We recently connected with Karen Winter and have shared our conversation below.

Karen, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission is to help more families become well-rested through one on one support! I don’t want parents trying to figure it out and failing time and time again like I did.

Rewind 5 years when I first became a mama… I was sleep deprived trying to figure it all out on my own. I gave up countless times. I tried having my daughter sleep in bed with us, tried letting her cry it out, tried Ferber method, literally slept on the couch with her in a bassinet next to me so that I wouldn’t wake my husband up every two hours while I was feeding her back to sleep. I felt overwhelmed with how to make changes so that we could all get better sleep. I didn’t even know what a sleep consultant was back then. I wish I would have known so that I could have hired someone then, it would have saved me so much time and energy and sleep! I survived, and when my daughter was about 1.5 years old I started to figure out what worked and my daughter began to sleep through the night. However, I wasted so much time trying to figure it out on my own.

Now, it is my mission, to help parents avoid what I went through! I get to provide families with a clear plan and support when it comes to helping their children sleep! We get to see changes take place quickly and everyone gets to become well-rested again!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Working with children has always been my passion for as long as I can remember. I got my degree in Early Childhood Education and have been working with children in various environments for 20 years now. I stared my own in-home daycare so that I was able to stay home with my daughter while also bringing in income. As she grew older my passion changed and I really wanted to support moms in the hardships of parenting. I wanted to help them avoid the sleepless nights I had endured. For that reason I dove deeper and became a certified sleep consultant through the Center of Pediatric Sleep Management so that I could help moms avoid sleep deprivation. I had been there and I wished it upon no one. Using my experience and my knowledge I started Winter Slumber Sleep Consulting, closed my daycare doors, and while my daughter is at Kindergarten full days I get to help support mama’s in becoming well-rested.

As my business grew I began to find that many families with toddlers and preschoolers struggled with sleep and many sleep consultants weren’t confident with this age group. I was! For that reason I niched down to working with the 2-7 year old age group and all the specific, and differing, challenges they bring to the table. I created my “Winter Slumber Sleep Transformation Program” specifically for parents of 2-7 year olds who want a stress-free bedtime and a full night of sleep. My individualized plan and one on one support ensure they stop feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and, instead, begin to look forward to bedtime. A unique feature of my program is laying the foundation with the child. I also create a relationship with the child as a way to hold them accountable, include them in on these changes, and provide excitement around what is to come. I love sending these children video messages cheering them on and explaining expectations. It’s a beautiful way for me to work both with an age group I have so much experience with, and also with tired moms who I can relate to and give hope to! I get to use ALL my skills and knowledge in a combined way to improve the lives of families.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When I graduated from my program and became a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant I was also running my in-home daycare full time. I did that from 7am-5pm, and then put on the mom hat for the remainder of the evening. Once my daughter was asleep for the night I went to my office and spent time on building and growing my sleep consulting business Winter Slumber. It was hard, it was tiring, but I knew this was my passion and I wanted it to become my full time career!

After about a year of doing that I then pulled back on my daycare hours. When my daughter started a part time 4K program I then provided a wrap around 4k program for a few children. I had children arrive at my house at 7am and the bus picked everyone up at 8:30am. At this time I worked on my sleep consulting business, growing it, marketing it, all the things. The kiddos then got dropped back off at my house at 11:30pm and I cared for them until about 5pm. Mom hat went on, and again, once my daughter was asleep it was back into my office I went.

I started to really see my business blossom, grow, and provide additional income for my family. I then decided if I could do this part time and be successful I could certainly do this full time and be successful. I closed my daycare doors in June, spent the summer with my daughter while also getting some business stuff done, and went completely full time once my daughter started full time kindergarten.

Winter Slumber continues to grow, provide, and I am so excited to mold it into exactly what I want it to be for me and my family! I’ve always wanted to be my own boss, have a flexible schedule so that I can be present for my daughter when not at school, and still bring in a consistent income that provides for my family. I’m excited to say I’ve done it!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Creating a virtual business was completely new to me. Aside from having a personal facebook account I knew nothing about social media, didn’t really utilize it in any way except for posting family pics. Upon starting my business I hired a coach who taught my exactly how to utilize social media to start forming an audience, marketing my programs, and bring in clients. I started off doing Instagram because I felt like that’s where all businesses had a presence. However, over a few months I realized it felt like a chore to me. I then started to realize I enjoyed Facebook far more. I started tuning in to a coach who focuses on building your business via facebook and never turned back! I created a Facebook group “Sleep Support for Toddlers and Preschoolers” and this is where my focus remains. I post content here, form relationships, grow my audience, and ultimately this is where my clients come from. I find joy in doing this!

My advice for those who are just starting out, don’t feel like you HAVE to use a certain platform. Do what feels good to you. You want to enjoy what you do on a daily basis and for us that usually means building a social media presence and nurturing relationships on that platform. Find what feels right and stick to it! It felt hard at first but now the members just keep flowing in, my email list continues to grow, and I know what I’m doing is working. I still have an IG page but don’t utilize it much, my facebook group is where my focus and continual engagement is.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.winterslumber.com
• Instagram: @winterslumbersleep
• Facebook: @winterslumbersleep
• Other: Facebook group “Sleep Support for Toddlers and Preschoolers”: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sleepsupportfortoddlersandpreschoolers/?ref=share