Podcast Summary: The Doula Darcy Podcast

Episode: Do These 3 Things to Make More Money in 2026
Host: Darcy Sauers
Date: December 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this actionable and uplifting episode, Darcy Sauers—doula, marketing expert, and business coach—shares her annual end-of-year process for boosting income and building a more successful, grateful doula business for the year ahead. Darcy outlines three practical, often overlooked strategies that any doula can implement to start 2026 stronger, focusing on mindset, simple systems, and authentic relationship-building. Drawing from her own business and life experience, Darcy delivers her advice in a relatable, friendly tone with a dose of humor and heartfelt motivation.

Main Discussion Points and Insights

1. Tap Into Gratitude: Acknowledge This Year's Wins

Timestamp: [01:00-06:00]

Darcy encourages listeners to review the year, focusing on both personal and business achievements.
Suggests scrolling back through phone photos from January 1 onward, month by month, to recall and list memorable events, wins, or special moments.
- “Make a list of awesome personal things that you did, trips you took, people you saw, dinners out with friends... Go month by month if you want.” [02:30]
Stresses that not all wins are about revenue or business numbers; reconnecting with loved ones, taking trips, or team celebrations are all part of a successful year.
- “Sometimes the best thing you can do in a year is reconnect with an old friend from high school or take an amazing trip with your family. So those things count.” [04:40]
These gratitude exercises improve mindset and lay a foundation for renewed motivation and focus for 2026.

2. Raise Your Rates for 2026

Timestamp: [06:30-09:30]

Darcy’s top actionable money strategy is to increase your rates—for everyone.
Questions when listeners last raised their fees; urges a yearly review, at minimum.
- “If it’s been more than six months, raise them again. Just be like ‘the Doula Darcy said it… the Doula Darcy told me to raise my rates’ because you should give yourself a raise every year.” [07:10]
Compares with how all businesses (from essential services to tech subscriptions) raise their prices regularly.
- “All my little softwares that I use in my business are going up incrementally in 2026. So guess what? That means we need to raise our rates too.” [08:00]
Suggests announcing the coming rate increase on social media as a way to encourage last-minute bookings at current rates—if desired.

3. Track Your Mileage for Tax Savings

Timestamp: [09:35-13:00]

Darcy insists on tracking every business-related mile, as it adds up to substantial tax deductions.
Recommends mapping out trips via year-in-review photos to check for unlogged client visits, events, or errands.
- “Did I log, you know, each trip to the airport, if I had lunch with a bunch of doulas, did I log the mileage to get to that restaurant?” [10:00]
Stresses this is “free money” and worth a couple of hours of admin time in December.
Offers practical options: either low-cost mileage apps (MileIQ, etc.) or keeping a simple spreadsheet.
- “I kept track of my mileage for the first, probably, I don’t know, eight years of my business just on a spreadsheet…” [11:25]
Especially valuable for postpartum doulas who drive often.
“It lowers the income amount that you need to pay taxes for. So this can really save you tons of money on your taxes.” [11:00]

4. Express Gratitude to Clients and Referral Sources

Timestamp: [13:10-16:00]

Strategic gratitude—sending small gifts, thank-you notes, or emails to top clients and referrers—can generate future business.
Encourages listeners to identify top clients (by engagement or spend) and send a gift, card, or thank you, with a gentle review request if they haven't given one.
- “Send a gift, say thank you, and if they haven’t left you a review yet, ask them to leave you a review, remind them to recommend you to all their friends.” [13:30]
Recommends tracking referral sources (eg. “How did you hear about me?” on intake forms) and sending appreciation to those who refer often (other doulas, doctors, clients).
- “When people are saying it was Dr. Miller or Jane Smith, you need to, whether it’s throughout the year or in December, send them all a handwritten thank you note.” [14:40]
Suggests thank-you lunches, small gift cards (e.g., Starbucks), or even covering a meal as tokens of appreciation.
Reaching out makes you memorable and can spark new referrals.

