In 2024, Gold Coast Doulas celebrated a year of empowering families through expanded services, impactful education, and unwavering support, while fostering stronger community connections and improving maternal and infant health outcomes.
What we did well
In 2024, Gold Coast Doulas prioritized refining its operational systems and structure to fuel sustainable growth. By continuing to leverage the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), the team aligned its vision, improved accountability, and streamlined processes. This business model allowed them to scale effectively while maintaining their commitment to exceptional client care.Also, by ramping up a targeted and multi-tiered approach to increase postpartum hours, we exceeded our acquisition goals for 2024 in this area.
What we didn’t do well
Unfortunately, we were unable to meet our community’s postpartum and birth support needs, as our fully booked schedule required us to turn clients away. It’s clear that expanding our team is essential, and it’s equally important for clients to secure our services early.
Client Stats for 2024
- Number of postpartum hours: 9,742 (equivalent to working over twice the number of nights in a year)
- Number of postpartum clients: 88
- Number of birth clients: 94
- Number of “multiples” clients: 9
- Number of clients supported in pregnancy: 33
- Number of students taught: 88
- Number of private and group classes taught: 42
- Number of sleep clients: 16
Team Enrichment Stats
- Continued Education hours: 138
- Number of team volunteer hours: 263
- Advanced Certifications Achieved: 4
Team Milestones
- We had our 9-year anniversary in October
- Jen Serba celebrated 5 years with Gold Coast Doulas
- We welcomed Colleen, Sara, Marnie, Julia, Kendall, and Lindsay to the team in 2024
- The Gold Coast Team held their holiday party at High Tea GR in Eastown in November
Giving Back to Our Community
- We participated in the annual Uptown Earth Day Cleanup in April in Eastown
- Offset 33,403 lbs. of carbon emissions through Aclymate
- Donated $100 to Mama Glow Foundation
- Donated $750 to Clinica Santa Maria’s Centering Pregnancy Program through the St. Mary’s Foundation
- Donated one CUB and two Kaya birthing stools for the Women’s Center at Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospitals – Butterworth Hospital
- We sponsored the 2024 Promise Walk for the Preeclampsia Foundation
- We participated in two community events with Great Start Parent Coalition
- Ask the Doulas Podcast offered a Bebo Mia doula training scholarship to a deserving winner selected by Bebo Mia
- We held our 9th Annual Diaper Drive and collected 14,910 diapers, 87 packages of wipes, and 166 cloth diapers, with drop-off locations at Howard Miller Library, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Brann’s, EcoBuns Baby + Co, The Insurance Group, R Lucas Scott Co, Harbor Health & Massage, Rise Wellness Chiropractic, Hopscotch Children’s Store, Mind Body Baby Collective, Fit4Mom GR, Advent Physical Therapy, and Mindful Counseling GR
Awards
- Gold Coast was a Best of MichBuiness Honoree in the Wellness Category
- Kristin and Alyssa received a 2nd Place BookFest award in the parenting category for Supported.
- Gold Coast was a finalist for the 2024 Torch Awards for Ethics by the Better Business Bureau in Western Michigan
- We received Best Doula Agency in Michigan for the 2024 Parent & Baby Awards hosted by LUX!
Our New Book
- Kristin and Alyssa released their book “Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby on Mother’s Day on paperback, e-book, and hardcover
- The audiobook of “Supported” was released in August and was recorded in Grand Rapids at Centennial Sound
- We had book signing events at Ecobuns Baby + Co in Holland and Once Upon a Child in Traverse City
- We had an online book club event with Bebo Mia
- We had a book launch event at Rise Wellness during their Moms and Mimosas event
- “Supported” was the #1 New Release in the Child Care Category on Kindle and made the Bestseller list in Family Health and the Child Care categories
Media Attention
- Grand Rapids Chamber featured our “Supporting Your Employees with Doulas: A Guide for Companies Offering Carrot Fertility, Maven, Progyny, HSA, and FSA Benefits” article in their newsletter
- Parent magazine quoted Kristin in their article, “The Best Postpartum Recovery Kits to Support Healing After Birth”
- Authority Magazine featured Gold Coast Doulas in an article about Unlocking the Benefits of Purpose-Driven Certification
- US News quoted Kristin in their articles titled “Best Diapers of 2024”, “Best Bottle Sterilizers of 2024”, “Best Baby Bathtubs & Bath Seats of 2024”, “Best Baby Swings of 2024”, and “Pregnancy Checklist”
Ask the Doulas Podcast Achievements
- We reached the top 100 podcasts on Goodpods chart
- Achieved over 380,000 all-time downloads
- We published our 250th episode of Ask the Doulas podcast in August and ended the year at 271
Notable Events
- We helped bring the 9in9out Birth and Baby Expo to Grand Rapids in May – the Gold Coast team presented on HypnoBirthing and Sleep and Overnight support at the expo
Owner Achievements
- FEBRUARY – Presented on Bootstrapped Publicity to the Be Her Village Birth Worker Coalition
- MARCH – Led a workshop on Publicity at the Sweet Sleep Academy retreat in North Carolina
- APRIL – Completed the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell Certification Program
- MAY – Spoke about Assembling Your Postnatal Dream team at the Mommy Me Time summit
- JULY – Became a 2024 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow
- SEPTEMBER – Kristin presented on Creating Strong Relationships with Providers at the Doulas Doing Business Online Summit
- OCTOBER – Recognized as a Notable Leader in Health Care by Crain’s Grand Rapids
- DECEMBER – Completed the BetaBlox Grad School
We are so thankful for our clients, doulas and educators, partners, podcast listeners, and students. Cheers to 2025!
