Episode 193: Business Birth Story: Corporate Dropout Turned Postpartum Agency Owner with Jodi Congdon
In this episode, you’ll hear the business birth story of Jodi Congdon, owner of Hip to Heart. Jodi shares how she transitioned from the corporate world to motherhood, to postpartum doula, to doula trainer, to agency! What a ride, enjoy.
Additional links:
Podcasting with Heart (NEW course): https://nicholejoy.kartra.com/page/podcastingwithheart
Podcast Consulting application: https://nicholejoy.hbportal.co/public/64fa005ec70ae50024c65155
Try Honeybook!: https://share.honeybook.com/nichole35768
You can connect with Jodi and I in person this January at the Birth Worker Retreat: https://mailchi.mp/behervillage/birthworkerretreat
Black Birthworker Scholarship Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2Cye69MQ01inIERCVj5AAbPBPvg7In7zisLdpFJqKM0_S_g/viewform?usp=sharing
Connect with Jodi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiptoheart/
Transcript:
Interview_Jodi Congdon
[00:00:00] Here are three things that you need to know before you listen to this episode. Number one podcast consulting. So I'm now offering podcast consulting. I am holding your hand and showing you while you are in the driver's seat, how to put together your podcast. Whether you're in ADIY outsource, whatever, we are going to be building podcasts together.
If you'd like a spot at podcast consulting with me, there's an application link in the show notes or dmm me. My dms are always open. Announcement number two, if you'd prefer to learn at your own pace and all of it. DIY. The podcasting with heart self paced course is now available. I'm still in the middle of teaching it.
So if you get the self paced version, just note that as I teach the modules, they're being loaded into the portal, but that is an option. There's a link in the show notes. You can find out all the information. Announcement number three, you've already heard me talk about the birth worker retreat. It's two months away.
So it's November. Our retreat is January 22nd, 23rd, 24th in Clearwater beach, Florida. It is a birth worker retreat with a focus on mind body business. I am opening. Three intensive [00:01:00] spots private one on one before and after the retreat. So if you plan on attending and you would like to book some private in person time with me to get ish done, reach out to me, DM me ASAP to secure one of your spots and we can book it around your schedule of when you're going to be arriving and when you plan on departing from the retreat.
Side note, also related to the Birth Worker Retreat, there is a Black Birth Worker Scholarship available. So be sure to click the link in the show notes and apply if that's something that you feel like would be helpful for you. As always, if you have any questions, my DMs are open.
So I'm super excited and this is the second time I'm talking to you today. So that feels really fun and it happened kind of by accident. So I was a guest on Jody show this morning and now she's come on to be a guest and I have invited Jody Congdon. So her company is hip to heart and if you're in the birth world, I'm sure you've come across Jody at some point, um, to come and share your business birth story.
So we are co facilitating. Co hosting a birth worker retreat this January, if you haven't already heard about it. And [00:02:00] so we, I've invited everybody else who's a host to come and share your business birth story, um, so that we can all get to know each other on each other's shows and on each other's platforms even better.
Um, and you can still get tickets to the retreat as of now. And as of the time, this is.
I was a guest on her show, so if you're listening to mine and you want to hear our show on hers, um, we talked about the retreat, we talked about podcasting, we talked about birth, we talked a lot of different things. Um, so now I'm going to go ahead and share my screen, Turn the mic over and ask Jody. So you tell us about you and then wherever you want to begin with your business first story of how you got from point a to point maybe, I don't know, Z, Z, Z.
Yeah, um, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Um, I didn't even honestly know what any of [00:03:00] this was. I didn't know what do is where I didn't know about. Choices and birth and all, all the things. Um, I was, I got pregnant when I was 26 and just before all my friends did and my mother died when I was younger.
So I kind of, I always knew that I was very, would be very excited about, you know, being pregnant and, and having kids, but um, I didn't realize that The pregnancy part was, you know, I, I love, I love being pregnant. I loved all of it. I didn't realize the postpartum part. Like, I think when you have these thoughts as a kid or as a teenager of what it's going to be like, you know, Holding your baby and all the things it's like this harmonious beautiful thing and same with breastfeeding, right?
Everyone pictures it to be this like beautiful natural thing and you know, what comes along with that sometimes But there was just a lot to be there's a lot left like on Postpartum, um, it was fine. It was trial and error [00:04:00] like I had I didn't know this then, but I know now that I had, like, the classic 42 week induction.
Like, I didn't know what that was then, but it was at 42 weeks, you go in, and you have the cervical ripener and the Pitocin, and I said yes to all the things, because I didn't know any better. Um, and I was probably, like, their dream patient, because I had no idea about anything, and I just said yes, repeatedly.
