Confident As a Doula
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Transcript
Welcome to doula tips and hits the podcast where we cut through the noise and get real about what it takes to build a sustainable doula business. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been a doula informally for 14 years and full time for seven around here.
We don't sugarcoat stuff. We talk autonomy, owning your worth, creating a business that works for you. No fluff, no burnout, just the honest truth on how to be your own best boss. Let's get into today's episode.
Welcome back to doula tips and hits. Today we are talking about confidence, confidence specifically in consultation. So we're still chatting about consultations because our consultation workshop is coming up on October 9th at 12 noon Eastern.
Now, what I sometimes say when I'm thinking about birth support, I'm thinking about even just entering the hospital, honestly, that you have to come in with the right level of confidence, right? And I jokingly told my client the other day that I used to have doula pants, like sweatpants that I wore just to, they were like joggers that I wore to client births.
And they were the same color as the postpartum nurses at one of the hospitals I go to. And it wasn't intentional. And I always wore a shirt that said doula or whatever. Like I didn't wear a matching top.
It wasn't scrubs, but if I walked into the hospital with the right amount of confidence, the security team didn't even say anything to me. I could just walk in and be like, good morning and go upstairs.
And they were just like, hello, welcome to the day. Which is concerning, right? On the one hand, I'm sort of like, I could be anybody. On the other hand, I'm like, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not hurting anybody.
I'm just trying to go to my client and I want to get up there fast and you guys are slow. But that is also true for things like doula consultations. Like how you come in and how you command the space and how you show up is important.
Now, the first thing that I have to say to this is this is for me, for me personally, this is a thousand percent easier if I do a consultation on video chat. So one thing that you may or may not know about me is that I am a person who lives in a plus size body.
My body has not always been plus size. It is a new thing in the last couple years after having babies will really probably last 10 years after having babies. But that means that I have days where I have bad body image days, right?
Like I have days where I'm kind of just feeling like blah about how I look or how I feel or whatever. And I'm not sharing that to be like, please tell me what I should do about that. I have my own counselor, I'm working through it, I do lots of good exercise and movement and body love and all that kind of stuff.
What I'm saying is that is not there when I don't have to show up in person for someone. Because I don't choose what day my body lack of confidence comes up, I then don't have to worry that that's going to shoot up on one of the days that I'm coming to do a doula consultation, okay?
So for me, that is one reason doula consultations are 1000% better online. The other reason if I'm being totally honest, you're learning all kinds of fun stuff about me today, is I am a person who sweats like crazy in the summertime.
And it is so embarrassing for me to show up to a consultation sweaty because it's frickin hot outside. Now, I live in DC, we are a one car family. And so I don't always choose if I'm going to get sweaty that day, right?
Because I have PCOS, my hormones do whatever they feel like, and my body responds in kind, right? But it's embarrassing for me to show up to a consultation or to a meeting of some kind, and be like sweaty and then be like, maybe I'm sweaty because I'm big, right?
None of that's true. But also, that's what that's where my brain goes. So again, if I do it online, I don't have to worry about that. The third reason I love doing it online is that I don't have to go anywhere and it's so much easier.
A doula consultation is usually only 30 to 45 minutes long, sometimes an hour if someone's really chatty or has a lot of questions, but then I don't have to drive half an hour to do a half an hour meeting and then half an hour home.
I live in DC and so driving to someone's house takes a whole freaking long time, especially if they live far for me. If you live in a tiny little community that it takes five minutes to drive across town, that does not apply to you, right?
But for me, it's an hour and a half endeavor to go to a 30 -minute meeting and that's not even thinking about is there parking in that part of the city and how do I have to get there? If I'm on the Metro, it's gonna be an hour for me to get to wherever I'm going.
So that's all stuff that for me makes my showing up with confidence 100% easier. So I only do virtual consultations. That is not a hindrance at all in my business at this point. Now I do one prenatal that is in person, so I don't do all of my services virtually, but that doula consultation is always virtual and I have found great success with that.
Now, when you're thinking about showing up with confidence, one of the things is the logistics, right? Like how are you showing up? When are you showing up? Are you doing it virtual in person? Are you picking the place?
