Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Elle Sikorski, founder of Well Bebe, Inc., located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Well Bebe is an E-learning platform for new parents focused on simple yet effective methods to improve their baby's quality of sleep and healthy nutritional practices and empowers them to create and commit to routines that support overall wellness. We cover everything you need to care for your baby in year one. Every family is different and has unique needs, which is why the Well Bebe method is fully customizable.
I would like to welcome the readers to my FREE 1-hour masterclass, where you can meet me and experience what my program is about. I provide free evidence-based advice that empowers parents to achieve real results with their little ones.
My clients are typically millennial moms (22-42) who are in their later stages of pregnancy or early to mid-months of the first year with a baby. The majority are first-time moms, but many are on their 2nd or 3rd child and want to do things differently this time around. Many of my moms are entrepreneurs or moms in the workplace. I teach methods that encourage moms to master their time management with their babies so they can get back to other important aspects of their lives. My mission is to help millennial moms thrive in the first year with babies and not just survive!
Tell us about yourself
I often ask people why? What brought them to create the business or take the career path that they have today? My reasoning was Benjamin, my firstborn. Looking back, I had an incredibly blissful pregnancy with him. It actually couldn't have been more perfect. But when he came, I was broken. I had a very intense long labor, but to be quite honest, that wasn't the hard part. As you all know, once you have that baby in your arms, no one really prepares you for what comes after. There is no instruction manual until now!
All jokes aside, I had a really hard time with my son, he was colicky, and I felt like we hit every road bump along the way. I truly felt like I did everything wrong to him, and I was on the brink of postpartum depression. How could I, a health and wellness expert, I was a nutritionist at the time, find myself in such a predicament? The sleep deprivation was getting to me. He was struggling to feed, and to be quite honest; I wasn't enjoying motherhood. My work life was starting to slip, and I realized I couldn't live like this anymore! I began tracking his sleep and feeding so closely and documenting my whole journey looking for patterns. I realized there were rhythms that I could follow to ensure that all his needs were met. Feeding and sleeping started to transform, and I started to see the light. I started creating booklets and day planners that could help me organize his needs and days. Many of my friends caught wind of my baby's success, and I started to share my day planners and techniques with them. My son changed dramatically with these methods. My obsession with my son's transformation took me to get properly certified in baby sleep. After getting further education and seeing more babies, I started to refine my methods further. Today, many parents have said that the Well Bebe Method has been life-changing for them.
During University, I spent a great deal of my time as a research student under Dr. Nicolas Spence studying obesity in children and minority populations. Here I got first introduced to studying the relationship between nutrition and adolescents. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario with an honors Bachelor of Health Sciences degree, my passion for children led me to become a Certified Nutritional Practitioner and, as mentioned before, a Sleep Consultant. I spent years in private practice as a nutritionist under my company Ellevate Health. It was a rewarding career. I was featured in publications and on wellness panels, I was a trusted ambassador for major wellness brands, and my career even led me to cook healthy recipes with Michelin Star Chefs! However, what I quickly realized is what I truly LOVED was supporting new moms and their new babies. This time is so incredibly precious and challenging at the same time.
It was only after having my own son, though, that I realized how important baby sleep would be to add to my arsenal of health and wellness tools for new moms. I became obsessed. I decided I needed to learn everything there was to know about baby sleep. So, I got certified in baby sleep consulting. But every time I learned a new technique, while you know I'm a sponge, and I love to learn information, I always felt there was something missing out there. Courses were missing the focus on how important feedings were to their sleep and, even more, what they were consuming. I wanted to create something that encompassed all that I knew. I wanted to create a truly holistic approach to overall baby wellness that looked at baby sleep and nutrition combined. I decided to open Well Bebe Inc. to only specialize in this. I knew I was destined to help others with this combination of education, mixed in with my own personal mama-hood struggles and successes, and The Well Bebe Method was born! My schedule became overwhelming with one-on-one private clients, and I wanted to reach a larger audience making my coaching more accessible to every parent. So I converted my coaching into an online platform for self-study and lowered my prices drastically to be accessible to all parents.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is using my platform to create transformations for families. I often have moms crying in sessions with me because of the sleep deprivation and hardships they experience in early motherhood. Seeing them transform from struggles and desperation to thriving as new moms have been the fire in my engine. Hearing that I've changed their lives and that my methods have given them confidence in their parenting decisions was it for me. I appreciate the opportunity to work with all my clients and their incredible families. This has truly been a gift to me. I love my job, and my passion is to help moms through some of the most difficult times in their lives. This allows me to accomplish more.
To learn more, be sure to check out my FREE 1-hour education Masterclass: From Surviving to Thriving - 3 Secrets to a Content Baby.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The hardest thing that comes with being a business owner is never really being able to turn it off. I am in the growth phase of my business, and even when I'm on vacation or away, I'm always on. I am always thinking about my business and planning the next steps. The total amount of hours I put in is truly endless. I've had to set boundaries in order to protect my values around family and disconnect from screens. I would like to disconnect even more, but I understand that this stage of hyper-growing pains will not be forever.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Nothing happens overnight. Be realistic with your expectations. Set achievable goals. Don't give up when something doesn't work right away. I've had many failures along the way and months where I felt like giving up. It's important to keep pushing and, at the same time, be agile enough to change things up if you feel your initial strategy isn't working. Test, test, test, test. Use data to your advantage.
- Focus on providing value and being of service to your audience before you can expect anything back. The more you over-deliver as an expert in whatever your niche is, the more your audience will love and trust you. This oftentimes means utilizing your channels for simply value-based content. The more you show up and can educate, the better.
- You cannot do everything yourself. Build a great team, delegate based on skill set, and treat your fellow team members well. It takes time to find good people that fit well into your organization. It has taken me years to refine my team, and I am so proud of all of them. Be a leader that inspires your team instead of leading through fear tactics. This never works long-term.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://wellbebe.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellBebeMethod/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/well.bebe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wellbebemethod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wellbebe/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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