Here is the thing about your first doula client that is wildly good news: they are closer than you think.
Aspiring doulas and new doulas sweat this so much… where will I get clients??
Most newly certified doulas spend weeks or months convinced that getting a first client requires a perfect website, a polished Instagram with 100s or 1000s of followers, and fancy promo materials. None of that is true. Your first client almost never finds you through SEO or a beautifully curated feed. They find you because someone they trust mentioned your name.
That is it. That is the whole secret.
So the real question is not ‘how do I market myself?’ It is, ‘how do I get people talking about me?’ And that is a very different, much more manageable problem.
Bianca, our founder, got her first client from a Facebook post. Yup, she put up that she had done her doula training and had room for 5 clients. Within 30 minutes she was connected to a friend of a friend and 27 hours later she had a $1000 cheque in her hand. Yes, clients used to pay in cheques…
Then a couple months later, she discovered her childbirth education hack that kept her roster full! She kept mentioning throughout the class what a doula would do so that partners could write it down and do this, and by the end every person in the class without a doula was asking if she was available. She left with three new clients from a three hour class they had already paid for.
That story is not the exception, sweet (aspiring) doulas. It is the blueprint.
Tell literally everyone you know that you are a doula now
This sounds embarrassingly simple and it is the step most new doulas skip because it feels vulnerable. Announcing yourself as a doula before you feel completely ready is a bit scary for sure. You are your product, so when people say no to your services, you can feel like they are saying no to you.
Also, when you tell folks you are doing something like starting a new business, it means they will also know if it doesn’t work out… but without this, your network cannot help you grow. You have to get everyone on board with your doula dreams and business!
It is scary and vulnerable, but do it anyway.
Text your friends. Post on your personal Facebook. Tell the people in your neighbourhood, your place of worship, your kids’ school, your gym. Tell your doctor, your midwife, your RMT, your chiropractor, your naturopath. Tell anyone who interacts with pregnant people professionally that you exist and what you do.
You are solving a problem for someone who does not know yet that you are the solution.
Get into rooms where pregnant people are
Your first client is probably not going to find you online. They are going to meet you somewhere. So go somewhere where they will be!
Where’s that, you ask???
Prenatal yoga classes. Childbirth education classes. Breastfeeding support groups. Baby and Me fitness classes. Mom groups. Community health centres. Anywhere that pregnant people and new parents gather, you should be showing up regularly and being genuinely helpful, not salesy or pitching, just present and useful and warm.
When you are there, introduce yourself and ask questions. Listen more than you talk.
Let people experience who you are before they ever look at your website.
Build relationships with other birth workers
Midwives, OBs, family doctors, nurses, lactation consultants, prenatal yoga teachers, and chiropractors who work with pregnant clients are all people who get asked “do you know a good doula?” on a regular basis. If they know you and trust you, they refer you.
This does not happen from sending a cold email or dropping off a flyer. It happens from showing up over time, being professional, following up after births you have shared clients on, and being someone they genuinely feel good about recommending.
One strong referral relationship with a busy midwife can fill your practice. Start building those relationships today.
ProTip: Instead of going in to the midwife or RMT or Sleep specialist and asking for a favor with help getting clients, go introduce yourself and make sure THEY are safe for your (future) clients. Ask if they celebrate all bodies, or work with VBAC folks, or queer families, or folks with disabilities. Whoever your dream client is, you want to be able to safely refer them to other providers and services. This completely changes the initial conversation and makes it clear who you support so they know who to refer to you.
Offer a lower cost first client experience
Your first client or two might be someone you support at a reduced rate in exchange for a detailed testimonial and a commitment to refer you. This is not undervaluing your work. It is investing in the social proof that makes every subsequent client easier to get. We do not think that you should do any of your care for free unless it is for someone without an income and who is under-resourced.
And it is ok if you plan to charge $2000 and for your first couple births you charge $1000 instead. Just make sure you have great follow up so that they know how they can support your business growth. A genuine, specific, detailed testimonial that talks about how you showed up is worth more than almost any marketing you could do. And a client who had a good experience with you will talk about you to every pregnant person they know for years.
We talk about why word of mouth is the engine of most doula businesses here.
Make it easy for people to say yes
A complicated booking process, unclear pricing, or a website that is hard to navigate loses clients before they ever contact you. You do not need a fancy website but you do need a clear one. What do you offer, who do you serve, how much does it cost, how do they get in touch. These are the questions your website or social media pages need to really clearly answer!
If they can find the answers to those four questions clearly somewhere on the internet, you have done so much of the heavy lifting already.
And when someone reaches out, respond quickly and warmly. Follow up if you do not hear back. It is ok to do up to 5 follow ups. Make the consultation feel like a conversation not an interview – ask more questions of them then they do of you. The families who hire a doula are often making an emotional decision and the way you make them feel in the first interaction matters enormously.
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Use what you already have
If you are a parent, you have a community of other parents. If you work in healthcare, you have colleagues and patients. If you are involved in a faith community, a neighbourhood group, a sports team, you have a network. Most new doulas underestimate how much reach they already have before they ever build a following.
Think about who you already know and who those people know. A warm introduction from someone who trusts both of you is worth a hundred cold impressions on social media.
Do not wait until everything is perfect
You do not need a logo. You do not need a fully built website. You do not need a niche you have fully figured out. You do not need five hundred Instagram followers. You need a certification, a contract, a price, and the willingness to show up for your first client with everything you have.
The confidence comes after the first client, not before. Waiting for confidence before starting is waiting for something that only starting can give you.
And yes, you can absolutely take clients while you are still in training. We talk about that here.
What to do right now
Tell five people today that you are becoming a doula… In a real conversation or a personal message.
That is the whole first step. The rest builds from there.
If you want support building a doula business that actually grows, our full spectrum doula training includes real business education and a community that stays with you long after graduation: https://bebomia.com/doulatraining
Already certified and feeling stuck on the business side? Our doula business school walks you through exactly this: https://bebomia.com/birth-worker-business-school/
And if you want to talk strategy with someone who has helped hundreds of doulas get their first client and build from there, book a free doula career strategy session with our team or email us at [email protected]. We genuinely love this conversation.
Your first client is out there right now looking for someone exactly like you.
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