Doula Business Courses
Question and Answer with Darlene from Inspirted Birth Pros:
Q: “Good morning! I am having a hard time getting clients. I have made flyers hung them up in many areas, I have made business cards hand them out, I contacted different agencies offering my services and I have advertised on a few sites. I have not received any feed back. What other things could I do?”
A: you’re off to a great start. I think it might help to look at the different marketing methods in terms of the impact that each strategy has, and I’ll share some links that have more info.
Each type of strategy typically has an impact of one of three types – visibility, credibility and outreach. Visibility exposes and introduces people to your brand, credibility is what gives you “expert status” in the minds of your ideal clients, and outreach has to do with reaching out personally to your referral network and potential/current/past clients.
Every type of marketing action you take typically has 1-2 and sometimes all three types of impact. The most powerful strategies are going to be outreach activities, followed by credibility, with visibility having the least immediate impact.
The thing is, you have to implement marketing activities that have all three types of impact.
The types of actions you’ve taken so far are all visibility strategies. So now, you have to come up with ways to connect with your ideal client and let them get to experience you and build up the know-like-trust factor, which means coming up with ways to meet people in person or expose them to you so they feel like they know you, and ways that they can experience you more than once.
Here are a few links with additional information:
What if marketing was FUN (FB Live replay) – http://bit.ly/2BsL4VD
Six types of marketing strategies – http://bit.ly/2sy8llZ
7 ways to attract clients – http://bit.ly/2sv7bI1
How blogging can get you clients – http://bit.ly/2sygxmk
Take some time to explore different ways to connect with your BBF (Business Best Friend) and decide on ways that play to your strengths first so it will be easier to implement, then try a few and see how they work for you.
Q: “My question is about establishing a business. After I finish with my training, what is next? Is it important to establish a business name prior to accepting clients? Is this an LLC? Am I able to practice without an established business? I do not know much of anything about this side of it, so I hope I’m wording my questions right.”
A: That’s a really great question. You are able to operate as a “sole proprietor,” take on clients and file your business taxes on your federal personal tax return with your social security number. (I don’t know what the rules are in each state; my own doesn’t have state taxes)
If you want to operate under a business name, you’ll need to find out how to get a DBA (“Doing Business As” certificate) in your state/county and get your business registered.
It is a good idea to get an Employer Identification Number from the IRS after you get your DBA, even if you don’t plan on having employees, because your clients may want to file their receipts with their insurance company or FSA administrator, and you’ll need to have your federal id # on those receipts. You don’t want to use your own social security #.
An LLC can help protect your personal assets in case anyone wanted to file a suit against you, so that should be a consideration. In some states it might make sense to start an LLC from the get-go, so if you’re considering that route, you might look at free business counseling in your city through the SBA (the SCORE) program or through another non-profit program for small business owners.
Learning about owning a business: http://bit.ly/2syLBCn
Researching legal requirements: http://bit.ly/2svQkot
More on business entities: http://bit.ly/2ByEYDg
Nolo.com has lots of great resources for legal stuff for businesses: https://store.nolo.com/products/business-suite
Q: “With regards to building a website, do you have program/platform that you recommend? ”
A: “I think it’s going to depend on how techie you are and what your goals are for your website. A lot of doulas like and use Wix, Weebly or WordPress.com because the website builders are easy to use. Free platforms are going to have fewer features, but if you don’t plan to blog or sell products from your website and only plan to use your site like an online brochure, a free platform like any I just mentioned may be sufficient.
The other two major platforms are SquareSpace and WordPress. People typically love or hate one or the other. Some find it easy to work in one and not the other. I honestly don’t have any experience with SquareSpace but I know a lot of people who use and love it for their website.
If you want to have a blog, now or in the future, I use, like and recommend WordPress.org sites, which require you purchase a domain name and subscribe with a web hosting company to house your website. There are lots of inexpensive premium themes that look professional, and WordPress has many plugins that allow you to easily add a variety of bells and whistles on your website.
If you choose to go with one the free website builders, I believe they all have an option to purchase a domain name so you don’t have wix, or weebly, or wordpress added to your website address. In my opinion, having your own domain name looks and feels more professional, and while there is a monthly fee, it’s relatively inexpensive.
My other suggestion is that if you have someone build your website for you, make sure that you learn how to update it yourself, if for just editing text and understanding how to add/delete pages. I know of too many people who have their websites created, and then they have to wait on their designer/developer to get changes made because they don’t know how to do it, or they don’t have access to it, and their designer drops off the face of the earth… all of that creates a big mess and a lot of stress.”
Seven Habits of Productive Mommies– Time Management Webinar gear specifically towards Doulas (the discount code for the package at the end of the webinar is “newbeginnings”)
