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Belly Up |
Volume 2 Number 3 September 2009THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER FROM CHILDBIRTH INTERNATIONAL |
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Belly Up covers current topics related to pregnancy, birth and parenting, exploring some of the more controversial issues. |
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| Welcome to Belly Up! |
| Cover Story
The Business of Birth
How is the economy affecting women's birth choices? |
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| Featured Articles
Keywords and Tags
Optimize your website to get the maximum number of visitors
Culture Vulture
How do different cultures choose the name for a baby? |
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| Regulars
A CBE asks
How can I teach classes on a budget?
A Doula asks
What should I pack in my doula bag?
CBI News
What's happening at Childbirth
International?
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| Childbirth International provides training programs for doulas & childbirth educators. The leading provider of home based learning across the world, Childbirth International provides you with this free newsletter to keep you up to date and help you develop your skills and knowledge. |
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The Business of Birth
We carried out a survey to see how the economic downturn was affecting birth professionals. The results showed women's birth choices are being affected by their financial situation. |
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It is hardly news that when women are making birth choices their finances will factor into their decisions. What was surprising was that more women were choosing midwifery care and homebirths, options known to be lower cost than obstetric and hospital care. The downside is that birth professionals are finding it difficult to make a living and some are choosing to find alternative employment to make ends meet.
Economy affects birth choices
We asked respondents to tell us whether they had noticed
changes in the past 6 months in terms of the choices women
were making for their births. They identified several key
areas that had changed:
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51% of respondents said more women were planning
midwifery care and/or homebirths
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45% of respondents found the number of inquiries had
decreased significantly in the last 6 months
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42% noticed more women were asking for discounts
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20% found that less women were choosing planned
epidurals and/or cesareans
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20% had noted an increase in the number of
uninsured women they were working with
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13% of respondents were having increased numbers
of clients not paying their bills
Economic downturn reduces income
We found that many birth professionals were finding they
were making significantly less money and this was causing
some to have to contemplate moving into other jobs as they
could no longer manage on their birth income. While many
respondents stated that the income from their birth business
was a minor source of family income, a staggering 77% wanted
their income to become the main or a significant part of the
family income.
In a previous survey carried
out by Childbirth International, more than 50%
of respondents said they would like to have
further training in establishing and building
their business. The issues they identified as
being areas of concern included:
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increasing the number of clients
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help with business forms and sample contracts
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managing financial and legal aspects of a business
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website development and advertising
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making their business profitable
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contributing to a significant portion of the family finances
Many
birth professionals have never run a small business prior to moving to this
field of work. Being self-employed requires learning a host of new skills,
including marketing, sales and financial management.
Childbirth International launched the Get More Clients!
course to address these needs. Carrying out additional training to help develop
new skills and increase knowledge can have a significant impact on your
business. Imagine you are able to increase the number of clients you have by
just 1-2 a month and you make a profit of $200 for each client. In a year you
will have paid for the course 25 times over!
For
more information on the Get More Clients!.
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How
does Childbirth International training address this?
Childbirth International has a course
that addresses all the concerns related to running a birth
professional business.
Written by birth professionals with
experience in several successful birth businesses, the
course is packed with tips, ideas and practical suggestions
on growing and developing a birth related business. It can
help you develop a new business, grow an existing one, or
give you a boost if you feel you are not heading in the
direction you wanted.For more information on
training with Childbirth International, take a
look at our
website,
or
contact us.
Childbirth International
offers training programs for Birth Doulas,
Postpartum Doulas, Childbirth Educators
and Breastfeeding Counselors.
In 2009 we introduced a business course for birth professionals to help you build and grow your business. |
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