Making Your Doula Business Easier with Technology
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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. Hello and welcome back to Doula Tips and Tips. I want to help you think today about how you can use automations and online tech tools to make your life easier in your Doula business.
00:55
Now, one of the things that I am really focused on right now is end of the year review and planning for 2024 in part because that is what we I have a co -working session coming up on that. If you have not heard about that, it's because you're not on the newsletter.
01:13
That is where you're hearing about it. That's the only place I'm telling people about it. And so if you want that information, please join the newsletter. The link is in the show notes, but it's also just haraaDoula -services .com slash newsletter.
01:27
So very easy to get to. If you want to connect with me on Instagram @Harroddoula, I can get you the link there too. But because I'm thinking about that, because I'm thinking about how to host that time, how to have that time be productive and helpful, I'm also thinking about the things that I already use that not every Doula knows about, not every Doula uses to help my business be easier to run.
01:56
So one tool that I use is a financial not financial planning, but a financial organizing tool. So I use QuickBooks. I also use PayPal some and I have Stripe and I have my business bank account, I have two business bank accounts.
02:15
So the nice thing about QuickBooks is that I can go through and categorize my mileage, categorize my expenses and my profit, my income, all of that. And then it will give me an end of year report. So I can really easily go in there and say, okay, what was the revenue in July?
02:39
Right, what was the revenue in August? What was the overall revenue for the year? So that is very helpful because I don't have to go back and forth and back and forth on, you know, trying to figure out in the different accounts and the different expenses and all of that.
02:57
The other thing that I use that makes my life a thousand percent easier is online forms and contracts so that it automatically puts people into my email system. It automatically puts people into my stripe.
03:11
It automatically and stripe is my payment processor so that I can invoice through that. It automatically sends out like a welcome email. So when I have a client reach out to me, they come into my business, they look at my website and they say, I'd like to talk about Doula Services.
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They do an inquiry form. That inquiry form comes to me and then right away they get an email that is odd. I wrote it. I set it up, but it's automated that says, Hey, thank you so much for reaching out.
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I would love to connect with you. Here's a link to book a time for us to talk. And that has been so helpful because people will say, Oh my gosh, I got that email so fast and then was able to write away a book of time.
04:01
Right? Now in the past, I had a little bit more fancy automation, which I could do again, but I've decided to not do it for right now, where someone would inquire and I had them tell me where they were planning to give birth and when they were due and I would update my availability in my automation and it would send them an email that says, Oh gosh, I'm so sorry.
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I'm already full for your due date and here are some Doulas I recommend. So there are lots of ways to set up those kinds of systems and even the one that I'm using right now is free. I use Mailer Lite and I don't have enough subscribers to need to have a paid plan yet.
04:41
And so I can't do all the automations with a free plan, but I can do a lot of them. And that's how I do it. And it has been a game changer because then I can set up the things that I want my clients to automatically get things that I want.
04:57
you know, I'm doing this, this co -working time and I can schedule a couple emails for before and after it so that people are getting what I want them to get when I want them to get it. And I don't have to constantly remember.
05:09
The other thing is batching. So I've talked about this before on the podcast. For my podcast, I try to record a couple episodes at once. So tonight while I'm recording, I'm planning to record four episodes to get me up until the co -working time.
05:26
And then I'm gonna do some interviews with folks, hopefully for the rest of the year. And so that is kind of my plan at the moment. And I'm not batching as successfully as I was earlier in the year because September and October were really busy and crazy hectic months for me and my family.
05:43
And so I have fallen behind a little bit on that. But my plan in the new year is to have my episodes really planned out and strategized. a quarter at a time. So that means like, you know, every three months, I'll kind of strategize.
06:00
I don't look at the whole year because I don't feel like that. That's too overwhelming for me. But I can sit out a whole day and podcast and interview people and things like that, so that I really can kind of have some good batching with that.
06:18
The other thing that I do, that I'm about to do probably tomorrow, but maybe tonight a little bit, is batching social media information and content. So I can go into my Meta scheduler and schedule out a bunch of stuff.
06:35
I again have fallen behind on this a bit. I did a really good job in the summer. I batched out the entire summer and it was lovely. Like I was super consistent on there because I had scheduled it, right?
06:48
And so that's something that I am going to be better about in 2024. And I'm also outsourcing a little bit of it to my awesome assistant hunter. And so that's some of what I'm kind of using and working with in my own business to make it easier on me.
07:07
Now as your business grows, there are all different kinds of ways you can bring technology in. You can look at like, you know, where your customer is coming from and how do they find your website and running ads and all kinds of things.
07:20
That is not necessary right now. So you don't have to dive into that. But I think at the very least having some ways to keep your data and your information from the year kind of sorted and organized and ways to keep your clients, a little bit of the client work automated, can be really, really beneficial for you not letting things fall through the cracks.
07:45
Okay. So I hope that was helpful. If you have not done so, please sign into the newsletter, sign up for that so that you can get that co -working time. invitation, and I will see you in the next episode.
08:00
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 heraDoula so we can celebrate alongside you.
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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. That helps other Doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment.
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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.
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Have you thought about how technology plays a part in your doula business? I am all about making things easier for yourself using technology. We are diving into all the apps and websites I use to manage my finances, client booking, and podcast things.
Quote from the show:
“Now as your business grows, there are all different kinds of ways you can bring technology in. You can look at like, you know, where your customer is coming from and how do they find your website and running ads and all kinds of things. That is not necessary right now. So you don't have to dive into that. But I think at the very least having some ways to keep your data and your information from the year kind of sorted and organized and ways to keep your clients, a little bit of the client work automated, can be really, really beneficial for you not letting things fall through the cracks. ”
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
