The Doula Darcy Podcast

Do doulas really need liability insurance? What does it actually cover? And do you need professional liability insurance, general liability insurance…or both?

These are questions that come up ALL THE TIME in doula groups and instead of relying on what someone heard from another doula who heard it from someone else, I decided to go directly to the source.

In this episode of The Doula Darcy Podcast, I'm talking with Miriam Ball and Karissa Norton from Alternative Balance to get answers to some of the biggest questions doulas have about liability insurance.

And I asked them some pretty specific questions.

We talk about:

• Why birth and postpartum doulas should consider carrying liability insurance

• What can happen even if you didn't actually do anything wrong

• The difference between professional liability and general liability insurance

• Why having one doesn't necessarily mean you have the other

• What happens if a client is injured because of something you did—or something you recommended

• Whether your doula insurance covers YOU if you get hurt in a client's home

• Why doulas who wear multiple hats need to pay attention to exactly which services their policy covers

• What doula agency owners should know when working with independent contractors

• Whether independent contractors should name the agency as an additional insured

• The current situation between Alternative Balance and Carrot as of September 28, 2026

• Whether a postpartum doula is covered when the parents leave the house and the doula stays with the baby

• Where postpartum doula care ends and babysitting or childcare may begin

• What Alternative Balance does and does not cover when it comes to scope of practice

We even get into specific scenarios like: What if a dad trips over your doula bag? What if you're alone with a newborn while Mom runs out for coffee? What if you're also a yoga teacher or massage therapist?

If you've ever had a question about doula liability insurance or you've been trying to piece together answers from conversations in doula Facebook groups this episode gives you the opportunity to hear answers directly from Alternative Balance.

Because protecting the business you've worked so hard to build matters, too.

Learn more about Alternative Balance: AlternativeBalance.com

Alternative Balance is a professional association offering membership benefits that include insurance coverage; as Miriam clarifies in the episode, it is not itself an insurance agency.

This episode is for educational purposes and should not be considered legal or insurance advice. Always speak directly with your insurance provider about your individual coverage, services, and circumstances.

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to:

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Connect with me:

Instagram: @thedouladarcy

About The Doula Darcy:

Doula Business Coach & Marketing Strategist

Since 2010, Darcy has built a thriving postpartum doula business (now doula agency) in New Hampshire. With her team of postpartum doulas handling the day-to-day in person clients, Darcy spends her time and energy helping other doulas grow & scale their businesses with a focus on sustainability and not burning themselves out. Prior to having her own 3 children and becoming a doula, Darcy worked for 10 years in the advertising and marketing world. She was able to replace her corporate income quicker than most new doulas because of her previous career & expertise. Darcy now uses this experience to help other doulas build their own thriving practices.

Learn more at:

https://www.thedouladarcy.com

Why real-life connection might be one of the most underrated ways to build a sustainable doula business.

What if one of the best things you could do for your doula business had nothing to do with marketing, strategy, social media or even AI?

I recorded this quickie episode in real time as I was getting ready for one of my favorite weeks of the entire year: the Maine Doula Business Retreat.

And while thinking about why I love bringing a small group of doulas together in a big house on the coast of Maine for five days, I realized something:

There are some things you simply cannot replicate on Zoom. And you definitely can't get them from ChatGPT.

Yes, I love a good business strategy. And yes, I think AI can be an incredible tool for your business.

But there is something powerful that happens when you spend real, uninterrupted time with people who get it.

It's the conversation over coffee in the morning.

It's the business idea that comes up while you're walking to the lighthouse.

It's sitting on the rocks with another doula and realizing she understands exactly what you're going through.

It's laughing around the dinner table, talking around the campfire, and having the kinds of conversations you could never schedule into a 60-minute Zoom call.

And I think part of what we're really experiencing in those moments is oxytocin.

Doulas give so much of themselves to other people. But we need to intentionally create lives and businesses that replenish us, too.

