16. Maternity Leave Tips for Entrepreneurs
Are you an entrepreneur worried about how to navigate maternity leave while growing your business? Taking time off as a business owner can feel daunting, but it doesn't have to derail your entrepreneurial dreams. In this episode, I share my own experience of preparing for maternity leave and provide a roadmap for how you can thrive during this transformative time.
If you've been putting off starting a family or growing your business out of fear that you can't do both, this episode is for you. I want you to walk away knowing that it is absolutely possible to be an incredible mom and a successful entrepreneur. With the right mindset, support, and strategy in place, your business can flourish right alongside your growing family.
Maternity leave is an opportunity for immense personal and professional growth. By planning ahead and embracing the unique challenges and joys of this season, you can set yourself up for success both at home and in your business. On today's show, I walk you through the key areas to focus on, from financial planning to content batching, so you can make the most of your maternity leave.
Get my free ebook to accompany this episode:
The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Maternity Leave as an Entrepreneur!
If you're looking for the right environment to start your networking journey, look no further than my group, the Mom Entrepreneurs Circle. Sign up below for mutual support, advice sharing, and the tools you need for both you and your business to thrive. We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month and participation is totally free!
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why taking maternity leave is essential for your wellbeing and business success.
How to overcome the guilt and anxiety that comes with stepping away from your business.
The top 4 areas to focus on when planning for maternity leave as an entrepreneur.
How to create a maternity leave budget and financial cushion.
Why documenting your systems and processes is crucial before taking leave.
How to keep your business visible with content batching and scheduling.
The importance of arranging postpartum support and prioritizing self-care.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Click here for step-by-step instructions to leave a rating and review to let me know what you think, and don’t forget to share the podcast with others who you think would benefit!
Full Episode Transcript:
So if starting a family is something you want or growing your family is something you want, don't let fear hold you back. Your business can grow alongside your family and often the perspective you gain as a parent and in the maternity leave process can fuel unprecedented creativity and growth during your entrepreneurial journey.
Welcome to How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. It’s a podcast that helps working moms just like you, optimize your time, manage your mind, and start a business that helps you create more freedom, flexibility, and, yes, fun. I’m business and mindset coach Jenna Rykiel. And I offer practical tips to help you ditch the nine-to-five. I have been exactly where you are, and I know what it takes to make the transition without trading one form of burnout for another. So, let’s get started.
Hello, hello, hello. Today we're diving deep into a topic that's so close to my heart and couldn't be more timely. We're talking about how to navigate maternity leave as an entrepreneur. When this episode airs, it's a strong possibility that I'll already be on maternity leave or at least very, very close to birthing a human. And I thought, what better time than now to talk about this topic, which I know feels like a really big obstacle for women who want to start a business, but are worried about growing a business while they grow a family.
So many people think it's impossible, but I've had the exact opposite experience. I've found that growing my business and family at the same time has truly made both so much more enriching, which is something I'll explain in this episode. Maternity leave as an entrepreneur isn't just possible. It can be an incredible opportunity for both personal growth and business development.
So in this episode, we're going to break down exactly how you can plan for and thrive during a maternity leave. We'll cover everything from financial planning to delegating tasks, and I'll even share some insights from my own experience as I go on maternity leave number two and how that looks different from the first one. So by the end of this episode, you'll have a plan for creating a maternity leave that works for you, your family, and your business, no matter where you're at in growing your business and or your family.
I want you to walk away knowing it's possible to do both so you don't feel like you have to choose between one or the other, okay? Let's start by addressing the guilt and anxiety that comes up with taking time off from your business. I want you to take a deep breath and repeat after me. Taking maternity leave is not just okay, it's essential for my wellbeing and the long-term success of my business.
That's a mantra I've been reminding myself of over the last few months constantly, right? It's easy to think, but what about my clients? What about my income? What about all the momentum I've built? And I hear you. And again, I had all those same freak out moments and thoughts during my first maternity leave, and I'd be lying if I said they weren't creeping in for this upcoming one.
Those concerns are valid, but they don't necessarily serve us. So to start, I want to talk about thinking differently about maternity leave. And I want to also say no matter where you're at in your business or where you're at in growing a family, this episode, there are nuggets that you can take away no matter where you're at in the process. So definitely tune in and take note of what resonates with you and what pieces you can stick in your back pocket.
So first, remember that your clients are human beings too. Most of them have families or at least understand the importance of family. They'll appreciate your honesty and probably respect you even more for taking maternity leave. You know, as opposed to you pretending you're a superhuman that can take care of a newborn while staying in touch with all of their clients. I'd say, in fact, your transparency and boundaries may even deepen your relationship with your clients.
