• Backup doula coverage during holiday season. 0:04
• Be ready for the end of the year with induction times, weather considerations, and illness preparation.
• Choose a backup doula early and get their commitment in writing to ensure peace of mind during emergency situations.
• Prepare the family for potential switch from in-person to virtual support if needed, and activate the backup doula as a last resort.
• Ravae Sinclair advises preparing families for potential illnesses and discussing backup doula coverage during the season.
• Denise Bolds emphasizes the importance of having a plan for inductions and clear communication with providers to avoid unwanted interventions.
• End-of-year prep for doulas, including email management and self-care. 6:21
• Denise Bolds and Ravae Sinclair discuss end-of-year tasks, including inventory management, tax preparation, and email cleaning.
• Organize emails by archiving older ones and creating a "23" folder for searchability.
• Ravae Sinclair suggests using an out-of-office message to set expectations and provide a link to a birth doula service, while also including a personal touch to show professionalism.
• Ravae and Denise Bolds discuss the benefits of taking a nap during the day, including recalibrating energy levels and feeling cozy and relaxed.
• A viral video of a mother dancing provocatively at a party. 12:41
• Ravae Sinclair and Denise Bolds discuss a viral video of a man dancing with a woman at a formal event, with the woman's back turned and her hips gyrating in a provocative manner.
• The hosts analyze the video, finding it enjoyable and impressive, but also noting that it could be seen as inappropriate or disrespectful due to the woman's lack of consent.
• Ravae Sinclair observes a son's reaction to his mother's provocative dancing, finding it heartbreaking and noting the lack of attention given to his emotions.
• Denise Bolds shares her thoughts on the situation, agreeing with Ravae's assessment and finding it sad that no one addressed the son's hurt.
• Blending personal and professional life in birth work. 17:10
• Denise Bolds shares her experience as a black single mom raising her son Jordan, highlighting the societal pressure on black men to become the man of the house.
• Denise and Ravae Sinclair discuss the importance of maintaining boundaries and being a good role model for their children, with Denise emphasizing the need to be a responsible and present mother.
• Ravae Sinclair discusses the blending of personal and professional online, highlighting the importance of maintaining a consistent brand image for businesses in the birth work industry.
• Sinclair suggests that birth workers may need to elevate and make shifts in their online presence to provide consistency and predictability for clients, while also maintaining a personal connection.
• Ravae Sinclair advises business owners to be mindful of their online presence, as a lack of privacy settings and personal content can repel potential customers.
• Sinclair suggests creating separate personal and business social media accounts to maintain privacy and professionalism.
• Social media consistency for business owners. 25:06
• Denise Bolds and Ravae Sinclair discuss the importance of maintaining a professional image on social media, with Denise sharing her approach of only posting business-related content and Ravae agreeing that she only posts minimal personal content.
• Denise and Ravae suggest considering a separate page for personal and business content, and reflecting on how they want to show up privately versus publicly.
• Ravae Sinclair and Denise Bolds discuss the importance of consistency in social media for businesses, highlighting the "know, like, trust" factor that can impact consumer purchasing decisions.
• Denise Bolds plans to host a Zoom reunion for families she supported in 2023, a simple yet meaningful way to celebrate the end of the year and connect with loved ones.
• Ravae Sinclair and Denise Bolds discuss end-of-year tips for business owners, including sending holiday cards, hosting parties, and writing off expenses.
• Ravae promotes her upcoming business booster class and offers a limited-time pre-sale discount.

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How to find us:

Ravae Sinclair @birthconnections and natlbirthpostpartumpros

Denise Bolds @BoldDoula and @blackwomendovbac

Website: www.doulathatpodcast.com

IG:@doulathatpodcast

Platforms: Apple, Spotify, Stitcher & Google

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

doula, people, year, birth, put, social media, induction, clients, backup, denise, energy, doulas, families, business, holiday, give, emails, workers, mother, good

SPEAKERS

Denise Bolds, Ravae Sinclair

Hi, everybody. My name is Ravae Sinclair.

Hello. Hello. I'm Denise Bolds.

