Whether you dream of the day you quit your 9-5 and run full force as a Doulapreneur or you’re feeling stagnant in your birth biz as it currently stands, these four tips will help you up-level your business, no matter where you’re at in your Doulaprenuer journey!

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Welcome Back to The Birthing Bestie Blog!

Today, I want to talk to the doulas out there. For today, I want to take off my adored “Birthing Bestie” hat that I wear proudly for every expecting mama out there, I’m and putting on my “Birth Work Bestie” hat so that I can get real with the doulas who are out there DOING THE WORK and building their dream doula businesses!

Okay, now that I’m settled in with my Birth Work Bestie hat on, let’s get into it. Today I’m dishing on my top 4 Tips When Building Your Doula Biz! 

!!! Spoiler alert: These tips apply to new and seasoned doulas alike! So no matter where you’re at in your birth business build-out, if you’re a doula, THIS is for you!!!

Tip #1: Follow your passion

While this one might sound straightforward, let’s dig into it anyway.

Before you decide what you want your business to offer and how you want to craft your services, you need to get clear on what parts of this work are you most passionate about.

For example: If you’re not into the perks of caring for babies and staying up all hours of the night, then postpartum work and overnight care are probably not things you’re going to want to offer in your business.

Take some time to sit down and make a list of EVERY aspect of this work that lights you up! What are you most passionate about? What excites you the most and leaves you feeling completely fulfilled? Be as specific and detailed as possible when making this list. 

Once you’ve added everything you can think of to this list, really reflect on what things you’ve written down. See if you can spot any commonalities in the aspects that excite you and think about how you can package them together into a service (or two)!

Tip #2: Don’t Oversell

By this, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be shouting from the rooftops what your passions and services are (because you absolutely should be!), but what I mean is to make sure you don’t get bogged down by offering ALL the services.

If you find from Tip #1 that you have quite an extensive list of passions, GREAT! But Instead of attempting to make those passions into individual services, I want you to think about how you can combine a handful of those passion areas and create (no more than) 3 signature offerings.

I know that it’s important to us birth workers to be able to connect with the families we’re serving and to provide services that meet every little need, but fight the urge of having 5-10+ offerings. The more offerings a family has to choose from, the more overwhelmed they’ll be… at a time in life that they’re likely already overwhelmed with.

So, instead of offering ALL.THE.THINGS, I want you to think about how you can wrap all of your passions from Tip #1 into at most 3 signature offerings. Keep it simple and make it easy for families to clearly understand what it is that you provide in each of your services. 

Pro Tip: Meet your clients where they’re at by creating the opportunity within your signature services to craft individualized care for each family you serve.

Tip #3: Find Your People

Birth work is very much a “word-of-mouth” type of business. Whether it’s clients that are sharing about the support they have received, or the network that you build sharing about your brand and services– this is word-of-mouth work!

What I have found time and time again (in my own business and in other work I’ve done in the past) is that people want to help you. Most people are more than willing to support you, get to know you, talk to you and learn more about your services.

AND it’s just as beneficial for them as it is for you!

When you meet with someone new, you should want to learn more about what they offer as well so that you can not only better build your network of professionals, but you can also better serve the clients you work with. This gives you the opportunity to get to know other people/businesses, and it also gives them the opportunity to get to know YOU, so if someone they know is looking for a doula, your name, your face and your reputation come to mind.

So don’t be timid! Sliiide right into people’s DMs, reach out via email, and make that connection! People really do want to support you and other businesses, and equally as important, people want to help themselves by expanding their own network. 

Meeting and networking with other people in business becomes easier and less intimidating the more you do it, and it is one of the most impactful things you can do for your business.

Tip #4: Charge your worth!

It is SO important that birth workers set the tone for charging appropriately for the services we provide. The work that we do is very non-traditional work. We support families in odd hours, for sometimes days at a time- whether that be for birth, postpartum, or even childbirth education, and we’re with our clients in the most delicate and transitional time in their lives. This is BIG, important work. 

So while you are diving deep into Tip #3 and meeting with other businesses, I want you to include other doulas in your network, too. And while you’re talking with them, use this time to not only share about what your services and pricing are but ask them about what they’re charging for theirs as well.

And if you’re nervous about being too transparent with other doulas, let me remind you- NO ONE can duplicate the support that you provide in your services… the way YOU show up for your clients is completely unique to you and only you!

There are two main benefits of taking the time to learn about what other doulas are offering and charging:

1. It allows you, and the doula community as a whole, to uplevel our work. The more we can talk about and understand what our services and pricing entail, the better we can support and encourage other doulas also charge their worth.
2. It helps you better serve the families that you meet with. Listen, doula, not every family we meet will be the perfect fit for us. And at the end of the day, the best way you can serve a mama who doesn’t totally vibe with you is to help them find their perfect doula match. The more you learn about other doula’s services, the better you can help families find the right type of support (and doula) for them! There’s no shortage of families who are having babies, doula, so refer out when you can!

This is important work, and a lot of times, it’s also grassroots work. But it’s also work that you can and should make a living from, especially if you are putting in the effort and hours of a full-time (or even part-time) job, so it is SO important to charge your worth. 

Okay Douals, don’t forget: Find your passions, don’t over-sell, find your people and charge your worth! Following and implementing these steps into your own birth business can truly uplevel your business, your offerings and your sanity! So give them a try and let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear your biggest takeaway from these tips! Following these has made a huge impact in my own business, and I have no doubt that they’ll help you in yours, too!

P.S. If you need a little extra support at any point in your birth work business, reach out! You can always find me at ebbirthing@gmail.com, or slide into my DMs on Insta at @ ebbirthing

And if you want to dive even deeper into up-leveling your business, ask me about The Doulaprenuer Mentorship, where I help doulas boss up in their business to support their unique doula lifestyle. 

I created The Doulapreneur Mentorship to support new and seasoned birth and postpartum doulas in creating a business that supports their passion for birth work, while sustainably supporting their life. This 1:1 mentorship session is a virtual coffee date that inspires you with actionables to birth the doula business you dream about.

Reach out, Doula! I’m here for you!