Doula Darcy on Growing Your Doula Business!
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00:04
Welcome to Dula Tips and Tips. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about Dula 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 Dula childbirth educator, La Leche League leader and a Dula coach. I love guiding and supporting Dulas as they work out their Dula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.
00:36
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Hello and welcome back to Dula Tips and Tips. Today I am honored to have Dula Darcy with me on the podcast. I'm very excited for you to hear a bit about her journey because I want you all, you Dulas, to always have a wider understanding of what your work can look like and how it can evolve over time.
01:02
Darcy, thank you so much for being here. I did not tell you I was going to say this, but one of the things I resonate with you about is that both of us introduce ourselves as people who were Dulaing people before we knew what Dulas were, something we share.
01:19
Please introduce yourself and share with the listeners a little bit about who you are. I love that, Kaylee. I think so many Dulas feel that way. I always say Dulas are not a job. You are just born. Dulas are just born this way.
01:35
I hear all the time, oh, well, I just was certified last week, but I've been doing this my whole life. I am the Dula Darcy. I worked in marketing and advertising after college for 10 years. I was here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a while, then I moved to, I worked in Manhattan.
01:59
I worked in Princeton, New Jersey, I just thought marketing and advertising was going to be my big, exciting life. And then I had a baby. And I mean, to make a very long story short, it was kind of a, I ended up having a C -section and then an infection and was back in the hospital.
02:21
And that led to postpartum depression and anxiety. And I, that's when I became a postpartum doula. I didn't know what I was doing. But, you know, once I was feeling better and out talking to people, I was just like, listen, nobody's talking about how hard this is.
02:40
And my, you know, if my mom called and was like, do you remember Joanne from fifth grade? She's pregnant. And I'd like track her down on Facebook and be like, we have to talk. You might not remember being with that, but I've got some things to tell you.
02:55
So, and then when my, I had, two more babies. And so for a while I worked, I was working from home while they napped for the Zanga blogging company, like around the year 2000. I don't know if anybody listening had a Zanga blog, but it was very hot with a certain age group and you know, we're around that time the year 2000.
03:20
And one day I read a blog that mentioned a postpartum doula and I was just like, wait a minute, this it was like light came down from the heavens. I was like, this is what I was meant to do. And I so very quickly after that took a training and here I am.
03:41
I've been a postpartum doula now for 13 years and I just love it. And now I also love combining that marketing experience, my doula experience to help other doulas grow big, bigger, successful, successful and scalable doula businesses.
04:02
I love that. And also, did you give birth in Princeton? Were you in New Jersey still? I did not. We moved back to New Hampshire and I had all three of my kiddos in New Hampshire. Okay. Our three were born just outside of Princeton.
04:21
That's why I'm asking because I'm like, wait a second, do we also have that? Oh my gosh, that is crazy. No, I lived in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Yeah. And worked in Princeton for about a year at a big ad agency that was there.
04:36
So yeah, we lived in Trenton and had all three kids there while we were in grad school, but then we've lived in D .C. for a long time. So that's fun. That's a fun connection. Oh, we have to have a whole side chat about Trenton because my husband, that's the whole reason we moved there.
04:53
My husband's was hired to be on the crew. when they built the Sovereign Bank Arena in downtown Trenton. So we have, so he was, he worked in Trenton. I worked in Princeton and we just have so many stories about that whole.
05:13
Yes, and I actually lived in Yardley as a nanny for a short time before I got married. So many connections. Who knew? Too funny. So for the sake of everyone else, what we're diving into today is kind of the progression from just doing postpartum doula work to adding doulas to your team to being what you are now, which is a doula marketing business expert, I would say.
05:44
Maybe you have a different phrase for it. No, that works. So I was a, I had, just had a solo postpartum doula business for a few years and was starting to get really busy and starting to run into like there weren't enough hours in the day.
06:03
And I also just, you kind of just hit a wall when you do get enough clients where you're busy, you can only earn as much money as there is hours in the day. And, and I had three kids. So I was like, the whole point of this is that I want to be home with them more.