Are they picking the place? Are you coming to their house? Are you meeting them in some place that's like neutral, like a coffee shop or whatever? Do you have like an office hours sort of situation where people can come and meet with you?
The other thing is knowing what you're gonna tell them. How are you gonna talk about yourself as a doula? Now we talked a couple of episodes back about your story. Like why are you a doula? Why do you do this work?
And how to really articulate that well with your clients? That matters a lot because you are the one coming in and telling them that you are good at this work, right? Now I'm not talking about coming in and being like, I'm amazing, let me tell you how amazing I am.
My client the other day was just telling me I'm amazing. I am amazing. I know I'm amazing doula, right? But I can articulate that in a way that makes them feel confident in me without being like, because everyone thinks I'm amazing, right?
That's obviously not the language that I use or really recommend that you use. However, you coming in thinking already, like having planned, what is it about you that makes you good at this work? What is it about how you do this work that is unique to you?
What is it about this work that you love? Because then you can stand on those things and talk about them. If you think about doula work, let's say random person, right? Random person in your life who's not wanting to hire you, said to you, why are you a doula?
Or like, what's a doula? What do you do, right? Or the very famous, very common one, how are you different from a midwife? Are you catching babies, right? What are your answers to those things? How do you respond to those people?
Because those can be the start of how you respond to people in your consultations. Because they need to hear that same information. And when you don't feel like you're trying to sell something to someone, you're just sharing about who you are and what you love, you're going to do it with a lot more confidence and ease, instead of feeling like I just have to convince you to hire me, which is frankly,
never your job. If you have to convince someone to hire you, I don't want you to even let them hire you. If they don't think you're amazing by the end of the consultation and feel comfortable and confident about working with you, then they don't feel like that and that's okay.
And then you're not a good fit for them. However, the people who you are a good fit for, I want them to be like, hell yeah, in the middle of the conversation. Like I want your showing up authentically to really draw them in.
I am like a goofy, kind of silly, bringing a lot of humor sort of person. You feel that in the doula consultation. If my jokes are not something that you find funny, you should not hire me. Absolutely not.
Like full stop, don't hire me. I make jokes. I make corny jokes. I like to be silly. Like that, obviously in the right context, I'm not being silly while someone's in transition, but that is who I am and what I show on a doula consultation because I am going to show up at your birth for your services as myself.
And I don't want to show up as anybody else. I don't wanna come trying to pretend to be who I showed you on the doula consultation when that's not me. I want clients who enjoy me and want me as their doula because that's really the best scenario, right?
Like who wants to show up and try to be someone else every single time they go to work? That sucks. So show up with confidence. I want you to take some time to think about what would that look like for you?
And then sign up for the consultation workshop that's coming up on October 9th at 12 Eastern because we're gonna actually talk it through. And so I can help you figure out what that looks like for you.
The workshop is free and there'll be some brainstorming time and you will get a lot out of it. You should sign up. Please go do that, okay? All right, in the meantime, 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.
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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.
Don’t miss the FREE Doula Consultation Workshop: 3 Proven techniques to increase client conversions. This 1 hour workshop will teach you how to show up with confidence and ultimately get more “HELL YES” responses! Sign up today!
https://harroddoulaservices.thrivecart.com/doula-consultations-workshop-pod/
Confident Doula Business Owner bad asses unite! We are out here in the wild killing it in our businesses. If you want to show up to your business and for your clients with boldness and confidence listen to today’s episode!
Quote from The show
“Like how you come in and how you command the space and how you show up is important. Now, the first thing that I have to say to this is this is for me, for me personally, this is a thousand percent easier if I do a consultation on video chat. So one thing that you may or may not know about me is that I am a person who lives in a plus size body. So that's all stuff that for me makes my showing up with confidence 100% easier. So I only do virtual consultations. That is not a hindrance at all in my business at this point. Now I do one prenatal that is in person, so I don't do all of my services virtually, but that doula consultation is always virtual and I have found great success with that.”
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Doula Tips and Tits is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Doula Biz Blueprint Self-Paced Class for Doulas Launching Successful and Sustainable Businesses!
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