And we're here to help you Doula That! Okay, everybody, so we are getting to the end of 2023. We wanted to make sure that we have an episode that is jam packed with tips and ideas for you to grow as a birth worker. So I think we got some good stuff that'll help you get started. Alright, so we're just gonna dive in because time is of the essence. Your time is important as much as ours. I do not I'm not even going to start with the opening question. We'll get back to that when we get to 2024. Okay. All right, let's do this. Okay, let's dive in. Let's talk about doula skills. Oh, yes. All right. So we're at the end of the year. Denise, what are some of the things that birth workers should really consider? As we as they're winding down these last few weeks of the year? Yeah,

You know, the end of the year there's tons of holidays and believe it or not, birth work and community of doctors and nurses, they think that it's holiday season for them to these babies come 365. There's no such thing as a holiday. So thinking about your clients are giving birth around the two major holidays right now actually three when you can Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's, okay. You have to think about induction times. The weather, inclement weather is happening here as well. So the holiday season backup, doulas, making sure you have the proper help to help you cold and flu season inductions for your clients. We have a lot going on as we wrap things up for the end of the year.

You're absolutely right it would soon as you said flu I was like oh yeah the illnesses like there's a lot of things to consider. So I think the biggest thing in your mind is be ready. So what are the things that will help you be ready you know your business you know what's available to you and what's not. So when we talk about backup doula, do you already have a backup doula you have a team of people who are backup doulas, tap on them make sure that they are solid and in place and if they have some caveats if they have some days that they like can't take note of those right because people are going to have some days that like blackout dates, I guess is what we want to call it. Some doula--- some backup doulas are going to have that and so you want to be ready with alternative on that blackout day for your preferred or chosen backup doula. Remember? Oh, go ahead.

No, I said yes. I'm I'm I'm, I'm writing and leaning in the world.

Okay. And so remember, you need to choose the these folks early enough and get their commitment. Use a backup doula contract, if you need a website, a NatlBirthPostpartumPros.com/store, you can get a backup doula contract, but make sure you have them in an agreement. The other thing is you need to have time for that backup doula to be introduced to the family. Like they need to make sure you need to make sure that this is good. So you've got a couple of weeks before all while I know we saw Hanukkah started. So we have a bunch of other holidays coming for the next two months. But I just feel like make sure you have enough time to introduce all the parties get all the commitments, so that you can actually enjoy the peace of mind that comes knowing that you have a backup. Absolutely.

And you know, it's it's fair to say it would be great and idealistic to have the doula who's your backup to be comparable to your skill set, and the years that you've put into your practice. However, in emergency situations, sometimes you can get the first doula that's available that might be a little more skilled than you or even doesn't have as many years in practice as you do. So you do have to work with that-work with what you have

Work with what you have. And I would say if you were supposed to be there in person, the last resort might be a virtual doula, which we're gonna talk about virtual doula and a whole other episode, but you might need to just get somebody else on the call. But you also have to prepare the family if they might have to switch from in person support to virtual support. Now keep this in mind. You're only really going to activate your backup doula. If you know for the inclement weather scenario, if you're sick. Ideally, we would want you to make sure that you are not overlapping with other families and things like that. But yeah, you might end up with a household full of sick folks, you're okay, but everybody else is not well, so make sure you're prepping your families for these eventualities, these possibilities. Remember, it's not just the illness in your house, it could be also be the illness in their house. So do you have a protocol? Does your contract speak to what do you do if their household is sick? Are you going to go into that household like have you all talked about that? So if we do discuss this, we did discuss So this I feel like on episode three of our podcast,

I think you're right,

yeah, we talked about this. So hit that episode if you want more details, but backup doula coverage during the season can give you a lot of peace of mind if you do it right.

Absolutely. It's all about the approach.

Okay, so the other thing that you mentioned was talking about inductions. So we gotta be smart, right? So we got to be wise, ya know, like Denise said, these practitioners think it is holiday time for them, too! Which, okay, to be fair, it is right, like they're at a job, we have a job to do as well. But you want to make sure your families are prepared for how --how a hospital system or birth center system manages holidays. And sometimes that management comes through inductions. So you want to be ready, when those conversations are starting to happen about like, oh, you might have a big baby, or oh, your blood pressures are fluctuating some of that you can, we can actually see that some of it can be made up but just be prepared for how you are going to respond. Make sure you have a plan around induction and make sure you how are you going to communicate with providers so that they don't get pushed into something that they actually don't want. Because of convenience.

