Congratulations!!!🍾🩺💞
Did you just graduate midwifery school or pass the EXAM!?!?
It’s finally time to start your own practice and start making money in this job instead of constantly paying and sacrificing for the profession. However, if you’re like most new midwives, starting a midwifery business can feel super overwhelming. Let’s face it: midwifery school is nothing like business school.
In fact, many of the principles and hallmarks of good midwifery care are the antithesis to good business practices. Also, sleep deprivation doesn’t lend itself very well to good business management.
I’ve spent the last 10 years mentoring new midwives in their transition to independent practice and their top pain points boil down to these 5 issues.
1. Choosing the correct business/practice model
There’s a big difference between a group practice model and a business partnership. Additionally, protecting yourself from liability and saving money on your taxes, aren’t skills taught in midwifery school and many many a midwife has suffered the ‘live and learn’ lesson of starting a business off on the wrong foot.
2. Allied Service Professionals
A burned-out midwife is no midwife at all. You want to know the fasted way to burn out? Force yourself to do jobs that you either weren’t trained for or hate to do. The ABC’s – Accounting, Billing, Cleaning – being the top contenders. Top reason new midwives call me to consult? They tried to do it all in their first three years.
3. Location, Location, Location
This isn’t just a catchy saying – this is the literal truth of whether your business survives or thrives. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re planning to do 24 births a year or open a birth center with a staff attending to 150 families a year – where and how you set up shop really matters.
4. Hiring Assistants
Already know that you don’t want to go this alone?!? Planning to bring other people to births with you? Please, for the love of all things good, don’t do births alone anymore 🥴 You need to probably pay someone something at some time for this. Did you know that evading state employee taxes comes with large fines and potentially a year in jail? Yeah, you need to learn how to file the right forms if you’re hiring people, even to assist at births.
5. Um, what about the money?
After all those years as a student, it’s time to make some money right?!? But, um, how? Start-up expenses can be large as you invest in equipment and supplies and it can be hard to gain traction in a community as a newcomer. How midwives make real money has been a secret for too long. It’s time to end the martyrdom complex – you’re worth it – you deserve to be paid what you’re worth!This is just the tip of the iceberg. Want to learn about these topics in-depth to get your midwifery business started right? Be sure to sign up for our course here!
