We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kandra Becerra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I have ever taken was opening my business. I had no prior business experience – and quite frankly had no business owning one! I went to MSU for my undergrad. We were in a recession when I graduated. My degree wasn’t hiring so I temporarily went to construction. I grew up in a construction family so it felt comfortable to me.

Fast forward a few years and I enjoyed the company and position so much that I never pursued anything else. While at this job I got pregnant with our first son, Owen. I had grand, albeit naive plans for my maternity leave with my new sweet baby. However, these first 12 weeks were an exhausted disaster!

I had planned for sleepless nights becoming a first-time mom. However, no one warned me about a baby who wouldn’t sleep during the day either. I was struggling more than I ever imagined I would. Due to our desperation, we actually hired a sleep consultant.

The experience was…a huge letdown for us. This lit a fire for me. I became so passionate about pediatric sleep and wanted to help parents. Wanting to provide a service that I so desperately needed myself. I started my maternity leave as just that, time off with my new baby. When it was time for me to go back I knew that I had to make a change. Leaving an amazing career to start a new business was a giant leap of faith and one that I will never regret!

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

Rocky Mountain Sleeping Baby was started out of a need. It provides services to exhausted parents. Services I really needed as a first-time mom – but couldn’t find!

Myself, and my incredible team work 1 on 1 with tired parents. We work with prenatal moms up to 8-year-olds, and everything in between! Everything we do is child-focused. A quick Google search for why your child isn’t sleeping is incredibly overwhelming. We take all of the guesswork out of it. We start with an initial phone call to get to know our family, as well as a thorough intake form. With this information, we are able to put together a sleep plan that we know will equal success for our families!

Our families hire us for our coaching. Seeing a child’s success from start to finish is the best part! We are on the phone every few days with our families. Making sure everything is going as planned, answering all of their questions, and making any changes that need to be made. They have unlimited access to us during the entirety of our time together.

We work with so many different family scenarios. Some families have a 9-month-old waking a few times a night and they are ready to eliminate those night wakings. Other times we work with 6-year-olds who have never slept through the night. Each situation is unique and we always make sure all of our advice is custom-tailored to each family.

It is important to know that the best time to sleep train your child is when YOU the parents are ready. We work with newborn parents who want to get prepared before having their baby. We also work with 8-year-olds who are struggling to sleep independently. A family’s sleep journey is always unique to them. Meeting a child, no matter what the age in a developmentally appropriate way is essential.

We are so extremely passionate about what we do, and helping families! Everything we do is virtual. We literally help families all over the world!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

When I started as a sleep consultant there weren’t too many others in my area. Now, there are quite a few consultants to choose from. I love that there are more of us in this business! It really normalizes our services to tired parents.

I knew from the beginning that I needed to operate my business from the perspective of giving parents everything that I really needed as a tired parent, but couldn’t find myself. I didn’t want to give black and white “one size fits all” approaches.

I wanted my families to feel seen and heard without judgment. I wanted to meet them exactly where they were. Providing encouragement, education, and support during our time together.

To this day, this is exactly how I run my business. I want my now well-rested clients to refer all of their tired friends and family because of the first-class service they received during our time together.

Any advice for managing a team?

I had the pleasure of adding team members to my business over the last few years. I am far from being an expert on how to manage people. I still have so much learning and growing for myself in this role.

However, in order to be an effective leader, I think it is essential to make yourself an equal. It is not a me vs. them mindset. It is all of us together. On the same playing field, making sure everyone always feels heard and welcoming any criticism and feedback.

I often tell my team that if they see a different way of doing something to please bring it to my attention. This feedback has allowed us to streamline different things in the business. It has saved us time by changing procedures. It also ensures that we are always keeping up with the industry as the top leader in the pediatric sleep field.

I am beyond grateful for my team. They provide so many incredible benefits to this business. I couldn’t imagine doing it without them!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rockymountainsleepingbaby.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockymountainsleepingbaby/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockymountainsleepingbaby
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kandra-becerra-b1aba71a3/

Image Credits
@RalstonPhoto