Doula Business Boundaries: Don't Change Your Prices for Clients!
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Transcript
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.
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. Hello and welcome back to doula tips and tips. Today we are diving into boundaries. Now I talk about boundaries a lot because I think they matter in all of life, but especially in owning a business because you can really be the crappiest boss you've ever had or the best boss you've ever had.
So today's boundary discussion is around prices. This is something that I'm a little fired up about because it just happened in my business and so I want to talk about it. One thing that I have seen over the years as a doula is occasionally someone will want you to charge less money.
And this is different than someone who legitimately has financial need and you choose to do care for less money. So I'm just going to use myself as an example. Early pandemic times there was a birth center in the DC area that was getting an influx of people because people were nervous to give birth in the hospital and the birth center was really being inundated like having a volume that they couldn't really handle.
And so they said you have to have a doula with you in order to come to this birth center. However they are a birth center that is in network with with Medicaid in the area and so if someone was on Medicaid they covered the birth center but they don't cover or didn't cover at the time at least doula care.
And so one of the things that the owner of the birth center asked was you know are there any doulas who are able or willing to give services for low cost or for free so that our clients who are Medicaid clients have a way to be able to come to us because we really feel like they need a doula we need them to have another person on their team but they can't necessarily afford the full price right.
And so I'm one of the doulas who does that I offer a very reduced fee. At this point it's like an eighth of my normal fee I think maybe a little bit more than an eighth but like you know under a tenth of my fee and that's not true is it under a tenth I don't know my math is so not great but it's very low it's less than a quarter of my fee for sure.
And so that's something that I offer when someone either has Medicaid or they're on some kind of social services. So this is not something I make someone prove to me like how this works with the birth center is they say and I actually have this agreement with a few midwives now they say hey this person is coming to us using their Medicaid or using their social services or whatever it is and I say okay great here is my reduced fee package for you.
I only do this twice a year at a max because I can't afford to do it more often than that. My business is thriving it's doing amazing but we live in DC and DC is super freaking expensive and so I am not yet at the place financially where I feel like I can do it more than twice a year.
But I do take donations so I've had some clients in the past donate for other clients to get services so those donations might go towards childbirth ed for free. My childbirth ed class is already very inexpensive for people who are on social services and it might also go for go towards postpartum hours for free so it depends entirely on what people need and what kind of the community is looking for etc but there's lots of ways that I offer free and reduced fee services.
I also volunteer at one of the hospitals which I've talked about in the past so I'm this episode is not like look at how amazing I am that's not the point of this. My point is there are ways to offer services to people who legitimately have financial hardships that are keeping them from being able to receive your services right?
That is not what I'm talking about today. What I'm talking about today is people who don't want to pay your prices or people who want you to charge less because they're gonna buy a lot of your hours, right?
So like a family that wants like 200 postpartum hours and wants it to be $2 an hour cheaper because they're buying 200 hours, right? But in the case of my scenario, we're looking at a potential client who wants a lot of postpartum hours and has asked for a reduced hourly fee.
The problem is that I also pay my team really well. I want them to get paid very well. And so in this case, the client wants to pay the exact same thing that the team gets paid, which means once the client pays me and I pay the fees for that payment and that payment gets transferred into my account, I'm no longer even going to have the amount of money that I need to pay my team member, right?
And I'm not doing these services. So that means I'm going to end up paying them out of my own pocket for this service. And the doula client is going to get part of it for free essentially, right? And obviously, I mean, this is a scenario where I feel like most of us would be like, no, that doesn't make any sense because you're not even going to pay enough for your doula, right?
But it is shocking to me the number of times that people come with a variety of questions about package costs. And it's not curious questions. It's like kind of accusatory questions. Now, sometimes they are curious, right?
I've had clients in the past say, can you explain this price difference to me? Or like, why is it this much more to add these hours versus those hours? Just, I'm just curious. That's not what I mean.
I'm a question asker. You can ask for clarity. You can ask questions. What I mean is when someone legitimately thinks you need to be charging less and wants you to make an exception to your prices for them, my experience in the past, and I have, I've said yes to this.
So part of my, part of my speaking about this today, part of this being on the podcast is A, we're coming up on our doula consultation workshop, which I think really matters because in that consultation, you need to have a very firm idea of what you charge and why you charge it.
But B, I have actually said yes to these folks in the past. So I am not preaching from some kind of righteous place here. I very much have also fallen into this where I'm like, Oh, I do really need you to hire me.
You're right. My prices are kind of high. Okay, fine. I guess I'll do it for less. It never works well. Like never, ever, ever. So I'm going to give you two examples of when I said yes to this. One was, I said yes to someone having a reduced fee.
