Episode 91 Transcript:
Hey everyone. And welcome back. I am recording this episode on June 30th. So we are halfway through 2021. I can hardly believe it. We're also 15, almost 16 months after into, during a pandemic and after the big pivot. Right? So I thought this would be a really good time for us to collectively all of us and everybody listening, including you to pause together and to reflect on a couple of things before we move forward. I know this episode is going to come out on Tuesday, um, July six, still a good time to do that. So I want to open the episode with a few questions for actually that I think would be a good idea for you to journal on today or at least sit with, think through and spend some time with. So number one, how have your priorities shifted in the last 15, 16 months?
Speaker 1: (01:20)
We all learned something last year. Nobody. I heard somebody say this last summer that nobody escaped 2020. And so reflect on how, you know, what have you, um, how have your priorities changed? You know, for some of us, we realized that we want to spend more time with our children. Some of us realize we actually do want to be home more, whether that's working from home, like permanently or just a lot more, or staying virtual in our services or that we actually really, really, really prefer being in person. And even though this is a doulas going digital podcast, that speaks a lot about the online space, many of this applies to your in-person work. And I'll explain more in a few minutes about that part. So jot some of these things down, because this is important to know what your priorities are going forward.
Speaker 1: (02:35)
Number two, what have you learned in your business in the last 15, 16 months? Going back to March of 2020? I think all of us realized the importance of being online and that most things in your business can be done with wifi and a little bit of creativity. We saw almost every type of business go virtual last year, and it proved to a lot of people that it's viable. And for some businesses that were positioned well, going into March 20, 20, they had their best years ever. And I can tell you, I've spoken with a lot of business owners that that was the case.
Speaker 1: (03:25)
Perhaps you also learned who you really like working with. You know, we talk about that on this podcast that like your ideal client, um, or who you don't like to work with. You know, the last couple of guests that came on that were members of the dualism business mastermind shared that, that, that was one of the things they realized was who they really are meant to be working with. And when you're no longer confined to your local area and you know, a 30 mile radius or whatever your parameters are for your in-person work, it changes things because now you're open to working with people everywhere. Right? And so that was one of their takeaways. You may have also, you may have also learned how you like working with clients and how you, don't.
Speaker 1: (04:17)
The only way to know if you like working virtually with people is to work virtually with people. There's no way to know until you get into it. And I work with enough birth professionals that I've heard all variations of that. Some people realize how much they actually love the virtual work. Others are like, I'm doing it because it's necess necessary right now, depending on where I'm at. And I don't love it. I prefer to be in person. And that's okay. And so the only way to know all of these things is to do number three. What were your accomplishments over the last six months? And we we're talking, you know, the first half of 20, 21 or for the last 15, 16 months. And I would imagine that if you looked back to what you wrote down in March of 2020, if you wrote it down, I always recommend writing these things down.
Speaker 1: (05:14)
There's probably so much more that you accomplished then you might remember, and this is not limited to the income that you made, the sales that you made, the number of clients you had. What were your other accomplishments? What were the things that you did? Did you, did you make it, did you get out of bed every day? Did you create a spiritual practice? Did you build something on your website? Did you post your first photo to Instagram with your face on it and, and build up the bravery and the courage to do that? Did you write your first blog post? Did you learn how to play the piano? I have a, um, I say call her like a friend slash business colleague peer that she took virtual piano lessons during that during the last 15, 16 months and learned how to play the piano. So what were your accomplishments?
Speaker 1: (06:12)
They don't have to be as big as learning how to play a piano, um, everything counts. So make a list of every single thing and then continue to add to it over time is something that I'd recommend. Okay. And then the last one for this section is the last question is number four. What's next in terms of where you want to take your business for the last half of this year and in 2022. And if you didn't write any of the first three questions down, I highly recommend putting a pen to paper for this one, get very clear on what you want to do in your business. Who do you want to help? How do you want to help them? This doesn't mean that you have to stick to it. And it has to be a firm plan to the T. It can be flexible. You can change your mind, but let's start somewhere and get very clear, be specific, be very specific.
Speaker 1: (07:26)
When you go to Starbucks, if you go to Starbucks or even Dunkin donuts, you probably, I prefer Dunkin donuts coffee. If you walk into a coffee shop would say that you probably aren't going to say, can I have a coffee? They're probably going to say, um, hot or cold. What size latte, cappuccino, cold brew, just regular, all hot cup of Joe. Like what, what exactly do you want? And so when I think of this, it's, I'm planning for my business or planning for anything that I desire in life. I try to get very specific with what it is that I desire. It's like placing our order at the coffee shop, but in a way bigger way, be very specific with what you desire. That is how you're going to create your reality, your dream business. Now, speaking of reality, I want to add here that we're all living a different version of this pandemic reality, depending on where you are in the world and depending on your beliefs and the lens through which you're seeing and experiencing the world around you.
Speaker 1: (08:43)
So as you begin to return to quote normal, what will you take with you into this new normal? And we've been talking about this for some time, because I don't think that many people expected this to last this long. And you know, I see a wide range of things in terms of people's experiences, depending on where they live and the lens through which they're seeing the world. Right? So what are you going to take with you into the new normal and what will you leave in February of 2020? I mean, there's no wrong answer here, right? And so there's such a wide range of experiences right now that people are having. And I work with clients, I work with birth professionals all over the world, Australia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, the United States are the main, main areas I should say. And India. Um, there are still areas that are in lockdown.