06:19
So I was trying to work, you know, and be home by three. Anyway, I also was starting to get lots of requests for overnight help. And I just honestly couldn't do it. I aim I had three babies. I had three babies in four years.
06:36
I was so sleep deprived for so long that I was like, you would have to pay me a thousand dollars an hour to I just I can't do it. So make with your baby. Yes. So, but then I had a friend and neighbor.
06:52
And one day we were chatting at the bus stop. And I knew she was a nurse at my OB office. And it turns out she had formerly been a labor and delivery nurse. And she just one day literally at the bus stop, she was like, you know, she's like, I see you on social media.
07:08
She's like, I think I want to be a postpartum doula. I was like, oh, my God, go do it. So she got trained and certified. And then she she had four kids and she as a nurse, she was like, I can stay up all night.
07:24
She's like, I would like to work at night, come home, put the kids on the bus, sleep a little bit. And so anyway, like it was just so perfect. So that's how I like added my first doula to my agency and just slowly grew from there.
07:41
And then a couple of years after that, I was standing in a client's living room. I remember like rocking and shushing her baby and chatting with her and answering her questions. And, you know, I was probably 10 years into being.
07:57
postpartum doula at this point. And I kind of got this flash of, you know, I answer these same questions over and over and over again. And I don't want to say I was bored, but I was more, it was more like, I'm answering these questions over and over again to one mom at a time.
08:20
And it's great. And I love it so much. It is my dream job. But I was like, I just had this kind of feeling like I could do more, I could help more moms. And at first I was like, I bet even just on this street, there are other moms with these questions, other moms that would benefit from me telling them that they're doing a great job.
08:45
So I started to think like, maybe I should host more groups, but then I was like, how would I do that? Anyway, that just got me thinking of how can I take what I know? and what I do and share it with more than one mom a day or two, you know, sometimes I had two clients a day.
09:03
And that's when I started to dig into creating online courses and programs. And then that quickly turned into me talking to other doulas all around that were doing things and then realizing that, and just talking to other doulas who never mind the online stuff, just in their communities who were having a lot of trouble getting clients.
09:29
And then I was like, I was like, I can help even more moms if I can help these doulas get more clients. I started to get really sick of seeing doulas who were, felt like they were born to do this, had a lifetime of experience of nurturing and caring and taking care of babies and just people that had done the training.
09:54
In a lot of cases, they've taken multiple trainings, multiple certifications, but they weren't getting clients. And I look at that and I'm like, you know, the doulas would often say, oh, I'm not good enough.
10:07
I'm not experienced enough. I don't have this certification. I don't have that. That to me, I look at that. It's just a marketing problem. No one knows you exist or not enough people know you exist. So that was when I made the switch to creating online courses and programs to help doulas with their marketing so that they can still be doulas.
10:30
I just, I got so sick of seeing doulas saying, well, I have to go back to my corporate job or I have to go back to waitressing, you know, which is fine, but the world needs more doulas. And I don't want marketing to be the thing that gets in the way of that.
10:46
Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And I love that I sort of have seen over the years of me being a doula, you add things on, right? Like I remember at some point, point, seeing you were like, Oh, I have the ability or the service of F you like building a website, right?
11:03
And I think this is huge because as a doula who kind of figured all that shit out on my own, email systems, okay, let's do this. You know, I'm like, this holds people back because if your brain doesn't work like that, and you can't figure it out on your own, you just don't know what to do.
11:23
Or you're paying thousands of dollars to someone who doesn't know what a doula even is to make you something that doesn't really fit a doula business, you know, right? Yes. And so that I feel like that is such a lovely reminder to that like, one of the things I'm always saying to doulas is it doesn't have to look like it looks right now forever, like business.
11:45
And so you get to move it and change it however you'd like. And if that means in two years realizing you could offer something different, offer something different. That's fine. Like no one makes rules for you, right?
11:57
Like you get to pivot anytime. But there is such a such a difference between like I desperately need more clients and like I'm currently serving maybe more clients than I even want to serve. And I don't have more of me and I don't have more time.
12:14
And so looking at what are other ways for income to come in, I think is huge in Dula work, especially in an area like you and I live in where you need to make money to survive, you know, it's cheap to live on the East coast.
