Friday Q&A: What is it like working in a doula collective?
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Transcript
Welcome to Dula Tips and Tits, the podcast where we cut through the noise and get real about what it takes to build a sustainable doula business. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been a doula informally for 14 years and full time for seven.
Around here, we don't sugarcoat stuff. We talk autonomy, owning your worth, creating a business that works for you. No fluff, no burnout, just the honest truth on how to be your own best boss. Let's get into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to our first ever Q&A episode on the Dula Tips and Tits podcast. I am very excited about this. Our first question comes from a doula by the name of Megan and she asks, um, I'd love to know if you have any thoughts or knowledge on working in a collective of four or five other doulas, how does that work?
Okay, Megan, excellent question. Um, I have not particularly looked, I mean, I have not worked in a collective like this, but I know many doulas who do and, um, I actually have an episode with a duo, um, probably like a year ago now that I recorded, but I, um, will link that in the show notes for everyone to go listen to.
Um, how they work depends a bit on how you want it to be set up. So I've known a couple of different varieties of how it works. One is, um, one doula is like the primary owner of the business. So let's say, you know, if my business was Harajula services, which it is, and then I had three other doulas join and they were technically contractors of mine, right?
But then the contract should include the fact that we are making mutual decisions and things like that, right? So it depends a bit on how the model is going to work. work for the doulas who are together?
Is it going to be a shared business? Meaning that are you all equal owners of the business? Or is one person the owner of the business and the other people are contractors? In that scenario, the contract needs to be very clear that it's not all the person who owns the business' thing.
They can't take all the work or whatever. So you need to write out what does that look like? And how does it work to have, you know, like, are you all like on shifts? Do you all share doula clients? Do you let doula clients pick one of you?
Like all of those different pieces are really important pieces. Most of the collectives that I know were, especially that are smaller, like three to five doulas, work where they're on call. So there's like, you know, a time of being on call on.
you know, a 24-hour shift, let's say, where like I'm on call Tuesday midnight to midnight, and then, you know, so-and-so goes on call Wednesday at 1201 or whatever. Obviously, there's going to be some overlap sometimes, depending on births and babies and whatnot.
A big thing I would consider in a case of working in a collective is how the client interactions go. So when I have seen this done well, the clients are equally interacting with all the doulas throughout the pregnancy.
When I've seen it done poorly, I would say from the client's perspective is when the client is only interacting with one doula, and then whoever's on call is who they get, that can be really rough because they do not have rapport with that doula, and that can sometimes be like quite a hard transition.
The other thing I would say is that I think one of the most important things is that you doula similar to the other people in the collective, right? Like you do this work similar to other folks around you so that you are not partnering with people who are vastly different in ethics and vision, etc., than you are.
So those are two things that I would say are really important. Megan, thank you so much for submitting your question. If you have a question for these Friday episodes, please go to the show notes, click the link, and ask away.
I will see you on Wednesday. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula tips and tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at hara doula so we can celebrate alongside you.
If you found this podcast helpful, we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. That helps other doulas find us as we do this work together.
This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment. It is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business.
We'll see you again soon.
Thanks to Megan for this first question!
Megan asked: "I'd love to know if you have any thoughts or knowledge on working in a collective of four or five other doulas, how does that work?" Listen to the episode to hear the answer!
Grab your seat in the 90 day Doula Business Plan Masterclass!!! May 13th 1-2:30pm Eastern. Click below to sign up
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ASK A QUESTION!!! My plan is to start Friday Q&A (we need a new name, I know!) but first I need your questions! Submit them using the form below:
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/ask-me-a-question
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Doula Tips and Tits is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Doula Biz Blueprint Self-Paced Class for Doulas Launching Successful and Sustainable Businesses!
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
