What is the 30 Day Challenge for Babywearing Businesses?
The beginning of the calendar year is often a time for babywearing businesses and other businesses to look ahead. We want to make it easy for you to set up for a successful 2026, so we’ve created this challenge that focuses on 6 key areas (one for each week):
- brand identity
- regulations and standards
- logistics and operations
- growth and planning
- social marketing
- community
Each day, we’ll post the day’s challenge on both our Facebook page and our Instagram story, and there will be links to helpful information added to this blog post where it’s relevant.
You can certainly participate privately, but we would love it if babywearing businesses of all kinds — consultants, educators, manufacturers, resellers — participate within social media as well!
You can participate with us by either commenting on the day’s post, or by posting on your Instagram page and using the hashtags #bwbizchallenge #bcia.
Week 1: Brand and business identity
Jump to: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
Day 1: Write or review the “elevator pitch” for your business
Day 1: Write / review the “elevator pitch” for your business. This is a one to two sentence summary to describe your service or product to a potential customer or client. Share it in the comments below, or post on IG using hasthtags #bwbizchallenge #bcia
Here’s an article from MailChimp with tips to create an elevator pitch — there are lots of resources available if this one doesn’t resonate with you.
Day 2: Describe your “customer avatar” or “customer persona”
Describing your customer persona means going beyond the basics of “ideal customer.” This describes a SINGLE (usually imaginary) INDIVIDUAL who might be an optimal customer, to whom you direct your messaging.
Here are two resources with great tips, graphics, and examples that will help you create your customer avatar for your babywearing businesses.
The first is from Flexxable: https://flexxable.com/blog-how-to-create-your-ideal-customer-avatars-and-empathy-maps/
The second is from TheHoth: https://www.thehoth.com/blog/customer-avatar/
If these resources don’t resonate you, a quick web search will yield many more articles.
You can participate with us by either commenting on the day’s post, or by posting on your Instagram page and using the hashtags #bwbizchallenge #bcia.
Share it in the comments below, or post with hasthtag #bwbizchallenge #bcia
Day 3: Logo and brand fonts
Day 3 of our babywearing business challenge!
Lay out your logo (in all colors and sizes) and your brand fonts. Choosing fonts for your brand that you use every time will create consistency and allow your customers to recognize you — and it will also be one less decision you have to make on a day-to-day basis.
For your logo — will you use it in white against a colored background? Can it be used in different colors? Horizontally? Do you want to always put it in a specific place, or in a specific layout for different purposes? Lay them all out and define them, if necessary.
What about fonts? Often, small businesses will make graphics and choose a different font each time. Choosing (no more than 3) brand fonts means templates and layouts are easy.
Only want one font? Totally ok! There’s no reason you need more than one!
Commonly, brands will choose a combination of fonts OR font sizes, font weights, capitalization combinations, etc., and assign them to:
- Headings
- Body text
- (Optional fancy or handwriting font)
- Testimonial layout
- Button layout and fonts
Here are the BCIA fonts and logos laid out as an example of this might look for other babywearing businesses.
Day 4: Trademarks
You may wish to trademark your business name, logo, tagline, or other business information.
For instance, the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance has trademarked our logo as well as the phrase “Visible and Kissable(r),” limiting the use of both. (To learn more about BCIA trademarks, visit this page.)
If you have questions about trademark infringement or dealing with counterfeit carriers, you can read about that here.
- In Australia: https://search.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks/search/quick
- In Europe: https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/trade-marks
- In the US: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/
Day 5: Brand colors
Do you have specific colors that represent your brand? A clear color palette?
Do you know what the hex codes are for your palette? Hex codes are the numeric codes you’ll use for web colors when designing your website, designing graphics in a program like Canva, or otherwise.
There are countless resources to help you design a color palette and to recognize what your HEX numbers are for your colors. There are also endless free palette generators that will help you generate a color scheme that suits your brand.
As a bonus, you can also convert those HEX codes to RGB, CMYK, and Pantone colors.
An easy starter resources is this blog post at Canva.com, but you may wish to use a search engine to find a more nuanced resource, or one better suited to you.
Week 2: Standards, regulations, and data for babywearing businesses
Jump to: Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10
Day 6: Review the rules and regulations related to your business
Most people in the babywearing industry think of international product performance standards when they think about standards and regulations that relate to their business, or perhaps of laws like the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) and Consumer Product Safety Act (US).
If your business sells baby carriers or related children’s products, these laws and standards are important. The BCIA offers extensive information, webinars, checklists, and more to help you understand the laws and standards that relate to selling baby carriers.
Most countries have laws that apply to all resellers of baby carriers, not just to the product manufacturers, so if you sell or import carriers from other brands you will want to familiarize yourself with the relevant rules.
If you are a babywearing educator or offer other kinds of instruction or services, you’ll want to familarize yourself with laws and regulations that may apply to your particular business. These may include regulations that govern healthcare providers, liability laws for offering product education, or laws governing work with children.
However, there are a great deal of other laws and regulations that may apply to your business, such as employment laws, tax and business formation laws, home business laws, and more.
Business and government organizations such as the Small Business Administration, Chambers of Commerce, Bureau of Trade, and similar can help you understand and review the laws that may apply to your business.
Day 7: Review relevant infant sleep standards
We recommend that educators, manufacturers, resellers, and others who work in the babywearing industry be deeply familiar with standards and recommendations about infant sleep.
Standards for infant sleep products do not apply to baby carriers, but it is important to be familiar with the rules and regulations around sleep products in the countries you market to.