12:30
Right. Right. And we're all, you know, we all have families, we all have people we're taking care of, we all really busy lives. And so when you get into starting to create whether it's, and this is the other thing, there's an infinite number of possibilities, whether you know, digital courses, digital products, digital programs, online programs, it's that you like cross over into this crazy world that sounds too good to be true, where you're working less hours, helping more people and earning more money.
13:08
And it is crazy, but it's true. And your example of the website is a great, you know, if someone had told me, I don't know, six, seven years ago, when I was just a Dula agency owner, I don't say just, but when I was an agency owner, oh, you know, Darcy, someday you're going to have this, these website templates for Dula's to buy, I would have been like, what?
13:35
What even is that? Like, why? How would I ever do that? But it's just I, that's something I never would have predicted, but it came out of hearing from Dula's over and over and over and over again. Oh, it's taking me a year to get my website up or I paid someone and they you Now I can't find them and I can't make changes to my website or I don't know how to get my website to show up on Google.
13:58
Like that was just a roadblock. Dula's were having to getting clients. So I was like, well, if I have my team, just make some templates. I mean, we made it so easy. So I'm saying all that. And if you need a Dula website, you can go to my website and get one.
14:20
They are beautiful. But you, as you're being a Dula, and this goes back to me standing in the living room of that mom so long ago, listening to what your clients need and then creating a solution for them.
14:41
Yeah. The other piece of that that you haven't even asked me about is, a lot of doulos struggle with like, I don't want to feel salesy. I don't want to feel it sound, you know, that whole struggle. Dive into that.
14:55
It doesn't feel salesy if I'm like, here, go get this a very affordable, beautiful, functional website that you will have full control over. Yeah. Like I want to shout that from the rooftops because it's helpful.
15:09
It's a solution. Yeah. So you can, and I talk about this all the time with doula clients, like I'm working with coaching, that you can just create things as your clients need them, as you see the needs come up.
15:26
So really start listening to the people you're talking to. What do they need? What do you have that is going to be most helpful to them that solves their problem and then you're helping without feeling salesy?
15:43
Yeah. Well, and I think that, I mean, this goes back in my mind to sort of the fundamental core of being a doula is like service, right? And like initially, it's so similar to me where I was kind of like, okay, I just did that and you guys need to know how it's going to go and what things people don't tell you.
16:04
And so that comes from a very genuine place of giving and won't naturally attach that to business, right? And as very few of us are business people, we're doulas. And so we come in kind of like, I guess I could have a price on that thing.
16:22
And I'm like, but how is your life going to be sustained? Like how will you? You know, right. And I do recognize that some people are able financially and other scenarios to be able to volunteer and things like that.
16:35
Beautiful and lovely and wonderful. If that's not the case for you, you won't be able to keep doing this work if it doesn't sustain your life. Like you just will have to stop. And that is is where I think not paying yourself, not charging enough money, not having enough money, is a huge piece of burnout, because eventually you just have to do it.
16:57
Like it just costs too much money to save your business. Which is, I can eat so many soapboxes. Oh, me too. And like you said, if you have the financial means to provide pro bono services, go for it.
17:16
But most of us don't. And it kind of comes down to what you were saying before about there's no rules. And this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately that we think, oh, you go to school, you go to college, you get a job, you work till you're 65 and then you retire.
17:36
That's like, those are not the rules anymore. Yeah. And you, so you have a choice now. Do you want to be a doula, this thing you were born to do, that you love every second of it? And I say, like, when I first started having clients, I was kind of surprised when they would pay me.
17:58
Like, I would have paid them. It was like a relief to go help. I felt so good. So I was just, I was like, shocking. I'm like, I am getting paid for this? Like, I don't even feel like I'm working. So I'll like rigged the system in my favor.
18:14
Yes. So I was like, this can't be real. So, but you have a choice in all seriousness. Do you want this to be your job that doesn't feel like work? Or do you want to go get a corporate job or whatever it is you know how to do?