Like, on repeat. Sure, sure, sure. Um, and it was fine. And I went in on a Friday, she was born on a Sunday. Um, and it was the best day of my life because I, you know, became a mother, but I just, you know, in, in the analysis, the post analysis, um. I was like, wow, that felt like something was off, like something, it was just super robotic and, you know, now I'm home and I'm doing my own thing, but, you know, VNA comes and they take your blood pressure, but like, what about time management, like, what about, what about just mental health stuff, like who comes and does that stuff, [00:05:00] um, and the answer was no one, right, the answer is, you know, great if you have friends and family and support and your parents and all the things, but like, I didn't at that point, um, yeah.
And I worked, uh, uh, a corporate job and, you know, three months later, I was back at work and just, I was sad every single day. Like, I would drop her off at daycare and I was sad every single day and towards the end of the day, I would get this anxiety of like, what if I hit traffic? Like, it was awful. It was, it was amazing because I had her, but it was awful at the same time.
And I ended up getting laid off, which was like a blessing in disguise. And I was like, okay, I know, I know I want to do something with new families and babies. And so I went back to school for nursing thinking that that's what I wanted to do and learned very quickly that I had wanted nothing to do with the clinical piece of it, that I loved the social and emotional piece, and the relationship piece, and the mental health piece, and all of the other things besides [00:06:00] clinical.
Um, and I happened to have a friend from high school whose mom was a doula, and I didn't even know that that was her title, and I chatted with her, and I literally flew down to North Carolina, like two weeks later, I was like on unemployment, and I was like, I'm gonna make the most of this time, like, you know, as I'm casually looking for jobs that I know that I never want to do.
Um. Took a training, took a birth doula training, took a childbirth educator training, like started working because this other person had clients that she couldn't take all the work and like really just kind of dove in with no direction. Um, and then shortly thereafter realized, you know, and I'll preface it by saying I am the person who wants the commission job.
I don't want to have a job where you just make the same paycheck and do the same thing. Like, I want it to be based on my performance. Like, I want to know that I'm in charge of. All the things like if I want to work super hard then my paycheck reflects that right and also like, you know I like the way that I feel about it reflects how much I put into it like There's [00:07:00] something to be said about whether you work five hours or 65 hours, you get the same pay.
Like, at some point, you're just like, uh, this week I'm gonna work five because last week I worked 80, you know? I don't know. It's not the same. But I very quickly figured out that this, this just doing the hourly thing was not gonna cut it for me. Like, I had these bigger ideas. I wanted to educate more people.
Like, I wanted to, you know, do something with families, but I also liked something with, like, the doula community. Like, I knew that You know, and I think, you know, fast forward, I started doing postpartum doula training, like, four or five years into it, I was like, I think I have enough experience, like, I've met enough people, worked with enough clients where I can offer something, and, and there just wasn't anything up in New England, like, I had gone to North Carolina for my postpartum doula training, I had gone to Tennessee for my lactation training.
Um, I went to Georgia for my birth doula training, like it just wasn't here. It was crazy. I was like, oh, I want to do this. Like, let me just hop on a plane and, and, you know, do this. Um, so I kind of brought it all back to, to New England, but I loved [00:08:00] working with professionals. Like I loved working with doulas.
I loved educating doulas. And I found myself kind of doing that before I was actually really doing it. So I'm doing these postpartum doula trainings and the lactation trainings. And then I started realizing that the business piece was missing from all of this. Like, I'm always thinking what others needs are, and I think that comes with being a doula, like, you walk into someone's house and you're like, okay, let me just do a quick assessment of, like, what the needs are today, and like, that's what we do, right?
If it's all mental health stuff, we focus on that. If I feel like you haven't eaten enough in the past week, like, I'm gonna make you meals for the next week. Um, so I don't know, I just, from there, I just started creating. Um, Yeah, and so I had one kid at the time, um, my kids are 16, so in 2014, late fall 2014, um, I got engaged, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, we quickly, quickly, quickly planned my wedding because I wanted to make sure he was going to be here for it.
We got married in March of 2015. He died in May. I got pregnant with Harper. I [00:09:00] feel like we can have, you know, TMI here. Um, my ovulation test was like a smiley face the day of my dad's funeral. Um, so I was like, this is just what we're doing tonight. Um, and I got pregnant, so I got pregnant with Harper. And then a year later, had Brynn.
And I just knew that I wasn't, like, fit to be caring for other people right now. I just needed so much care for myself. Um, so I took a step back from... The actual day to day doula stuff and I was still doing trainings, but I moved my business to more of an agency model I had made so many connections in the doula community from training these people And I was getting all these inquiries and passing them out anyway And I made it this formal business that has now exploded into You know a large agency in the new england area, but I also In addition to the postpartum doula and lactation trainings also have a series of business courses for doulas So and one of them is actually transitioning your solo business into an agency model So i've kind of come full circle [00:10:00] here into you know, kind of planting these tiny itty bitty seeds for my own business and now fruitful tree and I'm taking little pieces of that fruit off and helping other doulas, you know, kind of plant their, their business trees.
So that's the short story, even though it felt kind of long when I was telling it, no, I think that's perfect. And it gives me room to, um, space to ask a couple of questions. So curious when, what year did you share? So you said your oldest is 16 and you choose your. You flew to Georgia for your birth doula training when was that approximate so she was born 2007 I think that was she was born in mid 2007.
