Today I get to introduce you to Allison Nevalga of Kaya Ko Doula Services. She’s another of my Doula Biz Blueprint Coaching Students. She shares a bit about her own birth stories as well as how her doula business got started and has grown. Her unique perspective from where she started in her first pregnancy to where she is now is worth a listen!

She was struggling with imagining how work as a full-time doula could look. She

knew she loved this field, but branching into a new career felt very daunting. She questioned her ability to find clients and sustain her life without significant financial issues. It seemed that keeping her current job was the safest option, but her desire was to be a doula and support new families in that precious season of life.

The process of branching into doula work full-time can be intimidating. Especially when life keeps on going at a fast pace around you. Today’s conversation is with one of my first Doula Coaching students, Dominique Jones. I’m so excited to introduce you and let you hear a bit of her story in this doula work.

You need to have an idea of not only where you hope to go as a doula, but also what that could look like and how you may get there. Now I specifically want to encourage you to both DREAM BIG and also plan strategically. Those two need to go hand in hand. They need to be held together, just like in birth preparation.

As a coach I doula doulas :) I teach doulas how to organize, run and plan their businesses, but also guide them with compassion, empathy and support throughout the whole year we are together! I pour into my doulas so they can pour into their clients.

Taking time off-call is very important to doula work. Being on-call has all kinds of wear and tear that comes along with it. Because of that doulas have to be more intentional than many professionals at prioritizing time off and healthy amounts of breaks. This is of course part of what we talked about in the doula burnout series as it is a major contributor to burnout! This episode dives into how to set those times off and what that can look like as your doula business is starting to fill up.

100 Episodes!!!! In honor of the expansiveness of this podcast we are diving into using your own tools that you teach your clients as a support to yourself as a doula. I want you to ask yourself some questions today: when you're thinking about your business kind of growing and expanding like a pregnancy, what do you want the end result of that to be? What do you want to nurture?

Sometimes as a doula you feel pressure to add all kinds of services to your business. The problem is that there are two problems with that: 1. There are costs involved with adding services and certifications and 2. You can end up adding services that you do not actually want to do!

We are at the forth and final cause of Doula Burnout that we are diving into throughout this mini series. Today’s cause is trauma. Both primary and secondary. Now, the last three were a touch easier to control and buffer, but this one is the one that you have very little control over whether it happens, but you have lots of control over how you respond to it.

Doula Burnout cause number three! Now, part of the goal here is to highlight causes of doula burnout that you can actively work to change in your business. I’m not necessarily saying everyone can change all of them at once, but they are able to be changed and as much as you can be prophylactic about burnout the more successful you’ll be at avoiding it. This third cause of burnout is not charging enough money. Now, there are multiple parts to this, and I would be entirely remiss to not factor in the extreme inequality of who has access to doulas in the United States especially. There is a VAST disparity.

Doula Burnout has a variety of causes, but there are four that seem primary to me. Last episode dove into overworking or hours worked. This episode goes into Self Care or lack of self care and how that contributes to doula burnout.

Today’s episode is the first of four talking about burnout. It’s diving into overworking or giving too many hours away to your work and clients. We have all done this, and still do sometimes. The reality is that if you’re attending births there’s not a ton you can do about how long/frequently you’re there. But the other hours you have and the rest you take intentionally can be something you build in.

How much can and do doulas charge? This is a follow-up question from our last episode about whether it’s possible to make a good living as a doula. Oftentimes when you are in a solo-business you have to set your own prices, but that means many Doulas set their prices on the lower end. This is for many issues from imposter syndrome to the ongoing lower value of female-dominated roles in society. But I digress. Today’s episode is all about what types of prices doulas have and how to set your rates.

How much money do doulas make? Is it possible to make a decent living in this work? Well that’s today’s topic! YES, as a doula you absolutely can work full-time and make a wonderful living. I get paid more now, from my work as a full time doula than I ever have in teaching or childcare or any other field I’ve been in.

It is absolutely possible to be a doula and also work a part time or full time job elsewhere. In fact, I know many doulas who do that. In the coming weeks we’ll discuss various additional services a doula can have in their business in addition to serving clients as a doula. Those services often are less on-call and therefore easier to do when you have additional employment.

Childbirth Education is often a service that people add to their birthwork services as their business grows. Whether you are looking to become a childbirth educator as your main role in the birthwork field or as an additional service for your clients there are some key factors to consider as you’re deciding how to become trained and certified.

How long doulas stay during and after a birth varies widely, but today’s episode goes into what’s typical and how to have clear expectations on both sides!

Postpartum Doulas function in a wide variety of ways! I know, I know, this is what I say about SO MANY of these questions. But it’s true. However, there’s still some typical and not typical situations in terms of shifts. Wondering what your shifts should look like? Tune in to this episode to help you start to make that determination!

Whether you are a doula trying to set expectations for yourself and your clients or a pregnant family trying to determine what’s normal, today’s episode is for you! Doulas all function a bit differently, so as always there’s some nuance to today’s answer. When a doula joins their clients during birth depends on a number of factors.

Mental resilience is a huge part of coping in birth. This is why I believe trauma-informed care is vital to birth work. To reduce additional trauma and decrease the chance of past trauma being triggered. When I read about mental resilience there are often formulas like the 5 pillars or 7 Cs. I love those resources overall, but also wanted to really hone in on the four key aspects of mental resilience when it comes to birth specifically.