Absolutely. So definitely on your prenatal visit, you want to be real clear with your provider. What is the protocol if I should go into labor over a major holiday?

Okay, so those are that's those are a couple things to consider. So backup doula, induction for the end of the year. The other thing is, some of us, we just need to start sinking into end of the year prep. What might be some of the things that you should do at the end of the year, I feel like we should create a checklist. Let's see if I got we have the bandwidth for that. If we do, it'll be in the show notes, the link will be there. But there are some things that you just should do. So what give us a couple of things that you do at the end of the year, just to wrap it up to wind it down.

Well, you know, I do take inventory of my supplies as a placenta encapsulator. As a lactation educator, as a doula, what's going on in my bag, my doula bag how when the last time I refreshed my doula bag, which is really helpful. And also to I start gathering my receipts, and my invoices on what did I put out this year for trainings, for dual supplies for anything else that might my accountant is going to need from my filing starting in January of the following year.

I love that I do have a link to a checklist around taxes like tax deductions for both workers, like common common things. So it might help you as you're collecting your receipts, I definitely will link that in the show notes for everybody.

Absolutely, absolutely start clearing out those emails that you don't need any more some of those emails that were just stagnant, just like clearing out the energy, lightening the load and getting ready to have that wonderful space to welcome the new year.

I liked that I liked the idea of cleaning up emails, here's a trick, there's actually you know, I believe there's a YouTube video for everything. Okay, there is a YouTube video for how to like, manage or clear out emails. And so just one of the Quick Trip tricks is if you you know, it's like this rule, like, if you haven't touched it in six months, you probably don't need it. And then plus really get scared of the delete button when it comes to emails because you might need it. So here's what you can do. You can go back at least six months, you can go back and just click, you know, click Select All, and just archive them. Right? Okay, you can just archive them. So they come out of your inbox and they go into a folder, you can put them in a folder that says 2023 on if you ever so that means like if you ever have to do a search, right, you can do the search and it is available. It's searchable, but it's not sitting in your inbox as though it's important. And it's an immediate to do. So consider like it's a cheat because it's actually not a delete, right. It's a cheat. Right? Right. Right. I would call it I would categorize it less about cleaning. I would make it more about organizing. Let's just say you weren't you're organizing yourself,

there you go

But it is a version of clearing your space so that you can start the year with a you know fresh screen and fewer pressures maybe? Absolutely. It's some of them. I love it too. Okay, so the other thing I like the things that help us so the end of the year prep. I think about just putting it in your schedule. If you can manage this with you got kids and all kinds of things. Sleep.

Oh,

do something that you don't normally do during the year so it's like such a luxury and a treat. When the world is slowing down. Please take advantage of the opportunity to slow down too! Like, literally think about that. Like, there's fewer emails, well actually sales go up through the roof those

emotions and stuff that's different.

Yeah, but fewer like business emails, most people are out of the office. Okay? So take advantage of that one. Let me just say this, turn your out of office message on if you don't know how to do that, YouTube. There's a Google link, YouTube it and turn on your out of office message. So that and then but put in it like don't just say I'm out of the office from such a such day to such a such day. Go ahead and say if you are looking for a birth doula during this time, because people are looking for doulas, okay. Give them the link, like just set the expectation for them that they might get a slower than normal response. So that you can take some days and some times down, but they can see oh, she's there. They are professional, right? And so think about really using that out of Office message space to maybe you maybe you embed a video of yourself, hey, we're at the end of the year ! we're excited that you're you're looking for a doula! We'd love to can't wait to connect with you when I'm back, you know, from vacation, or when I'm back plugged in. So be thoughtful about that space, but turn on the Office message. Okay, and okay, so the other thing I was trying to get to was, take a nap. Schedule it,

Like heavan,

Put it in your electronic calendar and like let the alarm go off and be like, Well, it's time for my nap. Ah, oh, go take a nap. Like go and luxuriate in doing something like in the middle of the day. Okay, this is the key. Do it in the middle of the day. Do it at 11 o'clock. Oh, my good noon. Okay.

