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A practical incubator guiding midwives and birth entrepreneurs from birth center vision to sustainable reality.

A practical, eight-session training for midwives, birth workers, and entrepreneurs ready to open, operate, and sustain a freestanding birth center in the United States without burning out, bleeding money, or relying on idealism alone.

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This course is for those committed to understanding the complete picture of birth center leadership—from finances and regulatory compliance to staffing strategies, accountability structures, and sustainable exit planning.

Welcome to The Birth Center Incubator!

This course is for you if:

  • You are a practicing midwife who has been thinking about opening a birth center — and you are done thinking and ready to build.

  • You are already in the process of opening and you are discovering that no one taught you the financial, legal, staffing, or governance pieces.

  • You are a midwifery student or new graduate who wants to understand what running a birth center actually requires before you are in the middle of it.

  • You have opened a birth center that is struggling — with money, with staff, with governance, or with your own sustainability — and you need a framework that tells you the truth about what to fix.

  • You are a non-clinical co-founder, business partner, or investor working alongside a midwife to build a freestanding birth centre in the United States.

 

This course is not for those who want a philosophical overview of birth center ideals. It is for people who are willing to engage with finances, regulation, staffing realities, governance accountability, and long-term planning.

Participants will leave with:

  • A written birth center business plan

  • A working budget and financial model

  • A step-by-step operational to-do list

  • Clarity about what it actually takes personally and professionally to run a birth center sustainably

What's the goal?

This incubator covers the full lifecycle of a birth center: from early concept and regulatory feasibility, through business planning, staffing, SOPs, and financial sustainability, to long-term governance, growth, and even sale or succession planning.

When and where is it?

Online! This is a self-paced course hosted on Skool that you can access and work through on your own timeline.

The only birth center training built for the full lifecycle — from your first real question to the day you hand it off.

Meet your Mentor

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Agenda
March 12, 13, 14

PART I - From Idea to Legally & Financially Viable Birth Center

SESSION 1: Should this Birth Center Exist?​
Concept, Context, and Reality Checks

  • ​Clarifying why this center and for whom

  • Market demand vs. wishful thinking

  • The US birth center landscape: competition, saturation, and gaps

  • Community needs vs. founder desires

  • Founder capacity and life-stage reality checks

  • Time, health, emotional labor, and leadership load

  • Kill-criteria: how to know when not to proceed

​

Outcome:
A refined, reality-tested birth center concept and clarity about whether this project is viable for you.

SESSION 2: Regulation, Risk, and the US Legal Maze
Licensure, Accreditation, and Liability

  • State-by-state birth center regulations and how to research your own

  • Licensure vs. accreditation and when you need both

  • Insurance, malpractice, and real risk exposure

  • Staffing types, hospital relationships, transfer realities, and power dynamics

  • Designing within regulatory constraints without losing operational integrity

  • The limits of goodwill and mission when managing legal risk

​

Outcome:

A clear, state-specific regulatory roadmap and risk profile.

SESSION 3: The Business Model That Actually Works
Revenue, Expenses, and Sustainability

  • Common birth center business models and why most fail

  • Cash-based vs. insurance-based care

  • Pricing births, services, and add-ons realistically

  • Fixed vs. variable costs

  • Break-even analysis and runway planning

  • Founder compensation vs. martyrdom

​

Outcome:

A first-pass budget and financial model grounded in reality not hope.

Session 4: Funding, Ownership, and Governance
Who Owns This, Who Decides, Who Gets Paid

  • Ownership structures: nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid

  • Founders vs. clinicians vs. investors

  • Debt, grants, donations, and personal capital

  • Governance models that prevent chaos

  • What happens when ownership and clinical authority are misaligned

  • Early decisions that quietly sabotage future exits

​

Outcome:

A defined ownership and governance structure designed for longevity.

