Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It is so important to understand your needs and when to take a break. The doula world can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Being on call for clients can really impact on your day-to-day life, and with babies often choosing to make their grand entrance in the middle of the night, I find that I am usually only off call for a few days a month. This means it is super important for me to have boundaries when I’m not on call, including staying off social media and scheduling time for seeing family and friends. It also means that there is a very fine line with how many bookings I take a month, so I sometimes need to turn down clients if my calendar is already looking full.
Pre-COVID, my wife and I would use travel as a way of winding down and finding balance. We both run our own businesses and have personality types where we are constantly seeking perfection in what we do, which can also be exhausting. So, we book our holidays well in advance and like to fit in 2 a year if possible. With travel bans currently in place, I have really embraced the COVID-enforced lockdown to work on myself. Lots of meditation and therapy have been very helpful to help me ground and centre, which has been lovely.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I think it is always hard to break into a market as a newcomer, especially a market that is so person-centred, where people rely on word of mouth and reviews to make their purchase decisions. So sometimes I have felt that things aren’t moving as fast as I would like them to. You could say my passion has outpaced my reputation and that’s OK. I have had a constant trickle of clients who I feel have been the perfect fit for the service I provide and as far as I am concerned, that fit and connection is paramount.
I also feel that having a global pandemic in the middle of the first year of business has been a bit of a challenge, but I am sure I’m not alone with that, though!
So I moved to a virtual doula support format for the duration of lockdown, which has meant that I can now easily offer much-needed doula support to families outside of my local service area, which is great. I feel that doula support should be available to every birthing and postpartum person. I love supporting people to stand tall in their full strength and power.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I LOVE the freedom of running my own business. My personal business motto is “As Long as it’s Safe, Legal and Ethical, Let’s Go For It!”, so not being in the position where I am working for a company that puts limits on the service I deliver is really important to me. I have a firm belief that the people I serve know themselves better than anyone else ever can, therefore they should be empowered to make their own decisions and get the support that is right for them.
I also love that I can set my own calendar which really helps with that work-life balance and my own health and wellness.
I am not a fan of the business side of the business. I love the creative and the human sides of the business, but anything to do with accounting and tax bores me silly, so I have some lovely women helping me with that, thank goodness.
I also have a love-hate relationship with social media. I love the tool that it is…but find that it can be a real black hole where time just disappears; it is really time-consuming to build and curate engaging content.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I am slowly starting to curate some beautiful products to offer in my online store. Products that I think will be useful for my families during their pregnancy and postpartum like lovely peri-wash bottles, supplemental nursing systems, beautiful organic wraps and my own line of small-batch handmade herbal support products which I am so excited about. The market research and trialling of my products has produced some amazing feedback, which makes me super proud.
I am also currently working on a birth education offering that will be available online. This is in its infancy stages but is looking very exciting and promising…so watch this space.
Visit the Grace and Ivy website to find out more about the services she offers and join their supportive communities on Facebook and Instagram.
