Tips on starting doula business

rwamyett

Hi all!  I'm Whitney.  I haven't been on The Bump since I was pregnant with my son 2 years ago.  I'm not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, but I would appreciate any advice I can get from those of you who are doulas.

I live in Charlottesville, and I've been thinking about becoming a doula for awhile now.  I've been interested in pregnancy and birth since before having my daughter 5 years ago.  I've always talked myself out of doing anything about it because the idea of starting a business seemed so overwhelming.  But I believe I would regret it down the road if I never did anything.  I am attending my first workshop next week and I'm sure I'll learn a lot there, but any advice I can get in the meantime about actually getting clients would be helpful.  I saw that getting certification usually requires attending a few births.  How do you do that?  Should I just call up local midwives and birth centers and see if they will allow me to observe some births?  That just seems kind of odd to me.  Once I am ready to attend births as a doula, what's the best way to get my name out there and get clients?  

Any other ideas and advice you can give me would be extremely appreciated!    Thanks!

PS-I'm trying to figure out how to change my profile so I can get rid of the timeline that says I'm 150 weeks pregnant.   I can't figure out how to delete it.  Help please?