Establishing a Doula Business
Today, we want to take you back to the beginnings of Doulas of Bavaria, actually to the beginnings of our founder Jasmin. We think it is important to highlight the work that goes into building a doula collective and show our community how we started. Most of you are probably not familiar with the path to becoming a doula, so this may be interesting to read if you are considering this path for yourself. What you see on social media took many years to build, and the beginnings were really hard and challenging to be honest.
Jasmin took her DONA doula training while stationed in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma with her husband. At the time, access to training was fairly easy, but Jasmin did not have a mentor or any other doula to work with in this community. She had never owned a business, lived in a foreign country and the US birthing community and environment were fairly new to her. After completing her training, she found herself wondering what she would do with the skill set that was given to her at the training? She had attended a couple of births prior to the training, but that was it. She also knew that in order for her to stay with her training organization long term, she had to work on her certification which required her to attend at least three more births.
As a new doula in an area where no network existed, Jasmin had to think about how she would be able to find clients, market herself, while figuring out how to manage work life and family life, and how to be confident enough to step out and be sure that she was in fact capable of supporting families and making them feel good about their choice of hiring her. We call that imposture syndrome – even after taking trainings and earning certificates, Jasmin was still not sure that she was in fact good enough to serve families and she did not have a mentor on ground that could encourage her that she was.
In the beginning of her journey, Jasmin had no resources and no references in her community at all. Her business was built “from scratch” and she needed to ensure that she had her bases covered. This includes a contract and insurance that would hold up in court in case someone did decide to sue her, something that she had never done before. Lots of pressure that many new doulas will experience and understand, especially if they start out building their business on their own.
Along her doula journey, she learned a lot of things through trial and error. Going through the process by herself was quite hard for her. She was burnt a few times, but learned from mistakes she made and adjusted accordingly. She started out undervaluing her services because she was unsure of herself. After taking on several birth without earning a fair pay, she eventually found herself burnt out. The desire to take on clients and serve her community was there, but juggling business and family, answering countless messages all while working pretty much for free were not sustainable in the long run.
Jasmin decided to create or join Facebook groups where she answered as many questions as she could about pregnancy and postpartum to get her name out in the community. She received many private messages and answered them all, thinking she had to just make sure she got her name out there and clients would soon follow. She would spend hours and hours giving emotional support and guidance and people would not necessarily hire her, because she was providing these services for free after all. Looking back, most of these families did not think anything of it, because they only saw a name online, someone who was “just” answering a couple of questions here and there. Over time and through these countless messages – day and night – countless hours of support accumulated that were never compensated. Family took a back-seat because it takes a lot of work to build a reputation.
Starting a business is hard and there are a lot of hidden things that go along with being a small business owner – especially hidden costs. Trainings, hiring marketing experts, hiring tax people, and time providing these services. And time is precious which is something that is especially apparent in doula work. Working with clients is time consuming. You can only take on a limited number of clients per month, to make sure you can meet their needs. It is easy to forget to practice self-care, but if you do not, you will not be doing this work for too long and who will pay you if you’re not working? When will you take some down time? How can you plan for this? Doula work is also no safe and steady income. Will you be able to create a stable paycheck? Very unlikely because the very nature of this business ebbs and flows with different seasons.
To help grow her business, Jasmin created resource lists, flyers, business cards, Facebook groups, and offered free classes to the community – all in the pursuit to make a name for herself. She went on and took paying clients, became more confident and started to get to know people and make important connections. Continuing education is key to being successful in this business, so she took more trainings over time. After about two years, she finally felt established when she got the news that her family would PCS (move because of the military life).
Jasmin’s family moved back to Germany, which was exciting for her since she knew the birthing environment and would be back home and closer to her family. However, leaving her just now established business after putting so much blood, sweat, and literal tears into it was hard. It was terrifying to have worked so hard for something that she would now leave behind and she was not sure if she wanted to start all over again. Was it going to be worth it? She loved the work and wanted to keep serving the military community, but at the same time she had doubts and did not know how things would play out.
Luckily, she started to make connections with various groups and people well before her family PCSd back to Germany. There were already a couple doulas in the area and they were open to talking to her and gave her info before she was even overseas. She actually had her first Germany-based client on the books before ever arriving there and it helped her gain enough confidence to keep doing the work that she loved so much.
When the doulas that were already in town showed an interest in collaborating soon after she got to Germany, Doulas of Bavaria was born. This was in 2014.
We have had some ups and downs with the group that has now existed for over six years. And in the past two years it has blossomed into a well-established namesake within the community. The Doulas of Bavaria ties the surrounding community resources and the military resources, while offering so many special and unique services to clients.
And now? New doulas do not have to reinvent the wheel. They are able to join us and basically start booking clients. No need to invest into making contracts, no need to market yourself (although this is also fun and defines you as your own doula, it helps to figure out what you bring to the table individually), and you will have mentors and a sisterhood. You can ask all the questions and gain confidence right off the bat, without the fear of not making it in this business.
For Jasmin (and all of us) ... this is the best thing that can happen to a doula. Whether you are starting out brand new or if you have been doing this work for a long time but crave and seek sisterhood and support – the Doulas of Bavaria brings that together. We were able to establish a business model that seeks to support and empower new and seasoned doulas while serving families overseas. We understand that doulas do not have years to establish themselves before they move to their next duty-station and we put processes in place to allow for training while new doulas work on their certification. Each of us brings something special to the table and it makes us unique as a group.
“This work comes with a lot of challenges, but in my opinion is so very rewarding. The clients I served and meet along the way is priceless. And the doulas I have worked with became family” says Jasmin of her work and her clients. If you feel called to work in this community or would like to hear more about how our collaborative works, we invite you to contact us. We would love to chat with you.
~ Jasmin Williams, Founder
