How to Start a Doula Business: The Setup Order I Give New Doulas

To start a doula business, decide how you want to work, then set up the basics: a business structure, a registered name if needed, a free EIN, any local license, and a separate bank account. Before your first consultation, have a fee, a contract, a way to get paid, and a backup doula. Your website and logo can wait.

Key Takeaways

• A doula who takes money for their work without registering anything is a sole proprietor, which is the simplest legal way to start a doula business.
• An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is free from the IRS, and any website charging for one is not the IRS.
• Before a first consultation, a new doula needs four things: a set fee, a contract reviewed by a lawyer in their state, a way to take payments, and a backup doula.
• A full website, a logo, an LLC, and insurance or Medicaid billing can all wait until after a doula's first paying client.
• Rules for business names, local licenses, and LLC fees vary by state, county, and city, so each doula has to check their own.

Most new doulas I talk with are not stuck because they lack information. They are stuck because they are doing the steps in the wrong order. They have a logo, half a website, a business Instagram account, and a second training on the calendar, and they have not taken a paying client.

I hear it in office hours all the time: "I'm not a business person, I'm a doula." Most of us got here by accident. You were helping families, someone offered to pay you, and somewhere along the way, oops, you were running a business. I call it accidental entrepreneurship. The upside is that the business side has a sequence, and you can follow it one step at a time.

Here is the order I give new doulas.

What should you decide before you start a doula business?

Before you register anything, decide four things. Each one changes what comes after it.

• Birth, postpartum, or both. Birth work means on-call weeks. Postpartum work means scheduled shifts. The two need different contracts, different pricing, and different backup plans.
• Solo, agency, or a hospital or community program. Agency and program work can mean someone else handles billing and intake. Solo practice means you handle all of it. I compared the options in which doula business model is right for you.
• Full-time or alongside another job. Many doulas start part-time. If that is you, read can you be a doula while working another job before you set your client limit.
• How many clients a month. Due dates move, so pick a number that leaves room for two births in the same week.

Write the answers on one page. That page is the start of your business plan, and one page is enough for now. If you want to take it further, I wrote about why doulas need a business plan and how to create one.

What legal and money steps does a new doula business need?

These are the steps that make you a business on paper. None of them takes long, and most cost little or nothing. Rules differ by state, county, and city, so check yours and ask a tax professional about your own situation.

Pick a business structure

If you take money for doula work and do not register anything, you are a sole proprietor. That is the simplest way to start, and you report your doula income on your personal tax return.

A limited liability company (LLC) puts a legal layer between business debts and your personal property. Filing fees and annual costs vary by state. Plenty of doulas start as sole proprietors and form an LLC once they have steady clients. I walked through the pros and cons in the LLC for doulas.

To see what your state requires and charges, pick it from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) list of state business registration offices. In most states that office is the Secretary of State, but not all, and the list sends you to the right one. I send you there because this is one of the places new doulas get overcharged. Companies offer to set up your business for you, and you do get a real filing. You also pay far more than you had to. You might be charged $1,500 to set up a business your state charges $75 to file, and the paperwork is usually simple enough to do yourself.

Choose and register your name

If you work under any name other than your legal name, your state or county may require you to register it as a "doing business as" (DBA) name. Check that the name is available before you buy a domain or print anything. The same NASS list links to each state's business name search. If you are still deciding, start with these business name ideas for doulas.

Get your EIN

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a tax ID for your business. It is free from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and you can apply online. If a website asks you to pay for one, you are on the wrong website. An EIN lets you give clients and agencies a business number instead of your Social Security number. Step-by-step instructions are in what you need to know about EINs.

Check for a local business license

Some cities and counties require a general business license, even for one person working out of their home. A call or a search on your city or county clerk's website answers it.

Open a separate bank account and track every expense

Run every client payment and every business purchase through a separate account. Tax time is easier, and you will know whether your fee covers your costs. Here is how to choose the right bank account for your doula business.

Set money aside for taxes from your very first fee. Nobody withholds tax from self-employment income, and the IRS may expect quarterly estimated payments. Budget for the costs new doulas forget, too. I listed them in unexpected doula business expenses.

