Lactation Business Coaching with Annie and Leah

We can not believe that it has been 10 years since we became IBCLCs! No matter how long you’ve been in business, it’s important to always reflect on what you’ve learned and how you will keep growing. In this episode, we are doing just that!  We are talking about how our businesses have grown, what we would have done differently, and the danger of thinking you have learned it all.  “I wish I'd reco...

The holiday season is upon us! When someone asks what you want for the holiday, does your mind go blink? No need to worry, we got you covered! In this episode, we are talking about all the things that we have and love from fun boob stuff to clinical tools that only make sense to carry around if you are an IBCLC. “It's kind of fun to mix it up sometimes, I love all the boob stuff. It's so fun and i...

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...

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 th...

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...

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...

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...

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 pa...

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 physica...

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 le...

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 ne...

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 memb...

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 l...

‘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 th...

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...

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 N...

“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 organiz...

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...

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...

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...

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 a...

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...

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 t...

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,...

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...