We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenn Leonard and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jenn, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Starting my agency was a labor of love. By building a team, not only was I able to support more families than I could alone, as a group, we have been able to support each other along the way and share ideas and information, which makes all of use stronger doulas.
Living in Colorado Springs, we have a very high military population. As a solo doula, I received many inquiries from families whose doula had moved on because their spouse was military. I also received many inquiries from doulas who were new to the area because they had just moved here with their military spouse.
It takes an average of three years to build a business up, which is about the same time it takes to get a new assignment in the military, leaving doulas with military spouses little time to re-create themselves and build a client base at each new location.
Families typically wait 2-3 years before having another child, and in that time, their doulas with military spouses have moved on.
By creating the agency, I wanted to provide an easy way for military spouse doulas to quickly plug into the local birth community and begin supporting clients right away. In that same fashion, clients who truly love their doula can reach back out to the agency for their next birth. If their doula is still around, they can have the same one, but if not, they at least have the consistency of care and support that they experienced the first time, without needing to shop around and find a good fit.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Colorado Mountain Doulas we work together in a team environment, backing each other up, reaching out to each other to expand our knowledge base, and doing everything we can to make sure our clients receive the very best support before, during and after birth.
Every birthing family gets two primary doulas that they can access 24/7. They have the opportunity to meet and bond with their doulas, and their doulas know their entire family, and support them as a whole. Their doulas share call, ensuring not only that they are always refreshed and ready to go, but that the doulas have adequate time to attend to their own family’s needs.
Every postpartum family works with a primary and backup doula who is available to support them, and bond with the family, ensuring that they can support the entire family where they are at, as well as lean on each other for information and troubleshooting those early newborn weeks and months.
Our agency believes in supporting every family based on their own family values as well as helping them to discover what is important to them, and how to best adjust their lifestyle to their growing family. No matter where each family finds themselves on the parenting journey, we are here to meet them, and help to make the journey as easy as possible.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends are visiting, we always make sure to visit Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs, stopping off for dinner at the Tapateria and the Wobbly Olive at least two nights. During the day we’re most likely going to drive up to Black Forest for coffee and breakfast or lunch at R&R Coffee Cafe after spending some time hanging out at Fox Run park. A hike and a drive through the mountains are always top on our list of things to do.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would not have made it to where I am today without the support and guidance of a small group of agency owners across the country who came up with me, asking the same questions, struggling with the same issues, troubleshooting this fairly new business model together, and celebrating each other’s successes. The Business Mastermind for Agency owners group taught me a lot about how to never give up on my dreams, how to make adjustments as needed, and how to always make sure to take care of our clients, myself, and the doulas we work with.
Website: https://coloradomountaindoulas.com
Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/coloradomountaindoulas/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COMtnDoulas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coloradomountaindoulas