Becca & Chad Campbell: Turning Sleepless Nights into a Million Dollar Education Company

APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

Making money while you sleep, it’s everyone’s dream, right?! But for Chad & Becca Campbell, founders of Little Z Sleep, the passive income dream they were living soon led to a financial nightmare. Making the leap from sleep consulting to online education completely changed the trajectory of their home and business finances, but the tax bill that came next caught them off guard. Left with no other choice than to sell their home to pay off debts, Chad & Becca set out on a mission to figure out their money once and for all.

“We were putting baby formula and a Little Z’s sale all in the same bank account. We had no idea we were doing it all wrong.” 

How to turn your passion into profit,

Quit your day job,

Work with your significant other….

Today’s episode with Becca & Chad Campbell founders of Little Z sleep –  is all that and more!

Sleepless Nights & The Birth of Little Z Sleep

Like so many others entering their first jobs out of college, Chad and Becca Campbell kicked off their respective teaching careers with plans to be in them forever. But with the birth of their first daughter just a few years in, everything changed.

“Like so many new parents, we were sleepless. Finally, one exhausted morning, I realized I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to find help to get our baby to sleep.”

Where did Becca turn? Where everyone goes for answers: Google. She typed one simple question into the search bar: How do you get a baby to sleep? The results brought the Campbells so much more than expected.

Soon, they connected with a sleep consultant who coached them through their daughter’s restless nights. And after seeing the payoff firsthand, Becca decided to help other tired parents get the rest they desperately need.

“I had this realization: I didn’t want to be a teacher anymore; I wanted to help other parents help their kids sleep.”

That’s how Little Z’s Sleep was born.

No Rest for the Weary

Ready to go all in, Becca took a training program to begin her work as a sleep consultant before taking steps to find her first clients. She started in April of 2015, and by August, Becca was making enough money to match her teaching salary. The catch? She was drowning in work and struggling to keep up.

“For the first few months, I was just trying to get as many people in the door as possible. I was giving clients unlimited access to me and charging a very small fee given the amount of time I was putting in. I was burning out quickly, but I didn’t know how to fix it.”

 So, she kept going. She kept hustling. She kept the ball rolling as best she could.

“Pretty soon, I was struggling to remember clients’ names and needs. I was struggling to keep up. I was really just struggling. I was booked solid; that wasn’t the problem. The problem was I had no boundaries.”

Becoming a Husband & Wife Team

Just two years into building Little Z’s, the Campbells found themselves in the midst of major change. Chad left his teaching job, and they moved to a new state, welcomed their second baby, and moved in with Becca’s parents while they tried to get their feet on the ground.

One of the biggest challenges in that season of transition? Managing their finances.

“We just didn’t know our numbers, and that’s a fact. We got our first IRS bill, and we were shocked. We were in a lot of debt that we didn’t even realize. It was a very stressful time.” 

They realized pretty quickly that in order to get back on good, steady financial footing, they’d have to get some help. So, they hired a CPA, worked to pay off their IRS debt, and got into their numbers at Little Z Sleep for the first time.

“We finally started looking at the details of the business. What’s making us money, what’s losing us money, where are we spending too much, where can we do more. It was tough, but we never would’ve been able to get where we are now if we didn’t go through that season then.”

Making the Leap : From Sleep Consultant to Sleep Educator

With a new plan in place, the Campbells realized they could make some other major changes.

“Soon, we got to this point where we realized I was making more money in the few hours I worked each day than Chad was making in his full-time job. So, one day we just sort of looked at each other and said, ‘What if we did this business together?’”

One month later, the Campbells were fully invested in Little Z Sleep together. With this shift in business came a surge in growth. Thanks to word of mouth, speaking engagements, and their weekly podcast, Little Z’s was growing fast. So fast, in fact, that Becca once again found herself struggling to keep up.

“I don’t say no very well. And with my clients, I definitely thought I needed to say yes to everything. I was taking phone calls anytime, anywhere—date nights, Christmas Eve, the middle of the night. It was really taxing.”

Determined to set better boundaries, Becca and Chad started brainstorming ways they could continue to serve their clients without burning themselves out in the process.

“Several months after Chad joined full time, we had this thought. I’m saying the same things all the time to my clients. Why not put it on camera and see where it goes?”

So, they gathered a few local families who needed help with their babies and recorded their first course in 2018. Over the next year, the Campbells added more courses to their online library, a shift in their business model that changed the game completely.

“Our goal is to help parents in this really challenging time in their lives. And putting courses online allows us to do that. We’ve cut down so many barriers that families face to getting sleep help. It’s something that should be easy, affordable, and accessible, and being able to do that for people fires us up.”

A Legacy of Sleep

Now, the Campbells are building a legacy of online education, both in the world of sleep and beyond.

They launched The Sleep Sorority to help other sleep consultants build consulting practices. Then, they created The Course Company to help other educators create online courses. They’re taking the lessons they’ve learned along the way to help other business owners build the life and the businesses they want for themselves.

“It’s almost come full circle for us. The Course Company takes our experience in education and wraps it up with what we’ve done with Little Z Sleep. And it’s allowed us to help other business owners make more money with better boundaries for themselves while they do.” 

🎧 Press Play to hear Chad & Becca’s Full Interview or Download the Transcript.

RESOURCES MENTIONED :

Sleep Programs from Little Z’s Sleep

Little Z’s Sleep YouTube Channel

Little Z’s Sleep Podcast

_

Becca Campbell

Becca Campbell is a certified pediatric sleep consultant and the CEO and founder of Little Z Sleep (www.littlezsleep.com). She has guided tens of thousands of families through the exhausting world of newborn, baby, and toddler sleep and is trusted by pediatric clinics and medical specialists across the country. Becca is also the host of the #3 globally-ranked pediatric podcast, Little Z’s Sleep Podcast, and her expertise has been featured in outlets like Parents magazine, NBC news, yahoo!Life, and Toddler Purgatory.

Following the success of Little Z’s, Becca created The Sleep Sorority which is a business membership with the goal to educate Sleep Consultants around the world on how to get clients, market their business and make money for their families.

In 2021, together with her husband Chad they launched The Course Company with the goal of sharing their professional skills and experience in filming and creating high-quality online courses for business owners, craftsmen, and creatives that want to share their knowledge with others without having to learn how to build an online course on their own.

CONNECT WITH BECCA & CHAD :

Little Z’s Sleep | The Sleep Sorority | The Course Company | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest

SHARE THIS: