Had a little break for christmas Day but now back in harness! One of the perils of self employment.... Hoping to start booking classes soon but still trying to find the right location and making some adjustments to the course format. Trudged through the snow to view some very nice offices the other day - but waaay too expensive for us unfortunately. Hoping to have a look at some more venues as soon as we get the chance. Have a little bit of funding secured. Need to make some decisions on which leaflet/flyer design we are going to go for.

The Facebook site is up and running. Has some beautiful mum, dad and baby pics. We are starting a mailing list for anyone interested in a course with us. Contact us on Bumpsbabycareandbeyond@gmail.com.

Still working on trying to get things right before we go public. Am now insured, have some business cards, have joined the Federation of antenatal educators, told my supervisor. Working on the charging structure. We want to make it affordable but also need to make a profit. Have deicided to offer smaller modules so that people can pick and choose what they want and how much they want to pay. We are now thinking of trialling some sessions with parents who already have their new baby as it is apparent that with community midwives overstretched, postnatal support can be lacking in some areas. Have been playing with some website designs and writing some original information leaflets. Have a photographer, graphic designer, artist and maybe a web designer on board; with a propect of a little bit of funding. Need to make contacts with some community groups, see if there are are any sources of custom and or funding that we can tap into there!

We're getting there!

Its been a long slog but we are getting there slowly but surely. Have been having a go at designing a website and we now have a presence on Twitter (Bumpbaby) and Facebook (bumps, babycare and beyond). The latter was set up when we hadn't quite decided what to call ourselves, hence the slightly different name! We need to have a chat with our clinical supervisors before we go 'live' as we need to be careful that there are no professional or ethical conflicts. All registered as a company now and have bought quite a bit of kit. We need much more but I am trying to source some products that are not prohibitively expensive. Antenatal education equipment costs soooo much! Busy, busy, busy sourcing printers for business cards leaflets, etc. Have a lovely letterhead and logo, courtesy of my friend Mark who is a graphic designer.

I am a midwife trying to set up my own antenatal education business in West Yorkshire with a colleague. The similarities between this and preparing to actually give birth are not lost on me. The more I do, the more I realise there is to do! What makes it more difficult is that I still have my very demanding full-time job and do not want to reveal my plans to colleagues (apart from my business partner, of course) until I have something more concrete in place. At the moment I am busy working on our business plan and manifesto, planning the courses, checking out venues, finding sources of funding, getting info together for my tax return and trying to make head nor tail of the company registration forms. It is so difficult to know what to do first. They didn't cover any of this in the School of midwifery!