How Do Doulas Find Clients?
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Kaely Harrod 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 Kaely Harrod. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born 12 nearly 13 years ago. 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. Thank you for joining us on this journey. How do doulas find clients now this is your little kind of sneak peek into what I plan to cover in the upcoming masterclass on May 2 2023. So if you're listening to this as it's coming out, then that is next week. And so I would be thrilled to have you in that class. It is one of my new free masterclass is for new doulas that I'm going to be offering on a very regular basis. So I am super pumped about this one because I think I I just remember a lot about the frustration around finding clients when I first started. So I want you to think about a couple different things. One is when you're finding doula clients, there's not just one way to do it. There's not like a right way. Right. And I think sometimes what more experienced doulas lack is the empathy for how intimidating it is getting started. Because at this point in my life, I feel very comfortable randomly telling people I'm a doula wearing a doula shirt being like, Hey, where are you giving birth? I'm a doula, you know, in part because I don't feel like I'm selling myself anymore. I'm like telling them about an awesome thing that would be super helpful to them, which is doula support, right? And so I feel less like sleazy about it than I used to. But also, I have a really steady stream of clients like incredibly steady stream of clients. So I'm also not lacking clients where I'm not ever introducing myself or like having a conversation with a pregnant person being like, please, please, please, please, please, please hire me. Right? That's not the energy that I have about clients right now. Because I do not lack clients, right? So what I think is sometimes when a new doula is just starting out, then those of us who have been doing it for a little while, can kind of have this this. I don't know nonchalant attitude, this kind of like, yeah, just like, meet someone at the library. And then the new doula is like what? Like, you just want me to walk up and be like, do you want to hire me to see you naked while you're giving birth? And you're like, Well, no, that's not what I mean. But also, like, it feels very easy to me. And it's hard to kind of articulate how you should also get to that place, right? So. So the reason I really want to teach this particular class is I think there are layers to getting clients. And the strategy can be a little bit different depending on how quickly you need to have paying clients. And what I mean by that is some people get into doula work, and they're kind of like easing in, and they're like, by the end of six months, I want to have a full time business, right. And other people are like, I need a client by next month, you know, and some people are either even farther out than that, where they're saying, like, I have a year and a half, until I really want to be full time in this. And so I'm gonna like just really slowly build this up. In that case, then not having a paying client right away is totally fine. Because they're like, that's okay, I can take time to like, get to know people and, you know, get referrals and maybe connect with chiropractors, or like acupuncturist, massage therapists, et cetera, et cetera. And I have the time for that, right? Because that's not a fast source of clients. That's a slow source of clients. And if you have a year, year and a half, even six months, that you're kind of easing into being more like kind of taking on more of a doula role, then you have some space to take one of those kind of slower referral methods, right? When I think about getting clients, I think about things that are fast, things that are medium things that are slow speed. So slow speed is like building a relationship with someone like a total stranger, right? Building a relationship with a complete stranger, who's maybe like a midwife or an OB or whatever, then very slowly, you're going to build rapport with that person. You're going to build trust with that person. You're going to build familiarity with that person, and then eventually, they're going to maybe send you clients. But that takes some time, right? So it's not something where Like, if I need clients by next month, I'm going to start talking to a midwife about potentially referring clients to me in the future. That's not a fast method of clients in most cases, okay? The other thing is, so you can do kind of like that slow method, sorry. And then you could do also like the medium, which is kind of like a hybrid between the two where you're like meeting people, but more, maybe more proactively, and like meeting trying to meet pregnant folks, maybe teaching classes to pregnant people. So you're like regularly in a scenario where someone could maybe want to hire you. And that's a little bit more involved. But also, if you need clients, kind of in the medium timeframe, that's really important. If you're needing clients like right this minute, and you don't know, people to start kind of tapping into, you don't already have an established relationship with someone, let's say that you are like, Okay, I talked to a new doula actually, recently, who has a parent who's a massage therapist, local to her, and deals with pregnant folks. So I'm like, amazing, that means your parent who automatically thinks you're amazing at Well, in this situation she does, that can literally refer people to you like maybe right now, you know. So you don't have to take time to build trust, etcetera, etcetera, with your own mom, because she actually already trusts and loves you and thinks you're amazing. And so then she can refer people to you, people already know and trust and love her. And then she has that, that like know, like trust factor built up that you can benefit from. So that's a little bit quicker, because you don't have to do that like long work of building up the relationship with the provider who will potentially be referring to you, okay. In the DC area where I'm based, I would say if you need clients by next month, the fastest way to have clients is to work with a reputable agency, even then, you're not always going to get clients by next month. But oftentimes, there's a solid opportunity for backup work. And that is a good way to get money and kind of start to get clients so that a you're financially sustained and be you have some more experience to talk about when people want to hire you you feel less like I don't know, self conscious about the fact that you haven't supported many families or attended many births. So that's another thing to consider if you're needing kind of a shorter term thing. So this is the little like six minute version of what you're getting in the longer masterclass. If this sounded helpful to you, please do sign up for that class, because I am going to go into much more detail about each of these things and kind of talk through the nuances of them and what what are some of the other strategies in the long, slow, long, medium and slow lane of getting clients and how to kind of build that up. So until next time, I wish you lovely, wonderful July experiences and we'll talk soon. 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 Herat 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 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 it is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around
Finding doula clients is an imperative part of doula work. New doulas are often trying to figure out how to find doulas when they’re just getting started. I remember some advice of just approaching pregnant people who are out in the wild! The reality is that every doula needs various streams of clients, so there are multiple answers to this particular question.
I like to refer to these as slow, medium and fast doula client strategies. Not every doula needs to do all of them, but they are all beneficial and all slightly different in terms of timeline for getting clients.
When you are brand new one of the ways to decide on which strategy to begin with depends largely on how quickly you need to begin this work. Some people become a doula as a side job when they already have a full-time job they love! Those people have the privilege of slowly increasing their client load in a way that people who are needing this work to be their full-time work do not necessarily have.
Key Takeaways:
There should be more than one stream of clients in every business
There are slow, medium and fast methods of getting clients
Most businesses need a mix of all 3!
FREE MASTERCLASS
Wanting more in depth help strategies for finding clients? Join the upcoming Doula Masterclass on May 2nd. Use the link below to register today!
Where are all the clients? 3 Key Sources of Clients that Every Doula Needs!
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/doula-mentoring-masterclass-1
Resources I love:
Evidence Based Birth: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
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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
