Don't Be a Lone Wolf Doula

• Transcript

  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.

  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 we are going to talk about why it is not wise to be a lone wolf business owner. And I want to dive into this a little bit in part because I have a like co -working time coming up for people who are newsletter subscribers.

  00:59

  And so if you are not yet a subscriber to the newsletter, the link to do that is in the show notes. Or if you don't see it there, you're welcome to reach out to me on Instagram at Harrod Doula. And I'm happy to put you on the list.

  01:12

  I want you to know that I think it's very valuable to have both the encouragement, the support, the brain power and the morale from other business owners. Now Doulas kind of as a default part of our work tend to work alone because usually we're the only Doula working with a particular family.

  01:36

  That makes our work a little bit unique because a lot of people who are in caring professions do have other coworkers. So if you think about like, you know, a nursing team, they have other coworkers, even a midwife team typically has like midwife assistants or somebody who works with them.

  01:54

  So as Doulas, we're often kind of on our own, both for strategy, for business, planning, but also in our actual work with clients. That can lead to a decent amount of decision fatigue and burnout, lack of perspective, because we are then the visionaries, the doers, the planners, the strategizers, the marketers, the salespeople, everything for our business.

  02:21

  So when I'm talking about being a lone wolf, what I mean is you need to find your community of people to encourage you in your doula work so that you are not doing everything on your own. So I mentioned three reasons why I think this is really important.

  02:39

  One is you can lack perspective in your own business when you are doing everything by yourself. And that's both in good and bad things, right? Like it's easy to lack perspective in terms of how amazing something is, It's also easy to lack perspective in terms of how much you need to stop doing something, like how much it's detrimental to you to do the thing that you're doing.

  03:00

  I think what can be really helpful when you're co -working specifically with people who are other doulas, other birth workers, like in similar fields, right? You get some perspective on the work that you're doing, but you also can sort of brainstorm part of the lack of perspective, but also the decision fatigue that I mentioned that is a strong issue for me, honestly, is starting off with how someone else is doing it.

  03:33

  For me, I really struggle to begin the plan. Sometimes I'm like, I need to do something, but what am I going to do? Then having someone else say, hey, you know what I'm planning to do is this. I can be like, ooh, that's a good idea.

  03:49

  That made me think of this thing that I want to do that makes total sense. That's something that can be a catalyst to some awesome ideas in your business. Sometimes you need someone else's perspective when you're like, this is what I want to do, but do you think I can do that?

  04:07

  How would I even do that? Sometimes they can be like, well, if you are my doula, this is what I would want that to look like. If I were doing that, this is what I would want to do. You also can learn from each other's boundaries because as doulas, we have different boundaries.

  04:22

  I know doulas who only do overnight care for postpartum people. I do not ever do overnight care for postpartum people because it is so incredibly challenging for me to do that well and stay awake and all of that.

  04:37

  I can stay awake at a birth because there's a different amount of focus and movement and activity and adrenaline, but if I am literally hanging out with a baby that I'm trying to put to sleep and I'm exhausted, I don't do that well, and so I don't do it at all.

  04:51

  And so So part of the perspective that can be gained is hearing like, okay, this is how you manage this thing and this is how I manage this thing and we're different and that's amazing. And also we can get ideas from each other.

  05:08

  We can set boundaries based on what we're learning from each other, etc. Another thing that is incredibly helpful is that we all have different skill sets. So while I think it's valuable to add people to your team and my latest newsletter was talking about the doula that I added to my team.

  05:26

  I have a couple contractors like I have my assistant hunter who's amazing. I have a copywriter that I work with. I have a social media person that I've done some strategy with and I'm hoping to do some more strategy with them.

  05:39

  And so I like to lean on people that have skill sets that I don't have. And also sometimes in business we don't have the capacity to... Higher someone right and so if we're coming together and saying okay, we're all gonna work on Planning right we're all gonna work on end of the year wrap up and 2024 planning and Here are some questions.

  06:06

  We're gonna talk through here are some thoughts to begin with right? Then that can be a catalyst for someone to say you know I really want to start an email list, but I don't know how to do that and Someone else can say you know hey, I already have an email list.

