“You can only give birth to your baby once.”

Molly Hoskinson took her long-time love of children and health education and turned it into a rewarding career as a doula and birth educator. Two years later in January 2006, Molly decided to take the next step in her career and open her own business, Upstate Childbirth Education & Doula Services, providing doula support, a full line of pre- and post-natal products and services, and educational classes and counseling for expectant and new mothers. Molly operated her business under three main guiding principles: a focus on providing information on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum issues; providing emotional, physical, and mental support throughout pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood; and providing healthy baby care products.

Molly operates Upstate Childbirth from two locations - her home office where she handles scheduling and paperwork – and a classroom/retail space in Greenville. Although Molly has no employees reporting to her, she works closely with four business partners and associates. Upstate Childbirth offers a variety of pre- and post-natal products and services, including: Real Life BirthTM classes; on-call doula services for hospital, birth center and home births; at-home postpartum care; lactation counseling; massage; breast pumps and supplies; and baby slings.

Barriers To Success

After experiencing increased demand and tremendous growth in her childbirth and education services, Molly wanted to further expand her business by adding other products and services to her portfolio. She needed expert advice on best practices for business expansion and took her search to the internet. While perusing Google, Molly located a link to the South Carolina Women’s Business Center (SCWBC), where she found contact information for Business Counselor Eva Dobrowolski. Molly called Eva to inquire about the means for properly growing the business and whether as a sole proprietor if it was the right time to consider incorporation.

Molly and Eva talked for nearly two hours during their first meeting, and Eva gave Molly some “homework.” Molly was instructed to research various business structure options and record her ideas on each, obtain Quickbooks® and begin running it in the business, and work on creating a comprehensive business plan. Molly credits Eva and SCWBC’s assistance in running a more smooth and profitable business.

Impact

Since Molly began meeting with Eva and SCWBC, Upstate Childbirth has been able to expand offerings to include a variety of new products and services, improve marketing efforts to more effectively target potential customers, and reduce unnecessary spending to improve the bottom line. Net income has more than doubled since last year, and if that trend continues, Molly expects to quadruple her 2006 profit. Molly also is currently working on franchising the Real Life BirthTM childbirth curriculum nationwide.

“I feel that working with Eva and SCWBC has given me a sense of motivation and better time management skills. That motivation has spread to our staff,” said Molly. “We are very passionate about what we do at Upstate Childbirth, and Eva has helped us improve our business sense as well as continue to provide personalized support to our clients.”

23 Mills Avenue, Suite B
Greenville, SC 29605
(864) 363-5245
www.upstatechildbirthservices.com