Pregnancy & Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective Podcast

The school summer holidays are a pressure point that self-employed birthworkers rarely talk about openly — but if you're a doula, IBCLC, antenatal educator or postpartum worker with your own kids at home, your capacity changes for eight weeks and your business needs a plan for that. In this episode Niamh shares her own framework for getting through summer without burning out or dropping the b...

Bron Watson on burnout, cancer, and why self-care has to come before the sales funnel What happens when you do everything right in business — the funnels, the followers, the retreats, the courses — and it still costs you everything? That's exactly what happened to Bron Watson. Nurse, educator, entrepreneur, and mother of five, Bron built a thriving online business from the ground up. But behi...

Self-employment isn't natural. That's the thread running through this week's episode — and once you see it, you can't unsee it. In this honest, story-led conversation, Niamh shares the part of her own story she doesn't usually tell on the podcast. The unplanned pregnancy in her early 30s. The friendship group that fell away. The antenatal class her now-husband signed her u...

Marketing for doulas, lactation consultants and antenatal educators needs to different.   Most marketing advice was written for people selling software, shoes, or supplements, not for the care that you provide. And if you've ever read a marketing tip and thought I literally cannot do that , this episode is for you. In this episode I'm breaking down five reasons why marketing in birthwork...

From PhD chemist to birth alchemist - Tina-Marie Bruton on burnout, late autism identification, identity and finding her power in being herself. What happens when everything you built your identity around stops fitting? In this episode Niamh Cassidy is joined by Tina-Marie Bruton, antenatal educator, birth and postpartum doula, pregnancy Relax Stretch & Breathe instructor and founder of The Bi...

What Actually Makes a Business Work — with Louise O'Brien  Two business owners get honest about mentorship, investment, structure and building a business that actually works  What does it actually take to build a business that works — and keeps working? In this episode Niamh Cassidy sits down with Louise O'Brien, women's wellness coach and business mentor at Badass Coaching, for a g...

This episode is a little different. Niamh gets personal.. sharing stories not just from her early career in youth justice and youth homelessness in Dublin, but her own pregnancy journey and the loss of her friends because of it. All of this so she can share what she's learned across decades of working with families in crisis and families who were simply left without enough support. And she co...

This episode came straight from you — after asking followers for topic ideas, diversifying income and offers kept coming up. And it's no surprise, because it's also one of the most common conversations happening in coaching calls right now. But here's the thing: this is not a one-size-fits-all answer. The stage your business is at matters enormously — and getting this wrong is one o...

Orla Nealis went from pandemic mum with no support to fully booked doula in less than two years from completing her training. Here's what actually got her there. What does it actually look like to build a birthwork business from scratch — with three children under six, no reliable childcare, and no business background? In this episode Niamh is joined by Orla Nealis, a birth and postpartum dou...

Why so many brilliant birthworkers struggle to call themselves business owners — and why making that shift changes everything. If you've ever introduced yourself by saying "I do a bit of doula work" or "I run a few classes" — this episode is for you. In Ep 82 of the Pregnancy and Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective podcast, Niamh Cassidy explores one of the most important a...

The business side of birthwork is harder than it should be — and it's not your fault. Here's why, and what actually helps. Something I hear all the time from birthworkers is that the business side of things feels so much harder than it should. And I feel that — because I've lived it. In this episode I'm having an honest conversation about why so many passionate, qualified birth...

This is a republished episode from November 2023 - and there’s a reason it’s back. It was the most popular guest episode I’ve ever shared on the podcast, and listening back, it’s easy to see why. In this conversation with Annie Frisbie (IBCLC, private practice owner and educator), we dive into what it really takes to build a sustainable birth work business, one that supports your clients and your...

If marketing your birth work business feels overwhelming, confusing, or like something you should be doing but don’t actually enjoy… this episode is going to be a bit of a reset. In this conversation, I’m joined by Charlie Cleary, a marketing simplification strategist who helps women build businesses that actually work for their lives — not ones that leave them burnt out or glued to the algorithm....