18:32
And over here to be a doula, your dream job, like you're going to have to charge for it. You're going to have to charge enough to pay your bills and a little bit more. And you're going to have to put in the hustle and the work to do it.
18:47
But wouldn't you rather put in the work and the hustle for yourself for this dream job versus putting in the work and the hustle 50 hours a week for somebody else at a job that you don't exactly love.
19:01
So I think, you know, when you start thinking about it in that way, it gets a little bit easier to, you know, charge what you need to charge and ask, you know, have those conversations with clients about what it's going to cost.
19:21
At least that really helped me getting to the point where, you know, I don't want to take one doula client at a lower rate and then go waitress five nights a week. Because then that's time A, I'm not with my family and B, I'm not working as a doula.
19:40
I'm not helping. I mean, I'm helping the people in the restaurant, but I'm not helping. I'm not serving as a doula. If I wanna serve as a doula full time, 40 hours a week, whatever, here's what I have to charge.
19:54
And I literally did that. I added up our monthly bills. Like here, here's what my husband makes. Here's what I need to make in a month. So if you're a doula, how many births is that? How many postpartum hours is that?
20:10
How many classes that you teach is that? And that's how you establish your rate. Well, and I mean, I just taught a whole class on this. So I'm like very fired up about it. Because I think I see so often going back to like, not at all from a malicious place, from a place with loads of compassion and love, that doulas not being business people don't connect those two dots.
20:39
Right. And so I've heard doulas say things like, gosh, it would be great if I could make $40 ,000 a year. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds like, you know, let's start there and go up, right? And they'll say like, I take two birth clients a month and I charge $800.
20:58
And I'm like, how is that ever going to go up to $40 ,000? Right. Right. That disconnect is often just that they're not business owners, right? They're not like people, right? They don't have that background.
21:13
And so so I think at the very least, when we're looking at the the way that we're showing up for clients and what we would be willing to pay for those things, like, like our clients are happy to pay us for the the like invaluable care that we give them in this time.
21:30
So clients are not saying like, please do this for me for free, right? Like, you know, they're like, I will pay you more. I will send you gifts. I will give you cards. Like I will, you know, you should be charging so much money.
21:43
And so so really what it is is ourselves holding us back from being in a place that feels also good to us and good for our families as well as giving amazing services to our clients. So and then the other piece of that is, you know, the more I charge my clients, the more money I have, the more freedom I have to somewhere down the road, offer a sliding scale to a family that really needs it or, you know, do a pro bono case here and there or donate to a cause in my community that and it's 100 percent.
22:23
And I can't I can't do that if I'm not paying myself first, if I'm not earning enough. Well, it's not sustainable if you're having sliding scale, but also like can't pay your own bills, right? Like that.
22:36
That is a that is a place that will not you won't. exist, you can't exist from, you know, you won't survive there. And I, yeah, I feel like I have to add, it has taken me a long time to get to this mindset.
22:48
And it's taken me a lot of client homes that I showed up to that I gave them a discount because they said they couldn't afford it. And then I got there and they had three up a baby strollers, a gardener, a house cleaner, a pet, what dog water like, just, you know, looking around their house, I was like, you could afford me.
23:09
Like you're, yeah, right. So I just want to throw that in that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a path. Yeah, it's a journey for sure. And, and I think it's a factor to keep in mind if you are feeling a little like, Oh, I don't know how I can keep doing this.
23:27
Look at your rates and see if that needs to adjust. Because if it is like a long birth feels like a lot of money for childcare, for food or for parks in DC, plus a small fortune. At the hospitals, you know, yeah.
23:43
So if it's that that's that's feeling unsustainable. That is something you have full control over and and personally like in DC, right? So we're talking from like fairly metropolitan areas. So if you're a rural community, you know, take that into account.
24:00
But every time my prices have gone up, I've had more clients and not less like that same. And part of that is I think the expectation is that services like this cost money, you know, So clients are happy to pay for the services that we give them and often then are like, you were amazing.