So I think that was very early either late 2008 or early 2009 So she was just about like a year and a half old Because I was laid off when she was just about a year old Wow. Okay. So even as recent as say, 15, 16 years ago, there wasn't regular, what we'll say, or any maybe [00:11:00] trainings. For doulas, and that's crazy.
It's wild. Cause I, so here I am Googling all the things and I came upon, you know, Dona or whatever. And the first training was in San Francisco and I happen to have family there. So I was like, I'm ready, like ready to buy my ticket. And I had like emailed the people and then called the people and then called again, left a voicemail, like no one ever got back to me.
So I was like, all right, just scratch that off my list. So by accident, like the next one on Google was Kappa. And, um, you know, at that point I didn't. It never dawned on me to kind of look at everybody's mission and, and see what I felt was most like aligned with what I saw this being, you know, to me, um, I was just trying to get a training, like the next one available and that was just another like blessing in disguise ended up really feeling like I fit.
With their vision of what they wanted perinatal care to look like and, um, I'm very glad that it worked out the way it did because I do like being aligned with them [00:12:00] and I do like being, you know, being a trainer for them. Um, so yeah, so it was, and it's weird too because Boston is a really mature market.
Like, people know what doulas are. They're, they're providers. You know, recommend doulas. They are willing to pay the fee for all the things because they are invested in themselves. Like they've taken it one level above and they know what feels best for like the investment on their pregnancy or their new parenting, right?
It's not hard to sell being a birth doula or a postpartum doula in this area where I know other people that I've trained in other areas of the country have to go to like great lengths to Relay to someone how much of a value this will bring to their experience So it's interesting. So it Caught on very quickly up here, and I don't think that doulas weren't a thing 16 years ago, they, they were, but it just wasn't like, oh yeah, doula.
Like, people, you know, were like, oh, like I heard the word, like tell me a little bit more so I [00:13:00] know what I'm talking about. Um, and now people are like, yeah, doulas. Like that's just, it's like a regular part of vocabulary when you're like, you know, pregnant or have kids. I'm like listening to you talk and I'm sitting here wondering of all the times we've been on um, planning set, planning calls for the birth worker retreat.
I'm like, have you ever shared with me your human design? And if you know it, you don't have to, but I'm sitting here making guesses to myself. So I can't remember. Cause I think when you and I talked about it, I think I got the time of my birth wrong. I thought it was. Um, 12, 11 p. m. And I, so I have to go back and check my birth certificate because the, the human design that came out of like that quiz, I feel like it's not quite aligned with me.
Um, so I feel like I, I may have got the timing wrong. So I do, I do have to go look at that. Um, because I find that to be tremendously interesting. And for all the people that I know who have told me their human design, I'm like, that is, that is a thousand percent like what you... Are like, what I know of you, like, if you had given me, you know, 3 choices of what your [00:14:00] human design was without actually telling me, I would be able to pick the correct one.
Um, so I'm going to check my time. Interesting about that, like, so for side note, because I know that some of the people who listen to my show are like, very, very, very good at human design. And so for them and for people who are getting into it, just like caveat is, um, while for me, it feels like. A lot of the things really line up.
I know for some people, it's more of a, um, an experiment, like let's see what the channeled information is out there about all of these different nuances of my design and see what feels like it fits. And then also sometimes pre pre deconditioning, Nicole didn't match. As well as, as I started going through my deconditioning journey and peeling off the stuff that didn't fit.
So that could, that's part of it for me, too, um, is it was there, but it was very, it felt almost like there was like a layer, like a mask that was covering. So, [00:15:00] just for people who are listening, like, that's my take on it, but because I was sitting here listening to him, like, I wonder if she's and, and, you know, it's just helpful information.
And I like information. So thank you for that. Um. Then I was going to ask you something else. Okay. So since you've been in the birth business for so long, I didn't come in until 2018. And even then I felt like, where is everybody online? Like, I know there's doulas in my area hiring doulas. And I hired a doula in 2016.
I hired a doula in 2018. And I remember looking online in my local area. And I'm like, Where are all these people? Are they not on social media? I'm trying to find out about them. I'm trying to see something and learn something. And I felt like they were very much, um, the industry as a whole was very much in the dark ages, it felt like when it came to online, they existed and they were operating businesses and they were helping families, but there was like nothing out there that you could find, you had to like pick up the phone, dial the phone number on their website, talk to them on the phone call and then meet for coffee to have an interview, which a lot of that still happens, right?
But now [00:16:00] I feel like in just a short amount of time, we'll say. Six years, five, six years. Yes. So many, the whole industry has changed so much, right? And I bet 2008, that's probably been big for you. It's been, it's been a wild ride. And I think, you know, the pandemic, you know, exploded my business. I know for sure, at least the postpartum piece of it.
