We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LaNaeFawn Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, LaNaeFawn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

I love to think back on the early start of Mommy Me Please Maternity. I’ve always worked in healthcare, and early in my career I started working at a Women’s Medicine Center, also a personal NICU Nurse Advocate, and I worked in urgent care too! BUSY, BUSY! The Woman’s Center made me develop a love for Maternal Care. I received a broad range of hands on training there, assisting Residents and Attendings with Office Visits and Procedure clinics. I then started to dream of my own facility or practice and the care and services I wanted to provide. Fast Forward to the actual start of Mommy Me Please…. Every single service I dreamed of and more, ITS IN THE PRACTICE! Developing the services and providing the exceptional care was a given… IT’S IN ME! I don’t know anything else. If not from the Provider/Nursing point, I’ve been the Patient. So I see things from both sides. that’s how I’m able to always be progressive with the practice and be sure our care always is in the best interest of Patients. So, deciding the services was the main step, it wasn’t so bad. The two hardest steps for me was developing a team that I found to be suitable, and learning alllll the rules of business… scaling my business…and a whole lot of other things in between. What I wish I would have done is hire someone to work with me that had experience with Practice development. I would have had less stress and more time for Patient care. My Advice… GET HELP. HELP IS OKAY.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well for starters, My name is LaNaeFawn Jones and I’m the Founder and CEO of the Mommy Me Please. That consist of both a Maternal and Neonatal Practice along with a Trade School. I got into the Healthcare industry after failing at becoming a Licensed embalmer because of lung disease. With my Mothers coaching I then decided to become a Nurse. After time, I realized my purpose was beyond the hospital floors and I ultimately did not like the discharging process. along with so many other things.. That’s what started my journey. I wanted to care for my Patients from beginning to end. I wanted to provide care with results and on my terms. I saw so many Women and Children discharged too early, and some not even admitted into facilities to be cared for at all. Some not given time to listen and only being told to complain about one illness or symptom even though they were suffering with more. Many were rushed along, and at the end of their rope, literally as the Maternal mortality and morbidity rates increased vastly, and the highest among African Americans. Parents with complications and then newborns in the NICU. Not understanding the Physician language and definitely not understanding how their Newborn even ended up in the NICU. This is what allows me to serve and care on greater terms and it sets Mommy Me Please apart from other Practices. Im so proud of the progress and to be blessed to give the care I’m able to provide and the opportunity to share it with My Employees, Patients, and those who tap in to any of my platforms. I’m just a girl from Southwest Philadelphia, Pa here to serve and Provide better wellness, resources, and education options to Women and Children Everywhere, Everyday.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Effectively managing a team has been an ongoing lesson for me as a CEO. I’m doing something that I have never witnessed within my family and friends or anyone around me for that matter . Its definitely a path in purpose that didn’t come with a blueprint. of any sort so I started off with a little stress and hiccups. When I grew up, I learned a principle “Treat people the way you want to be treated.”. Seems so easy, yet so many people don’t use this concept. Well that’s what helped me develop the skills to manage a team and keep them excited about what they do. You get soooo much more purpose out of people when they love their job. However, you have to keep balance and develop practices to put into place. They help bring stability while you lead. You have to scale your intake process majorly. That’s where it begins. Now, the biggest thing to remember is start where you are with what you have. Some people strive to wait to get fancy with managing for when the employee number grows. Although sometimes its actually going thru situations that allows you to develop safe and fair regulations, you don’t wanna make that your core practice in managing as it leads to other employer/employee issues. My advice is to start off sound and keep the safety of others but most of all consider this is how you will live out the purpose of your business. This will help bring the excitement from why you started to begin with. I am successful in keeping the ,morale by frequently exposing why both employee and employer began the mission to begin with. This ignites and stirs up the part of us that falls off from time to time will living out purpose.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

College and the training filled me with so much knowledge and skill, the only thing that it lacked was teaching me how to work for me and use my education and gifts to work for La’Nae Fawn. Sadly to live out my purpose and provide the care I dreamed of…. I desperately needed to know and learn what they neglected to teach. The okay thing about that at the time is that I had no Idea I lacked the skills needed to be successful in my business. So, I was able to operate in my current state with excellence and poise yet I was always intrigued about the My Next. Here comes the pivot. 2009 after a MVA while Expecting I went from Full Time working at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic Health System to Patient and Full Time Nurse Entrepreneur and I haven’t turned back yet! I now had to completely change the way I do things. I went from listening to the Boss to being the Boss. From following the rules to establishing the rules. From being told what the vision of the company is, to projecting my vision and being sure its carried out. I had to now view payroll and scaling a business differently. But the two things that I wanna bring out about the pivot is I was now not only in control of my own purpose, work, and finances, but for others as well. The next thing which is the best of them all is that I now got to completely care for Patients from start to finish. Developing a plan and following them along their journey to be sure wellness occurs which is the goal! Wellness!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mmpmatenity.com wwwmmpschools.com
• Instagram: @chieflanaefawn
• Facebook: LaNae Jones
• Linkedin: Shes A Philanthropist
• Twitter: @chieflanaefawn
• Youtube: Tuesday Talks with Jizzle
• Other: www.mmpschool.com is my trade school Mommy Me Please School of Maternal and Neonatal Studies.