Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
This is something I am still working on!
Working virtually means I can work on the go and be flexible, but it does mean I am ‘accessible’ at all points during the day. I have set timeframes I promise to respond to women by and I try to utilise them so that I don’t feel like I need to be on my phone 24/7.
I worry about my children seeing me glued to my phone, but I am passionate about my work and excited to reply to the mums I am supporting, so I do probably need to work on putting my phone down!
Choosing not to support birth in-person and therefore ‘being on call’ means I don’t have to worry about arranging childcare for when my husband is away with work or working late.
Working virtually means I can usually ‘make things work’ during school holidays or sickness without having to let the women I am working with down.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Starting a business from scratch, especially one that is different to the others established in your chosen area, is tough.
I am not aware of many other doulas that work exclusively virtually, although many do offer virtual services alongside their other in-person offerings.
The directories and services that have been established are often not geared for online work, and I have to find ways to make them work for me.
Often, search engines for doula care are postcode based. A huge benefit of virtual support is that I can support you no matter where you are, but I probably won’t come up in your postcode search!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I have to show up every day, I don’t really get sick days or holiday and I don’t have anyone to cover me.
Showing up every day on social media is tough, but it has helped my self-confidence as I turn up on my lives and reels bare faced and filter free. People appreciate my content for the information, not because I always look perfectly put together.
Managing finance, taxes, record keeping, etc., are all things that I am learning as I go along. I don’t have a wider team who are specialised in finance, or contracting – it’s all just me.
If I look into the future, I can see that running this business will give me huge amounts of freedom, no clocking in and clocking out or being tied to an office or a desk. Until that point, I am still working a 9-5 job 3 days a week and that means I have to work a lot of evenings and weekends to keep The Smart Doula going!
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I would love to continue to see The Smart Doula grow, and to support more women
throughout their pregnancy, birth and postpartum. My ultimate aim is to do this full time and expand into in-person birth support, but this will be when my own children are much older.
Visit The Smart Doula website to find out more about the wonderful services she offers. You can also connect with her on Instagram.