Um, but I also think now with like more insurance coverage and. You know, benefits like carrot fertility, where we have clients who are getting, you know, 40, 000 from this benefit for birth and postpartum care. So it's just really saying to like, you know, the rest of the world, like, Hey, this is a service that needs to be provided.
And, you know, we see the value in it and we want. We want our employees to have, like, the best damn experience they can possibly have and then come back and still be happy and still be productive and, you know, we want [00:17:00] them to know that we care about them and, and want to take care of them and all those things.
Commercial break. Honey book. I've got to tell you about honey book. So I know what you might be thinking just because I have an online business and a podcast and I do a lot of this myself, but it must be super tech savvy. I'm not, I'm an elder millennial self taught on all things technology. And one of the things that I found incredibly difficult.
In terms of technology is one of the big CRM systems. When I first got into this business, CRM is client relationship management, by the way, meaning you can send contracts and get virtual signatures. You can send invoices and lots of other things. The big one that rhymes with Topsado, but starts with a D.
I just could not get past the level of difficulty and complexity. So when somebody introduced HoneyBook to me, they had me at the option of Doola when you're entering your information and you enter the kind of services that you provide. So for several years now, I've been using HoneyBook as my client relationship management system, where [00:18:00] I send contracts and invoices and manage those one on one private client relationships.
My affiliate link is in the show notes. I would love it if you'd give it a trial run and see if you'd like it. And if you do let me know if you have any questions as always reach out.
And, you know, it's, it's far from perfect. I mean, there's not even paid maternity leave and that is ridiculous, but we're making tiny itty bitty baby steps. And I think, you know, doulas have a lot to do with that. A lot of doulas are loud in the way that. You know, they, they command the respect from the general public and, you know, practitioners and, and, and in a positive way, like not in the negative way, um, but they're like, hey, we're here, look what we do, look at the statistics, look at these outcomes, look at them before we were doing this, like, you can't deny what's happening here, so it's been, it's been wonderful, um, and obviously there's, you know, value in the numbers and, you know, You know, I'm trying to train as many [00:19:00] people who want to be postpartum doulas as I possibly can because You know, we have about 43 doulas on, you know, that work with us, and we are still saying no to clients sometimes because there's just not availability.
Um, and everyone you ask, I mean, I have a circle of people who don't work with me that I definitely, you know, will, will hit up if, you know, we have a client that we can't take. They're always busy. They're always booked. Um, so it's hard. It's hard to say like, you know, we just don't have the hands for you.
Um, and that's still happening. And that, that it's crazy. That's incredible. Really? I mean, And then I'm thinking about, you know, you shifting from having your own business, having some personal life stuff that you needed to tend to during that season and yourself, and then shifting to an agency business.
My question with that is, um, well, first I'll say [00:20:00] before I ask the question, like, I really appreciate you sharing those pieces because it, I think will really help. people that your life's mission gets to express in different ways. You're still helping families. You're still helping families. You're still helping families just in all these different ways throughout your journey.
Um, so my, now the question was going from running your own postpartum doula business to building as an agency, what was the biggest. Learning curve. What is the biggest learning experience that you had making that shift? Was it like a whole new world? Um, yes, because it took me a while to not be involved with every client.
Like, you know, doing those initial consults, like I connected with them as if I was going to be providing the care. So it was hard to hand that off to someone and not stay like checking in or like all the things. But what I realized is I still want to check it. Like it is still a client of. [00:21:00] I still want to make sure they see my face and hear my voice and know that I'm always still available for whatever they need.
And I do want to see pictures when they give birth. And I want to, I do want to know all the things, but you know, I'm not doing the day to day care. So somebody else is their person. Um, so that was kind of hard in the beginning. And I think now it's just, it's become like just a well oiled machine. Like there are weeks when I have, you know, 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 initial consults and.
You know, I am in a wonderful, like, this mastermind program of all these, like, high caliber women, and a lot of the things they talk about are delegation, and, you know, they have teams of, of five, six, seven, ten full time employees. Like, I don't have that. Um, There are certain things that I don't ever want to give up and those seem to be the most time consuming things for me So I'm you know in this constant struggle of [00:22:00] what can I delegate that doesn't need like my face and my personality?
and I definitely have delegated a lot of things in my business, but It's still very much represents me and I find that I find that to be pretty incredible that It's definitely still my baby like it's still The very same seed that I planted and the very same tree. It just has more branches Um, and I think that that gets very difficult as your business grows and gets much larger Sometimes it it gets away from that because you're trying to care for and serve too many different kinds of people Um, and then you end up doing things that feel inauthentic.
We you know, we talked about this a little bit this morning Um because they're easier. They're less expensive. They take less time. You know, they're they're what sometimes people are asking for but You know, I, I'm not afraid to say no now to a lot of things. Whereas before I was like, sure, sure. I can do that.