The second big worry, you know, income, right? And yes, your income might dip temporarily, but think of this as an investment in yourself and your little one. Just like you'd invest in a course or a coach to grow your business, you're investing in your family and yourself when you take maternity leave. And this investment will pay dividends in terms of your mental health, your family bonds, and even your business clarity, which I'll talk about a little later.
The last mindset shift that I want to provide is that momentum isn't just about constant forward motion. Sometimes the most powerful momentum comes from a strategic pause. So if we think about archery and shooting an arrow, right, you have to pull it back to propel it forward. Your maternity leave is that pullback, right? Giving you the potential energy to move forward with intensity and purpose when you return.
There are so many benefits to taking this type of pause that we often overlook since it's hard to get past the reality of our business looking a little different while we're on maternity leave. Some of those benefits are a renewed focus, right? So stepping away from your business will definitely allow you to see it with fresh eyes when you return. Maternity leave allows you to spot inefficiencies or opportunities that you might not have been able to see before because you were too close to all the problems or inefficiencies.
Maternity leave also forces efficiency, right? When you know you have limited time, you become ruthlessly efficient. You'll streamline processes, cut out unnecessary tasks, and make your business leaner and more profitable, which we'll talk about in a couple minutes here.
The third thing that truly benefits your business is team empowerment. So if you have a team, your absence allows them to step up and grow. This can lead to a stronger, more capable team in the long run. And that's also true of corporate, right? As leaders, when we step away and truly unplug from the day-to-day, we are allowing other people to step up into that leadership role, which can be a really amazing experience, not only for you and them, but for the entire team.
The other benefit is clarity of values. So nothing puts your priorities into perspective quite like a newborn, right? This clarity can help you make better decisions for your business and your life. Your maternity leave isn't a setback. It's more of a, let's call it a setup for incredible growth, both personally and professionally. So I want you to embrace it, plan for it and watch how it transforms, not just your family, but your business too.
So let's talk about the planning for it. I've convinced you to think differently about maternity leave, I hope, and what it means for you and your business. So I want to talk about the nitty gritty of planning for your maternity leave, because as the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. And truthfully, it's impossible for me to go over everything that's critical in those nitty gritty details.
So I encourage you to go to jenna.coach/16, which is the episode number, and you'll see there's a free resource. It's really more of an e-book that I created after my first maternity leave. And it does in fact get into all the nitty gritty details step-by-step. I'll go through some big picture planning here because I know listeners are at all different stages of both starting or growing a business or starting or growing a family.
So for those who need the step-by-step roadmap of planning for maternity leave, that e-book is a week-by-week guide showing you exactly what to do in your business each week leading up to your maternity leave. You know those fun apps that tell you exactly what's going on with your baby and the type of fruit that or the size of each week. It's kind of like that only for your business which is fun.
So for now I do want to address a few big picture things on this episode to consider with planning. The first being timing and I want to address something I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs at a lot of different stages of family and business who are putting one or the other off because they don't think that doing both is possible.
Okay, I hear these moms say things like "I'm waiting until my business is in a better place" or "for having a baby or another baby" or I hear them saying things like "I'm waiting until I'm done having kids to start a business." And let me tell you, there's rarely a perfect time to add another human to your already full plate. Your business will always have goals to reach, projects to complete, and growth to achieve. But the truth is your business will wait for you. It will be there when you return from maternity leave.
In fact, amazing growth is still possible even when your foot isn't always on the gas. Remember, life doesn't happen in the spaces between your business milestones. It's happening right now. So if starting a family is something you want, or growing your family is something you want, don't let fear hold you back. Your business can grow alongside your family and often the perspective you gain as a parent and in the maternity leave process can fuel unprecedented creativity and growth during your entrepreneurial journey.
So trust in your ability to adapt, grow, and thrive in both roles. Okay, back to the things to consider with big-picture planning. I recommend thinking about planning for maternity leave in five big chunks. The first, of course, is financial planning. This is often the biggest concern for entrepreneurs and similar to financial considerations that I talked about in episode nine, when you are leaving corporate and starting your own business, finances does not necessarily have to be a roadblock, right?
It can be more of, let's say, a hurdle that you jump, like Sidney McLaughlin Leveroni, the U.S. Olympian. And if you aren't familiar with Sidney, just go watch some clips from the 2024 Summer Olympics. But like Sidney, you're going to put in time to prepare in advance, right?
