A Doula's Guide to Staying in Business | Patty Brennan

10/20/2021

A Doula's Guide to Staying in Business
Patty Brennan

This episode was sponsored by:

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We are a 501 3c Non-Profit. Our aim is to prevent and heal birth trauma through education. Women need to understand their options and rights in childbirth so that they can have a safe and healthy birth.

Today we talk to Patty Brennan, founder of Lifespan Doulas, and author of The Doula Business Guide. She offers doula education, training, and certification through her program, as well as the business training needed for independent workers to establish a stable practice. Over her 40 year career, Patty has personally trained over 2000 doulas, in addition to being a doula and a midwife herself, running a company and nonprofit, and authoring vital business resources for doulas around the world.

We talk about the struggles that recently certified doulas face when they are first trying to establish a practice, and how the right type of guidance and support can help them to avoid an early burnout. We also talk about some things new doulas can use to establish themselves, and what they should avoid when getting started, as well as when they should be willing to serve on a volunteer basis and when they should avoid working for free. We discuss what to do as a doula when you are burning out or losing your passion for your work.

We discuss some of the business models that doulas can establish their practice under and some of the benefits of each, as well as the importance of being aware of the way that you personally work best when determining how you will approach your business and payment model. We also talk about how to get started as a doula and which states require licensing, as well as some of the potential issues with governmental regulation versus the benefits.

Finally we talk about how doulas can overcome the aversion to "selling" their passion-based work rather than giving it for free so that they can sustain themselves while doing what they love. We discuss authentic ways of marketing yourself as a doula, as well as the effect that underselling yourself has on the ways potential clients think about your service. We talk about differentiating yourself from other doulas operating in your area to draw in attention of clients, and how to advertise to the community of people that you most want to focus on serving.

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A concerning pattern that has arisen as doula training has become more widely available and the work has gained popularity is that though most doulas go into their practice with their heart fully aligned with their work, we are still seeing a large number of new doulas going out of business within the first few years. This happens for a number of reasons, but one of the most apparent is that while doula certification and training are readily available, there isn't a lot of equally available business training that is specifically tailored to birth workers. Many doulas don't even realize that they need business knowledge until they are overwhelmed. If business training were to become more of a fundamental aspect of doula certification, it could spare a lot of new doulas the confusion and burnout that is driving so many out of practice.

Sarah and Patty discuss the business aspects of starting a doula practice -- or indeed any form of independent birth work -- and how to approach it from the start to best prevent burnout. They also discuss some ways that doulas can set up their business depending on how they personally do their best work.

Patty is the owner and visionary force behind Lifespan Doulas, a doula training and certification agency offering online birth, postpartum, and end-of-life doula training and doula business development support. For 40 years, she has been a doula, midwife, educator, author, nonprofit executive, and successful entrepreneur. Patty has personally trained over 2,000 people to become doulas. As the founder/executive director of two community-based nonprofit doula programs in Michigan, Patty has helped makes doulas widely available in her home state, especially for low-income families. She is the author of The Doula Business Guide: How to Create a Successful Birth, Postpartum or End-of-Life Doula Business and The Doula Business Guide Workbook, both in their third editions.

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This episode was sponsored by:

Please donate HERE

We are a 501 3c Non-Profit. Our aim is to prevent and heal birth trauma through education. Women need to understand their options and rights in childbirth so that they can have a safe and healthy birth.