Oh, my goodness. That's so foreign to me. I don't know what that is.

Or, if you can't go to sleep because some of us can't sleep during the day. I'm one of them. I am just rest go, you know, you know me. I'm quick for being like, Oh, I had to go horizontal. I swear there must be some science about just going horizontal and like recalibrating myself and getting my energy back. But like, also love like the weighted blanket. Like the coziness. Like you can look outside and some of us will have weather so we can see outside, but we're like we're in we're cozy and just give yourself like an hour of like, doing something you wouldn't normally do during the year.

Yeah, there's just something about having your head, your heart and your feet all on the same level. And just letting your body just luxuriate in that sensation.

Yeah. Okay, so those are my tips for end of the year prep. Like, yes, you have to do the tax stuff and you know, clients stuff, but find a way to do it in a measured way in a way that like, honors you and just enjoy the slowing down of the season. Mm hmm. Yeah. All right. Okay, so let's move on to pop culture.

Oh,do we have a pop on that one?

Okay, it is a pop. It's a little like a booty pop. So, okay. Yeah. So this trigger warning involves twerking. All right. So Denise and I both came across a video that was in a, like a Facebook group. And I knew she saw it because she thought she had done a you know, a reaction to it. Right. And I saw her name come up. Facebook will tell on you.

Facebook will snitch in a minute

Facebook told on her right. So I knew she seen it. And I was like, oh, because my reaction was the surprise mouth open reaction. And I was like, oh, and then I think I changed it to the sad face. Okay, so total warning for you all, but wanting to say okay, so here's the background. I will I will link this Facebook video in case people want to see it. But you might get the gist of it if I just describe it. Okay, because it's not actually about birth work. So, but it's a great segue into what we want to say. Okay, yes, it is. It is it is. Okay. So there's a video. Everybody's dressed up there at a party. I want to say a wedding. It's something formal, maybe just a gala. Okay, there is there people around tables. And a guy is having himself filmed dancing. He's on a like a suit or tuxedo I can't remember. And he's dancing with a woman they're at by their table. They're not on the dance floor. But they're by the table and she is enjoying the song he is enjoying the song as well. And so she turns her back to him and twerks into his his pelvis right. So she's been over and I mean, she getting it right, left, left cheek, right cheek,--all of that right,

like cracking and popping and snapping and clapping. Yes, she is!

She's got some skills. She's enjoying herself in the camera. Her son, clearly it's a child that belongs to her has some respect for her reverence or connection comes over and is like putting his arms out like Gotta stop, stop stop, like trying to divide ---put himself between his mother and the man who are dancing in very provocative way. But he's upset y'all. And this kid we put them out open like 10 or 11

Oh, yeah, yeah. Early adolescent.

Oh yeah, early adolescent. He's not a little boy.

No, he's not.

Um, so he's half the height of the of the man- he comes over--. So he makes some headway and separating them. So the mother sits down, the son sits down at the table because they're the roundtables next to him. Or next to her and he starts crying, like he's crying like those silent, angry, slow tears. And his mother is like, laughing they're like, amused, in my opinion, amused by his reaction of like, "not my mama!", like, "stop!" And he's karate chop in the air basically. And, you know, so that's it. That's the end of the video, right? It was heartbreaking. When I saw this son's reaction. He was like, hurt by seeing his mother dance, you know provocatively now, okay? There can be all kinds of psychological breakdowns and like dynamics, if you a psychiatrist, psychologist and mental health pro Don't Don't do me. Okay. I don't know. I don't have any any degrees in that. But when I saw it, I was like, oh, oh, my god, poor little guy. Like seeing his mother be herself right having fun. But like, you know, in her sexuality, sensuality as a as an adult, it was like too much for him. Right? He was overwhelmed by it. And to the extent that He disrupted it, but I was heartbroken to watch him be sad or angry or mad. I can't tell what the emotion was. But he definitely had some strong emotion. And what was sad was nobody was attending to it. That that was what threw me off that none of the adults nobody's sitting around the table, even the film person filming, it didn't seem at least what we saw that his emotions or his hurt, we're being addressed. What did you think when you saw it, Denise?

