What if I Don't Make Enough Money as a Doula?
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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 Harad. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born, 12, nearly 13 years ago.
00:23
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. Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. Today's question is, what if I don't make enough money when I'm a doula? Now, I think there's a couple layers to this. One is fear based decisions at the beginning of your doula business.
00:53
I am for you making smart financial decisions. I'm not for you catastrophizing as you get started. I do think there's also something to be said for people feeling like the client stream is going to dry up for lack of a better term.
01:10
I think that we have to think about this in two different ways. One is the efforts that we're putting into having clients are also the efforts we need to put into keeping clients. When we think about keeping clients that we have and having them then as a source of clients in the future, the more clients we get, the more we have a possible source of referrals.
01:33
I've mentioned in other episodes at this point, I would say around 75 to 80% of all doula inquiries that we receive as a business are from past clients. A few are referrals from other doulas or from providers or other sources like that.
01:49
But really most of them are from another client that we've had and their friends. And this is how they're finding us is how they're coming to us. higher rate for those folks is also incredibly high. Like the percentage of the time that they hire after a consultation is very, very high.
02:08
Like something like 80 to 95%. And so when you're thinking about having enough money as a doula, I think this goes back to the kind of planning that you're doing when you first start your business. Because if you're just like flying by the seat of your pants and making decisions as you go, hoping for the best, no, there is no guarantee that you're gonna make enough money because you're also not taking note of the things that you're doing that are working and then doing those things more, right?
02:38
So I think what we sometimes lack is strategy and our decision making as a business owner. And then we're kind of like, oh gosh, those clients came and then I like referred them out and never heard from them again and never talked to them again and don't have any way of getting in touch with them again and I don't sell them anything else.
02:55
Like there's just this like crazy amount of... possible business that we let go by the wayside when we could be honing in on those clients and saying like, hey, I maybe can't do a birth package for you, but what I can do is your childbirth education or your postpartum care or something else.
03:18
The thing that I think we have to also think about here is what the long -term plan is in terms of financial planning. Now, one of the fears behind this question is that you'll stop having enough clients, right?
03:33
But I think the other side of that is possibly if you're scared of this, you're probably already not charging enough money. Because if you're full in terms of client load, you should have more money than you need.
03:46
That's what that should look like. So it shouldn't be that your prices and your business revenue and your expenses and all of that is so tight together that when you get money, every single cent of it is accounted for, right?
04:02
So that's one of the mistakes that we make that then leads us to not being able to have the space in our business to be able to know, okay, if I have a month that not as many people hire me, that's okay.
04:16
Why? Because I have that space built into my business, right? When we think about sustainability as a doula business owner, we have to think about sustainability as any business owner would think about it.
04:29
It's not different for us because we're doulas. It's different for us in that we have a really interesting client life cycle, if that makes sense. Like, I would say in the DC area, most people hire me between, I don't know, I want to say like 15 weeks and 25 weeks, right?
04:48
So the majority of the people hire me in their second trimester and lots of folks plan to only have two kids and some only one, right? And so I'm not sure that's going to be a good time to talk about sustainability.
04:59
So in terms of like client life cycle, I have like only a couple years, right? So I have a couple clients that I've been with them for two babies now and Both of those babies are born. They don't plan to have any more kids They like love me send me clients all the time tell their friends about me, but even that like they're aging out of that demographic of people, right and What I think about in the business is also like this continual wheel of nurturing if that makes sense where like the most recent birth is the one that likes you the most and I know that sounds kind of silly and I realize if this is you're not a birth doula It's a little different and so I'll talk about postpartum care in a minute But if you just attended a birth that person like wants to be friends forever in most cases and is like you are a superhero You know, and so that person's likelihood to send you clients is very high.
06:03
That means you want to really nurture that relationship in that time after the birth, when they're very, very excited about you, ready to share you with the entire world. And also that keeps that relationship going.
06:20
Like some of my closest clients have five, six, six year old children, you know, like that's, they're not, they're not people that just gave birth because I fostered that relationship with them. And we've become friends, you know, and we've become more than just like client doula relationship.
06:38
So I want you to think about in postpartum care what this looks like, which is really about still that vulnerability, right? Like I think doulas, we, we offer relief in a, in a very critical moment for both birth and postpartum.
06:55
That leaves this, that leaves this like connection that we have with our clients. And so that is true for postpartum clients as well. It is the, the highest level of relief is in the earliest weeks. Now the difference between birth and postpartum people.
07:13
So birth clients, I would say, are talking about their birth a lot. So they're telling their friends about you, they're telling their friends to hire a doula, if they have other friends that are pregnant, they're telling them about you, et cetera, et cetera.
07:26
However, postpartum folks sometimes take some months to start telling people about you unless they have someone who's about to give birth in their life. Otherwise, it can take them a little time because they have a newborn.
07:39
So there's a different level of longevity to it because they're going to emerge like a year later and have this like glowing review of you. They're going to touch base when their kid learns how to crawl to update you on how amazing they are and to be like, I finally am ready to leave your review and send you.
07:58
clients, right? And so, again, you want to leave them in such a way that they do feel the need and desire to reach out to you, to connect with you, to really have that kind of continual relationship, which is a big piece of what we do as doulas, you know?
08:17
So, this is something I'm very passionate about. I actually have a class coming up all about this, so stay tuned for that information. If you want to be the first to hear about it, subscribe to the newsletter.
08:28
That link is in the show notes, and I would love to get in touch with you on Instagram @Harrodoula is my Instagram, if you want to come over there, give me a hello, give me a greeting, and then tell me, what would you like me to discuss on the podcast?
08:43
Because really, when we're thinking about strategy and business growth and all of those things, the questions that people have differ, right? There are generally, like, there are a lot of questions that lots of people have.
08:56
but I want to hear your questions and then you might get to be featured on the podcast and I would love that. So please come over to Haradoula on Instagram so that we can connect and I can give you more value over there.
09:08
All right, 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 Haradoula 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.
09:44
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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Being a doula, our client base looks a little bit different. So what does that look like for planning for that financial stability in your business? Today, we are diving into how to create financial stability through client relationships and word of mouth.
Quote from the show:
“That means you want to really nurture that relationship in that time after the birth, when they're very, very excited about you, ready to share you with the entire world. And also that keeps that relationship going. Like some of my closest clients have five, six, six year old children, you know, like that's, they're not, they're not people that just gave birth because I fostered that relationship with them. And we've become friends, you know, and we've become more than just like client doula relationship..”
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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