5. Mindset and Abundance

Timestamp: [15:00-16:15]

Darcy ties it all together: expressing authentic gratitude and generosity not only strengthens relationships but also attracts new opportunities.
- “The more grateful you are for that and the more you express that gratitude, just not only to yourself, but the people in your community…the more abundance flows to you. It sounds woo woo, but it’s true.” [15:50]
Reminds listeners of the meaningful work they’re doing, encouraging heart-centered reflection as a path to both fulfillment and business growth.

Notable Quotes

On celebrating all types of achievements:
“Your business and your life are all entwined together. It’s all the same thing. So a win in your personal life is a win in your business, and vice versa.” [04:20]
On rate increases:
“You should give yourself a raise every year. Every other business raises their rates every year…that means we need to raise our rates too.” [07:15]
On tracking expenses:
“It is so worth your time to spend a couple hours on this in December to make sure you have every single mile that you drove as it relates to your doula business…because the IRS gives you whatever, 66 cents a mile…that adds up to a lot of money.” [10:33]
On gratitude and business growth:
“All these people that you reach out to with gratitude…that makes them want to refer you more. It solidifies your relationship with them and can turn into even more referrals for your business in the coming year.” [15:00]
On the doula profession:
“You’re not sitting in a cubicle being an accountant. You’re changing lives, you’re witnessing births, you’re helping parents in those first weeks when it’s so, so scary and vulnerable for them. I mean, this is important work and you get to do it.” [15:30]

Key Takeaways

Reflect with gratitude: Review your year by looking through photos and journaling wins, both personal and professional.
Increase your rates: Review your pricing annually (or more often), communicate changes clearly, and do not be afraid to value your work.
Track all mileage: Accurately logging every business-related mile can yield major tax deductions, especially for regularly traveling doulas.
Express thanks: Sending personalized gifts or notes to clients and referral partners not only feels good but also actively spurs more referrals and reviews.
Let gratitude lead: A grateful, heart-centered approach to client and community relationships attracts more abundance and satisfaction.

This episode is highly practical, candid, and encouraging—perfect for any doula ready to close out the year on a positive note and set up for an even better 2026.

Transcript

A (0:04)

Welcome to the Doula Darcy podcast. I'm your host, Darcy, a business coach for doulas. And I love helping my fellow doulas master the art of marketing so that they can grow their businesses and help more families. On the podcast, I combine my decade of experience in Advertising with 14 years as a doula to empower other doulas with the marketing strategies and mindset shifts they need to attract more clients and create successful, fulfilling doula careers. Whether you're just starting out as a doula or you're looking to take your doula business to the next level, you're in the right place. Let's go.

B (0:39)