  06:22

  This is how I do that This is what I've done. This is the kind of freebie I have with something like that work for you and get you kind of going down the road to getting that set up The other thing that I think is really important is avoiding burnout now You've heard me talk about this over and over and over and over and over and I'm not done talking about it We will talk about it more in the future because it is a major issue in Doula work So when you're thinking about avoiding burnout one of the things you want to do is have people around you that run their own business One of the most frustrating things is having someone grill you on why and how you run a business when they know nothing about running a business And I think all of us probably have one or two people in our lives that are like, why do you do that?

  07:09

  Right. I I remember very distinctly. I really felt encouraged by and I said, you know what I started attending births and it was when I was a Brandspanking new Doula and I had a traumatic experience immediately because that is how my Doula world started and She said to me why Would you do that and I was like, what do you mean?

  07:37

  She's like if you're not having a baby Why would you want to be in the room with someone having a baby? Like that seems traumatic every time and I was kind of like, oh You've never had a baby and it freaks you out to think about how a baby and so this whole career idea for you is wild and ridiculous and so it wasn't just like she was like oh that's interesting but she was straight up like why would you do that to yourself that's a terrible idea and I was like oh you have a very strong opinion on this but also clearly like not someone to get encouragement from and otherwise yes encouraging right but not someone to get encouragement when I'm thinking like why do I why am I a doula like this is hard work you know I don't want to go to someone like that who's like why are you a doula I've been telling you you shouldn't do this right so what I want you to think about is also having some other people that are doing what you're doing so you're just normalize flexing the muscles of owning a business and doing doula work okay now I've alluded a couple times to the fact that there is something coming up so I have some details about it I'm gonna just give you a little glimpse of what it is.

  08:53

  So on December 6th, I'm gonna host a end of the year, kind of wrap up and planning for 2024, two hour session for people who are on my newsletter. So I'm not going to put any links out there in the public, I'm not gonna put it on Instagram.

  09:10

  It's just gonna be newsletter subscribers. So if you are not yet on that newsletter, I really do recommend that you join it because you'll get that link to sign up. It's not a class, I'm not gonna teach a bunch of stuff.

  09:23

  I'm gonna have some questions that I recommend going through and I will have some like email prompts before and after and otherwise we're gonna co -work. We're gonna sit down and look at our year together and encourage each other and help each other and brainstorm together and get to know each other and just socialize too.

  09:44

  So I would love for you to be a part of that. I would really love for you to join the newsletter so you can hear about it and I will, it is coming up. So if you're listening to this when it comes out, it's I think next week, because this is coming out like the week of, yeah, in the 2020 -ish, 20 -something of November.

  10:08

  I don't remember what day the Wednesday is, but so I would love to see you there and I'm excited to see you in the next episode. Until the next episode, I'll see you soon. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Doula Tips and Tits podcast.

  10:27

  If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Herod 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.

  10:44

  That helps other Doulas find us as we do this work together. 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.

  11:00

  We'll see you again soon.

Never want to miss what we’re doing for doulas? Subscribe to our newsletter! We won’t spam you, but we do promise amazing content and classes! https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/newsletter

Are you loving the Doula Tips and Tits Podcast? If so we’d be so appreciative of your support! You have the option to choose monthly support starting at just $3 a month. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1916032/supporters/new

Trying to not be a lone wolf when you typically work alone can be difficult. Doulas tend to only work with clients and the amazing medical staff during the birth. We are diving into creating your community of support so you don’t feel like you are alone!

Quote from the show:

“So when I'm talking about being a lone wolf, what I mean is you need to find your community of people to encourage you in your doula work so that you are not doing everything on your own.-- I think what can be really helpful when you're co -working specifically with people who are other doulas, other birth workers, like in similar fields, right? You get some perspective on the work that you're doing, but you also can sort of brainstorm part of the lack of perspective, but also the decision fatigue that I mentioned that is a strong issue for me, honestly, is starting off with how someone else is doing it.  ”

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

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