No, it was hard for me as well, because I am a Black single mom. I've raised Jordan as a single parent. Jordan is now 33. And I do know that society puts on our Black young men of single households that they become the man of the house. So this kid in this video that we're watching, I think, though there's a series on him, it's called Little James. And what's happening here is that his tears of frustration is because he really didn't feel like he was heard. And that's a desire that human nature brings. We want to be validated that we're being heard. So he was very upset that he was not being heard. And you know, for me, it was a very hard watch, because I am a Black single mom. And I did not have those type of scenarios. While I was raising Jordan, I maintain boundaries. If I was going out and an adult affair to let my hair down with my friends. My son was not present. I hired a sitter. If I was doing a family event, I had I showed no cleavage, no ass, no nothing. I was a mom. Okay, so there's a time and place for things. There's, there's a time to let your hair down and have a great time. And then there's a time when you are to be in the mother role, especially if you're if your child is present. So you know, I was one of those moms that maintain those boundaries. I did not date in the community that I lived in. I didn't you know, make except passes from the barber and lord knows I had a lot of them from the barbershop. But you know, there's certain things I didn't do because my son was growing up into manhood and a lot of his friends. Their moms were dating guys in the community. And those guys knew the color of their mother's drawers. Nobody knew the color of Jordan mother's drawers. Because I didn't do that. There. I took my business into the next town or a couple of towns. Oh, so this was hard to

watch for sure. Yeah. And so that's why I said this isn't exactly directly birth related. But as so I saw that Denise had commented or she had reacted, I had a reaction. So of course, part of this podcast is like, you all are getting glimpses into stuff we talk about. Yeah. Go ahead, girl. I had to turn the AC on.

Well, give me a hot flash on this topic here.

This one. Okay, yeah. So yeah, this is we're gonna bring it and relate it to birth work, because our conversation was you know about that about, you know, how you show up in different spaces in different ways for a reason, right? Because you want to be respected. You want to be seen in a particular way. But we all are multi dimensional. We got the twerk in us. We got the you know, back it up. We got it. We got it. And the question is as business owners as birth workers who do such intimate personal work, well, what do we show that when we reveal that and a lot of us like to be friends and friendly with our clients and I'm I am with lots of my clients. But there's always a time and a place. And usually, the fun part and the more connected part even more connected comes when the services are done. So, right, because I am friends and love and have good personal relationships with a lot of my clients. All right, so when we were talking just naturally, I was like, I mean, James is kind of like the consumer. And Mama is like the doula. So sometimes, and I actually, because we see this on social media, because a lot of well let it all hang out. So I want to just address that there is this blending. I'm not gonna say confusion, but I think there's this blending of like your personal private and your professional. And it can be confusing for consumer. So put a pin in that. Because this is also coming at a time where I'm seeing so many birth workers talk about their businesses and moving forward, they're not making money, they're tired. They're burned out the all that right. Okay, so I'm just wondering if there's a correlation, and I have a call to action for you all after at the end of this particular segment, is, is there a connection between how you're showing up in a variety of ways on social media, and the idea that your business also isn't moving forward or making money there might be alright, because we can't really just let it all hang out. We have a brand. We have a business, people see us in a particular way. And it's advantageous for us to keep people seeing us in a particular way. Now, some of you may say, like, hey, I want to be relatable. I want to be like the girlfriend next door. If that works for you, that works for you. It sounds like for a lot of folks that ain't working for y'all. Some of y'all need to elevate and make some shifts so that there's some consistency and some predictability. When people are shelling out a bunch of money. You're they're putting you in their personal private space. It needs to be about them and not about you. So when we see posts on social media, I, I'm not even buying anything from birth workers, okay? And I'm confused. I'm confused. And or I'm like, ooh, she's having they're having a hard time. And then it's the up in the down, we hear the posts. I'm having a good day, bad day. I'm having a struggle in my relationship over here. I'm having to struggle over here. And then it's like, Oh, hey, I have this thing for sale. And all Yeah, I'm, I'm available for do and I'm available for birth services. And here's the thing, I realize all those things can be true at the same time. But if they're all happening in the same space, and you're living your very full life experience, emoting everything, sharing everything on social media, it can be a turnoff, because here's the thing. Like in this video, everybody was in a formal, formal wear, right? They were clearly at a party and in public, but then there was this sort of personal behavior that happened. And it totally turned this kid off and probably other people as well. Imagine the same thing when you're talking about consumers. You are showing up professional you they people go they find you on your website, great. But nowadays, people are absolutely going to dig a little bit more if they're going to give you money. They are absolutely digging. And so they're gonna go Google you look you up on social media, and now they see the twerking you right? They see the lice professional side of you. Yep. Because you it's a public Facebook page, or it's a public Instagram page. So here's the thing, I want you to be mindful of that because it can be confusing. It can be a turnoff, if you're doing all the things in the spaces, but you want to look professional and beautiful and amazing over here, understand people are gonna find it out. And you might not care but understand every time you do something, you're attracting people and you're repelling people. So if you're struggling in your business, my recommendation to you is to maybe consider doing a scan of the last three months of your social media platform. What are you showing people? what are you telling people? what are you revealing to people? you can do a couple of things. you can change your privacy settings so that only friends can see that those kinds of things. And you don't have to be on public. You can also delete some of those things um, you know some people so when you say delete on social media, people like lose their minds, right? But that might be what you need to do. You also can and should maybe have a personal social media account and then have a business one.