I can do that. We can do that. Um, now I'm like, nope, that's not what we do. Like that is, there is someone else for you, but it, you know, probably [00:23:00] not us. So. I think the hardest thing is just the time, it's time consuming because I'm not willing to give up some of those things, but I don't know. I do a lot of my things at night, like I do, and that's like the other part of having, you know, your own business that, that is so flexible.
Besides sitting with clients, like chatting and, and, and doing like the podcast recording and things like that. I do a lot of my stuff at night after the kids go to bed, like in my bed, usually I have like an iced coffee or like my husband's, you know, watching a show or reading or whatever. Yeah. Um, so I don't miss the time like with my husband or my family or, or any, and I can still be very productive and I can still run my business and I can still grow my business and do all the things.
Um, but it's not this like nine to five or it's not, you know, where I'm kind of sitting static all day long plugging away. Um, so it feels like I do a lot less work than I actually do, which is like beautiful. It reminds me of, um, I think what I'm [00:24:00] taking from some of that is that discernment of my soul still needs to feel fulfilled.
It's not all about the bottom line. It's not all about the dollars, right? Like, let's say for example, you had a hundred doulas on your agency. You said 43, let's say three. Yeah. What did they say? Let's say you had a hundred and you had enough for everybody. And you reached a point where. That you were like, okay, bottom line is more important.
I don't need to talk to all of these people or any of these people anymore because I have all this. But then like, it sounds like there's perhaps a part of you that finds some kind of joy in the experience. Absolutely. It's beyond the dollars. And, I mean, it's the joy of doing it, but also... Like, I'm very intentional about who I work with and, like, who I let represent me.
Like, I, I could have 80 doulas. Like you said, I could have a hundred. There's, the doulas are there. Like, I, I, I see them, I know them, I talk to them, I see them on social media. Um, but do they [00:25:00] align with how I see... hip to heart providing care. Like, no. So, I am very intentional about it. And sometimes there's like an internal struggle where if I was less intentional, we could care for more people, but I feel like at the end of the day, that's potentially more of a headache for me because if I don't know this person, if I didn't train this person, most of my team I've trained in both postpartum doula care and lactation.
Obviously not our birth doulas, but There's a part of that that I, I feel is very special. Like, I know your scope of practice, like, I taught you what top quality care is. So, I've also gotten to know you, like, in, in a professional or in an educational manner. Um, I don't know, you just know. You know when there's a shining star.
I can't tell you how I know, I can't, there's no criteria for it. Um, when there's a shining star that comes through my training, that is who I want on my team. Over a thousand people like it's a very small [00:26:00] team. So I don't know it, you know, could we help more people? Yes, but it's it's not it's not i'm not interested in in having that be a part of my business So the bottom line could look look a lot different, right?
It could be a lot bigger, but it's not for me That's not where my focus is It reminds me of, um, so I took my daughter to a concert last year, uh, September of 2022 was her first concert experience. And you may have heard me talk about this. We went to see Alicia keys and we did the meet and greet at that particular concert.
And when I was running the math while we were waiting in the meet and greet, I'm like for the amount of people here and what each of us spent on these tickets financially, this doesn't make sense for her to do it. Right. Like she's not getting as much money off this meet and greet as would make sense, would make sense for her time.
And then after the whole thing, what I realized was like, she's not doing that part for the money. Like she gets something from it on a deeper level. And, you know, perhaps, you know, that's why some of some [00:27:00] people have longevity in business because the way that they're doing things and the reason they're making certain decisions.
Um, So, yes. And what else was I going to ask you? Oh, I had, I had another question, question about the agency, but now I'll kind of shift gears for us a little bit. Um, what year did you start your podcast? Um, not that long ago. Um, I think it was June of 2022 was like when the first episode launched. Okay. And so I assume it's been over two years.
Congratulations. Um, enjoying. No, it's no, it's been a year in June. So June 2022. So a year in June. So it's been like a year and a half, like a year and a couple months. Okay. Oh, 22. Right. So a little over a year. Yes. And hiccups, biggest, um, lessons learned, like what were, let me ask it this way. Like if you could go back to June of 22, when you were launching, like maybe what are three things that you would have done a little differently?
Um, [00:28:00] I would have not hired someone to. Manage it for me, because there's no need, like I find so much joy in doing this, like I don't need someone to go back and edit it, I don't need someone to write my show notes, and I look back and I read them, you know how like you were saying, you look back and you read some of the stuff, like your old social media, like captions, and you're just like, oi, um, I, I look at some of the show notes that she wrote from podcast, and I'm like, that sounds like nothing I would ever say, like, so it, it, it started off being not my voice, You know what I'm saying?
Like the, the podcast was, but the, the rest of it wasn't, and, um, I just kind of, at some point, I'm like, I it myself. Like, I don't want to edit it. I don't need it to be perfect. Like, you know, my cat's tail would hit the microphone, and it would be like, shh, shh, shh, you know, like, keep it in. Like, keep it in.
