Honkey Nut Babies

After joining a mothers group, Elki Cugola was horrified to hear other women’s stories of traumatic births, which was in stark contrast to her own empowering, hypnobirth experience.

Elki combined her experience as a Registered Nurse and from her own successful hypnobirths to share the techniques that create a positive birthing experience with expectant mothers.

Elki completed the Business Health Check as part of the Self-Employment Assistance program shortly after starting her business.

What motivated you to start your own business?

I had a beautiful and positive birth of my first Daughter using Hypnobirthing techniques. I joined a mothers group, and to my shock and horror, all of the other women in the group had traumatic births. These women were defeated, fragile and still recovering mentally and physically from high intervention births. This inspired me to eradicate unnecessary birth trauma, so women are able to positively thrive post-partum! I started my business to share everything I know about Hypnobirthing tools to expecting parents. I want women to feel empowered by birth and not depleted.

How did you find out about Self-Employment Assistance?

My Mum is the owner of Verte Microgreens, she did the NEIS small business program and pointed me in this direction! I needed all the help I could get as I am a Registered Nurse without any prior business development knowledge!

What part of the Business Health Check did you find most valuable?

The Business Health Check made me deeply analyse all aspects of my new business, especially components of marketing and financials which I hadn’t given much time to previously.

What services and/or products do you provide?

I provide holistic, evidence-based birth education classes that incorporate self-hypnosis to eradicate fear of birth and replace those feelings with confidence and genuine excitement for birth. I educate the birthing partner to play a vital role in supporting their loved one in their most intense transformation from maiden to mother. I give lessons on breathing, vocalising, positions, visualisations, self-hypnosis, acupressure, optimising baby positioning, pregnancy nutrition, anatomy of birth, hormones, pain management, and so much more!

What challenges have you had to face since starting your business? How have you overcome these challenges?

The biggest challenge with owning my own business is juggling home and work life. I’m still working on this! My husband works FIFO, so is away a lot of the time, so I am nurturing my children most of the time. I feel that my business needs more love, but I find it hard to find the time!

What have been some of the highlights of operating your own business?

The highlight is getting to know the expectant parents in my class and being part of their journey. I love transforming their thoughts and fears into positivity! I love seeing their love for each other and for their growing baby blossom.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to others thinking about starting their own business?

Find a trusted business mentor so you can chat to someone honestly about the boring details of your business. A mentor has so much more business experience than you and will be able to guide you using simple, and easy to follow steps.

 “I have been provided a mentor through Business Foundations and its made such a positive shift to the way I make plans and realistic goals for my business.”

Honkey Nut Babies are running more Hypnobirthing Australia Positive Birth Program group sessions in February 2023, which you can book in here. Alternatively, they also offer private and refresher courses on request.

You can also learn more about Honkey Nut Babies through their Facebook and Instagram.

Find out if you are eligible to apply for Self-Employment Assistance now!

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