Debra Pascali-Bonaro’s story of going from local to global
When you hear the word marketing, what comes to mind?
For me, for many, many years, it made me feel really icky. I think I was imagining sleazy insurance sales or predatory used car lots. I wasn’t imagining someone marketing something I really needed to me. In truth, all things we need are marketed to us in some way. The schools we chose, the content we watch, the environmentally friendly products we enjoy.
When I was first starting out as a young mom and doula, I had no idea how to spread my message with the world, but I did understand marketing in my own small way. I knew I needed to let people know about what I could do to help them as a birth and postpartum doula. I used more “guerilla marketing” tactics adding my business card to birth books at the library.
I was able to grow my small business, and care for my three small boys. It wasn’t easy, but it was a really joyful time in my life, I fully embraced being a mother, and I worked hard to also meet my financial goals.
Fast forward many years, and the word marketing had shifted in me. I now knew that in order to create a sustainable business, life, and to spread my message around the world – that I needed ways to connect with more people. The business card in the library book plan was never going to connect me with people outside of my community, let alone across the country, or the world.
I stumbled upon a marketing program that resonated with me, and my values in a way I’d never felt before. Marie Forleo’s B-School program focused on bringing your special gift and passion to the world, genuinely and honestly.
Marie even says that by not sharing your message, you are depriving the world of your special gifts and talents.
At this point in my life, I knew that my message that birth can be pleasurable, powerful, and healing needed to reach more people globally and that I didn’t have a minute to spare. Now, more than ever birth needs to be honored and celebrated, and new parents/families need to be supported so that they can have the very best start possible. By only sharing my message locally, there were people in the corners of the world missing out on learning how birth is a sacred, sensual, gateway.
I jumped into BSchool with two feet and I haven’t yet jumped back out! Each year I go through B-School again (it’s a lifetime of access) with my Birth Your Dreams private community, together we connect, share, uplift, motivate and inspire each other to keep spreading our messaging. Yes, we need to make money – everyone does, but we can do so with integrity, providing givebacks to others, and free content so that more and more people can see our message. When we have a sustainable, profitable business, it’s easier to find the time, energy and yes, money to contribute to donating more time, more classes, and more money to things that are important to us.
Thanks to B-School I am able to have an entire team that helps me to continue to bring my message further, and I can spend a lot of time as the Co-Chair of the International Childbirth Initiative. Sitting on the ICI Executive Committee is an honor and a privilege, but in truth, if I was not able to make the money I need in the sustainable way that I’ve learned through B-School, I would not be able to devote so much of my time and energy to ICI or any other unpaid advocacy work.
Consider joining my Birth Your Dreams group – our group grows each year, and I am able to learn more from Birth Business thought leaders from around the globe.
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