That's, you just saw my cat 52 times. Um, doorbell rings, the dog barks. Like, that is my life. Like, [00:29:00] that's what you're listening for. Like, obviously, there's valuable information in there also, but like, I don't know, you'll never get to know me if you don't know, like, what's happening over here. So I, I definitely, like, you called it, what'd you call it, B minus work?
Mm hmm. I thought it had to be, like, you know, A P, A plus, like, where, you know, B minus is just fine. My audience... Prefers the B minus. Yeah. So that was just one thing. Um, you know, I was very strict, too, about, like, I need to get an episode out, like, every single Tuesday by, like, blah, blah, blah. And now there are weeks where I have none and weeks where I have two.
And like you, I took it light over the summer because there just wasn't time where I wanted to be sitting in front of, like, the microphone talking. I wanted to be outside. And, um, I don't know. I mean, people, people will listen when it comes out. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I love that you're sharing those because I feel like, um, it very much aligns with the way that I teach and talk about this kind of thing is like a lot of podcasters take the summer off.
A lot of business owners, small business [00:30:00] owners take the summers off, like, or light hours, not even small business. When I worked in corporate, the big guys in charge, they were not in town for the whole summer. They would leave and call into the big conference calls and that's it. Yeah. So I, I think that's, and everybody else listening to like people want to enjoy their summers.
Are they consuming as much material? Are they like listening to as many trains? So I think it's fine. And I think, um, imperfect. I have a client who says, um, what does she say? Messy is better than done is better than perfect. Done is better than right. Right. Right. Right. Um, and I agree on the outsourcing, the, uh, the podcast management in the beginning because podcasting, It feels very intimate.
It feels very close. And the thing about having somebody write your show notes or effectively, like, create content, right? Because the show notes are kind of contents copy. And when it's not in your voice, it's just I know people want to outsource everything these days. I do think that it's healthy to outsource and delegate.
Certain [00:31:00] things, some stuff, it is really important that it is from you. And when you're doing your own podcast, it's not that hard to, I found myself writing my own show notes anyway, when I had an editor, because as hard as she tried and she did a decent job, I was still like, Oh, I wouldn't use that word.
Like that's not right, right, right, right. You know, delegate the things, like I said, that don't require your face and your personality. And there's so many things that do not require my face and do not require my personality. Um, I have a project manager who does a lot of research for me, like a lot of outreach for me.
And, you know, my involvement is writing, like, the email or, like, the template or whatever. And, like, she does, like, all the back end stuff. Um, you know, things like payroll. I mean, that, you know, that kind of stuff. I don't need. To be like spending time on that. I, it just gives me more time to spend on the creative pieces and like the client, you know, um, connection pieces and things like that.
[00:32:00] Yeah, I like it. And so anyone listening, when you, I'll share in the, in all the show note information, Jody's podcasts, so that you can also connect with her there, um, which is catering to birth workers. So it's all. Birth workers and business stuff, business stuff. Yeah, it's all like you're no one's talking about contractions or swaddles or any of those things.
Um, yeah, it's all about just business and life and family and, you know, mental health and physical health and all the things. Yeah, that's awesome. And now let's kind of blurb. I want to honor your time, but let's like quick blurb. So Jody's also going to be a co facilitator at the retreat. So if you want to share about like kind of a preview of what your segment is going to be about at the retreat.
So we're going to be in Clearwater in January. Um, ticket links are in the show notes too and payment plans. Yes. Yes. Um, I'm going to be talking about, so I haven't quite like worked out all the details yet, but something [00:33:00] like this, um, I will be talking about creating a business. You know, and I say this all the time.
People probably like, uh, you talk about that all the time. Um, I always say my business works for me. Like I don't work for it. Um, so creating a business that works for you in any season of life, um, little kids, big kids, kids in college, no kids travel a lot, have another job. What does that look like? You know, and it's kind of like building your business backward.
Like, you know, who do you want to care for? What do you want to do for them? Like, what's your ultimate goal? Okay. Um, you know, plug in all of your other things first, like your, your kid commitments, your travel schedule, all the other things backfill it with business. So you're never. Sacrificing, you know, important things in life.
Okay. So you're finding yourself with not enough time for as much work as you want to do. Let's take some of that stuff digital. Let's kind of figure out how we cannot sacrifice the care that we're providing or the education or the support, but we can't always be doing it for this many [00:34:00] hours. So it's kind of like figuring out what your big goal is like what what your ideal situation is and then you know, kind of like Going backwards and figuring out how that's all going to look.
Um, and it looks different all the time. I mean, you know, summers look quite different than the school year. I work maybe, you know, two or three days a week during the summer. And then like some late evenings, because I don't care about that. Um, But I don't want to be like, oh, we can't go to the beach today, or we can't do this today, because, like, I have, you know, two phone calls, or that I have to be, you know, in front of my computer for.
Um, I'm crystal clear with a lot of people about my schedule, like, you may catch me in car line, you may catch me while I'm at gymnastics. So, you know, maybe we're not Zooming, but like, we can still have a conversation. You know, I may have to go. Like, I'm not trying to be some, like, professional at this grand desk, like, where it's silent.