Hey, everybody. I wanted to share with you right now three things that I do at the end of every single year to make more money in the next year. And these sound like maybe they're not gonna make that big of a deal, but they do. They actually do. And I do this every single year at the end of the year. And it's not some big, long list that's gonna take you 10 hours to do, I promise. Okay, so the first one is two at the end of the year. And I don't know about you, but it's very easy for me to look around at everybody else on Instagram and all the business podcasts and stuff and think like, oh, man, I stink. I didn't do anything this year. And that's never true. And it's not true for you either, if you're listening to this. So the easiest way to get yourself out of that kind of funk and set you up to be in a good mindset for the coming year is to tap into gratitude. And the best way to do that, I think, is. Is to grab your phone and scroll back in your photos to January 1, 2025, and go through and look at all your photos. And if you're a Virgo like me, delete any duplicates, clean it up. But really look through starting back in January of this year and look at what you did and make a list. Make a list of awesome personal things that you did, trips you took, people that you saw, dinners out with friends like, make a list of. And go month by month if you want. You know, in January, what were the three best things that you did or that happened to you in January that you have photos of. And just be grateful as you're making this list and remembering things that you probably forgot that you did this year. So I love to do that. I always forget or I think of, like, oh, that thing that I did. Seems like it was three years ago, but it really wasn't. It was 10 months ago. So go through month by month and write it down in a journal or a new piece of paper. Write out the highs of that month, whether they're business or personal, and it's great if you can do both. So also, like, make a little note of places that you went and people that you saw, and we'll save that for later. I will come back to that. But when you start to make a list like this, first of all, you realize everything that you truly have achieved and accomplished. And sometimes, you know, another thing around this time of year is everybody gets into like, oh, my revenue was up this many percent and I made this much money and da, da, da, da, da. And, you know, that's great, but what's the point? Sometimes the best thing you can do in a year is reconnect with an old friend from high school or take an amazing trip with your family. So those things count. This is not to go through your photos and make a list of just business accomplishments. This is because you know me, your business and your life are all entwined together. It's all the same thing. So a win in your personal life is a win in your business, and vice versa. So looking at this list, crafting this list, reliving the memories and really feeling into it with a sense of gratitude, did your business do so well that you were able to take this trip with your family? Did your business do so well? Like, for me, I invited my team over, my agency team over for dinner at the end of the year. We had a big, celebratory, delicious dinner holiday party because my business paid for it. So that's what I personally like to do. You know me also, if you're listening to this, I love to travel. I love to have my business pay for me to go to all these conferences and trainings and opportunities in different areas. And I love to look back at the photos and be grateful that I have built this business that empowers me to do that. That is one of my main goals for having a business, an online business, is that location freedom that I can travel more and work from anywhere. So I love to every year look back and just celebrate all the places that I've been. So maybe for you, it's a different thing that you're judging your success by. And that is totally fine. Whatever it is, focus on it, make a list and be grateful. Okay, so that's the framework we're going to go into these three things to do to earn more money in 2026. So number one is raise your rates for 2026. That is the fastest, easiest way to make more money. And think about it, when is the last time you raised your rates? If it's been more than six months, raise them again. Just be like the Doula Darcy said it. The Doula Darcy told me to raise my rates because you should give yourself a raise every year. Every other business raises their rates every year. I've gotten so many emails in the past couple weeks from everything from my home heating oil to my. I can't. It wasn't Zoom, some other software I use all the time. Like all my little softwares that I use in my business are going up incrementally in 2026. So guess what? That means we need to raise our rates too. Groceries. Everything it takes for us to live is going up. So as a doula or sleep consultant, you need to raise your rates in 2026. Doula Darcy gives you permission to raise your rates anytime. But this time of year, December is such a great time to do it because you can say, my rates are going up in 2026. And if you want to, you don't have to. But you could post on social media, you know, book now and I'll honor the 2025 rate for your 2026 contract. You know, that's something you could do if that feels good to you. If it doesn't, you could just say, hey, guess what? Rates are going up. But you could. That's a good little, like, social media push if you want to announce that your rates are going up and people have a chance to lock in. Now that's a great thing to do if you weren't planning on raising your rates until you listen to this podcast, because you won't lose out on anything, you weren't going to raise your rates anyway, so. So raise those rates. And okay, the second thing is, and this might surprise you, but this is to track your mileage. And as you go back through those pictures, jot down any place you drove in your car that maybe isn't already tracked on your mileage. So this is when I double check, like, did I log, you know, each trip to the airport, if I had lunch with a bunch of doulas, did I log the mileage to get to that restaurant? If you have, I don't know, if you have pictures of you hanging up posters for a class. Like, did you track the mileage of driving around town to do that? It is so worth your time to spend a couple hours on this in December to make sure you have every single mile that you drove as it relates