In Today's Issue:
- Why "little fish in big ocean" thinking limits your impact
- The competition culture that's hurting providers and mothers
- Why feeling "beat up" by colleagues is more common than you think
- How collaboration becomes your competitive advantage
- My collaboration framework for you to download! 🎉
You're incredibly skilled at what you do. Your clients get real results. You've invested years in training and continuing education.
So why does it feel like you're constantly defending your worth against other providers who should be your allies?
Listen: From Isolation to Collaboration →
Ten years ago, when I was working as a doula in my local community, I thought other doulas would be my natural colleagues. Instead, I felt like I was getting beat up daily... treated as competition (and even fending off cat fights!) rather than someone who could strengthen what we were all trying to accomplish.
Every referral felt like a threat to someone else. Every new client was seen as stolen business. Every approach that differed from the established way was met with defensiveness or undermining.
I wasn't alone in this experience. And unfortunately, it still happens today in the birth and postpartum space.
This battlefield mentality comes from scarcity thinking: there aren't enough clients, resources, or recognition to go around. So we protect our territory instead of expanding our impact.
But scarcity thinking creates exactly what it fears—a smaller market where everyone fights over crumbs instead of growing the whole pie.
When providers compete instead of collaborate, mothers notice. They see the fragmentation, the subtle rivalry, the lack of coordinated care. And they start looking elsewhere for providers who work together seamlessly.
Here's what I've learned after 15 years in this field: collaboration isn't just nicer -> it's the future of marketing.
When you position yourself as someone who enhances other providers' work rather than competes with it, everything changes:
- Referrals increase because you're seen as an asset, not a threat
- Your reputation grows faster through authentic professional relationships
- Client outcomes improve dramatically through coordinated care
- Professional fulfillment returns because you're solving bigger problems
The providers who thrive in the next decade won't be the ones hoarding clients—they'll be the ones creating networks that serve mothers comprehensively.
This shift requires courage. It means approaching colleagues with genuine interest in supporting their work, not just growing your own business.
It means leading with what you can contribute rather than what you need to gain.
It means choosing abundance over scarcity, even when the field feels competitive.
Listen to the Podcast Episode: From Isolation to Collaboration →
You have expertise mothers desperately need. But working in isolation limits your impact and creates burnout.
And I want to make sure that you don't go there! So I created for you a quick download on how do collaboration in my work. I hope it helps you.
Download: The Provider Collaboration Roadmap →
The future belongs to providers who build bridges, not walls. Your expertise deserves to be part of something bigger.
Stay fierce, stay rooted,
Maranda Bower
CEO & Founder of Postpartum University®
www.PostpartumU.com
