out – I have a director of social outreach who helps create new posts/repurpose old content.

My top tip for someone wanting to grow on social media is to continuously provide value! Don’t be afraid to give away free advice. One people trust you, they’ll buy from you.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team is incredibly difficult. It’s been one of the hardest things for me as a former people pleaser. I’ve had to learn how to communicate effectively.

We now have monthly team meetings and monthly individual meetings to make sure I’m not only keeping the team accountable, but they’re keeping me accountable as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kentuckybreastfeedingcenter.com
• Instagram: @ashleeibclc; @kentuckybreastfeedingcenter
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/kentuckybreastfeedingcenter