What growing a doula agency from 3 to 22 actually taught me about admin.

What Scaling a Doula Collective to Nearly $500K Taught Me About Running a Tight Ship

When I joined a Doula agency in Boston, we were a small, scrappy team of three doulas doing beautiful work.

We were also, if I'm being honest, duct-taping the admin together.

Inquiries came in through multiple channels. Contracts were... around somewhere. Scheduling across overlapping on-call windows was a group-chat prayer circle.

And then we grew.

Fast.

Three doulas became eight. Eight became fifteen. Fifteen became twenty-two.

Revenue climbed from around $75,000 a year to approaching half a million… in two years.

That growth didn't happen despite the systems. It happened because of them.

Here's what I learned:

1. Inquiry response time is a conversion tool.

Families reaching out for doula support are often emotional, overwhelmed, and talking to multiple practices at once. A one-hour response time closes that gap before someone else does.

2. Clean contracts build trust before the first prenatal.

A disorganized contract process sends a message. So does a tight, professional one.

3. Your admin should scale before you do.

We didn't build the systems after we grew. We built them so we could.

I also serve as Treasurer for Community Doulas of Maine, managing financial oversight for a nonprofit that exists to expand access to doula care. I know what it means to run something sustainably, with integrity, at scale.

If you're a solo doula, you don't need the systems of a 22-person agency. But you do need systems that work, and that don't break the first time you take on three clients at once, or go on vacation, or (revolutionary thought) want to sleep.

That's what I build. That's what I'm here for.