Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be interested in any virtual services. Do people seriously need help with nurseries and registries? Those are supposed to be the fun things you waste time on while struggling through the end of pregnancy.

I really just wanted someone to make me healthy food. A lot of what you’re describing is postpartum doula work; that is a role that already exists that you could fill. For my second, I’m actively looking for someone I can send recipes to and they shop, cook on their own time, and drop off at my house and I Venmo them. I want this service.

100% agree- can't imagine outsourcing registry or nursery design, those are my fun distractions of things that are easy to control. Similar to researching childcare- I want to talk to the people ( parents, directors, etc) myself

I wouldn’t be interested in any virtual services. Do people seriously need help with nurseries and registries? Those are supposed to be the fun things you waste time on while struggling through the end of pregnancy.

I really just wanted someone to make me healthy food. A lot of what you’re describing is postpartum doula work; that is a role that already exists that you could fill. For my second, I’m actively looking for someone I can send recipes to and they shop, cook on their own time, and drop off at my house and I Venmo them. I want this service.

Not sure you’d be willing to do this, but when I was expecting #2 I was very stressed about who would stay with #1 while I was in the hospital. The only grandparent willing was across the country and my first came 3 weeks early so it was quite unpredictable. Various people said we could drop her off at their homes, but I didn’t want to have to wake her (or them) up if it was the middle of the night and I was also worried about the extra time since my first was pretty quick.

I ended up finding a nanny who was between jobs and willing to be on call. I went into labor at 9 pm and was able to kiss my older daughter goodnight (I’d just tucked her in), call the nanny, and head to the hospital. That was nearly a decade ago and I think we paid about $800 for two nights and a day.

It's a bit niche considering most people hire childcare for subsequent older kids (if needed), have husbands to be (semi) helpful, family helping , or just otherwise capable to do it yourself. Or who don't want another adult milling around the house (raging post partum hormones).

Sure, there's always the mom recovering from c/s with a clueless husband and no family, or the mom on bedrest for weeks on end, but not sure there's that big of a market to be profitable for you.

As someone preparing for #2, ingredient prep and washing/sanitizing bottles would be amazing. Also watch the baby. Make sure I eat? Ask me if I’ve brushed my teeth? Gently see if I might be up for taking a walk? I hired a a postpartum doula hoping for all of this but they just watched the baby. I experienced none of the “help, attend to, and nurture mamma too!” stuff that I was expecting. Was too exhausted to argue.

Virtual is not useful to me. I’d pay hourly rate and schedule the month in advance. I’m so over everything being a monthly subscription model.

Most of us just look at friends’ or peers’ registries and use those as models for our own.

For a completely different option, as an expectant first-time mom I would have loved someone with experience working w ADHD populations to help me put together a roadmap of things to do (eg I totally forgot about researching/scheduling a childbirth class) and hold me accountable for them, or suggest some other adaptive hacks. Something like a package of 2 virtual sessions + color-coded physical paper something + texts and calls but I’m not sure how much I would’ve been willing to pay for the service. $350?

I think you need to identify an area that would be unique. Most of what you listed are services that can already be found if you want them or are likely not going to be sought after enough for you to make a good amount of money (the researching daycares and nannies).

Personally I think you could find a market in the peripartum period with nursery guidance and baby registry and all that. The only thing with that though is your only "qualifications" are that you're a SAHM and at some point were a CNM. You would have to figure out a way to justify charging for the service when people can just ask for advice online and get the advice from other SAHMs.

Hello: I am a SAHM and mother of two as well as a certified nurse midwife and registered midwife. I am starting a small business: a personal assistant/virtual assistant sort of thing and wondering if there are certain tasks that you would pay for someone to do to help you during pregnancy /in the immediate postpartum period: baby registry guidance, walk through for nursery recommendations, pantry organization, pantry/fridge stocking on a weekly/bimonthly/monthly basis, ingredient prep (wash/cut produce, prepare rice/pasta/proteins for the week, research daycare/nannies, schedule tours/interviews, update calendars, etc. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Even better if you could tell me what you'd pay - and whether something like: paying per task or a monthly subscription might be preferred? Thanks!