That's not me. That's not my lifestyle. Can I still help you? Can I still care for you? Can I still educate you, empower you, enrich you? All the things. Yes, [00:35:00] absolutely. But, you know, it's on my time. And, and I say no a lot more because I, I'm not willing to sacrifice. I mean, my oldest. We went on our first college tour last weekend, and I was like, oh my god, do you think people cry, like, on college tours?
Cause I, there's a good chance that I might. Um, so now it's just gonna be, like, in the next year and a half, like, I wanna have less time for this stuff, cause I wanna be, like, available for anything. And I know that making less time for my business is not gonna change how much I'm making, how many people I care for, how many doulas, you know, I bring on.
I know that taking less time for my business in the next year and a half, my business is still gonna run and it's still gonna grow. Like, And that's, I mean, who, like, that's, like, I just pat myself in the back sometimes. Like, like, that's, this is, like, people's dream. Like, I want to have a business where I have a flexible schedule.
Like, why do you just want to have that business? Like, why aren't you running that business currently? Like, let's talk about that for a [00:36:00] minute. Because it's there for the taking. You know this. Make, you want it. Make it happen. And it's not like, oh, I want a million dollars. How do I make that happen? Like, there are steps to take to make this happen.
Like, the clients are there. The money that they have to spend is there, um, the practitioners referring us are there, like, all of the pieces of the puzzle are there for you, like, put them together, right? Um, so it's, yeah, it's, it's pretty awesome to be doing this. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's something I didn't realize when I started having kids was that the older they get, like the more like I wanted to hang out with them when they were babies, but I thought, you know, okay, it's going to just be a lot of my energy while they're this little and that's not entirely true because now they're getting a little older, right?
My son's turning 10 next week. It's like they require a different kind of energy But it's not like a time commitment as they get older. It's [00:37:00] more of like an emotional, like in a mental commitment to them. They don't need like the, they don't need me to spoonfeed them. Right. But right. Their needs are still present.
And this one has sports stuff and this one has that stuff. And they were talking about college last night in the car on the way home from school. And I was like, Of course I'm going to come to da, da, da, da, right. And the one of them was like, are you still going to celebrate Halloween with us? Even when we're in college?
And I'm like, yes. Are you not going to want to spend it with me? I hope they can imagine that. They can't imagine that. I remember like Kaylee, my oldest was like, you know, four or five and we're watching some movie where the girl goes to Italy, um, in high school. And I was like, you know, one day, like, you might be going to Italy with your friends, too, and she's, you know, crying her eyes out, like, I will never go without you, you know, and I'm just like, you say that, but, like, you know, and it's funny, and my little kids now are like, I will never go anywhere without you, but, you know, on the other end, Kaylee's like, you know, Can I go to Paris with my friends, like, after we graduate?
Uh, [00:38:00] yeah, of course, but, like, remember when you cried, because you thought it was mean of me to say that you were going to do that, you know? Yeah. All the things they say now, and they don't, they can't believe that I will tell them, like, you will be doing this with your friends, like, you probably won't want to be trick or treating with your mom when you're 17.
Um, but they think, they think they will, so it's okay. We wanna prepare and build businesses accordingly so that when the time comes, whenever they need us, this is kind of how I told them. I'm like, Hey, I can be in the car on a whim. Yeah. I can be like, when the time comes, like, you need me, I'm there. And that's kind of how what I, what I have at the front of my mind when I'm building things in the business is longevity, efficiency and, and how flexible is it?
Like it's gotta be, it's gotta be more and more. We have the tools that make it so easy and cheap. To do like, you don't have to have like anything fancy schmancy. Like if you're listening to this podcast, you probably have a cell phone. Yeah, you can do most things on that. Um, so I, yeah, I agree that. And I'm excited to have that conversation in the room [00:39:00] with everybody who comes, who maybe has been in business for quite a while or wants to have more sustainability or is brand new.
And it's like, Hey, I realized that like, even though I'm brand new, I need to start building sustainably from the beginning because it's just, why wouldn't I? The tools are available. The things that like my mom didn't have access to when she was building businesses back in the day, our grandparents didn't have access to, they couldn't do it this way, but we can, like, I don't want to miss games.
If my son plays, you know, when he starts playing games after, I don't want to be missing games. I don't like working at night. I, my brain completely shuts off in the evening and I am useless physically. I can move around and cook dinner and do bedtime routines, but like, I cannot do client calls in the evening.
Cause I will not be helpful. And so I have to be good that you know your own limits like you're not trying to squeeze stuff in at a time where it's not beneficial for you or your potential client like that. And that's a huge part of this. Like, when's your best time? Like when, you know, um, the person who leads my mastermind was saying [00:40:00] that she's trash in the morning.
You know, me too. Like, I hate getting up early. Like, nights are, nights are my thing. Um, and she's like, and here I am trying to like, get up early and like, do stuff so I can squeeze it in during the day. And then it's like, it's useless. I feel like garbage. The stuff I'm putting out is garbage. So I, I think you have to really know like, when...
