Doula Service

Startup Costs: Under $2,000
Home Based: Can be operated from home.
Part Time: Can be operated part-time.
Franchises Available? Yes
Online Operation? Yes

A new baby in the house is a living, breathing miracle. It's also sleepless nights and days that pass in a haze of exhaustion and new worries for new moms and dads. But if you love being around that most exciting of new life forms, participating in the joy a new baby brings to a home, then this could be the business for you. And there's plenty of business to be had--in one recent year alone, nearly 4 million babies were born in the United States. With a doula service (also called postpartum care service or postpartum doula to distinguish it from a birth doula or labor assistant), you'll coach on breast-feeding, baby's first bath, cries in the night, and diaper duty--whatever it takes to help parents cope with the demands a brand-new infant can make on a household. The advantages to this business are that you can start on a shoestring and you get all the fun of being around a new baby without going through the hard parts--from labor pains to worrying about college educations--yourself. As a doula, you should have a genuine feel for new parents and babies, as well as experience with infants. While you won't be a nurse or nanny, you'll need to know how to help new moms with breast-feeding, change diapers, deal with colic and handle the other minor crises of new babyhood that can send parents into a panic.

The Market

1156

Needed Equipment

1156