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Agenda
April 12, 13, 14

PART II - From Opening Day to Long-Term Sustainability (and Exit)

Session 5: Operations Are the Birth Center
Systems, SOPs, and Daily Reality

  • Translating philosophy into operations

  • Core SOPs every birth center needs

  • Clinical workflows vs. administrative workflows

  • Documentation, compliance, audits, and inspections

  • Accountability when systems fail

  • What actually happens on a Tuesday at 3pm

​

Outcome:

A prioritized SOP and operations checklist.

Session 6: Staffing, Culture, and Burnout Prevention
People Are Your Biggest Cost and Risk

  • Hiring midwives, assistants, administrative staff, cleaners, and beyond

  • Scheduling models that don’t destroy your staff

  • Pay structures, incentives, and retention

  • Apprentices, students, and power dynamics

  • Legal and ethical risks of learning environments

  • Conflict, boundaries, leadership failures, and founder burnout

  • How to avoid becoming indispensable

​

Outcome:

A staffing plan with role definitions and cost projections.

Session 7: KPIs, Money Tracking, and Decision-Making
Knowing If You’re Actually Succeeding

  • Key performance indicators (KPIs) for birth centers

  • Leading vs. lagging indicators

  • Monthly financial tracking

  • Client volume vs. capacity

  • Fiduciary responsibility vs. emotional decision-making

  • When to expand, contract, pause, or pivot

​

Outcome:

A practical KPI dashboard to track from day one.

Session 8: Longevity, Growth, and Selling a Birth Center
Succession, Scale, or Exit

  • Planning for longevity from the start

  • Adding services vs. adding locations

  • Succession planning for founders and lead midwives

  • If, when, and how birth centers can be sold

  • Preparing a center to be transferable not dependent on you

​

Outcome:

An exit or succession strategy even if it’s ten years away.

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Final Deliverables (End of Course)
 

Every session has a concrete deliverable. By the end of the course, you will have:

 

  • A written birth center business plan

  • A working budget and financial model grounded in real birth center data

  • A state-specific regulatory roadmap

  • A defined ownership and governance structure

  • A staffing plan with role definitions and cost projections

  • A prioritised SOP and operations checklist aligned to CABC standards

  • A monthly KPI dashboard you can use from day one

  • An exit or succession strategy — even if it is ten years away

  • Clarity about what it actually takes — personally and professionally — to run a birth centre sustainably
     

Participants will understand not just how to open a birth center but whether they should, and what it will cost them personally and professionally to do so.​

What others are saying about Augustine...

“Spent the last four days hosting the AMAZING Augustine Colebrook. This was hands down the BEST workshop I have EVER attended.
She covered how to have boundaries in midwifery — a MUCH overlooked and needed skill.”

Dina Fraize, Retired CPM, Massachusetts Midwife

Frequently Asked Questions

01

Is this course only for people who want to open a brand-new birth center?

No. The course serves three audiences: people planning to open a birth center, people already in the process of opening, and people who have an operating birth center that is struggling. Sessions 1–4 are most relevant to the planning phase. Sessions 5–8 are directly applicable to anyone currently running a birth centre.

03

How is this different from a general small business course?

Everything in this course — every financial model, every regulatory framework, every governance structure, every case study — is specific to freestanding birth centres in the United States. There is no generic small business content here.

04

Is the course self-paced or does it have live components?

This version of the Incubator is fully self-paced with lifetime access. The original course was delivered as a live webinar series. The recorded sessions are available immediately upon enrollment.

02

Do I need a clinical background to take this course?

No. This course is designed for midwives, birth workers, and non-clinical founders and business partners. The clinical content is explained in plain language. The business and regulatory content does not assume prior business training.

04

I am outside the United States. Is this relevant to me?

The regulatory and payer content is US-specific. The financial modeling, governance, staffing, and burnout prevention content is broadly applicable to freestanding birth centres in any country. International participants are welcome with that understanding.

04

What if I have specific questions about my situation?

The course does not include individual consulting. For personalised guidance, the Midwifery Wisdom Fellowship is an 8-month live mentorship program that includes one-on-one business and clinical coaching with Augustine Colebrook. Learn more at midwiferywisdomcollective.com.

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