What Are Your Doula Dreams?

Aug 30

Kaely Harrod 00:04
Welcome to doula Tips and Tits. 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 Herat. 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. What are you hoping your doula business will be like? Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. This is a question that I pose to clients when I'm talking about their birth plans. I obviously don't ask them about their doula business, but I asked them, What are you hoping your birth will be like? And I kind of give them the caveat that I'm not quizzing them on their knowledge of birth. But I'm also wanting them to kind of give me an honest view of what you're, what they're currently envisioning what they would dream to happen right. Now, obviously, I am not telling my clients that everything they're dreaming is just going to magically come true. You know, however, what this does for me as a doula is sets me up to help them get to the dream that they're wanting. Not perfectly because doulas are not magic pills that make births magical every single time, right. But I also can acknowledge when things do not pan out how they want them to based on what they shared as their dream and goal. Okay. So in my mind, this kind of hits two different things. One, you're getting to envision what you want this to be like and two, as your support person, I'm getting to hear what really matters to you. So that if that doesn't happen, I can acknowledge that. But I can also take what you want to happen and look at where we are right now, and give you a realistic roadmap to get us as close to that as we can. Right? So what does that have to do with you as a doula? Well, what that means is that you can actually do the exact same thing in your business. Now, I don't tell clients, I want you to go and think about this on your own and like, good luck, right? I do this with them. I sit in the prenatal visit and say, okay, I'd love to start by hearing. What do you want this to look like? What are you kind of dreaming? And also, what are you afraid of? Right, like, what are you afraid might happen? What are some of the things that are a big deal to you? That's exactly what I do with doulas in my Doula coaching program. Part of what I love about coaching doulas is it takes all my favorite parts about being a doula and applies it to other doulas which in turn, lets them be great at being doulas. I really think we need doulas for everything right? Like I would love a rental doula as I'm searching for rental homes. Right. I would love car buying doulas. I'm looking at possible SUVs that I could purchase soon. And so doulas are essentially guides, right? We're educating, we're guiding but we're also doing that from a place of more experience and knowledge than our clients have. Right? So when I think about doula coaching, coaching of doulas that are new ish to the business, I think about you telling me your dreams, and me helping you see what the path can be to get there. Now, I don't just imagine this on my own right, I also need this. So I want to tell you about a session that I had in the summertime early in the summer with my own business coach. Now, I don't always talk about my revenue numbers and things like that, because I don't think we all need to have the same goal and desire and plan etc. Right. But for the sake of this, I want to kind of explain, give some context to what I'm telling you. So last year, I my business revenue was just under $90,000. For the year, right. And so, so far this year, it's already at that point. And so I'm looking at potentially making double the revenue that I made last year as a doula, right. So I had I have a coach that's amazing, a business coach and I was meeting with her in June and I said, we were talking about revenue and what is my current like last 12 months? You know, from last summer to this summer, what was my revenue? What do I hope it will be between this summer and next summer? And I said to her, you know, I really want it to be at least 200,000. But I also am kind of like, but how right? And she was like, Well, tell me what makes money in your business right now. And so we started writing down, okay, how many birth clients you're gonna have? How many postpartum clients you're gonna have? How many classes do you teach? How much do you make from your online class? How much do you make from your doula coaching? How many people have you had in there? And within about five minutes, she was like, Kaylee, we're not even done calculating this. And you're basically not changing much at all. You're already at 200,000. And it was a moment for me that I was kind of like, oh, so that seems like a very far off place. But actually, it's right here. Like if I just keep doing what I'm doing and like, tweak a few things here. And they're, like, I brought on my amazing teammate. Kyrsten. In the summertime, that was part of that like thinking through like, okay, it is time to expand my team, if I have someone who's able to do overnights and do more postpartum care. And I can keep coaching her and kind of have this awesome companion in this business. That would be amazing, right? So there were some shifts, but my coach was able to make it super realistic. She was just like, yeah, you can totally do that. And actually, you might surpass it way before next summer, right. And I left that meeting, like, I got this, like, I can do this now. Am I there yet? Nope. Nope, I'm not. Now it's been two months since I met with her right. So I am not