In this quick, unpolished episode, I'm talking about:

• Why I intentionally make the Maine Doula Business Retreat FIVE days long

• What happens when doulas spend multiple days together instead of an hour on Zoom

• Why some of the most valuable "business coaching" at a retreat isn't planned at all

• What AI and ChatGPT can help you with—and what they simply can't replace

• Why connection, fun, rest, and community aren't distractions from growing your business

• Simple ways to create little "drips of oxytocin" in your everyday life

• Why filling your own cup can actually make you better at your work and your business

And no, you don't have to fly to Maine or attend a business retreat to do this. But let me know if ya want to! ;-)

Maybe it's a girls' weekend.

Maybe it's coffee with your doula bestie.

Maybe it's joining a book club, taking up square dancing, starting a knitting circle, sitting outside with your coffee, or texting five people you love just because you're thinking about them.

The bigger question I want you to ask yourself is:

What are you intentionally building into your life that replenishes YOU?

Because maybe the low-key way to build a better, more sustainable doula business isn't another strategy.

Maybe it's more oxytocin.

And if you've ever dreamed about joining me at the Maine Doula Business Retreat, follow along on Instagram this week. I'll be sharing plenty of behind-the-scenes peeks at what happens when a group of doulas from My Doula Village spend five days living, learning, resting, laughing, brainstorming, and dreaming together on the coast of Maine.

What does it actually take to go from doing doula work "on the side" to making it your full-time career?

In this episode of The Doula Darcy Podcast, I'm talking with My Doula Village member Rachel Bailey about exactly that.

When Rachel joined My Doula Village in June 2025, she was a college professor teaching Public Health while also trying to build her doula business on the side. She loved doula work and knew she wanted to do more of it, but walking away from a steady paycheck, health insurance, and a career she'd spent nearly 20 years building was really scary.

And trying to do BOTH was exhausting.

Rachel shares how she went from juggling classes, births, clients, and marketing her business to finally leaving her university job and becoming a full-time doula.

And the best part?

Since making the leap, Rachel has been fully booked every single month.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• How Rachel discovered doula work after a career in public health and academia

• Why she spent several years treating doula work as a side hustle

• The moment she realized she couldn't keep doing two demanding jobs well

• What finally gave her the confidence to leave her professor job

• How she figured out how much she actually needed to earn as a full-time doula

• Why she had to raise her rates—and what happened when she did

• How being surrounded by other working doulas helped her see that this really could be a sustainable career

• The marketing strategies she implemented to start bringing in consistent clients

• How she went from barely using Instagram to actually getting clients from it

• Why Rachel says the advice and support she found inside My Doula Village helped her make the transition

• The surprising difference her husband noticed after she left academia

• Why becoming self-employed has given Rachel MORE choices about what she wants her work and life to look like in the future

Rachel also shares something I think every doula who is currently balancing a "real job" with doula work needs to hear:

"Figure out what you need to make it work and then find help to make that happen. Because it absolutely can happen."

Rachel's story is such a good reminder that becoming a full-time doula doesn't have to mean blindly quitting your job and hoping for the best.

You can build the business first.

You can figure out your numbers.

You can learn how to market yourself.

You can charge rates that actually support you.

And you can create a doula career that pays your bills AND gives you more freedom over how you spend your time.

And, as Rachel proves, it is absolutely not too late to do it.

Find Rachel at

https://eleisondoula.com

https://www.instagram.com/eleisondoula

Connect with The Doula Darcy:

Instagram: @thedouladarcy

https://www.instagram.com/thedouladarcy

Facebook: The Doula Marketing Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedoulamktggroup

About The Doula Darcy:

Doula Business Coach & Marketing Strategist

Since 2010, Darcy has built a thriving postpartum doula business (now doula agency) in New Hampshire. With her team of postpartum doulas handling the day-to-day in person clients, Darcy spends her time and energy helping other doulas grow & scale their businesses with a focus on sustainability and not burning themselves out. Prior to having her own 3 children and becoming a doula, Darcy worked for 10 years in the

As doulas, we already know that words matter.

