The business end of things

I thought I'd post a little update about my doula business. 

My goal for my business is one due date every month or so.  This works out well without straining our childcare arrangements (aka my wonderful neighbor who takes my kids at the drop of a hat) and without taking too much time out of our evenings or weekends when I do my prenatal/postnatal visits. 

I'm doing pretty well with that.  January, check.  February... not my fault Haf decided to oust the wee ones a mere 40 hours before my arrival.  March/April vacation.  May, check.  June check.  July and August, two potentials awaiting interview...  I'm really, really happy with this volume. 

My website isn't perfect, but it's up and google-able and everything important is in place.

The big news is that I've decided not to affiliate myself with the local doula association, which means I won't have my name and contact information placed on their central website.  The reason for the decision is that they have a policy on pricing for services, and I feel the price they want is too high.  At my price, I seem to get a lot of interest, at their price... not so much.  I'm not an extremist capitalist, and I agree our services are WORTH the price they ask, but a service is really only worth what a client will pay.  At any rate, for me this is about the experience, not the money, and so having a higher volume of clients at a slightly lower price just fits better with my goals. 

Other than that...  I'm working on my photography skills and in six months or so I hope I can start offering birth, baby, and family photography as part of my business.  We'll see...  I must still master fill-flash before I can snatch the grasshopper from the mixed metaphor's hand.  No wait, that's not how it goes....