97. You're a Doula Who's Spent More Money Than You've Made...

🔥 Break Your Doula $10K Ceiling in 30 Days Without More Content or Referrals

🗓 May 12th
 🕑 2PM EST
 📍 Live on Zoom

Register for free here

I see so many doulas spending SO much money trying to grow your business… and almost none of it is actually increasing your income.

And trust me- I get it, because I did the exact same thing.

There was a season in my business where I was stuck around $2K months while working nonstop behind the scenes:

•  tweaking my website 
•  redesigning my homepage 
•  creating endless content 
•  networking with practitioners 
•  building funnels and lead magnets 
•  collecting information and certifications 

I thought if I just learned more, perfected more, or looked more professional… things would finally click.

But the truth?

I was fixing the wrong problems.

In this episode, I’m breaking down:
 -the things I personally spent money on that did NOT move the needle
 -the “busy work” trap keeping so many doulas stuck
 -why websites, funnels, branding, and networking are not the magic fix
 -and what actually started helping me sign more clients consistently

I also share the 4 biggest bottlenecks I now see after coaching hundreds of doulas and how to identify what’s actually keeping your business stuck.

And if this episode hits home for you, I want to personally invite you to my FREE live workshop:

🔥 Break Your Doula $10K Ceiling in 30 Days Without More Content or Referrals

🗓 May 12th
 🕑 2PM EST
 📍 Live on Zoom

Register for free here!
P.S. I know this is going to shift the way you spend (and make!) money.

Struggling to grow your doula business? Tired of chasing prospects online? Imagine effortlessly attracting your dream clients and consistently generating a steady income month after month. 

⬇️ START HERE ⬇️

FREE Business Audit: Doula Revenue Bottleneck Analysis
Learn more about Six Figure Doula