to your doula business, that you are tracking that and reporting it to the IRS, because the IRS gives you whatever, 66 cents a mile. Don't even quote me on that. I don't know what it is this year, but when you're getting 66 cents a mile, that adds up to a lot of money. Particularly I think if you're a postpartum doula and you're driving every day back and forth to a client's house, those miles add up. And whatever it adds up to, multiplied by the 66 cents per mile, that is an expense deducted from what you earn. So it lowers the income amount that you need to pay taxes for. So this can really save you tons of money on your taxes. So you know me, I don't like to tell you to spend money on apps and software if you're not busy enough yet, but I think if you're not good at tracking this on your own, on a spreadsheet, it is worth paying a couple bucks a month to get one of those mileage tracking apps like Mileiq or whatever. There's several of them that all work. I kept track of my mileage for the first, probably, I don't know, eight years of my business just on a spreadsheet. I kept. I had a spreadsheet of the hours I worked and which client I was at. And then I just put the little mileage for each day in another column. If I drove somewhere else that wasn't a client, but it was business related, like a meeting or attending a lecture or anything like that, I would just add that to the mileage column and add it up at the end of the year and then give it to your accountant again. I know people probably hear I say this every year, and people are probably like, yeah, I don't want to do that. But it will. It's free money. It's free money and it's your money. So take advantage of this. All right, number three on my, with three ways to make money at the end of the year or three ways to make more money next year is again, as you're going through your pictures, as you're looking through your client list for 20, 25, send a gift to your biggest clients. Send a card. You know, who were your top two or three clients in terms of how much they booked you, how much they spent with you? Send them a gift, say thank you, and if they haven't left you a review yet, Ask them to leave you a review, remind them to recommend you to all their friends. And again, that's doubling down on the gratitude. The other thing you can do is if you've been following me and listening to me, you know that I encourage you to add to your intake form when you're interviewing families, add the question of how did you hear about me? And pay attention to those answers. First of all, from a marketing standpoint, you want to know if Google's working well for you, if your social media posts are being seen and then also if people are saying, oh, I heard about you from Jane Smith or Dr. Miller and you keep track of all those referral sources because at first A, lets you know if you have good SEO, if your website's showing up in Google, B, it tells you what's working and what's not. If you're posting on LinkedIn seven times a week and not one of your clients says they found you on LinkedIn, like then you can let LinkedIn go. And then when people are saying it was Dr. Miller or Jane Smith, you need to, whether it's throughout the year or in December, send them all a handwritten thank you note. And I like to throw in, actually they're right here because I was just doing this. I throw in a little Starbucks gift card or if they sent me a lot of referrals, or if they sent me, you know, a 12 week overnight contract tracked, I'll send them a gift. Sometimes I'll take someone out to lunch. This happens all the time with my birth doula besties. I get a lot of referrals from them and I say, hey, let's go out to lunch. Lunch is on me. I can write off the lunch, I can write off the mileage. I get to hang out with my birth doula bestie. The point of all this is all these people that you reach out to with gratitude, just that makes them want to refer you more. It solidifies your relationship with them and can turn into even more referrals for your business in the coming year. So this is like turning up the lever, the dial on your word of mouth referrals. You can also, as you're going through your client list and looking at the referral sources, check off and see who hasn't given you a testimonial yet, who hasn't given you a Google review and send them an email and maybe also send them a holiday card asking them to do so. A simple handwritten holiday card goes so far and they remember you. Maybe they worked with you Back in February. So they were like, oh, that was three years ago. But getting a handwritten note from you in the holiday time, they remember you and they're like, oh, yeah, my coworker's pregnant. I've got to tell them that they need to hire their doula. It just again, it's like tracking your mileage. It takes a little bit of time to do this, but it pays off. And you can never go wrong with turning up the dial on gratitude. Being grateful in your heart for everyone you've had the blessing to work with, everyone who you are blessed, that is referring you and all the amazing work you get to do as a doula. You're not sitting in a cubicle being an accountant. You're changing lives, you're witnessing births, you're helping parents in those first weeks when it's so, so scary and vulnerable for them. I mean, this is important work and you get to do it. And the more grateful you are for that and the more you express that gratitude, just not only to yourself, but the people in your community. Your clients, your colleagues, everyone. The more it expands and the more abundance flows to you. It sounds woo woo, but it's true. I'm just gonna say it. It's the truth. Okay, so I hope this little quickie episode was super helpful for you. I wanted to give you three quick ways to ultimately make your business more successful in 2026. So raise your rates, track your mileage, send thank you notes to your referral sources and your biggest clients, and be grateful for all of it. That is it in a nutshell. I certainly am so grateful for all of you who listen to this episode, who DM me and tell me which episodes you really and what you got out of it. Those messages just make my day. So DM me on Instagram, find me @thedula Darcy, send me an email, reach out. I just love hearing from you all. I love hearing how this podcast impacts you and helps you. It's my joy to do it. It's been one of the things I'm grateful for here for me in 2025. So I hope you have very happy holidays and a prosperous new year. Take care.