If you want one place to log every mileage trip, birth bag refill, and training fee, my Doula Business Expenses Tracker ($19) is set up for exactly that, so you are not digging through receipts in April.

What do you need before your first doula consultation?

A family can ask you any of these questions in a consultation. Have the answers ready before the first one.

Your fee

Decide your fee, write it down, and practice saying it out loud. New doulas almost always start too low. I explained why in why $400 isn't enough for your first birth, and how to build packages in how to price your doula services.

Your contract

I will not hand you contract wording, because I am not a lawyer and contract law changes from state to state. I will tell you what yours needs to cover: your fee and when it is due, your refund policy, your on-call window, what happens if your backup attends, and how either of you ends the agreement. Postpartum doulas also need minimum hours and a policy for cancelled shifts. Have a lawyer in your state read it. Here is why you always need a contract, even for a free birth.

A way to get paid

Pick one way to take payments and set it up before the consultation, so a family can pay a deposit that day. I covered the options and the traps in how doulas accept payments online.

A backup doula

Families will ask what happens if you are at another birth or you are sick. Have a name to give them. Start with how to find the right backup doula.

Decide on liability insurance at this stage, too. Some programs, Carrot among them, require it. Read what doulas need to know about liability insurance and get every answer from an insurer in writing.

What can wait until after your first doula client?

Everything on this list is worth doing. None of it has to happen before you take a paying client.

• A full website. A free Google Business Profile does more for a new doula than most websites do. Set up the Google Business Profile doulas skip first, then read do you need a website before your first doula client.
• A logo and matching everything. Families hire you. They rarely ask who designed your logo.
• Billing insurance or Medicaid. It is a real income stream and a project of its own. You do not need a National Provider Identifier (NPI) number to take private-pay clients. When you are ready to bill, get your NPI number for free, then read can doulas take insurance for what comes next.
• An LLC, if you started as a sole proprietor.
• Another training to feel ready. If you finished training and still have not booked anyone, read why you're not taking your first doula client.

How do you know you are ready to take a paying doula client?

You are ready when you have a fee, a contract, a way to get paid, and a backup. That is the whole list. Your website can say "coming soon" and you can still book a client.

Tell the people who already call you when someone they know is pregnant. Tell your own provider, your hairstylist, and your old coworkers. When someone reaches out, my doula consultation guide walks you through the conversation from the first message to the deposit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to start a doula business?
The legal basics can cost very little. An EIN is free from the IRS, and you can start as a sole proprietor without filing anything. Your real costs are training, a birth bag, liability insurance, a way to take payments, and any state or local fees for a business name, license, or LLC, which vary by where you live. Filing through your state's own office is usually far cheaper than paying a company to file for you.

Do I need a business license to be a doula?
It depends on your city and county. Some require a general business license for anyone working for themselves, even from home, and some do not. Your city or county clerk can tell you, usually on their website.

Can I use my Social Security number instead of getting an EIN?
A sole proprietor with no employees can usually use a Social Security number for taxes. An EIN is free and lets you hand clients, agencies, and programs a business number instead. Most banks also ask for one to open a business account.

Do I need an NPI number to start a doula business?
No. A National Provider Identifier (NPI) is for billing insurance or Medicaid and for programs that ask for one, not for taking private-pay clients. When you need it, it is free through the federal NPPES website, and doulas apply under the doula taxonomy code, 374J00000X.

Do I need to be certified to start a doula business?
Private-pay doula work does not require a state license in most of the United States. Certification matters when a hospital program, an insurer, a benefits program, or your state's Medicaid program requires it, and many families ask about it. Check your state's rules before you plan to bill insurance or Medicaid.

Should I start with birth work, postpartum work, or both?
Start with the work your schedule can hold. Birth work means on-call weeks and unpredictable nights, and postpartum work means scheduled shifts you can plan around a day job. Many doulas start with one and add the other once the business side is running.

Sources

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Estimated taxes. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estimated-taxes

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Get an employer identification number. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/get-an-employer-identification-number

Get the whole setup, one email at a time

If you would rather work through this a piece at a time than all at once, I wrote a free email series called How to Start a Doula Business. Over 30 days you get 16 short emails on business setup, pricing, finding clients, consultations, and backups, each with action steps and links to the posts that go deeper.