US standards for infant sleep products became mandatory in 2022, and we published a discussion of why it is important for carrier brands to be aware of such standards. You should read that article now, then look at standards and recommendations both in your target business locations and globally.
Use the information you gather to set any internal policy about marketing, photography, and general communication with customers, clients, and the general public related to infant sleep in carriers.
There has been a great deal of conversation about “contact napping” in the past few years. If we apply the principles of logic to the “contact napping” conversation, it is clear that the use of a baby carrier to facilitate this practice supports the principles of safe contact naps. It is generally agreed that for this style of napping, the caregiver must be awake and alert, as falling asleep unplanned with a baby on a couch, chair, or other location can put the baby at risk. Using a baby carrier allows the caregiver to remain upright and mobile, which the guidelines emphasize. However, there is some controversy among parenting experts about whether a carrier should be used for contact naps, and it would be prudent to be aware of that controversy and the related conversations.
Day 8: Review new incident/recall data, new research, and updates to best practice
It’s important to stay up-to-date on changes in the babywearing world. The BCIA helps members with this, tracking injuries, research, standards, regulations, public health initiatives, and more across the globe.
Keeping up to day allows you to ensure you are providing the best products and/or education to the families you serve.
Review 2025 recalls and learn how to track incidents, recalls, and complaints in our recent blog post, “2025 Baby Carrier Recalls and Carrier Complaints.”
You should be familiar with the October coroner’s report and subsequent conversation about the 2024 death of a UK infant in a soft structured carrier.
Some excellent ways to track new research and best-practice recommendations are to follow a variety of babywearing schools and educators, to read our newsletters, and to attend our monthly Industry Roundtable Meetings.
You will find that recommendations for babywearing best practices vary widely by location, by the source of the information, and even within individual organizations. However, understanding when big shifts have occurred is important when you are working in the world of baby carriers and slings.
Day 9: Review/create a product recall plan
Whether you manufacture, import, or sell a product or you work with families or professionals in an educator or similar role, it’s important to have a product recall plan.
Ideally, your plan will be written and shared with any relevant employees or colleagues who may need to understand or help to implement any part of it.
This should include planning for:
- product complaints
- how to address noncompliant products
- how to share information in the event of a baby carrier recall for a product connected to your business or clients
- if you are a manufacturer or importer, how to actually conduct the product recall
You may wish to review our resource on how to create a product recall plan. You should also check the laws in any country into which you are selling or in which you are operating to ensure are aware of your obligations regarding product complaints or dangerous products.
Day 10: Review/create your compliance plan
Do you have a written compliance plan? If you sell products in the US, EU, or many other parts of the world, you are legally required to have a product compliance plan.
Many educators and healthcare practitioners also need to comply with various regional and national regulations. From CPR certification to credentials to continuing education, it is important to carefully plan how you will ensure you offer your clients and customers an ethical, quality service and experience.
We have a some great resources for creating a compliance plan. Check out this article or watch our webinar and let us know what questions you have!
Week 3: Logistics
Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15
Day 11: Write a detailed job description (even if you’re a solopreneur)
Most of our members are small businesses. Some own and operate their brand or consultancy entirely on their own, while others have a small team.
Even if you work by yourself, writing yourself a detailed description of your job will ensure you don’t lose track of anything important. Having this description also means that as you grow, you can easily identify which aspects of your company you want to hire out.
What hats do you wear? Are you the chief financial officer? The compliance officer? The accountant? The product designer? The seamstress? The webmaster? The operations manager? The intake coordinator? Take stock of your responsibilities and create a written or visual description of the work you do.
An older but excellent resource for this exercise is the E-Myth series, but there are countless other books, blogs, articles, and videos that will help you through this process.
Day 12: Review your business insurance
What kind of insurance do you have for your business, and is it up to date? Do you understand the different kinds of insurance available to you, and are you covered in all the ways you need to be?
Some examples:
- unemployment insurance
- personal liability insurance
- product liability insurance
- E&O insurance
Ensure all your policies are accessible, and review them carefully for completeness, scope, and accuracy.
If it’s been a while since you first got the policy, it might be a good time to consider shopping around to see if there is a better option for your business, especially if your business has grown, shrunk, or changed in nature.
Day 13: Make a central list of suppliers, services, and professionals you utilize
Having one master list of your vendors, professional supports, service providers, etc. is invaluable. Even if you know them all and can recite them in your sleep, you never know when you will need help due to an accident, injury, or other unexpected issue.
Having one central document where you have everything in a master list makes it easier to keep track of all the moving parts of your business.
- product or component suppliers
- print and marketing companies
- professionals such as accountants, attorneys, or website support
- insurance companies
- contacts for business registrations and other regulatory obligations
- anything else that pertains to your business
Day 14: Review your graphics/photographs/videos
Review your graphics and photographs in your packaging, marketing, social media, and otherwise.
Do they represent your company the way you wish it to? Are they inclusive of the populations you serve? Do they align with current babywearing best practice and/or relevant regulations? Do you need to acquire new photos or videos?
Take note of your strengths, your favorite or most useful photos and graphics, and any changes or new content you’ll need.
Day 15: List your current markets and new markets to focus on this year
Have a clear picture of your current markets. This may be a country, a region, a local area, or a certain demographic. For instance, you may be a consultant who currently focuses on parents served by La Leche League and local lacation specialists within a 30 minute radius. You may be a carrier company that is focused on warm climates in your country of residence. Take clear notes about this.
Then ask yourself, “is this market fully serving my business, or do I want to expand?” If you want to expand, think specifically about what that expansion will look like. What new markets do you want to target or enter into?