You know, your green light is on and when you're like solid red light is on. And, and one of the things too, that, you know, I try to do with my doula training, you know, we talk about the business piece. I don't want you coming out of here and trying to get as many clients as you can. Like, that is not how you build a business.
That is not smart. It feels good in the beginning. Cause you're like, look at me, like I'm getting experience and you know, the money, the money's coming in and. You know, that's not long term success, like that has short term burnout written all over it. So, it's not as many clients as you can get, it's not as many services as you can offer, like that will not serve you for a long period of time.
So, be smart from the beginning, [00:41:00] like, build a solid foundation so when you build upon that, like, it's not rickety and it doesn't crumble. Like, even if it's slow out of the gate. Even if it takes you time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't like and we have a lot of younger people, you know becoming doulas who don't have kids yet and like Okay, think about what you can do now Like you're capable of working 89 hours a week but like don't have that be the standard for your business because at some point I know you just said you do want to Have kids like you're gonna have to shut it down completely because you're going from like, you know 90 You're going to be doing zero.
So, like, how can you plan better? How can you set that up better? So, when one thing dials down, you just dial up the other, which doesn't require, you know, much of your time and energy. So I think, you know, we're, for the most part, getting it wrong when we're, we're trying to start a business. Um, so I'm trying to, trying to, you know, help people do it right from the get go.
Cause you want to cut twice, what I know, measure, measure twice, cut once. And I [00:42:00] think, I think what you're saying is everybody who comes to the retreat, just expect to be hanging out with Jodi at the evening events. And then you'll see early, you can do sunrise yoga. I'll do the yoga. I might not be at Sunrise Yoga.
I mean, I will force myself to be at Sunrise Yoga because yoga I can do early in the morning. Um, I will complain about it, but, um, Yeah, I want to do like midnight yoga. I want to do late night yoga. By midnight. I hope to be in my 50th cycle of whatever it is of sleep. Um, so in the evening, people have like wine in the evenings.
Like that's their kind of like wind down. I like it like an iced coffee at like eight or eight 30, like, or just a relaxing and it doesn't keep me up. Like it doesn't keep me up, but that's like my, that's my nighttime, like relaxation. Okay. So you sound like my mother, I would never be able to sleep like that.
And it's knowing your, knowing your stuff. So the retreat. You'll be able to see the very extreme different pieces. I mean, but then we're spending the whole day to get like Tuesday's the full day. And we will part of what Jodi will be doing and all [00:43:00] of us will really be touching on it at some point. I'm sure it's like guiding people to their correct path, which I'm very excited.
So as at the time this comes out, the retreat will be pretty quickly approaching. Um, my advice is not. To delay, because there is a maximum capacity and we have a payment plan. Like Klarna offers a payment plan. My understanding is it's interest free, so you can set it up. It is interest free. Yep. Yep. It is interest free.
So you literally can like, let's say it's, you know, 200 and you're dividing it by four, like that's just 50 four times. Like that's, it is, it's in your best interest. If you're feeling like you can't put forth like the whole fee now, um, secure your spot and just pay, you know, over time. Yep. And the room block.
So side note for anybody. I have yet to do that. I have tickets. I have airfare. I have everything. I have yet to do my, I keep forgetting. Oh my God. But we do have a cap on the rooms that are under the room block and we have a time stamp on when you can get the [00:44:00] room discount under the room block. So just I just, I just wrote it on my paper.
I need to do it too. Thank you so much for hanging with us. This was awesome. I appreciate you sharing. I'm excited for everybody to meet everybody like your people, my people, all of us hanging out in Florida in my backyard. I know it's like you're going to already be there. That's. So, I mean, it's still exciting for you though.
I mean, it's like a little travel for you. Yeah. Yeah. I love Clearwater. Clearwater feels like a vacation destination. And for me, it's about 45 minutes away and we make mission there. We do. We have family. Um, we've gone there for like long weekends and during the summer we'll have, cause it's, it's very touristy.
It's very vacationy. It feels very vacationy. Um, and it's also, I've been in Florida for my whole life and the best sunsets I've seen have been at Clearwater beach, so I'm really excited. I can't wait to. And we've never actually met. Like, we've never actually, like, it's kind of funny. Like, I, I didn't meet Darcy.
I mean, Darcy and I live, like, you know, fairly close to each other, um, until, like, maybe, like, a year and a [00:45:00] half ago. I'm like, we just need to go for dinner. Like, this is ridiculous. Um, and I've never met Caitlin either, like, in person to person. I, there's so many people who are like, I'm gonna be there. And I'm like, I, I now have known you for four or five years via, like, you know, stuff like this.
Um, but I've never physically seen your face. Like, I'm very excited to... Just be next to someone who I pretty much already know, but like it would be so I can't wait. Yeah, me too. Me too Well, thank you and everybody all Where to find Jody after after the episode see ya