Meet Shandelle, Doula Canada’s Public Relations Officer, mom and Doula Extraordinaire. Today Shandelle is sharing her strategies for making a big move with your business in a new community.
For those of you who don’t know, I moved my family to Nova Scotia, from Newfoundland, in the Fall of 2017. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but to my husband and I, this was like jumping out of an airplane at 10 000 ft and hoping our parachutes were working. We were moving on a hope and prayer that Nova Scotia would be better for our children, for our skin (we needed less snow), our marriage, and most of all, my doula career.
Skip ahead to being here and having three clients booked, and still not knowing anyone in the birth world, AT ALL! I had to bite the bullet and begin to get my face, and my name out there. I may seem like an outgoing person, but really, it’s all a great acting job most days.
The doula community in Newfoundland is small. It’s a tight knit group who supported each other. In Nova Scotia, the numbers were much larger. I had it in my mind that it wouldn’t welcome a new doula, would find me competition, and that I would be going through my journey alone. Boy was I wrong!
I started to make a list of people and places to contact.
- Midwives
- Doula Canada Doulas
- Other Doulas I would see on Facebook
- Baby/Pregnancy geared stores
- Other health professionals