Things for a Doula Business To Update in Q1
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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.
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Thank you for joining us on this journey. Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. We are in the first quarter, so Q1 of 2024. And I'm going to talk to you a little bit today about things that I think you need to double check or update at the beginning of this year and honestly at the beginning of every year.
00:58
I know copywriters or website folks who say that you should update these things every six months, sometimes even checking them once a quarter. So in business, I think one of the things that we need to do as doulas is of course get better at looking at our business, out of the business and doing things like quarterly checkups, quarterly finances, quarterly taxes, etc.
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etc. So I want to just give you a list of things and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about why these things matter and then also when and how you would do them. So the first thing I want to talk about is introducing yourself.
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Now obviously, you probably have an about page. If you do have a website, if you have a social media account, most doulas I talked to say something like, I have introduced myself on there at least a handful of times people can scroll down and find out who I am.
01:53
But social media marketers recommend introducing yourself every six to eight weeks. So it doesn't need to be the same thing. It shouldn't be the exact same picture, the exact same caption, etc. But like saying hi to folks is a good idea and having an introduction type post every six to eight weeks is a good idea.
02:18
Now I'll tell you something that would make this incredibly easy. Take a second, get some pictures of yourself. Selfies are great, pictures of your family are fine, they can be headshots. The reality is that on social media there needs to be a mix of professional images and down -to -life real images.
02:41
Okay? Because down to earth, down to life, down to earth. Just bear with me as I think of these phrases. So what we want to think about is connection, right? And so If you're connecting with the people that are looking at your social media, that are looking at your marketing, that is how you are going to then be able to continue to show them who you are and feel like a real person to them and not just a business.
03:10
So you could really set this out for, you know, the next couple of months. Like if you do it every six to eight weeks, that's only every other month, right? And so you could look and say, all right, I'm going to do this now in February and then I'm going to do it again in April.
03:26
And then I'm going to do it again in June, right? That's fine. Like that is a perfectly fine strategy. And you could post all three of those, schedule them and be done with it. Now, this is not about social media scheduling.
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I have all of that in my business class, which I am going to tell you a little bit about at the end of this, but that is not what today's episode is about. So number two, read through your about and information pages and update them.
03:57
Oftentimes we make a few key mistakes on these pages. One, we talk about how many years we've been in business. I do this and I need to update mine, which is why this is on the podcast today. It is top of mind for me because it's something I need to do as well.
04:16
So when we're thinking about any kind of stats, if you have pages where your certification years are listed or your your certifications maybe have updated or changed, or you have pages that talk about how many births you've attended or how many years you've been doing this, all of that needs to be updated on a quarterly or at least every six month basis.
04:41
The third thing is update all your numbers. So this is again similar to the last one, but I would say especially update these numbers on places that are directories. So if you're listed on someplace like...
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match, you want the numbers that are there to be accurate. Because in some place like doula match, people can potentially look just at your years of experience or your number of births or your number of postpartum families and just judge you by that alone because they're not connecting with you and there's no other way for them to connect with you there without first seeing all of that data.
05:19
So that data needs to be accurate. Now along the same lines I would recommend updating your availability every morning. I will be completely honest and say that I really suck at doing that. So it's something that I need to prioritize as well.
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But at the moment, it is relatively updated. I think I updated it two days ago, but I hadn't updated it in like a month. So those kinds of websites need to be regularly updated. Now you don't need to update your number of births every single time you have a birth.
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However, if you're like on birth number five Birth number six matters a lot in terms of those stats. If you're on birth number 20, 21 is not that much of a difference in people's eyes, right? And so then you don't necessarily need to update it every time you update your availability, but it is a good practice to go in and update all of your stats.
06:12
Make sure everything in there is accurate along with your bio, etc. etc. Okay. Now, the last thing I want you to double check is any subscriptions you have. Now, one thing that is very easy to do in business is to have subscriptions and services that we do not in fact use.
06:30
And that is tricky because there's something that sometimes are like such a tiny purchase or such a tiny amount. We don't realize it's coming out of our account. So one of the things that's really important in business is of course intentionally using and serving and gauging our finances, right?
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And so I want you to take a second to double check subscriptions, see if there are things that you still need, things that you can take away, things that you want to add for the 2024 year. And then you can make strategic important decisions for your business on a month to month basis in terms of the finances.
07:07
So that's just a quick list of four things. So to run through them again, one, I want you to introduce yourself on social media every six to eight weeks. Two, I want you to read through your about and information pages on your website or on directories like doula Match and update those.
07:23
Three, I want you to update any numbers you have, how many births you've attended, how many years you've been doing this, how many families you've served, how many classes you've taught, whatever numbers you have, update them.
07:33
Number four, double check all your subscriptions that they are things that you're still using, still need and still want to be paying for. Okay. Now, I promise at the beginning that I was going to talk to you a little bit about a new offer I have.
07:48
So I know that you've been hearing about the doula Biz Blueprint. That is my coaching group that is eight sessions. long, it is my like main group of coaching doulas. And what I've decided recently is to offer a beta option that is a self paced coaching thing.
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So what it is is 30 minutes of coaching with me, but self paced educational classes about business about client care about self care, and that piece of the of the doula kind of education without the coaching component.
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So this is something that I'm testing out. It's called a beta because it is a trial run, right? And so it's available only for a limited number of people. So I have the number right now set at five, I will maybe go up to 10, but I only want a limited number of people to test this out to give me feedback about it and let me know what the success is for them.
08:44
If you want more information about that, head over to Instagram at her a doula connect with me there and I'm happy to share more info. Until Then this this episode is ending strangely because I need to go to sleep until then I will see you in the next episode Thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula tips and tips 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 her a 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.
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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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I can’t believe we are getting so close to being done with quarter one. So let’s talk about some things you should be doing/checking every quarter. It’s super simple things, don’t you worry, but just things that can go to the wayside if you don’t think about them.
Quote from the show:
“Now I'll tell you something that would make this incredibly easy. Take a second, get some pictures of yourself. Selfies are great, pictures of your family are fine, they can be headshots. The reality is that on social media there needs to be a mix of professional images and down -to -life real images. Okay? Because down to earth, down to life, down to earth. Just bear with me as I think of these phrases. So what we want to think about is connection, right? And so If you're connecting with the people that are looking at your social media, that are looking at your marketing, that is how you are going to then be able to continue to show them who you are and feel like a real person to them and not just a business. ”
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
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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