Amen. That's what I've got.

You can do this in one place, and you can have privacy and let it all hang out in another place and and not really affect your business or your Money. Just a tip, just an idea. Oh, bless you.

Thank you. Yeah. And that's the truth right there. That's the truth that came out on that sneeze right there. So yeah, you know Bold Doula has a Facebook page. And Denise Bolds has a separate page. So on a separate page, even on my personal page, I don't put out everything. If I'm having a bad day, if something calamity happened, I'm not putting out my my bedroom photoshoot.

oh, the boudoir, yeah, boudoir session

Suit, I'm not cussing out people, because I'm not doing well, in my program. And at the same mouth, I'm talking about, give me $5,000 for a program that I'm selling, I'm not doing that. There's a certain tone that you should be having here on social media, because people are watching and you are you the energy you project is what you're going to attract from the universe. Okay, the universe definitely looks into that energy. So if you're positive, if you're focused, if you're upbeat, if you remain hopeful, and polite and gracious, guess what? That's a lot of good, light energy. But if you're cussing people out, because you had to move out of your office, and you're acting out, you're wiling out with all kinds of stuff. You're saying things and putting people on blast who are trying to help you? It's like, Oh, my goodness, what kind of energy do you expect to attract with that behavior? So I'm really not therefore, and it must be a generational thing. I'm a little older than Ravae. But I just don't put all of my stuff out on social media. I forget to post a lot of times, because I just don't see social media like that. And I don't post my personal stuff like that. I really don't.

Oh, yeah, I post almost nothing personal. People know nothing about me. Unless you know me, you don't know me. And I so I did do an Instagram private page, like earlier this like, in the summer, because I was like, Oh, I really want to be able to share, I'm still a little awkward with it. So I think it is generational. We didn't grow up with social media. So we are not, it's not as nimble. We're not as you know, nimble with it. But I just think that do an assessment, change your privacy settings, consider doing a separate page for personal and business. Think of just even if you just think about the idea of how I show up privately versus how I show up publicly, even that I think would serve you well, maybe even just listening to this conversation. And doing that little bit of consideration might really help boost your business, you might find that it's the inconsistency of how you show up is confusing for consumers. You know, make sure that you're paying attention to your brand and being very consistent so people know what they're buying. Because that's a lot of what people are hoping for is they want to be able to rely on what you say you are because it's kind of a crapshoot out here, right? So social media is a really powerful place to help establish consistency for

