It is important to learn, understand and implement fundamental skills to help it operate and become successful. Marketing, planning, and accounting skills are really important for your business to run smoothly. However, if your heart is not fully engaged, there can be struggle, frustration, lack of action, and discord in other areas of life.

You see, we have a relationship with our business, that is very similar to any other relationship in our lives. Our business is a living, breathing, entity, one that demands attention and wants to be nurtured. If we do not meet its needs, the relationship will suffer or not grow as you would like.

A month or so ago I received an email from one of the gals at Get Babied!, an Austin-based Doula Collective. They were planning to have a vendor table at a local event geared towards expectant families, and their promo was a $30 coupon for their services. They were preparing to hand out 250 of these coupons to mamas.

Natural Baby Pros is a valuable resource for families as well as childbirth professionals that was born with co-founder Jen Aliano’s vision of creating a virtual gathering place for childbirth professionals and families to connect. The site’s focus is on providing families with information “about the natural and alternative options in creating healthy, natural babies and moms.

Here are 10 interesting links that have been shared recently via social media and birth forums in the past couple weeks:

Many professional groups can be found online through an internet search. Some groups may be in your local area, but others may have an online presence only. Some groups with a national or international presence may have chapters in various areas.

When designing your website or marketing materials, what should you be focusing on? What does everyone want to know when looking for a new product or service?

So you’ve worked on your cocktail line and you have a great statement about what you do for your ideal client. How do you know your cocktail line is effective? When the response you receive is “Tell me more”? So, what will you say next?

Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the least expensive and most powerful methods of marketing you can do for your business. When it comes to something as intimate as attending a birth, women want to be able to feel safe and trust her team. If you are recommended by someone she already does business with or otherwise knows and trusts, you are more likely to gain her business than someone she finds on a directory or online through an internet search.

Stephen Covey says the “essence of these needs is captured in the phrase ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy’.” Explore a new way of looking at self care and how it helps enable you to serve others in the work you do and the life you live.

Not more than 3 minutes ago, I sent my certification exam off to become a childbirth educator. It got me thinking about my path as a birth professional and the lessons I’ve learned from training with a variety of organizations. Today I offer 3 tips that may help you as you consider your options of who to train with and what path to take.