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Once I add this modality, my package will finally feel worth it. But confidence does not come from collecting more letters after your name. No one cares. Because if you already have enough skill to help people, the next level is not always more education. Sometimes it's ownership. Welcome to the Six Figure Doula podcast. This is where confidence becomes currency. If you're a birth worker who's ready to stop overthinking, stop undercharging, and start leading like you mean it, then you're not here by accident. Every week we talk sales without the ick, money without shame, and building a business that actually holds you and your clients. Welcome home, Doula. Today we are talking about money, honey. No, but seriously, most doula's are not broke because they are lazy or unqualified or not visible enough, even though I know so many of you are like, no, that's me. I'm not visible enough, but that's for another day. It's because they're stuck, because they keep spending money on things that make them feel more prepared or legitimate, but don't actually directly create more booked clients. So I want to talk about it. I want to talk about what happens when you are in those early stages of business, or maybe you're not in the early stages and you're still suffering from this. But this is what happens when you just continue to pour dollars and make investments that do not help you get off the ground, that do not help you for the long game, and do not teach you the things that you absolutely need to learn in order to lay a solid foundation. And we talk so much as doulas about our autonomy and being in the driver's seat, right? And listening to our gut and our intuition. But then we actually give away our power all the time and we're like, here, I'll pay thousands of dollars, build my website for me. Or here, I hate creating content, do my social media for me. Or here, um, build a website with a lot of SEO so I can pour $5,000 that I don't have because you're promising me that that's gonna be the way that I get clients. And then you're in a hole, and then you can't dig yourself out, and you're still lacking the skills that you absolutely need. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about this faux pas topic. So, number one, I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart, quit pouring money into your website before you can sell. A website can support a decision, but it usually does not create that decision. So the reason that I want to bring this up is because so much, so much of us prioritize the website. The website feels so, so safe, doesn't it? Like you can tweak your homepage and you can change your package price and obsess over your fonts and feel like you're doing real business work. But the truth is, a beautiful website does not fix unclear positioning. It does not fix a consult where you overexplain and never confidently ask for that sale. It doesn't fix the fact that your dream client still cannot tell why she should choose you over a different doula. And we tell ourselves, I just need my site to look super professional. What if people land there and they don't actually trust me? I can't really sell until this website is finished. And here's what that actually means you're delaying the scarier work of starting the conversations and making clear invitations to aligned mamas and letting women see you before everything feels perfect. But your website is never gonna be your salesperson. That's you, that's your leadership. So instead of making sure that your website is super fancy, make sure that it clearly answers who you help and what problem you solve and why your support matters right here and right now. And don't forget, how does someone take the next step with you? But I also want you to know that if you wanted to run without a website, you absolutely could. I didn't have a website for the first year of my business. Then, after I paid thousands of dollars for somebody to build a gorgeous website for me, it did nothing for me. And it looked great. And I actually even got compliments from like colleagues. Wow, who did your website? That was so beautiful. Well, guess what? I've gotten not a single client from it because all it did was talk about what doulas do and it educated, all right, and it was a resource, but it didn't lead her to take an action. And so I focused on Instagram and guess what? I started booking myself out. And I'm not even that I did not say that to say, like, I'm I'm the social media queen. Make sure you focus on social media first and foremost. That's not what I'm saying, right? We're individuals and we run individual businesses. But I will tell you what felt really good about getting clients using social media was that it was free. It was free and it was a really good starting place. And I ended up having to redo my whole website by myself anyway. So that money went down the toilet. It is enough to start small. Go have actual conversations. Number two, quit collecting certifications, hoping they will create the confidence for you. This one is sneaky. I talk about all the time, but that doesn't mean it's not super, super sneaky. Because again, the education, it feels so noble. And as doulas, we love learning. We are obsessed. I used to joke that if I could have just been a full-time student, that would have been the best career for me. I was always teacher's pet, straight A's, like, give me the homework, I will do it, give me the test, I will study, right? We love expanding our skill set. We love being able to support clients deeply. But sometimes another certification is not actually about better serving your clients. It's a hiding spot. It is the place that you go when you're scared to be seen, you are scared to charge your worth, you are scared to lead a consultation and get into that discomfort to hear the word no, scared to be chosen or disappoint someone. So you tell yourself a story. Once I get certified in this, I will feel ready. Once I know more about XYZ, I will build my confidence. Once I add this modality, my package will finally feel worth it. But confidence does not come from collecting more letters after your name. No one cares. Confidence comes from making the offers, leading the conversations with structure, getting the reps in, hearing all the different objections, surviving the awkward as hell moments and realizing that you can in fact handle those. You can't certify your way out of a sales problem. So instead, I want you to ask yourself: is this training, is this specialization gonna help me serve my current clients better? Or am I using it to avoid selling what I already have in front of me? Because if you already have enough skill to help people, the next level is not always more education. Sometimes it's ownership. Yeah. I'm talking to you. All right. Number three, quit buying funnels before you can convert humans. And honestly, this one like makes me a little sick, okay, a little nauseous. And this one might upset you as well. Funnels are so sexy, aren't they? Like lead magnets and email sequences and automations and tripwires and all the fancy tech landing pages. They make you feel like you're building a real business. The problem is if you can't convert a warm human in a real conversation yet, automating that process usually just automates the leak. So you can build the prettiest freebie in the world, write the most incredible welcome sequence. You can set up the tags and the triggers and the landing