The very unfortunate thing about entrepreneurship in the U.S. at least, is that there's little to no financial support from government programs for mom entrepreneurs going out on maternity leave. But that doesn't mean you can't be your own resource and create something that works for you, okay? So you want to do a few things as you're preparing.
Of course, you want to review your current financial situation. I want you to look at your income, your expenses, your savings. Ask yourself, how much do I need to cover my personal and business expenses during leave? You want to get very clear on where you are currently so you know what financial preparations you need for maternity leave? What can be cut out? What expenses can you pause in the business?
The second thing I want you to do is to create a maternity leave budget and plan. You're going to factor in new expenses like diapers and baby gear, and also factor in potentially reduced income, right? This will give you an idea of what you need to save, maybe how much you dip into savings, and can really help influence the conversation of how long you want your maternity leave to be.
Third, I want you to build a financial cushion. Start setting aside money now to cover your leave. Even small amounts add up over time. When you have a good idea of where your finances truly are, and I want to emphasize truly, because I know we all have money beliefs and scarcity mindsets that get in the way of us doing things like bonding longer with our newborn, but writing out all of these numbers will help in the process, even if it shows there isn't as much of a cushion as we thought.
If you're feeling like you need more of a cushion or some passive income during maternity leave after crunching the numbers, then you know a little bit about what to invest time in to better prepare over the next few months. That way you can explore things like passive income opportunities, right? Like, can you create a digital product or course that can generate income while you're away.
Maybe you can consider offering prepay options for clients. Some clients may be willing to pay in advance for work to be delivered after you return. I did something similar to this during my first maternity leave, where I had clients who wanted to continue with me after maternity leave put down a deposit to work with me when I returned, because I'd only be taking on so many clients to start. That cash injection was great right before maternity leave, and I felt great knowing that I had a number of clients financially committed to start again when I returned.
It may also be pertinent to spend time hiring so that your business can continue while you're away. It might dig into your margins to have someone else running the show, but small margins are better than no margins, right? So that might be a route you consider after looking closely at the financial planning piece. But again, you have to know where you stand in order to create a financial plan for maternity leave. And if you're an entrepreneur, you have to create a plan.
The second big picture planning bucket I want you to consider is business structure planning. This is where you'll get into the nitty gritty of how your business will run in your absence. I'll give you the overarching steps that you should consider, and I want you to grab the e-book in the show notes, jenna.coach/16, to really take it a step further if that's where you're at in your business. The e-book provides worksheets to help you do all of these steps. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, please check out those resources.
First, you'll want to take inventory of your tasks. You want to list everything you do in your business on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. You want to categorize the tasks into a few different buckets. Things that can be paused, things that can be deleted. You know, I love to delete things. Things that can be delegated, batched, outsourced, repurposed, and automated.
Next, you're going to want to create standard operating procedures. This is just a big scary word for write down what you do and how you do it. That's all. Document how you do each task. This will make it easier to delegate and outsource when the time comes. And honestly, this is truly something that should exist for every business. So maternity leave is an amazing excuse and advantage to get operationally organized.
Once you have all of the what you do and how you do it documented, then you can start thinking about identifying team members or contractors that you can lean on for those responsibilities. You can start delegating things early and troubleshoot in advance. An example of this in my business is the mom entrepreneur circle that I always talk about. I lead that group, and on the surface, one might think that it has to pause if I'm not available.
But instead, I was able to delegate the leadership responsibilities to another mom in the group and hand off those responsibilities while I'm away so that the support continues even while I'm on maternity leave. And this is amazing because I know I talk about this monthly group all the time on this podcast. And I don't have to worry about moms signing up and not receiving support when they need it.
The third bucket of planning is content and marketing. I want you to think about the content and marketing plan for your business while you're away. If you want to keep your business visible, even when you're not actively working, you have to think about this in advance. For my first maternity leave, this is not something I worried about, so it can absolutely be something that you don't worry about too.
Honestly, I didn't have systems in place to do this in a way that made sense, so I truly checked out from communicating with my email list, social media, and really anyone. But this second maternity leave is a little different for me. As you know, I'm going to be releasing episodes throughout maternity leave, but that doesn't mean I'm recording them at the hospital and with a newborn in my lap. I'm doing things like batching content and recording episodes in advance. I'm scheduling emails and social media posts in advance so that my audience hears from me even while I'm focused on my family.
I highly encourage setting up a content calendar. My podcast production team and I have an incredibly robust and detailed one so that we're all on the same page. And I also encourage you to use scheduling tools. I've used paid options like Hootsuite, and I've also leaned on options that are within the specific apps for free, like on LinkedIn and Instagram. That allows you to post and keep visible even while you're not actively checking and monitoring your social media.
