We recently connected with Keigha St Clare and have shared our conversation below.

Keigha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Being a business owner has given me and my family a lot of freedom that we would not otherwise have. The freedom to set my own hours, prices and services. The downside of being a business owner is that everything falls on my shoulders. There are times where I fantasize about having someone else dealing with all of the bottom line issues and finding clients.

One of the hardest parts about being a doula is (like many services) first, many people still don’t know what a doula is exactly and second, being found. Sometimes I just don’t want to do all of the many business things my business requires, I just want to be a doula. I am not in a place at the moment to hire anyone to do my advertising, so it falls all to me. All of the social media posts, blog posts, SEO and website maintenance, falls to me. I do have a CPA (every business owner needs one) but I still have to do all of the bookkeeping and make sure my business licenses are paid and filed on time, every year along with invoicing and getting paid.

There are times were I think “Wouldn’t it be nice to just show up, be a doula, and go home?” There are agencies that might consider hiring me. One of our hospitals has a doula program that I could work for. No more SEO, social media or blog posts. Someone else would do the invoicing and worry about being paid on time. Then I remember how much I enjoy my freedom. I never have to ask to go on vacation, or to get a raise. I can take as many or as few clients as I want, at any point in the year that I want to. I am able to take time off when my kids have their breaks without getting someone to cover me or asking anyone’s permission. My freedom is worth the extra work of running my business.

Keigha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In my early adult years, I had worked with children and the elderly. I found these jobs to be very fulfilling but not enough to support a family. I found out what doula was when I was pregnant with my own child and it seemed like a perfect fit for me, but the idea of running my own business scared me so I dropped the idea. My husband started a landscape company after we all lost our jobs in the 2008 crash and I learned that running your own business can be very rewarding and not nearly as scary as I thought. After my two kids were born, my friends started asking me to attend their births. The reasons were different for each family but the common thread was that they wanted someone calm and knowledgeable to support them and/or their partner during the birth of their child. I revisited the idea of being a doula and found that I was ready to start my business.

As a doula, I work as a birth guide. Before birth we have two meetings. One is so I can learn all of your wishes, hopes and fears for your birth so I can support you in the way you need, and the second one is to help you plan to have a successful postpartum by working with you to set up realistic expectations and a support network to help after baby is here. During birth, I am their to help you understand what is happening to your body, help support you with movement, hypnosis, and encouragement, help your partner understand that this is all normal and to keep the energy positive and calm. There is a quote I love from Pam England “Asking your husband to be your sole guide through labor is like asking him to lead the way on a climb of Mt. Everest. He may be smart and trustworthy, you may love him, but in the Himalayas you’d both be a lot better off with a Sherpa!” The day you give birth is one of the most important days of your life but in our modern world, most of us have never even seen a birth. Many parents expect the doctors and nurses to be their birth guides but this is unrealistic. The doctors and nurses are looking out for your health and the health of your baby but they often don’t have time to support your other needs. I come to the parents when they want me present and stay till the baby is born. At some point after the birth, I make a home visit to give the parents a chance to express any feelings they are having,offer (non-medical) advice and support. A unique doula service I offer is hypno-doula service. I used birth hypnosis with both of my births and am certified by Hypnobabies to support parents who are using birth hypnosis for their births.

The other side of my business is placenta encapsulation. I offer this service year round, to anyone whether or not they are doula clients. Many parents are having their placentas encapsulated in order to have a better postpartum experience. Parents report that consuming their placenta after birth helped with mood, bleeding, and with milk production. I am certified with the Association of Placenta Preparation Arts (APPA) which is one of the most comprehensive and thorough placenta encapsulation programs available. I have had over 40 hours of training. There are many safety steps done before, during and after each placenta encapsulation so that I can bring you the safest product possible. After baby is born, I come to the place of birth and pick up the placenta, then I process it according to the safety standards set by the APPA and return it to the parent in capsule form, along with a placenta print, and cord keepsake.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn from my childhood was “Owning your own business requires slaving away day and night in order to make it” I never knew any adults as child to have their own business so I just took my lessons from stories and TV. Everything I saw made owning your own small business look like the owners were just scraping by and had to work 70 hour work weeks. I had to unlearn those ideas so I could that owning my own business could be freedom, not a ball and chain. I did this mainly with a lot of positive affirmations and visualizations and by looking for other successful business owners. I firmly believe that what you believe is what you will achieve, so working to remove this belief from my mind was very important to my success. I’m not saying that I have never worked long hours as part of my business, however that is not been my overall experience.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

As a doula, I try to provide many services that new parents would be interested in. This gives parents many options for prenatal and postpartum support at different price levels. I offer birth doula support, placenta encapsulation, and private cloth diaper classes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wintertidebirthservices.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wintertidebirthservices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wintertidebirthservices
• Other: https://placentaassociation.com/directory-home/wintertide-birth-services/