page and the buttons. But if your message doesn't create urgency or trust or God forbid certainty, the funnel will just collect cold subscribers who never reply or engage, they never book and they never buy. And again, we tell ourselves a whole fib: I need a lead magnet so I can grow my email list. I need tons of people on my email list if I'm gonna sell something, if I'm going to bring my business online. I need a complicated funnel so I don't have to sell so much myself human to human. I desperately need passive income. Gag. Gag me. What is usually actually happening here is you're trying to skip the human part before you've mastered the human part. See what I'm saying? You're building automated systems for a sales process that does not even work manually yet. So before automating, why don't you go and prove that offer manually? Can you start a conversation with your ideal client without it feeling super awkward? And are you willing to do it? And how often? And how many? Can you get moms curious? Do you know what makes them curious because you know and understand her? Can you invite her to a consultation? Will she book it? Can you lead that consultation? Do you have structure, flow, confidence? Can you follow up in a feminine way without spiraling out or ghosting her completely? Can you close that deal? Can you get her to sign a contract? It's not until that works that we should build a funnel. Don't put the funnel first. I did it. I regret it. It was the biggest disaster, to be honest with you, because I spun my wheels, I spent a ton of money, and then I felt completely disconnected to the entire process. I didn't know what to fix first. All I did was tweak all day long. Guess what? The minute I burned that thing to the ground and focused 100% on sparking actual conversations, I started selling a lot. All right. Numero quattro. Quit spending money trying to look successful instead of becoming effective. So this is where the aesthetics addiction starts to really manifest itself. First, you invest in the fancy photographer for the photo shoot and the brand images. Then you go and spend $1,000 on the trade show booth. And you buy the social media course so that you can learn how to edit the reels and make them look super fancy. But none of these things are bad things. But when you're using these things to compensate for unclear messaging, they become super expensive distractions. Cause guess what? That mama, she's not even asking, does this doula have a super aesthetic brand palette? Does she have 10,000 followers? She's asking, do I trust this woman? Does this woman even understand me? Can this doula help me feel safe? Is she able to guide me? Does she know what to do when I'm overwhelmed or unsure? The pretty board does not create authority by itself. I will say that again. The aesthetics do not create authority by itself. And anyone who's telling you that probably doesn't have a very human brand. We work with moms. Your perspective is what matters. Your clarity is what matters. Your ability to name what she's feeling before she can fully articulate it herself matters. Looking polished is not the same as being persuasive. So instead of asking, does my content look good to the outside eye? Ask, does this make her feel seen? Does it help her trust me? Does this create a reason for her to reach out and have a connection with me? And does this position me as a guide? That's where conversion lives. Number five, stop spending money on networking that does not lead anywhere. Networking is one of those things that people love to recommend to do as I even hear it after a doula walks out of a training. Go meet all the kairos. Make sure to connect with every single midwife, reach out to the pelvic floor PTs, get in the room with other perinatal professionals. And yeah, these relationships are incredibly powerful. But random networking without a strategy becomes another form of busy work. I'm talking about you if you are sitting in a coffee shop for three hours with the neighborhood doula, because that is not going to be the most effective use of your time, especially in the beginning. You're explaining what you do and you trade Instagram handles and you say we should collaborate sometimes, and then nothing really comes from it. No leads, no clients, just another conversation that made you feel productive for an afternoon. The issue is not networking itself. I cannot stress that enough. So many of us are working in our local communities. Of course, we want to build these relationships. The issue is that vague networking with zero clear positioning, no follow-up plan, and no specific referral pathway is a mistake. A coffee chat is not a client acquisition strategy. And even if it was, you have no control over it. So it's unpredictable and you can't rely on it. So when you network, because I didn't say don't do it, I'm saying get specific. Who does that person serve? What type of pregnant mama should they send your way? What exact language should they use when they're referring to you? What resource can you give them to make referrals easier and more of a no-brainer? What follow-up will you send after that conversation? Networking only works when it moves away from nice to meet you, let's talk to here's exactly how we help the same person. Let's bring it all home. Let's talk about what actually deserves your money and your time and your energy. If you want to grow, your investments need to get closer to the actual point of conversion. That means investing in your positioning. Can mothers clearly understand what makes you different? Investing in your messaging. Are you speaking to the actual pain and desire of your ideal client? Do you know how she would describe that in her words and from her perspective? Investing in your sales consultations. Can you truly lead a conversation without overexplaining and hoping that she chooses you? Do you have structure? Do you have flow? Have you internalized it? Investing in feminine follow-up. Can you stay warm, grounded, and confident after the call? Can you bring it to a close? And investing in your leadership. Can you create certainty for someone who's overwhelmed and scared? Do you have that conviction around your offer and your support? Those are the things that move the needle. Not because websites or certifications or funnels or branding or networking are useless. That's not what I'm saying. It's because they only work when the core sales engine is strong as hell. The highest ROI investment is not the thing that makes you look more legit. It's the thing that helps you sign the clients already in front of you. If you've got your head in your hands right now and you're saying to yourself, I've been investing in every single thing except the part where I actually have to lead the sale. I want you to come to my free workshop Tuesday. Break your doula 10K ceiling in 30 days without more content, without relying on word of mouth alone. Seriously, put it in your calendar. May 12th, 2 p.m. Eastern. We will be live. We will be interacting. We will be engaging. We're gonna talk about what's actually keeping your business stuck, where your bottleneck is, and what needs to shift so that you can start signing clients with more consistency. No more random spending, no more busy work, just real solid clarity. The link is in the show notes. There are six seats left. Get one of those seats. Get in the room live. This is the conversation your business probably needed months ago. I will see you there.