If you spend any time on business Instagram or TikTok right now, you’ve probably seen a flood of posts about what works in business in 2026 . Stop posting educational content. Use custom AI tools for everything. Say something controversial to grow faster. But much of this advice is coming from people who are selling to coaches, creators, and influencers not people working in healthcare-adjacent pr...

Over the past while I’ve been hearing the same thing from birth workers again and again: “Things feel quieter.” Fewer enquiries. Fewer bookings. Calendars that suddenly feel lighter than they did a few months ago. Doulas, lactation consultants, antenatal educators and other birth professionals have been reaching out asking if I’m seeing the same thing. And the honest answer is… yes. I’ve noticed i...

If your income goes up and down each month and you’ve ever felt stressed, guilty, or unsure about your money this episode is going to hit you right in the feels.  I’m joined by financial coaches and business partners Shana and Vanessa (aka the Budget Besties), who help women create simple, realistic budgeting systems that actually work in real life... not the restrictive, spreadsheet-heavy version...

Do we really all have the same 24 hours? Discover how time, capacity, and life seasons affect business growth — especially for busy birth workers and parents.   Do we really all have the same 24 hours in a day? Technically yes. But in real life — with caring responsibilities, client work, family life, emotional labour, and everything else on your plate — time does not feel equal. In this honest an...

What does it really take to get started in birth work — and stay there? In this episode, I’m joined by Jen Crawford, life and business coach, parent educator, mentor and doula trainer, with over 15 years’ experience supporting families and shaping skilled, grounded birth workers across Ireland. Between us, we’ve: trained and mentored hundreds of birth workers supported thousands of families built...

Naming your business can feel like one of the biggest, most loaded decisions you’ll ever make, especially when you work in the birth and postpartum space, where identity, values, and care are so closely tied to what we do. In this episode, I’m sharing the full story behind my recent rebrand to Your Birth Biz , why I moved away from The Pregnancy & Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective , and what...

In this episode, Niamh is joined by Aoife Lennon , perinatal educator, IBCLC, former Home Economics teacher and founder of Bumps & Bainne . Aoife describes herself as a “full-time challenger of the polite nonsense that surrounds birth and breastfeeding” — and this conversation very much lives up to that energy. Aoife shares her journey from nearly 20 years in secondary teaching to building a v...

In this episode of The Pregnancy & Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective Podcast , I’m joined by Parnuuna Thornwood , guide and teacher behind Feel Good Rebel , for a calm, grounding conversation about visibility that doesn’t ask you to override yourself to grow your business. What I loved most about this conversation was Parnuuna's tone   - calm, warm, and deeply respectful of the fact that...

Have you ever been offered something in your business that looked brilliant on paper — but felt wrong in your gut? A collaboration, a speaking gig, a brand opportunity, a new direction for your work — and instead of excitement, you felt unsettled, conflicted or quietly uncomfortable. If you’re a doula, lactation consultant, antenatal educator or birth worker, this experience is far more common tha...

As birthworkers, visualisation is something we trust deeply. We use it every day with clients to prepare for birth, reduce fear, build confidence, and support emotional and physical readiness. But when it comes to our own businesses , many of us stop using this powerful tool altogether. In this episode, I explore how visualisation can support you as a birth worker not just in birth preparation, bu...

As we step into a new year, there’s often pressure to move straight into goal-setting, planning and “big energy” — without taking time to pause and reflect on what the year actually held. In this solo episode, I’m sharing an honest reflection on my 2025: the moments that nourished me, one major low point that changed the pace of everything, the lessons I didn’t expect to learn, and the intentions...

In this episode of The Pregnancy & Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective Podcast , I’m joined by the brilliant Brónagh Davidson , founder of My Pregnancy Journals — a beautiful Irish brand born from one mam’s real-life experience, frustration and deep desire to create something meaningful for her own children. Brónagh shares openly about the surprising path that led her here:  – her background in...