We help clients change the way they think and talk about birth. We use affirmations. We pay attention to the language being used in the birth room. We know that one seemingly innocent comment from a provider can completely change how someone experiences their labor.

But have you ever stopped to think about the language (via self-talk) and the deeply held beliefs you're bringing into your business?

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Megan Blacksmith, NLP practitioner, business owner, and host of the Becoming Zesty podcast, for a fascinating conversation about the subconscious beliefs that may be influencing everything from how much you charge to how big you allow your business to become.

Because you can put "six-figure doula business" on your vision board and repeat the mantra, "I deserve to make more money."

But if somewhere underneath all of that you still believe that helpers & healers shouldn't make a lot of money, successful people are greedy, it isn't safe to be seen, or being bigger means hurting the people you love...

Your conscious goals and your subconscious beliefs are fighting each other.

Megan explains Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how experiences from very early in our lives can create beliefs that continue influencing our decisions decades later.

We also talk about the other side of this conversation: how incredibly powerful this work can be for the families that doulas support.

Megan shares her own birth experience and how a single sentence from a provider changed what she believed about her ability to cope with labor. We talk about why women can carry words spoken during birth for decades, the importance of processing birth experiences afterward, and how those experiences can affect seemingly unrelated areas of our lives.

• What NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) actually is

• How subconscious beliefs can influence your business decisions

• Why affirmations don't always work when you don't actually believe what you're saying

• The connection between birth, language, emotion and subconscious beliefs

• Why doulas can struggle with beliefs around money, charging more and taking time off

• The surprising ways early experiences can show up in our businesses decades later

• Why changing a belief is only the first step—and you then have to act from the new belief

• How the words spoken during labor can have a lasting impact

• Why processing a birth experience matters even when "mom and baby are healthy"

• How NLP and other subconscious tools could potentially complement the work doulas already do

One of my biggest takeaways from this conversation?

Sometimes when we hit a wall in our businesses, we assume we're doing something wrong. We think we need another strategy, another certification or another marketing tactic.

But sometimes the strategy isn't the problem.

Sometimes we're up against a belief that's been driving the bus without us even realizing it.

Megan Blacksmith is a holistic health coach, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, speaker, NLP Trainer and mindset ninja. She is the co-founder of Zesty and the Becoming Zesty podcast. She trains coaches, practitioners and leaders with the tools for faster (inner) transformation without fighting themselves along the way through Functional NLP, a combination of the principles of NLP, functional medicine and compassionate coaching.

Check out her Ignite event in Virginia Beach in October here:

https://programs.blacksmithtrainingco.com/ignite-2026

Megan's website is: https://blacksmithtrainingco.com/

Only Have 3 Hours to Market Your Doula Business? Do This If you only had three hours a week to market your doula business, what should you do with them?

Should you batch 50 Instagram Reels? Post three times a day? Try to educate every pregnant person in your community about why they need a doula?

My answer is easy: work on your SEO.

In this episode, I'm explaining why search engine optimization, and now AI search optimization, is the number-one marketing strategy I recommend for doulas who are short on time and energy.

When your website ranks well on Google and your business appears in recommendations from ChatGPT and other AI tools, you can get your services in front of families who are already searching for a doula.

That means you don't have to work as hard to educate, convince or persuade them. You simply need to show up, look professional and help them decide whether you're the right doula for their family.

In this episode, I'm talking about:

• Why SEO is the best use of your limited marketing time

• What I would prioritize if I had only three hours a week

• Why attracting people already searching for a doula requires less energy

• How strong SEO can reduce your dependence on social media

• Why your website can keep bringing you inquiries long after an Instagram post disappears

• How Google SEO and AI search optimization work together

• Why your website platform matters

• How SEO can help you build a more sustainable doula business

Inside My Doula Village, I provide personalized website audits, doula-specific SEO guidance and training to help you become more visible on Google, ChatGPT and beyond.

Because you don't need a longer marketing to-do list.

You need to know which marketing work will give you the biggest return on your limited time and energy.

If working harder were the secret to making more money, the busiest doulas would also be the wealthiest.

