How Do I Know If It’s Time To Have a Team
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Transcript
Welcome to doula tips and tips. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born, 12, nearly 13 years ago.
I am a birth and postpartum doula childbirth educator, La Leche League leader, and a doula coach. I love guiding and supporting doulas as they work out their doula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Welcome back to doula tips and tips. This is Kaylee Harrod and today's episode, we're talking a little bit more about a team. So when would it maybe be a good time for you to add people to your team?
Now I want you to think about this with a broad mind because it might be something that you're kind of listening to and thinking like Kaylee, this does not apply to me. I am so far away from this, but I want you to think about even like adding on a coach or adding on a virtual assistant or adding on an accountant.
Like any of those people are people that you're adding to your team, right? It doesn't have to just be doulas and it can be people that you're contracting with to like provide similar services. So for instance, in the coming months, you're going to hear from the doula that I coach, that I've been coaching through the first part of this year, Becky, who's based in LA, who has this amazing doula business that's happening there.
She has a number of different businesses that also work kind of alongside her. So there's a prenatal yoga instructor, she has an IBCLC, there's a massage therapist, and so all of those folks aren't necessarily on Becky's team, but they are kind of collaborating in business, right?
And some of them are contractors for her and others are like independently working alongside her and like sharing a space, like renting a space together, etc. So I want you to think kind of broadly about what this can look like.
One big piece is if there is stuff that you can't get done on your own. So that's one category, like are there things that you can't do that your business needs you to do like blogging or podcast or video editing or social media, like something that you kind of suck at and need to do.
That is a good time to add someone if you're able to add someone for that skill set, right? If you're looking for a VA that does that kind of stuff, that is a tech VA, person who can do like scheduling of things and all of that kind of tech stuff, that's what you're looking for.
The next category is if there are other services that you need to add to your business that you don't do or don't want to do. So this might be like placenta encapsulation or childbirth education, right?
If you are a doula that's like, no, thank you, I do not want to cut up placentas, which is who I am. Or if you're a doula that's saying like, okay, I don't ever want to do overnight care, for instance, but I have doula clients who would like overnight care, instead of referring them to someone, I'm going to have someone as a contractor in my business who does overnight care so that that client stays inside my business to get that care, right?
The third category is you are getting more inquiries than you can fill yourself and you're regularly getting those inquiries. So not just like one month you had too many people ask to hire you, but like on a regular basis, you're turning people away.
And you decide when and how that looks like, what that looks like for you, right? Like when and how that might be the right time. Because I also believe very firmly in referrals, right? It is an amazing thing to be able to say, I am full, but I have these four or five doulas that I really love that you should ask, go and talk to them instead.
And to know that you're helping those other businesses flourish is amazing. So I don't discount that, right? Like that's, I'm not saying that is not a valid way to handle that. What I am saying is if you're consistently having inquiries coming into your business, consider the fact that some other doulas are not having that happen.
And what that means is if you have the inquiries coming in, you have the client stream or the potential client stream that that doula needs and would benefit from. And so then they get those clients because they're contracting with you.
Now, when I say adding people to your team or hiring people, I'm talking about independent contractors. I'm not talking about having like a W -2 employee. That's a whole thing. that is more complicated and not what I do and not what I'm talking about in terms of you.
You can do that if you'd like to, way more complicated in terms of how that works, right? For the sake of what I'm talking about, I mean people that will contract with you, which means it could be someone who contracts with you and also does their own private work, right?
It could be someone who is placenta encapsulation, for instance, for your business and also they have their own placenta encapsulation business and they kind of like work side by side, right? Like there's their private business, their private clients and the folks that they get from you, they get in your business.
So that is a valid way to do that, right? Now you of course want to make sure you have really good contracts set up. You already know that I am a big proponent of that but it is something that can be a huge benefit to you and in a case of like bringing on a placenta encapsulator or bringing on another doula, that's not something that you're paying out of pocket for, right?
That's something that they're getting paid as people hire them and so the money to pay them is from the people who are hiring them, right? So it's also this lovely income stream for your business that is relatively small but is still something and you're helping that other doula also have this regular stream of clients, which I honestly think is awesome.
So those are some things to consider if you're considering having a team. If you have questions about this, if you're kind of in the works of considering a team and you aren't sure where to go, I am happy to to go back and forth with you a bit.
Hit me up on instagram at hara doula ask me questions. My favorite contact contract provider Ravey Sinclair is in the show notes. She is a lawyer and also a doula and so her contract is what I use for my contractors and that is what I recommend to the doulas that I coach and so I will leave her resource in the show notes so that you have that resource as well but I would really love to hear from you.
What who are you considering adding to the team and why and I would love to give you some guidance on that if you want guidance on it. If you have not yet joined the newsletter, I do really recommend that you do that.
You get updates every other Friday from me. You hear about the newest episodes on the podcast but also other stuff that's happening in the business and some kind of topic of like education or encouragement or something right.
There's something else that's like lovely and and helpful that's in those newsletters. There's also occasionally things that are like only for newsletter subscribers like I had a special class at one point that was only for people who were on the newsletter list and so I would love for you to join that.
The link to do that is at the top of the show notes or you can hit me up on instagram at hara doula and I'm happy to send you the link there. All right I will see you in the next episode. 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.
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Today we are diving into the reasons a person may consider adding folks to their team. I would say there are three main reasons. Listen to today’s episode to hear what they are! Don’t forget the newsletter sign up^^
Quote from the show:
“If you are a doula that's like, no, thank you, I do not want to cut up placentas, which is who I am. Or if you're a doula that's saying like, okay, I don't ever want to do overnight care, for instance, but I have doula clients who would like overnight care, instead of referring them to someone, I'm going to have someone as a contractor in my business who does overnight care so that that client stays inside my business to get that care, right?”
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Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
