Setting Helpful Doula Business Goals
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00:04
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.
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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.
00:36
Thank you for joining us on this journey. It is getting very close to the end of 2023. And as we are kind of wrapping up this year, I am spending a lot of time thinking about the work that I've been doing this year.
00:53
This was the first year of officially having Doula coaching as part of my business. A lot of changes have happened in my Doula work. So I brought in another Doula Kirsten that you guys have heard about and have seen me celebrate on social media.
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And so a lot has shifted in my business. And as I've been kind of reflecting on that, I have also been working on thinking through how to help other Doulas reflect on their year and set goals for the future.
01:25
I think sometimes we get sort of stuck in the next big thing that we're going to do rather than really living in the present moment. And almost like we're jumping ahead to the next level, right? When really this level that you're on is also a good and helpful and necessary level and one to take some time to celebrate.
01:44
So today's episode is all about setting helpful Doula business goals. So what I want you to think about is what it can look like in your business to have a goal that's attainable, right? A goal that's real.
02:00
Realistic and then walk that backwards and what I mean by that is Thinking it through kind of from top to bottom. So I'm gonna give an example of childbirth ed for this because I think this is something that frequently doulas kind of decide to add on as a service that they do especially when They want some consistent income that is not coming from on call time, which is important Incredibly necessary and so one of the things that doulas can do is become a childbirth educator now, let's say You're listening to this and you're like, okay, Kaylee.
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I have a goal for 2024 To be a certified childbirth educator by the end of the year. So That's a great goal to have right but then What can you do right now to start you on the path to that goal and how do you kind of set up?
02:58
a realistic timeline for that, right? And I would say, for me, it starts with answering some questions. Like I am very much a person that's like, have you thought this through, right? Not in a way that's like penalizing or like, you know, I'm not talking down to you.
03:16
What I mean is, have you thought through the implications of this and how, what you're wanting to do, how that kind of plays out in real time, right? So let me give you some examples. So let's say, you know, this hypothetical conversation we're having, you come to me, you say, okay, Kaylee, I am gonna become a certified childbirth educator.
03:38
My first question to you would be, why do you feel the need to be certified? Do you want to be certified? Or do you just think you should be certified? Has someone else told you you have to be certified?
03:50
I think I could have a whole discussion and we should have a whole discussion in another episode about the certification processes and the gatekeeping that is a part of that. And so my first question would be, what is your motivation behind wanting a certification?
04:08
Is it for some kind of false legitimacy or is it because you feel like that training and certification will help you be a good educator? And if it's for the latter, that's great, right? If it's because someone else isn't gonna take you seriously unless you're certified, that's another issue to dive into, right, another question to ask yourself.
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So let's say we get past that and you're like, okay, I feel like I'm really underqualified right now. I don't know how to teach well. I also don't know what to include. And so I really want a certification so that I can make sure that I'm kind of like thoroughly covering childbirth education.
04:48
My next question would be, have you looked into the different options? Because there are a lot of options. And I think depending on who you talk to, different people have different views on what the right option is and there are some strong views on this and there are strong views on childbirth education there are strong views on doula certifications there are strong views on postpartum care newborn care lactation support and I have strong views on some of these things too right I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong but what I am saying is that it's not as simple as just having the one right option in something like childbirth education because there are too many varieties to choose from to say that one is absolutely the best okay so for me if we're having this conversation and you come to me and say okay I've established I want to be certified where should I go I'm not gonna say go here because there isn't just one place I'm gonna again ask a question what kind of certification do you want are you wanting to teach group classes are you wanting to teach private classes Do you want a certification that comes with a particular genre of childbirth ed like hypnobirthing or like, um, you know, like partner centered work, like the Bradley method.
06:09
And I have various pros and cons to all these different types. I'm not saying they're good or bad. What I'm saying is there is a wide variety. So that's the next thing to figure out, right? And then from there, let's say you're like, okay, Kaylee, I want to do hypnobirthing.
06:27
Okay, great. So there are, you know, I would say just off the top of my head, I can think of four different doula, I mean, childbirth education certifications that focus on hypnosis. So which of those makes sense for you, right?
06:43
And out of those, which of them has like a self -paced, you can start anytime you'd like sort of training and which has a training that's like, we train on September 6th. And if there's that kind of training, when are they?
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And when can you afford to sign up for them? Because sometimes they fill up super fast. Sometimes you have to travel to get to them depending on what kind of training you want to do. Some of them are online.
07:09
Some are not. So those are logistical details to look at as well. And if you're like, oh, Kaylee, okay, I want to be certified. I figured out what I want to be certified in. I want to do this particular training and it is self -paced and I can start at any time.
07:26
Then my next question would be, when can you afford to begin working on it? And what does the process look like? And how quickly do you want to be able to turn this around to also make income from this?
07:41
Right? Because if you're looking at a self -paced program and you're someone who struggles with self -motivation in something like an online class, then you maybe need to build in some accountability for that.
07:53
Right? You need to build in some structure in your months of how you're going to to get through that certification and give yourself a timeline for when you want to have that completed. So that's just an example, one example of kind of walking through a goal.
08:11
One thing that I am doing as I'm gearing up for the end of the year is I am having a planning session only with doulas that are on my newsletter. So if you are not yet on the newsletter, please join that.
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The link is in the show notes at least once, maybe two times in the show notes to get on the newsletter. That will allow you to have the invite for the planning session. It's free. It's open to doulas, but it's coming up quickly.
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So please do join that newsletter so you can get that information and then you'll get some prompts for me. You'll get some questions for me. You'll get some pre -work to do before the workshop that then we're going to go through or the planning time.
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that we're going to go through kind of planning together, looking back on the last year and looking forward on the next year, not in a super thorough way, but in a way that jump starts you, right, that gets you going, looking deeper into these things yourself.
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And the reality is you need to set some time aside for it because business has to be strategic and not just happenstance as it plays out, right? So if you're not yet on the newsletter, please do join.
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Otherwise, 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 heraDoula so we can celebrate alongside you.
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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.
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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 asking some tough questions to help you discover your doula goals. So many times, our goals are based on seeing other’s successes and thinking that’s the only way to be successful. Let’s talk about creating goals based on what you want for your business and yourself.
Quote from the show:
“This was the first year of officially having Doula coaching as part of my business. A lot of changes have happened in my Doula work. So I brought in another Doula Kirsten that you guys have heard about and have seen me celebrate on social media. And so a lot has shifted in my business. And as I've been kind of reflecting on that, I have also been working on thinking through how to help other Doulas reflect on their year and set goals for the future. I think sometimes we get sort of stuck in the next big thing that we're going to do rather than really living in the present moment. And almost like we're jumping ahead to the next level, right? When really this level that you're on is also a good and helpful and necessary level and one to take some time to celebrate.”
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
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If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
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