24:22
I mean, last night I got cookies delivered to my front door from a client, you know, because she's like this Even start to tell tell you how cool I am. But here are some cookies. So awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
24:34
Um, it's so true. Same with me. Every time I've raised my rates, I've been nervous and every time I get more clients and it's kind of like, I mean, this is a whole other conversation about worth, you know, the, you know, people, I always give the example of, you know, some people buy a $2 ,000 coach bag.
24:57
Some people buy the same bag at TJ Maxx for $20 and but the coach bag has this feeling of like, well, that's the best one. I want it. And when and I'm not saying that the what I'm saying is there is a perceived value when your services cost.
25:23
Yeah. I mean, really what they're worth, what a do those services worth it. There's that value comes across and I hear over and over from doulos who give their services away for free. And, you know, they do all these prenatals for a birth client and all this work.
25:40
And then they get the text like, oh, the baby came two days ago. Sorry. I just, you know, if you, if they don't have any skin in the game, they're not going to treat you as a professional, but that's a whole other.
25:53
Yeah. It's another thing. We'll just do this monthly and have them get out of the business. Oh my God. Sign me up. So I want to wrap us up just because I like to keep these episodes kind of on the shorter side.
26:10
But Darcy, what services or free classes or things that you have coming up, would you like my listeners to know about? Well, if you can, you can go to my website and get, I have a free download of cheat sheet on how to start getting some doula clients.
26:28
That that is really helpful. Also, just the best thing, follow me on Instagram at the Dula Darcy find my Facebook group, which is the Dula marketing group, and I am basically just always on those two platforms, giving away marketing tips and advice or you know and shoot me a DM on Instagram if you have specific questions but I love helping Dula see what is possible and helping them build a successful business that and you know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately like success, yes, is money, but it's really freedom.
27:12
Totally. And whether that's the freedom to go buy a BMW because you can afford it, or like to me it's showing up today in my sweats. And you know, I'm wearing flip flops when I gave a presentation last month in Florida like, I literally packed heels and I'm like what is there.
27:38
No, that's like old patriotic rules that we wear heels. Yeah, I'm like, I am wearing my flip flop so like to me. That's like my business goals are like to never leave my house, wear sweatpants and get on sunny days so my point is you can now with the internet you can build any kind of business to fit the life that you really want.
28:07
And it is magical and like I said it sounds too good to be true but you're working less hours, you're helping more people you're having more of an impact, literally on a global scale. Yeah. Which is just and my new favorite thing is doulas and rural communities who, you know, They're driving for hours.
28:33
There's not just not enough of a population to truly make in -person doula work sustainable. There's things that they can do and they can work with an international audience and seriously have a major impact from a little house in Kentucky that gives them, and that's just the freedom in that.
28:58
And it makes me tear up thinking of the people that you can help. Yeah, because of the drama. So, yeah, no, I love that. And I will put a plug out there for her websites. They're beautiful. Thank you.
29:15
Yeah, all of Darcy's information for connecting with her, for looking at her website and her social media is in the show notes. So you can go there and connect with Darcy. Darcy, thank you again. for being on today.
29:29
I so appreciate your time. My pleasure. You know, a dozen more of these chats. Thank you for having me. This was so much fun. Good conversation. I'll see everyone in the next episode. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Dula Tips and Tips podcast.
29:49
If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Haradula 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.
30:06
That helps other Dulas 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.
30:22
We'll see you again soon.
Today we are joined by THE Doula Darcy. Who in the doula world has not heard of Darcy’s awesome work? She is a wealth of business knowledge for doulas and is here to share her doula journey with us!
More about Darcy:
The Doula Darcy is a postpartum doula and lactation counselor who has helped hundreds of new moms navigate the first twelve weeks at home with a baby since 2010.
Before that, she spent 10 years working in advertising agencies and marketing companies learning everything there is to know about marketing and promoting a business.
After having 3 babies in 4 years, she took her doula training and was able to replace her corporate income quicker than most new doulas do because of that previous career in marketing & advertising.
As a Doula Business Coach, Darcy loves sharing her expertise and experience with other doulas.
CONNECT with Darcy:
Free Cheatsheet on getting doula clients: https://douladarcy.com/how-to-start-getting-doula-clients
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/douladarcy
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
