There are a few ways to consider working in partnership:
- Being “Business Partners” in a legal sense, with co-ownership of a company
- Partnering with practitioners in your community who offer related services and developing a referral-fee system, or a system for listing each other on mutual websites, etc
- Partnering with other birth doulas to share clients and on-call/off-call time
- Joining an existing business to offer your services through an already existing or successful company for either a listing fee, referral fee bases, or hourly wage
In terms of partnering up with other doulas to share clients and call-time with, you can consider a few general models:
- Informal “Back-Up” Model
- Each doula in independent business, but has a community of local doulas who can be called for last minute assistance or coverage due to birth overlap or illness
- Semi-Formal Back-Up Collective
- Each doula in independent business, but with a close-knit circle of like-minded doulas who form a semi-formal collective
- Side-By-Side Solo (Or Group) Model
- Each doula in independent business and gets clients independently, but with a formal and structured call-share exchange
- Client/Call-Share Model
- Share all clients in a more formal partnership
- Divide up on-call and off-call time either evenly or based on each doula’s needs, pre-scheduled and organized in advance
When considering fee structures, consideration has to be given to the financial value of:
- Administrative and Marketing work
- Client Visit work
- Birth Work
- On Call Time
In my class PARTNERSHIP MODELS FOR DOULAS, we will go over all of these models in more detail, how to divide the work, and models for splitting compensation, and I will provide you with first-hand experience as to the pros and cons of each model, sample contracts to use between doulas, and ideas for how to structure splitting the fees between partners.
Visit MORE WISE: Continuing Education Classes For Doulas for details and to register for my continuing education classes.