But that's not what we're seeing.

Too many talented doulas are working 6 nights/week, attending birth after birth, squeezing in more clients, putting their own needs last and still struggling to make the numbers work.

And eventually, something has to give.

In this episode of The Doula Darcy Podcast, I'm challenging the idea that earning more has to mean working more.

I'm sharing six things that can help you build a doula business that supports your LIFE, not just earns you a living.

And most importantly, I'm talking about breaking out of the time-for-money trap.

Because maybe you don't want to attend eight births a month anymore.

Maybe seven overnights a week isn't something your body can, or should, keep doing.

Maybe you want to keep serving families for another 10 or 20 years, but you need your business to look very different in order to do it.

That doesn't mean you're done being a doula.

It means it's time to build the next version of your doula business.

I also share more about SUSTAIN: The Sustainable Doula Intensive, where I work closely with experienced doulas to look at what they've already built, identify the most profitable opportunities that don't require significantly more of their time, and create a clear plan for what to focus on next.

The next SUSTAIN cohort begins September 16th.

If you're listening to this thinking, "THIS is what I need," reach out to me. Let's talk about whether SUSTAIN is the right next step for you.

Check it out here:

https://darcy-sauers.mykajabi.com/offers/npzFoabG/checkout

Exactly What I Say to Get Doula Clients to Hire Me Without Feeling Sales-y

You don't need to become "better at sales" to book more doula clients.

In fact, the harder you try to sell yourself during a doula interview, the more awkward it can feel for you and the potential client.

In this episode of The Doula Darcy Podcast, I'm sharing 6 simple phrases I use during doula interviews to help potential clients feel comfortable, confident, and ready to hire me, without ever feeling pushy or salesy.

These are phrases I've used again and again in my sixteen years of conducting doula interviews and they work because they reflect what great doulas already know how to do: listen, create safety, communicate clearly, and confidently guide someone through an unfamiliar experience.

Inside this episode, we'll talk about:

• How to end an interview without awkwardly asking, "So…do you want to hire me?"

• The simple question that helps clients decide whether you're the right fit

• How to create urgency when your calendar is filling up without using sleazy sales tactics

• Why explaining exactly "what happens next" makes clients more likely to move forward

• How to communicate that you genuinely WANT to work with a potential client

• Why confidently sending the contract can be more effective than waiting for permission

• How to uncover the questions or concerns that might be keeping someone from booking

• Why the energy you bring to the interview matters just as much as what you say

Remember: how you show up during the interview gives your potential client a preview of how you'll show up as their doula.

🎧 Listen now and choose one or two of these phrases to try during your next doula interview.

PLUS: Join me at the Birthworker Retreat!

The Birthworker Retreat is back January 25–27 in Clearwater Beach, Florida at the Wyndham Grand.

This year's theme is Generating Revenue, with sessions designed to help doulas, lactation professionals, sleep consultants, midwives, and other birthworkers build stronger, more profitable businesses.

And just as important? You'll have plenty of time for the conversations, connections, beach walks, lunches, and late-night hot tub chats that make this retreat feel a little like summer camp for birthworkers.

Learn more and grab your ticket at www.thebirthworkerretreat.com.

If You're Charging $600 for a Birth, We Need to Talk

In this episode, I dive into one of the biggest mistakes I see doulas making: setting rates without considering the real costs of running a business. From liability insurance and continuing education to website costs, self-care, and recovery after births, your pricing needs to cover far more than the hours you're physically attending a birth.

If you've ever felt guilty charging your full fee for a short birth, struggled to invest in your business, or wondered whether it's time to raise your rates, this episode is for you.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What "cost of doing business" actually means

• The hidden expenses every doula should be budgeting for

• Why your rates should include recovery time after births

• The difference between business expenses and business investments

• How investing in yourself can dramatically increase your income

• A simple exercise to calculate whether your current rates are truly profitable

• Why raising your rates isn't about greed, it's about longevity

The world needs experienced doulas. Pricing your services sustainably helps ensure you'll still be serving families years from now.

