Behind the scenes at Hannah's award winning birth and baby business
The inspiring Hannah Wallis from Little Rosebuds trained with us at the end of 2022 to become a Hypnobirthing teacher and since then her business has gone from strength to strength. In this blog, Hannah shares with us how she has created such a strong brand in such a short amount of time.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to train to become a hypnobirthing teacher?
I'm Hannah, 32 from South Yorkshire. Wife, Dog mom and due in December with our first baby! We also love a good house renovation and have just completed the renovation of a 1960's bungalow! Many of my friends and family know me as a personal trainer and fitness instructor, and for the last six years this is where I have built my wonderful business and client base. In 2020 I found myself (along with the rest of the world) forced into lockdown and had to make a decision on where to take my business. So overnight, I took all of my classes onto zoom and spent 3 months building my business up, in this time I was also featured in the local paper and gained a lot of new clients from there. During the madness of lockdown, me and my husband built a home studio as part of the renovation project. This would be the base for all my classes and clients. Alongside this, I also trained in pre- and post-natal fitness and discovered a new passion for maternal wellbeing.
In the Summer of 2020 when the world opened back up, I left my full time (mad I know) job and opened my doors to expectant and new mums and their little ones alongside my regular client base, providing an environment where they felt safe and welcomed, and could exercise comfortably, especially knowing that childcare was not an issue. I grew closer with my expectant and new mums client base, hearing what they needed to thrive, and I knew I could support them with that.
This sparked the very beginnings of Little Rosebuds
My business has grown to offer support for parents and their little ones from bump, birth and beyond. I first gained my qualification for Baby Massage and Yoga in the Summer of 2022 and started with a small group of mums and babies to bring the magic of touch and provide a warm, loving environment for parent and baby bonding. I knew from this moment I wanted to support these mums more and from earlier on in their journeys and so I began to look at ways to support expectant parents. I also knew I wanted to create a business that would fit around my future family. I wanted the freedom to work when I wanted and to be present in my families life.
I became fascinated with the magic of hypnobirthing
After lots of reading and research, I became fascinated with the magic of Hypnobirthing and I knew this was something I could absolutely do and that I could bring to my area. So in September 2022 I joined Love Your Birth with the wonderful Abby and worked hard through my training to be able to launch in January 2023! 9 months in and it is the best decision I have made. I am so very proud to be able to do all of this from my tranquil home and studio in Doncaster, providing an intimate and private environment for everyone.
What have you done so far to build such a successful business and how do you manage the work, life balance?
Little Rosebuds launched at the start of this year and since then I have been working so hard to get my name out there! It can be so so hard as a new business trying to compete in a world where there are so many other businesses like yours. However, I managed to build a successful PT business in such a saturated market and so I knew I could do it again. I began by making a brand. Something that would be unique to me, I created a colour pallette around the logo I had designed and then built a website to reflect this too. I started advertising Hypnobirthing whilst I was still training. This also gave me a focus and something to work towards. I had told everyone I was launching in January 2023 and so I knew I had to be focused and work hard to complete my training. Before I had completed my training I had my first one to one booking! It was exciting but scary. I met my first couple in February and it was amazing. I knew I wanted them to tell all their friends and family about it and so worked hard to put the Hannah touch to the course.
Adding personal touches to courses
I made a list of things that I knew I would appreciate if I was attending a one to one course with someone and so made up a little personalised goody bag, name cards and welcome cards. I set to create the perfect oxytocin boosting environment, with candles, essential oils, a warm fire and dim lighting. From this session I was able to get photos for social media and my website and an amazing testimonial to share too. Since then I have had 4 one to one courses and 2 group courses, something I never could have imagined, especially only 9 months into my business starting. I spend lots of time on the marketing side of my business and focusing on my website, reading and learning on how to make my business better every day. I am lucky enough to be able to run all of my business from my home and so I am still able to run my day to day life too. I set times that I work and try to switch off on an evening, although this sometimes feels impossible as I always have ideas and thoughts going round my head. I love what I do and so it doesn't feel like a job at all. I enjoy creating content and working towards something that is for me. I am creating a business that is mine, for me to build my dream life and give my family the time they deserve! Being self-employed is so hard, but, it is so rewarding too.
Hannah shares her biggest achievements since becoming a Hypnobirthing teacher:
Since qualifying in December, I class any enquiries and bookings as huge wins! To even have people enquiring when training was such a huge achievement for me and then to go on to have 3 one to one bookings within my first few months was amazing. In June of this year, I was lucky enough to be invited onto BBC Radio Sheffield to share all things Hypnobirthing and discuss my journey! I had never been on radio before and it was quite daunting, imposter syndrome definitely got the better of me. But once I was on air, I felt so at ease talking about something I was so passionate about and I loved it. The feedback I received was incredible and I also announced my pregnancy live on air too.. like who do I think I am? Totally extra...
In July this year I also received the news that I had been nominated and had won the Yorkshire Prestige Awards for Maternal Well-being service of the year!
A complete shock to me but what an honour. Little old me, with a business only 7 months old to be recognised for such an award! Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the awards as I will have just given birth but will be there in spirit! And finally, this month I have been shortlisted for a Mumbler award! I actually had this on a vision board at the beginning of the year, so it does feel quite surreal that I have been shortlisted. I have been shortlisted under 2 categories, Best Class for Under 5's and Antenatal/PostNatal worker of the year. The awards are in November. - 2 weeks before my due date, but I will be attending, unless she decides to make an early appearance. If you are reading this before 31st September, there is still time to vote for me here! Some amazing achievements so far. I am proud of myself and know I have worked hard for these recognitions.
Do you have any top tips for anyone who is thinking about training to become a hypnobirthing teacher?
Don't procrastinate with it. If the course aligns with you and it is something you are passionate about then absolutely jump right in. Don't doubt yourself, don't question yourself, just go for it. It is such a rewarding job and it can help you to build the life you want. You will get so much support from the Hypnobirthing Teacher Community, even if your friends and family doubt you or aren't on board. You won't be alone!
What's next for your business?
Where do I start... Well, I will be going off on maternity at the end of November. A bittersweet feeling! I am so so excited to have my baby girl and to implement all of the tools and techniques I have learnt as a teacher into my own labour and birth journey, but I also love my job and so will definitely miss it for a while... but I hope to able to keep.building my business around the naps, the changes and the feeds. I am working on something at the moment but this is under the radar, something I have wanted to do for a while but again, imposter syndrome crept in. I have started a plan and I am working towards that every day. My aim in my current business is to keep working hard, learning and reading all the ways to be a better business woman. I have a few taster sessions booked in before I go off and a few more one to one and group sessions too!
My aim to be the go to Hypnobirthing Teacher in my area...
I would love to be the Hypnobirthing teacher that everyone in my area knows about and what I offer, which comes with time and dedication and working behind the scenes every day, those parts of self employed life that not everyone sees or understands. I am so excited for how Little Rosebuds and myself, has the potential to grow and thrive and create a life I have dreamt of for me and family. I now have an extra reason to work that little bit harder and she will be here before Christmas (which actually isn't that long to go is it?!). I am also going for that Mumbler award in November, my vision board WILL come to life! Here's to the future of empowered women. May we be them. May we know them. May we raise them.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Hannah, you should be so proud of what you have achieved and we can't wait to see what's next for your business with you baby girl alongside too.
You can follow Hannah over on her Instagram page here or her Facebook page here.
Wondering if you could teach Hypnobirthing? Why not take our quiz to find out?
