Rerun: How Much Do Doulas Get Paid?
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Transcript
Welcome back. This is another one of our summer series rerun episodes. Today, this episode is about how much do doulas get paid. Now, there's a ton of nuance here, so you will hear that in the episode.
One of my biggest things that I preach is charging a price that feels good and is sustainable. And so that's a bit about what you're gonna get in today's episode. If you have not already jumped on our newsletter list, please do that now.
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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 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. If you have been around for any length of time, you know very clearly that I answered these questions with a whole bunch of nuance, but that is the field that we are in, friends.
So welcome to one more episode that does not only have one answer to this question. So we're diving into doula pay, and I think in my mind, this is a sustainability issue, because when we think about birth work, we think about doula work, we think about the wear and tear on our bodies, we think about the wear and tear emotionally, traumatically, et cetera, traumatically.
I feel like, is that a word? It is now. And I want you to also be able to think through what does this need to look like for me? What do I want this to look like for me? And how do I define sustainability, right?
Now, today's question is not a sustainability. It's not how do I stay sustainable, right? But it is about doula pay, which I think is a major issue in sustainability. So I wanna kind of add a few different little tidbits here.
One issue that I see is that people undervalue themselves based on their experience level, and that is a concern for me. Every time I see someone say I'm gonna charge next to nothing because I'm a new doula, I have two feelings.
One is I totally get it. I was there and I did that, right? And the other is you don't need to charge less, like less than you should get paid for this work because you're brand new. Now, you also don't have to be the most expensive doula in the area if this is your second birth, right?
But you absolutely do not have some kind of maximum amount that you can charge because of your experience level, okay? So that's the first point. It's just like this content is not applied only to people who've attended hundreds of births, right?
Anytime you're starting a business venture, I want you to think of it as a business venture, right? This work, this doula work is you being an entrepreneur. It's not a side hobby, right? And if you're not really charging for it, it is sort of a side hobby, right?
And I mean, on the one hand, I very much am not a person that thinks money defines the value of something, absolutely not. And I think I could go on a whole rant about the systemic issues of capitalism.
So I'll just suffice it to say that I do not believe that you are illegitimate if you are not getting paid for something, 100%, no, okay? So anytime, really anytime you're beginning something new, whether it's a new service that you're adding onto your business or you're starting a business for the very first time, one of the factors you really wanna consider is what do I want and need this to look like?
And how do I get to that end, right? Because oftentimes in business, we have sort of this like mix up of like how... your desired end and how that how you will actually or can actually get there don't connect right and we don't always do a great job of even just being like oh okay this year i'd really like to have you know my business gross twenty thousand dollars but i only want to have four clients and i only want to charge those clients one thousand dollars each right well then your business isn't going to gross twenty thousand dollars because if you're having four clients and they're each paying you one one thousand that's only four thousand right so the reason i say that the very first step is you defining what you want this to look like for you is that i don't think there's intrinsically more value in a company that grosses a hundred thousand dollars or a company that grosses four thousand dollars right but if you need this business to bring in twenty thousand dollars and you're charging one thousand dollar a person you're probably not going to meet that goal if that is kind of where you are right and so there needs to be a recognition of that mismatch in desires or needs or goals or wants or whatever you want to classify it as and where you actually are in your business okay we'll be right back after this message from our sponsors okay so um you might already have the sneaky suspicion that i am in fact not going to tell you exactly what you should be charging as a doula and you're right i am not in fact going to say i want you to charge x amount of dollars okay now what i will say is i don't want your cost and the fee that you assign to your services to be dictated by fear and imposter syndrome or to be dictated by the thoughts and desires of everyone else around you um and so part of what i want you to think about as you're kind of thinking through this episode as you're you're listening along with me and processing this is what could this look like for you and how do you want it to be because you defining your own success in business when you own your own business is the very definition of what that is right that is the freedom that you have as a solopreneur it is the most glorious thing about owning your own business is being your own boss the other side of that is you can either be your own best boss or your own worst boss right and part of a worst boss scenario is a scenario where you undervalue your work and then don't get paid sufficiently to make this sustainable and to to tell yourself of your value right so that's a really important portion of this so um i realized that that might leave you being like okay kaylee but what the heck do i charge right um here are a couple things to think through one think about where you live do you live in a metropolitan area where cost of living is high and generally um fee for services is on the higher end right then you might be a person who can in charge a little bit more um are you in a more rural area where there aren't as many um fee for service sort of businesses and so you're kind of like getting that sort of thing even going in your area and you need to be able to sort of warm people up to it then that's a factor right um i do on the one hand appreciate the advice to kind of check out what other people in your area charge i think that in some ways that can be validating but also i think it can sometimes hold you back because doula work is a field that we chronically undercharge for and because of that if you're looking at a bunch of more experience than you doulas who are undercharging for their services you're going to inherently undercharge for yours because you're basing your rates off of people who are doing that right and so that is one strategy is to look at kind of what the average cost is in your area but do that with a little bit of caution because i don't want that to be the main thing that's dictating what you charge okay Um,
another thing that I think is really important to think through is the fact that as a solo business owner, if you're based in the US, you can raise your prices really anytime. So you get to decide if you start out at a price and you're like, actually, no one's hiring me because this price is too high, or no one's hiring me because this price is too low, or I feel undervalued myself because this price is so low,
then you can reevaluate those prices and go up. I, I should have probably counted this before I started recording, but I have raised my prices, I want to say at least six times in my five years of business.
And part of that is that I started with incredibly low, completely unsustainable pricing, right? And it was 100% because of fear and imposter syndrome. And with time and with encouragement and with like learning about business and with realistically being like, I live in DC and need to like pay for my family to live, right, then I have raised my prices and what have been able to really feel good about that and feel like I'm at a place that that honors me as a person honors the work that I do with families and also allows families to invest,
right? And so, so I'm not saying this from a place that I have not personally lived out. I have been the doula that's charging incredibly low and and have increased my prices over the years. So, so ask yourself some of those questions and then also look at what you do realistically need to bring the, have the business bring in in terms of profit and also think through what portion of the different things that you're offering,
do you want to have a greater amount of income from, right? Because the percentage of income when you're thinking about various services in a doula business also varies business to business, right? So in the coming weeks, we are going to dive into other services that doulas offer and kind of what that can look like.
And so stay tuned for that. Also, I have a super special announcement coming up about a class that I made all for you, lovely doula. And so just stay tuned the next couple of episodes in about like four episodes, you'll hear about that.
So I'm super pumped to share that with you and have that resource available for you to help you kind of work through these questions that we're asking here. So until next time, I wish you well -informed consent -filled doula experiences.
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.
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One of the things that I preach is Doulas charging a price that feels good and is sustainable. And so that's a bit about what you're gonna get in today's episode. Charging a price that allows you to show up authentically with your clients is vital to Doula work!
Quote from the show:
“One issue that I see is that people undervalue themselves based on their experience level, and that is a concern for me. Every time I see someone say I'm gonna charge next to nothing because I'm a new doula, I have two feelings. One, I totally get it. I was there and I did that, right? And the other is you don't need to charge less, like less than you should get paid for this work because you're brand new. Now, you also don't have to be the most expensive doula in the area if this is your second birth, right?”
I mention the ability to book coaching calls with me. Those can be found below:
30 Minute Coaching:
https://calendly.com/harroddoula/doula-coaching-30-minutes?preview_source=et_card&month=2024-06
60 Minute Coaching:
https://calendly.com/harroddoula/doula-coaching-one-off?month=2024-06
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
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