And then I went to do their prenatal visits and this family had a Tesla in their driveway. And I was like, you know, Tesla's aren't the most expensive car you could possibly have. But are you a family that needs a reduced fee if you can also own a Tesla?
Probably not. And for me, that made me feel some kind of way just because I was like, Oh, it's not so much that you can't pay it is that you didn't want to pay it. And why do you feel like some things are worth paying for, but not my services.
And that really made me feel crappy if I'm going to be honest, right? Because I don't know why they felt the need to say that to me. But I am the one who undervalued myself by saying yes to them, right?
And I'm the one who didn't respect my own boundaries and my own needs as a business owner by saying yes to them. And then I felt crappy about myself. They didn't feel crappy about that, right? They didn't feel crappy about getting my services for cheaper.
And that does not serve you. It never will serve you. Another example of this was I let someone book a big postpartum package for cheaper than I normally charge for it. It's just prior to having a team, so it wasn't going to impact the team.
But then I also let her pay a payment plan for it where she was going to pay for the beginning of it, and then pay as she went with the hours, and then she just didn't book the rest of the hours. And so I ended up making like a fourth of the money of that package because she just never actually scheduled the hours and therefore never paid for them.
And it was a huge package. So it should have been like a couple thousand dollars and I ended up making like 800. So those are two examples of when I've said yes to this and really regretted it. And like I said, there are scenarios in which you can choose to offer lower cost or free services but do not do so just out of a lack of confidence in your own ability or in your own services or in your own worth.
Because all of that is not okay and it's gonna end up feeling really, really crappy, you know. So I just want to leave you with a little bit of an encouragement today. I want you to take some time to affirm yourself.
Why do you charge what you charge? And what is the need for that charge for yourself, right? What is the need for that for your family? How does your business get sustained by that? And why is it that you should not let yourself say no to this?
I mean say yes. Say say nah. Don't let yourself say yes to people who are trying to undercharge you. That could be any more confusing. The reason I want you to take some time to do this is we're coming up on this workshop.
We're talking about doula consultations. Part of what I want you to own is who you are and what you do and be so clear in that that you can communicate it anywhere anytime to anybody. And that is part of how these doula consultations will feel so much less stressful to you.
And you'll get more people saying yes to them which is a big deal. But also they're going to feel so much less stressful because you're going to be able to come and say hey I really want to you know chat about doula care.
This is what it is. How I function. This is my philosophy. This is why I charge what I charge etc. People are going to already feel put at ease by the confidence that you have in what you're bringing to them.
And a big part of that is knowing why you priced your packages how you price them and why your packages are set up how they are. Now I want you to go sign up for that workshop. It's September 19th at 1 p .m.
Eastern. However if you do not yet have packages you need to first sign up for the package kick -ass doula package writer. That is my freebie. The link to that is at the top of the show notes. I'm going to make sure that that is at the top.
That's a freebie that you get access to talking through how to set your prices what to include in your packages etc etc. If you don't have packages and prices yet that's where I want you to start and also of course sign up for the workshop.
But before the workshop happens on September 19th I want you to write out your packages. A little tip and hint is that when you get that freebie you have the option of booking a package review call with me and it is a fraction of what I normally charge for those calls.
So it's seven bucks total if you do it through the through the freebie. So download that freebie get that seven dollar call get on the phone with me and have me actually look over your packages with you.
You'll get 30 minutes of my time. We will get to business. We'll check out your packages tweak them talk through them make some edits to them and then you will be perfectly ready for that workshop on September 19th.
Okay I can't wait to see you there and I can't wait to see you downloading that guide and making some kick ass packages. I'll see you in the next episode. 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 hara 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 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. 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.
Don’t miss the FREE Doula Consultation Workshop: 3 Proven techniques to increase client conversions. This 1 hour workshop will teach you how to show up with confidence and ultimately get more “HELL YES” responses! Sign up today!
https://harroddoulaservices.thrivecart.com/doula-consultations-workshop-pod/
Boundaries are vital for Doula Business Sustainability. I will preach that message until I die. The type of boundaries we are talking about today are around your prices. Set them and then DO NOT lower them for people. Listen for the why!
Quote from the show:
“So today's boundary discussion is around prices. This is something that I'm a little fired up about because it just happened in my business and so I want to talk about it. One thing that I have seen over the years as a doula is occasionally someone will want you to charge less money. And this is different than someone who legitimately has financial need and you choose to do care for less money. What I'm talking about today is people who don't want to pay your prices or people who want you to charge less because they're gonna buy a lot of your hours, right?”
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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
