Where do you see your lactation private practice in ten years? If you haven't thought about it don't worry, in the beginning sometimes just focusing on the newness of your practice fills you up. But there may come a day where you start to daydream about the potential and possibilities of your private practice. In this episode, we are giving you our top tips on how you can dream of where you want your business to be and what to do with all those ideas in your brain. (Hint, it involves something s...
Nov 23, 2021•32 min•Ep. 59
Why do we feel the pressure to do it all? You hear the word hustle a lot in the entrepreneur space. But does the hustle actually help us as private practice lactation consultants? In this episode, we’re talking about the messages about hustle we’re hearing from business gurus and on social media and whether they’re helpful for having a healthy and thriving private practice. (Spoiler alert: we think naps might help us reach our goals, too.) “Let's not think about buying into some dream of a futur...
Nov 09, 2021•32 min•Ep. 58
What does expanding your circle of care mean? What does it look it? Treating your practice as a business is not just good for you, but it’s good for the families you take care of. This includes finding support so the burden of nurturing your business is not solely on you. There’s no way to be a hundred percent independent in your business so building that foundation of support at the beginning of your business is important. The goal is to have a compassionate and sustainable private practice tha...
Oct 26, 2021•28 min•Ep. 57
You are passionate about the clinical work you do but sometimes you can get so focused on your clients that you forget you need to nurture your business also. You didn’t become a lactation consultant because you wanted to be an entrepreneur - but here you are! We didn’t start out with a business mindset, both of us were just excited about the opportunity to help more families. It was a hard lesson to learn that we can’t just serve our clients, but that we also need to run a business. Treating yo...
Oct 12, 2021•27 min•Ep. 56
In this episode, we answer that age-old question: what did you wish you knew when you first started out? When you’ve just launched your practice, you don’t know what you don’t know. Every entrepreneur learns valuable lessons along the way, and it’s helpful to think of mistakes as opportunities to learn. We’re here to share what we wish we’d known when we started our journeys, what we implemented to solve the problems that came up along the way, and how our businesses have evolved. In this episod...
Aug 24, 2021•38 min
Many lactation consultants are used to working solo, and it can be hard to surrender certain aspects of your private practice to others. When you wear many hats, like most private practitioners, it can be hard to recognize when you need to delegate a task to someone else who has more time or expertise in the area. But if you’re spending too much energy on tasks that you’re not proficient in or passionate about and they take you away from the clinical work you love, it may be time to bring on peo...
Aug 10, 2021•48 min
For IBCLCs, being able to do things faster and with less stress translates to a better job done. That’s why we’ve dedicated this entire episode to discussing life hacks designed to introduce more ease into your private practice. Through our time building and growing our private practices, we’ve identified a number of areas where we’ve been slowed down, distracted, disrupted, or ignored our physical needs… but we’ve also come up with simple daily solutions that keep us on track and working at our...
Jul 20, 2021•42 min
What does it mean to be a small business owner and a compassionate lactation consultant? We got into this business because we love caring for breastfeeding mothers and their babies. But excellent clinical skills don’t always coincide with business and financial savvy. If you can relate, we’ve got you covered. Money can be a really personal and intimidating topic, and many of us grow up without learning how to talk about money or deal with our own personal finances, let alone business finances. B...
Jul 06, 2021•47 min
How do you set your fees so that they’re fair and compassionate to your clients… without undervaluing your worth? Money is an uncomfortable topic for many people, especially women. And it can be difficult to ask for what your work is actually worth (or even realize your worth in the first place). But you’re not truly serving anyone when you set a low bar for your pricing. To run a business, you need to have money. When it comes to choosing a number for your pricing, nobody wants to be in a race ...
Jun 22, 2021•44 min
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 an...
Jun 10, 2021•13 min
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 ...
Jun 08, 2021•39 min
‘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...
May 25, 2021•26 min•Ep. 55
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 ...
May 11, 2021•27 min•Ep. 54
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 h...
Apr 27, 2021•29 min•Ep. 53
“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...
Apr 13, 2021•22 min•Ep. 52
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 numb...
Mar 30, 2021•20 min•Ep. 51
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...
Mar 16, 2021•28 min•Ep. 50
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...
Feb 23, 2021•30 min•Ep. 49
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 clini...
Feb 09, 2021•23 min•Ep. 48
In this rebroadcast of our first episode of Lactation Business Coaching, hosts Annie Frisbie IBCLC and Leah Jolly IBCLC talk about the unique challenges of starting a business as a private practice lactation consultant. They go into how hard it is to charge money for something you’d do for free and how to make peace with the inevitable expenses involved in starting a business. Leah and Annie know how much you want to be both compassionate and financially viable because they face this tension in ...
Jan 26, 2021•36 min
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...
Jan 05, 2021•21 min•Ep. 47
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 ...
Dec 22, 2020•25 min•Ep. 46
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 ...
Dec 08, 2020•28 min•Ep. 45
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- he...
Nov 24, 2020•28 min•Ep. 44
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 d...
Nov 10, 2020•31 min•Ep. 43
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...
Oct 27, 2020•27 min•Ep. 42
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, pricin...
Oct 13, 2020•22 min•Ep. 41
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 no...
Sep 29, 2020•45 min•Ep. 40
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 som...
Sep 15, 2020•27 min•Ep. 39
Today's episode of Lactation Business Coaching with Annie and Leah is called "Stocking Your Consult Bag." The episode was recorded prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and things have changed since then, but as home visits will always be a part of the lactation private practice landscape this episode was deemed worth running. Annie and Leah talk about their own home visit consult bags and how they have greatly shifted throughout the years to what they have now. They talk about how each of their vastl...
Jun 30, 2020•27 min•Ep. 38