saying that she magically made me $200,000. Within a month of me meeting with her. That's not what that was. But I am on my track to get there. Because I'm following that plan that we made together for how that dream can become a reality. Now, let's say I went into that meeting and said, you know, Leanne, I want to make a million dollars revenue in the next 12 months. My guess is she probably would have been like, I don't know if that's possible this year. Is that possible in the future? Absolutely. This year, I don't know if you have enough things on your like in your business that sell that you can sell for that amount of money, right. So this is not a scenario where she's taking a big dream of mine and being like, let me show you how it can happen. No matter how big your dream is, she is guiding me and encouraging me to dream bigger, which coaches should do, right. But also, she's saying that is a realistic dream. And this is how you could get to that dream. And that's what I want to do for you. That is what I love doing for clients. I was able to have a conversation this week with a client who's now on my coaching program. So she's one of the ones in this new September group that's coming up. And as I was talking to her, she was like, this is exactly what I need, like everything that you're saying. I'm like, yes, and yes, and yes.
Kaely Harrod 08:12
Pardon my crazy driving neighbors here in this great city of DC. And so as I'm talking to her, I was getting like giddy, right? Because I'm like, this will be awesome for you, this will be perfect for you. And also, I'm so excited to dive into what you need in your business and what you can do in your business and how your business can grow. Because what lights me up is you excelling at your business, right? Like you doing even more and knowing the capacity to do more, and having a game plan to do more. Now, does that mean that I do all that work for you? No, of course I don't, I can't make you do your work for your business, I can't. But I can guide you in what the next step is, and help you kind of like pull back from things that don't matter and stop kind of spinning your wheels in the same place when really like that's not as big of a decision as it feels like and so just make it and then move on. Right. And so that kind of dueling that kind of coaching is all about is is what this program is all about. Like that is what I made this program for. Okay, so I know that this we're in this like mini series of hot topics, and that is coming back next week. But I am the owner of this podcast and so sometimes I get spontaneous new ideas that I'm like, You know what, we're gonna postpone that a little. So this week, you're getting this episode and one more about my dreams for you because I just cannot keep them in. I'm so excited to see your doula business grow. And I needed to share that with you. The other thing that I really want you to know if you're listening to this in August August or early September 2023. The September cohort of my Doula coaching group is the last cohort for the year. That doesn't mean I won't run it again, I do plan to run it again at the beginning of 2024. But until then I am not running it again. And so I want you to know that you have the opportunity to join now, it's already a third of the way full. So there's not that many spots left. Or you could join in the new year, but there's no in between. So if you get to October and kind of wish you had been in it, there is no chance to be in it at that point, right. So I don't want you to miss the opportunity to be in this fall group and get some significant business growth happening before you get to 2024. All right. I will talk to you in the next episode. 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 your health and your business. We'll see you again soon.

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What are your doula business dreams? What should your doula business look like? How does your doula business make you feel? What are you afraid of in business? These are questions I love to dig into with my coaching doulas. I love to dig into what you’re hoping to build and then HELP you make a plan to build it. Give you a roadmap. But best of all encourage you and remind you of what you’re capable of!

Quote from the show:

“So last year, my business revenue was just under $90,000. For the year, right. And so, so far this year, it's already at that point. And so I'm looking at potentially making double the revenue that I made last year as a doula, right. So I have a coach who's amazing, a business coach and I was meeting with her in June and we were talking about revenue and what is my current, like in the last 12 months…revenue? What do I hope it will be between this summer and next summer? And I said to her, you know, I really want it to be at least 200,000. But I also kind of like, but how?? And she was like, Well, tell me what makes money in your business right now. And so we started writing down, okay, how many birth clients you're gonna have? How many postpartum clients are you gonna have? How many classes do you teach? How much do you make from your online class? How much do you make from your doula coaching? How many people have you had there? And within about five minutes, she was like, Kaely, we're not even done calculating this, and you're basically not changing much at all, you're already at 200,000. ”

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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