We were lucky to catch up with Chelsea Kunde recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chelsea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
I recently had a client who have three children and none of them were sleeping well. The ages ranged from 6, 4, and 18 months old. The two older ones shared a room. The youngest would eat throughout the night, waking multiple times. The two older ones would stay up late and end up in their parents room at various hours during the night. I met with this family and came up with a custom plan that would work for everyone. That is key to the success of sleep training. One size does not fit all. Every family is different and therefor a custom plan is imperative for success. After implementing our plan, the older two no longer come out of their room at night and are sharing a room in harmony. The youngest, is also now sleeping through the night without any middle of the night feeds. I like to give plans for the entire family system when working with me so that everyone can be set up for success.
Chelsea, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Building Blocks Family serves families with children ages 0-6 years old. My services range from private consultations to live and online classes. The topics on services provided are Sleep, Discipline, and Potty Training. Building Blocks Family helps parents set the stage for success for the entire family. BBF does this by teaching families how to provide a secure and loving environment for their children, and foster a learning atmosphere where children can master goals and milestones and learn how to problem solve. Most importantly, because children are unique and individualized, as are their parents, Building Blocks Family approaches each family as a unique experience and offers techniques, tools, and plans to specifically fit the needs of that individual family.
I (Chelsea), provide all of the services. I approach parent coaching from a unique perspective because of my background. I started my career in behavior intervention and went on to get my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. I use my knowledge and clinical experience in behavior and my therapist perspective to merge my systemic approach. What does that mean? In short, its means that I look at the entire family and make custom solutions based on their specific needs while following research based behavioral approaches.
Clients come to me when they need assistance with sleep, discipline and a plan for potty training. I have worked with all ages but my niche now is for ages 0-6. The idea is that you build upon your foundation of parenting when working with me. I provide stepping stones to achieve parenting and family success. Building upon your foundational blocks as each new phase comes about during the early years of child rearing. I am here to help families set themselves up for success while providing practical and loving solutions.
I am honestly the most proud of my mission. Despite growing, I have stayed true to the mission of BBF. Which is to provide families custom loving solutions for their family. I am incredibly invested in the success of my clients. I am proud to stand behind this company, as an owner but also a parent myself. Parenting is hard and can feel vulnerable to ask for help. I pride myself on being open, honest, and solution focused for the families I serve. I always say, there are multiple ways to reach a solution, and here at Building Blocks Family, we do just that. We find what will work for you rather than fit your family into one mold only.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social Media can be very intimidating and overwhelming. I remember feeling so weird about starting my Instagram and Facebook for Building Blocks Family. My biggest advice to people is to just go for it. Put out content that you would want to see. Be true to who you are because people gravitate towards that. I may not have the biggest following in my profession but I do find my followers to be loyal. I have never bought likes, shares, follows, etc. I wanted to grow organically and really reach people. My goal for Social is different than that of an influencer, my goal of course is to gain clients and grow my company but my other goal is to reach people, providing content they may not have had before. The times I have been frustrated with my own social growth is when I am chasing a number. When I can reframe for myself the goal for Building Blocks Family and social media, it helps me when creating content, etc. So my advice would be, have a goal, keep your eye on that, and only put out content that is meaningful and authentic.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Building Blocks Family started in my home and so I luckily did not need a lot of capital. I was working part-time at the time and raising my oldest daughter. I had money saved and continued to work as I grew Building Blocks Family. Initially, I put money into building a website, branding material but made sure to keep costs low. I would say those early days were a grind. Working nights, weekends, during nap time, etc. Luckily, the parenting world is driven by word of mouth and referral. The hard work started to pay off quickly and my clientele grew. I continued to work from my house (even making my detached laundry room an office) for many years as a way to cut down on costs and be able to reinvest back into my company. I made rebranding a priority right before the pandemic hit. Of course I had panicked that I made a mistake spring of 2020 as the world was shutting down but fortunately for me, people needed parenting services now more then ever. I smile thinking about all the creative ways I would save money, work really hard, and make sacrifices to continue to grow BBF. It has been a journey and one I am proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: buildingblocksfamily.com
- Instagram: @buildingblocksfamily
- Facebook: @buildingblocksaz
Image Credits
Kate Nelle