This past week I was blessed in interviewing Selia Busey, owner and operator at Bliss Births Midwifery Services LLC. in El Paso, Texas. I met Selia through another subject matter expert (SME) interview I conducted this past summer of Rachel Curtis, a doula here in El Paso. When I first met Selia I was immediately drawn to her, she is intelligent, very down to earth and confident. I just couldn’t wait to interview her on her homebirth midwifery business and its successful growth.
Selia is a home-birth midwife, she owns a private practice. She is the only employee, although she does take on apprentices and sometimes hires independent contractors for certain services. Selia comes from a strong family where her mother was a small business owner of a gymnastics gym when she was growing up. Additionally, growing up on a farm significantly helped introduce her to birth and its natural processes. As long as she can remember she has been interested in birth. After more than 8 years of schooling and training, she passed the board to be a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and Licensed Midwife (LM) in both Texas and New Mexico. She started Bliss Births nearly three years ago, after following her dream of being able to help women birthing in their homes, setting her own protocols, as well as, the flexibility to set her own schedule (as much as possible when dealing with births).
Bliss Births is rapidly growing, doing nearly three times the business it did the first year, with no end in sight. She is gaining more inquires and clients, crediting positive experiences from past clients and word of mouth referrals. “I am often tagged in social media when people are looking for services, by past clients giving outstanding reviews.” So, her attention to detail to her client’s individual care is working to push her business successfully forward.
When it comes to opportunity costs, Selia has invested in learning new skills. She is offering more services to her clients to remain competitive in her field. She is a Certified Breastfeeding Specialist (CBS) offering breastfeeding help and trained in pelvic floor physical therapy. She is constantly learning and looking for ways to improve her tradecraft. She has a network of mentors in the birthing community that help each other with balancing evidence-based research and intuition-based experience to give clients the most up-to date, personalized care possible. “The more happy clients I have, the more clients I get referred to me” In the future, she could see owning and operating two separate private practices with her husband and possibly other medical professionals to provide a comprehensive approach to women’s health care centralized in one location. Such a unique and innovated idea!
Selia’s business inspiration comes from many sources, but one of the midwives she trained with in California has been a real driving force for change in her area and helps push Selia for the same change in her own practice here in El Paso. Also, a bit closer to home, she follows her husband’s work with women’s health and together they keep current on best practices in their fields and share those insights to help benefit both practice’s clients.
Working with military families is a passion and priority for Selia. “I really want to support military families.” One way she does this is by providing a “very generous sliding scale to help families afford my services.” Another way is by offering flexible payment options to clients to support families with home births. One challenge that she faces, her services are not covered by the military insurance (Tricare). While a local birthing facility providing comparable, but not equal services is able to get facility fees covered and consequently is able to charge less for its services. Considering that she provides more individualized care and in-home birthing options there is not an equal comparison, but for many families, paying out of pocket costs dictate who they hire, and consequently how they birth.
As for the time old question whether entrepreneurs are born or made? “I think it is a bit of both” she thinks attributes of being a self-starter, and independent are helpful as well as, “the confidence to put yourself out there”. “Also, people, and networking skills are paramount.” She certainly speaks volumes for being a born leader, but also adding to her natural strengths to maximize her potential as an entrepreneur.
Selia shared with me her guiding practices and principles for running Bliss Births. “Try to be evidence-based, always learning, while also understanding there are alternative approaches that can be effective in treating women’s health issues.” Lastly, she leaves entrepreneurs with some tips. “make sure you do your homework on your local and state laws, ask for advice from those who have gone before you, and ensure your taxes are setup for success from the very beginning”.
Interviewing Selia was a delight and I look forward to watching her continue to positively impact birthing options in the military community and grow her business even further.
Connect with Selia on FB at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009531693730 or her personal website: https://blissbirths.com/