Right, exactly. And I don't want my clients to see me in a sexualized situation. Oh, no, birth work is very personal, very intimate, including a lot of looking at places that are very private, I don't want that to be put on me, I wanted to keep it on my client. And I just think it's really important that we understand the power of social media. Social media is very powerful, very influential. And also to part of your self care is really pivoting on that energy. If you're having a bad day, take a walk, meditate, change the energy, open the windows in your house, let the fresh air in--

Dont post on social media!

don't post on social media today, go have a friend that you can go to event, I call her base several times a day, and we talk it out, she calls me we vent things out of something happens. And also we have things to celebrate about we call each other to celebrate. So you know, getting off of social media with those things that go up and down. You want to project to the universe, that you're stable and you're capable, and you're seeking positive energy. So that should be something as part of your self care, acumen that you really want to incorporate into your business because it does come back to you in very positive ways.

Yeah, we're all human. We have ups and downs, you know? Yes. Okay. For me, that's not what we're saying. But it does that inconsistency does have an impact. So one of the ways one of the ways that people decide if they're going to buy things from you, is the know, like trust factor, they have to know you like you trust you. And when you're inconsistent, that they can't trust you, right, so they won't can't trust your behavior. So just something to consider. Okay, we only have a few minutes. So I wanted to just talk about give people a birth worker business tip for the end of the year, how to celebrate the end of the year. So what are things that you might be doing for yourself, Denise, for your business or for your clients for the end of the year?

Well, I'm going to keep it simple because I'm really streamlining the real estate of my apartment, and I don't want a whole lot of things to clutter. So what I am doing I am hosting a zoom reunion of all the families that I supported in 2023. They are coming on zoom with me and we're going to show off the babies and take a group selfie, and stay safe. And I'll germs and just celebrate and just look at everybody's smiling faces and I can't wait.

Oh, I love that, oh, I can just see everybody like babies on the lap!

and the personalities come through the baby's a smack in the screen. And everything is Yeah, it's a good time when we do it, we have that.

And that's an opportunity for people to even, like connect up for some community, you know, some things like that. I love that. Okay, some of the things that I do see people do to acknowledge clients for you know, their investment in people's businesses, I definitely see people sending holiday cards or end of the year or New Year, I always wait till the new year because those, they're so celebratory, and it doesn't have like the religious kind of, I don't have to alienate I have to figure out who's a Christian who's a Jewish who's not.

Kwanzaa! There's a lot going on.

Why is it? Yeah, I don't have to do any of that. So I do new beginning of the year, Happy New Year stuff, because everybody's really experiencing the New Year. Right. So So I do physical cards sometimes. And then other years, I have done e cards, which are really nice. That's fine. people open their email and like, Oh, Happy New Year, all that good stuff. So think about that, you all. The other thing is I know some people are doing team parties, dinners, the beauty of like a team party end of the year group party, if you are the person paying for it, you can write it off, you can write off the whole attend entire shebang, the end of the year party. Also, if you give gifts to clients, you can write up I think it's up to $25 per per client on the end of the year gifts. So think about that. If you're trying to find some write offs and trying to figure out how to spend down some money. That might be something that you might do, but I feel like these are some really easy good tips. I just had that thought about end of the year spend down. You and I we saw some some folks posting Oh yeah,

a couple of doulas were asking, and they were like, Hey, I've got some money to finish off at the end of the year. Where do I spend it? What do I put it on? Absolutely. Yeah.

So there were some things that were posted. I got a shameless plug child. So become a member of the National Birth and postpartum pros. That website is in ATL Well, it'll be in the show link jaw but become a member. You can also take my birth worker business booster class, which is a 12 module course it's starting at the end of January. Sign up now it's in presale, you'll never see this price again. It's 397 lock it in. I actually am extending the pre sale suppose in tomorrow, I'm gonna extend it till Friday. Take advantage of it. Like I said, it'll never be this low. Again. The full price is 797. And we'll be at that price January one. So consider signing up if you got a little money that and you want to start off the new year right. Sign up.

There you go. Way to go. Absolutely. All right. Yeah.

Okay. That's our episode. We will see you on the next round. hope everybody's safe and warm. We'll see you do that. Do that.