In the afterglow of world doula week and mothers’ day a question for you:
What’s it like to be held – as beautiful, strong and able? Just bask for a minute in what that feels like…For some of you it’s hard to remember. Perhaps your mind went straight to your mother, arms of complete conviction and belief in you, you’d like to think – or feel.
I’m a doula and a coach working with courageous women birthing babies and businesses with clarity and power. I’ve been blessed recently with eyes- open moments about my coaching and birth work jive. Humour me or dance with me now…
In coaching and in birth work I hold women as the wonders we are. Not some time in the future, with the right ‘outcome’, or goal accomplished, but here and now. Right here, in this moment, that flicker of voice, this tremor of soul. I name and champion the strength and learning I witness in them in the process itself. I challenge women to step into ever greater discovery of themselves as mothers and leaders.
Doulas/birth workers of the world – you get all that, it’s what you do too.
And it’s amazing.
And you know what? As a doula myself, I know how many of us struggle with the business and marketing side of our work. I also know how as birth workers we tend to undersell the work we do – even buying into the idea that scarcity/poverty marks out the worthiness of our calling. hmmm. Familiar? And funny? In a bittersweet kind of way…Sometimes our own families see this most clearly when they ask wistfully, “Tell me again, why is it you do what you do?…”
Yes, you’ve been adding to your portfolio of rich wisdom, your CV busting its seams, because you LOVE your work and go on learning, drinking it in. Yes Yes!
And it costs. You’ve experimented with ways to bring more work and weave together the threads of your business, and ended up deflated, wondering where to start – or stop. Most marketing ‘advice’ doesn’t work for you because it doesn sit well with your values, and doesn’t seem to resonate with the solo-preneur heart-work you are doing.
And it’s not ok that you’re playing small, because the work you do is amazing. Life giving. World changing.
Imagine having someone completely on your side, who holds you at your most creative and resourceful, with whom you begin to distinguish yourself clearly and declare what you uniquely bring. Imagine then communicating and embodying your ‘brand’ so powerfully and recognisably that you stand out with ease to your ideal clients (yes they exist!). And yes, within that lush tapesty of your work are those powerful movements for change you lead locally or wider in the birth/baby world, the issues you stand for, making you more visible, more attractive to your perfect people.
Oh, yes. We wouldn’t birth a baby without the continuous, loving, challenging, I-totally-trust-you-to-fly support of a doula, so why go through the peaks and troughs of business birthing without one?
You can imagine how much, as a doula and a coach myself, I long to free up birth workers to birth their work powerfully and with ease.
“Kate, Thanks for a great coaching session! I really feel as though I got clarity on how I want to present myself, made a break through on what sort of design I want for my website and found the confidence I need to take the next step” Erin, doula (London, UK)
Check out how coaching can help your business to fly at http://wildrubies.co.uk/work-with-me/wild-rubies-coaching/ and hop over to like our wild rubies community facebook page for inspiration and connections https://www.facebook.com/wildrubies
What is it like to be held as beautiful, strong and able? Who does this for you?.. Comments below..
With love and respect, Kate