Speaker 1: (09:53)
There's areas that have been open for most of the last year, but are now locked down again. Um, there are areas that have just been opened since last summer, like where I'm at, I'm in Florida and we've mostly been open. I mean, there's been mask requirements up until very recently. Um, and certain things have been very limited and such, but like generally pretty open, you know, our schools were open this last school year. Um, but people are having such different experiences, you know, whether or not you as a birth professional are allowed into hospitals varies so widely right now. And so there's no right answer here. You know, we are still all in different spaces. And even if you're in an area and you know, I'm in Florida, like I said, there are still people here, birth professionals that aren't comfortable being back in person yet.
Speaker 1: (10:44)
So this is not me asking you this in a judgy way at all. There's no judgment. Um, this is just you to self-assess for you to self-assess and, and decide what feels right to you, given where you live, given your beliefs, given what your company, wow. Oh, piece of advice that feels relevant to almost all of us, no matter where you are, no matter where you're living and what the pandemic status is or reopening status is where you're at, or no matter whether you prefer in-person virtual or hybrid, um, type of support program in your business. Yes. The advice continue to build your online presence, leverage the power of the internet and social media to help you build a sustainable business, your dream birth business. And like I mentioned earlier, we've all learned the value of being online, the value of having the ability to quickly pivot and the value of building multiple streams of revenue into our businesses.
Speaker 2: (12:12)
Okay.
Speaker 1: (12:28)
So whatever you learned about how you like to do your work over the last 15, 16 months, even if that's in person only remember that your online presence still supports your business, your dream business, for example, let's suppose you live somewhere that's generally open and you do prefer in-person support. So I live somewhere. That's been open. I live in Florida, right? And so I don't do much at all in person support right now. And I really haven't for a very long time. Um, however, I still have people locally that will reach out to me and send me a message, send me a DM on Instagram, or email me from my contact page on my website, asking for birth support in the Tampa area, in my town, my city.
Speaker 1: (13:30)
And I find it so interesting that even though my business, I do not promote birth support. You know, I'm not talking about it on Instagram. I don't, I don't have a services page for that. None of that. Um, my online presence continues to bring people into my circle that would support the in-person practice if I had one. So if you're doing in-person stuff, your online presence still speaks for you. People that are looking for in-person work are still going to go to your website. They're still going to stock you online. They're still going to go to your Instagram, watch your videos, um, read your posts, you know, browse around to see what you're posting, get a feel for who you are as a person, maybe check out your Instagram highlights, story highlights. All of that still supports your in-person if you wanted to be completely in-person or hybrid or virtual, obviously.
Speaker 1: (14:23)
Right? So my suggestion to you, here's the tip that I want to leave you with is take, go back to number four above, right? Like we mentioned, getting specific about your goals and then design a sustainable business strategy. That feels good for you as your world around you evolves and possibly reopens, or even goes back some version of lockdown and then designate blocks of time, depending on what your specific goals are designate blocks of time during the week or during the month to work on your online presence. And we're all going to have different plans for this, depending on our unique business goals. So if you are, for example, if you are completely in person, maybe your blocks of time that you're working on your online presence are smaller. If you're completely virtual, you might be spending more time, um, or have more blocks of time that you are dedicating to building that virtual business. So it's all going to look. Every one of ours is going to look different.
Speaker 1: (15:45)
I think the key takeaway is to remember the importance of continuing to build your online business, your online presence, um, whether you offer virtual in-person or a hybrid type of support and examples for how this plays out is I have a client that you've heard her voice in the intro to some of the podcasts episodes where she's, um, discussing her experience in the doulas and business mastermind. And she hurt and person birth support and childbirth ed type workshops have been booked all the time. All of her workshops are booked in person and her birth calendar. Basically, people are booking with her to be their doula. When they find out they're pregnant, that's how early they need to get on her book or else there is no spot for them. And she is really leveraging her online platform to do that. You know, she does in-person stuff as well, but like she's building up her online space because this will allow her to keep her books full, to the extent that she wants to be working in person.
Speaker 1: (17:00)
You know, she's not taking 10 births a month. That is a recipe for burnout. She recognized how many birds per month she desires and her book is full. And now she's leveraging the online space to scale, to keep her in person work full and now to scale, meaning to make more money without adding more hours. And in-person you also heard from Brenda on the podcast last week, about how she's continuing to build all of these various legs of her business and leveraging the internet and social media, her preferred social media platform is Instagram to help her also reach her financial goals, fill her in-person calendar and fill up virtual programs. And so it's very unique to each of us how we proceed, right? But again, let's go back to finding space for how this is going to fit into our, our new normal, our new lives. I'd love to hear what your plans are, what you think, how you're moving forward with this. If you're in the doulas going digital Facebook community, feel free to post away in there. And just talk about what you're doing. Talk about what things what's happening with you, um, in your local area and how you're going to plan for the next six months and for the next, for next year in your business. All right, guys, I hope you have a lovely week and I'll talk to you soon.