Connect with me:

Instagram: @thedouladarcy

https://www.instagram.com/thedouladarcy

Facebook: The Doula Marketing Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedoulamktggroup

About The Doula Darcy:

Doula Business Coach & Marketing Strategist

Since 2010, Darcy has built a thriving postpartum doula business (now doula agency) in New Hampshire. With her team of postpartum doulas handling the day-to-day in person clients, Darcy spends her time and energy helping other doulas grow & scale their businesses with a focus on sustainability and not burning themselves out. Prior to having her own 3 children and becoming doula, Darcy worked for 10 years in the advertising and marketing world. She was able to replace her corporate income quicker than most new doulas because of her previous career & expertise. Darcy now uses this experience to help other doulas build their own thriving practices.

Learn more at:

https://www.thedouladarcy.com

As doulas, we spend our days nurturing, supporting, and caring for everyone else.

But how can we also teach mothers how to care for themselves?

In this week's episode, I'm joined by Dr. Gertrude Lyons, author of Rewrite the Mother Code: From Sacrifice to Stardust, for a conversation that completely reframes what it means to support women through motherhood.

We dive into the concept of self-mothering, the practice of offering yourself the same compassion, grace, encouragement, and care that you so freely give to everyone else. And then modeling that for our doula clients.

For many women, becoming a mother comes with an invisible set of rules: Put everyone else's needs first. Don't ask for help. Keep giving, even when you're running on empty.

As doulas, we have a unique opportunity to model something different. We can help our clients understand that caring for themselves isn't selfish, it's one of the greatest gifts they can give to themselves, their babies, and their families.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What "self-mothering" really means

• The hidden messages women receive about motherhood and self-sacrifice

• How doulas can help clients build self-compassion during postpartum

• The importance of receiving support instead of trying to do it all alone

• How this conversation applies to doulas, too

Whether you're a birth doula, postpartum doula, childbirth educator, or simply passionate about supporting mothers, this episode offers a beautiful reminder:

The way we care for ourselves teaches the next generation how to care for themselves.

I hope this conversation encourages you to not only support your clients differently, but to offer yourself that same compassion as well.

About Dr. Gertrude Lyons: In her coaching, retreats, workshops and book Rewrite the Mother Code: From Sacrifice to Stardust – A Cosmic Approach to Motherhood, Dr. Gertrude Lyons challenges the limiting beliefs and expands the concepts around what it is to be a mother. Lyons blurs the lines that pigeonhole women into limited roles that ultimately disempower them. Rather than operating within a narrow conception of what mothering is, she invites people to open themselves up to what is possible and see the truth: that all women mother, and that mother energy is accessible to all of us-including men. Rewrite the Mother Code is a celebration of motherhood, bringing spirituality and community back into the experience and empowering women to be what they truly are, the ultimate creators.

https://www.drgertrudelyons.com/

https://www.instagram.com/drgertrudelyons/

https://gertrudelyons.substack.com/

Do you hate social media?

You're definitely not alone.

In fact, it's one of the biggest complaints I hear from doulas.

In this episode, I'm sharing a mindset shift that has completely changed the way I look at social media and it's changing the way my students think about it too.

Instead of seeing social media as another annoying marketing task, what if you saw it as one of the most powerful ways to improve birth and postpartum care globally?

In this episode we'll talk about:

• How your phone can help you reach thousands of families with evidence-based information

• Why doulas have a responsibility to help combat misinformation online

• How social media allows you to help far more than one family at a time

• Why worrying about negative comments is keeping you from making a bigger impact

• The simple mindset shift that makes showing up online feel meaningful instead of exhausting

If you've ever thought, "I just hate social media," this episode is for you.

Your voice matters.

The families who need you are already scrolling.

It's time they found you.

Resources Mentioned

Join my free Facebook community: The Doula Marketing Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedoulamktggroup

Learn more about My Doula Village for ongoing business coaching and support.

https://www.mydoulavillage.com

If this episode encouraged you, I'd love it if you'd subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another doula who needs this reminder.