Best Practices for Birth Businesses

If you've become a doula of any type (labor, postpartum or other) then you might understand that your initial impression of professionalism will impact your overall business in a positive or negative way, depending on how you're operating and in particular, it starts with how you're responding (or not!) to potential client inquiries.

I have been approached by more than one "client" of our students who have raved about the wonderful professionalism of our students and graduates and that makes me feel so proud of our organization as a whole. But there is also usually a balance to these stories, and that is of doulas who were NOT trained by MaternityWise, who have not shown up as professional...

When you are representing yourself as a doula, please keep this little phrase in mind: EVERY DOULA REPRESENTS EVERY DOULA

It is not only important in a hospital setting, but it is even more important in how you represent yourself online, on your website, in discussion groups, in person, etc. If your website is out of date, if your calendar is not synced up, if you are unresponsive to texts / emails / phone calls, it makes you look bad, yes, but it also leaves a bad impression in the minds of pregnant and postnatal families, who are just looking for honest, kind, supportive caregivers. THIS is what I have heard from families. Yes, they are relieved to have finally found a wonderful doula who was trained well by MaternityWise and operates their business like a compassionate professional, but they may have gone through the trenches before they found them and that just shouldn't be the case.

Imagine a pregnant, single mother who just prays for a supportive and understanding individual to help her through this very challenging process. She needs education, translation of medical terminology, and understanding of what she's facing so she can truly be informed and feel her bodily autonomy and wishes for consent to be honored. If she has to call and either be ignored or be turned away from doulas who cannot care for her, then she may just give up before ever finding the right doula.

Here are a couple Best Practices that I want you to keep in mind when serving clients (as recommended by birthing families who have generously and graciously given feedback):

1. Keep your digital representation up to date. No longer a doula? Take down your site, your profile from online directories and provide a trusted referral when approached for care.

2. This leads me to this next one, referrals - make sure you have a network of community resources that you can refer to, or utilize as a back up in case you need one.

3. Answer your inquiries within 24 hours, whenever possible! Pregnant people are on a timeline and anxiety grows when you reach out, but hear nothing back.

4. Make sure you understand and are operating within the Scope of Practice and Code of Ethics that all doulas should be adhering to. If you're promising something that you cannot deliver (medical advocacy / bodyguard mentality for example - see our next blog post about that!), then you need to make sure your representation online is accurate and not misleading.

Hopefully these are helpful to you as you develop your business. If you're already a doula and would like to get a little help with creating or growing the professional side of your business, we offer a great 3 week series called Birth Biz Bootcamp. You don't have to be a labor doula to attend, or even a MaternityWise student or graduate doula, this is for anyone who has a birth related business. Our next one is happening soon! Click here to find the next dates available: https://www.maternitywise.com/locate-a-workshop

If you would like to learn more about how to become a doula, click here: https://www.maternitywise.com/certification-programs

We sincerely hope to continue to influence and shape the birthing world, as we grow and show up for families everywhere!