Another fun thing you can think about is planning a return campaign. So this is a way to reintroduce yourself to your audience after maternity leave. It might just be a few emails or a special offer, or maybe you have a business where you want to just fly under the radar, right? I'll be taking about four months off from direct client work, and I intend to do a live webinar once I get close to the end of my maternity leave, which will give me something fun and exciting to do that doesn't require too much of a lift since I've done so many in the past but it will also give people a chance to see me and interact with me live once I return or right before I return.
Okay the last area of planning that is one of the most important and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't talk about is personal care planning okay it's not just about the business don't forget to plan your own well-being during maternity leave i want you to think about arranging postpartum support right whether it's family friends or hired help make sure you have support lined up i want you to think about planning for self-care right schedule in time for rests healthy meals activities that recharge you, all the things that in the moment when you have a newborn baby fall by the wayside.
I also want you to set realistic expectations, right? Remember, recovery takes time. So don't expect to bounce back immediately. And please, please, please, for goodness sake, take advantage of being an entrepreneur and take longer leave. I know it's hard because we're so worried about the business. But like I said before, the business will be there when you return. I know our businesses are our babies too, but you don't want to miss out on the newborn snuggles.
Now, I know this seems like a lot, but remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Take it step by step, week by week. Like I said, the free e-book guides you through each week of your pregnancy with actionable steps to prepare your business for maternity leave. And I encourage you to embrace flexibility and redefine what success looks like during this unique time in your life.
As entrepreneurs, we're used to having a clear vision of success, right? Set goals, we create timelines and really work tirelessly to achieve them. But maternity leave, it's a whole different ballgame, right? It's messy, it's unpredictable and rarely goes according to plan and that is okay. In fact, it's more than okay. It's an opportunity to grow in ways you never expected. So I want you to take some time to journal about what success really looks like during your maternity leave. Be specific and realistic. Lean towards more time and space for your little one and less work on the business. Please do not let fear creep in and take over the conversation.
I can't stress enough that your maternity leave isn't a pause or even a restart in your entrepreneurial journey. It's a vital part of it. It's a time of immense personal growth and personal growth always translates to business growth, if we let it. One of the biggest mindset shifts that I had to overcome was thinking that maternity leave meant that I was starting over, and that's just not true. I'm not starting over with my business when I return. If anything, it's an intentional pause, right? I don't lose all of what I've learned over the past few years in my business when I go on maternity leave. Like I said before, if anything, maternity leave makes me more prepared and focused when I come back.
Okay, we've talked about the mindset shift that I want you to adopt. Remember, taking maternity leave is not just okay, it's essential. It's an investment in yourself, your family, and the long-term success of your business. And recognizing where we can leverage maternity leave for business growth is so important. Use this time to gain new perspectives, streamline your business, empower your team, and so much more.
And it's so cool to be able to make the rules for yourself as a business owner. I know that I've enjoyed that piece of it the most. We talked about the four big buckets I consider most important for planning ahead. Start early with financial planning, business structure planning, content creation, and planning for your personal care, especially planning for your personal care.
Use the free e-book I created that I keep referencing to be a guide through each week of your pregnancy. We talked about redefining success, redefining success for yourself and taking time to create a maternity leave that works for you. During this time, success might look different. Bonding with your baby, recovering physically, maintaining good mental health, and any small business wins are all measures of success.
Okay, remember your maternity leave is not a pause in your entrepreneurial journey. It's a vital part of it. It's a time of immense personal growth. Now I want you to take action and here's what I want you to do. Depending on where you're at in growing your business while growing a family, I want you to download that free e-book I mentioned earlier. You'll find the link in the show notes and this guide will walk you through actionable steps that you can follow during maternity leave.
And even if it's not something that you're immersed in right now, give it a look so that you know what to think about ahead of time, especially if you're a type A planner like me. The second thing I want you to do is start your planning process today. Whether you just started thinking about growing your family or if you're in your third trimester. It's never too late or too early.
I want you to also share this episode with a fellow mom entrepreneur. Let's spread the message that it is possible to grow a business while growing a family. Keep tuning in and see content batching at its best as I stay in your ear providing support while I'm off focusing on my family. I'm sure it will feel really good for me to be in two places at once.
And please, please, please send me some love. I might be taking time off from client and business operations, but there's never a bad time to send good vibes and positivity. So please do that. Take care of yourself today and every day this week so that you can show up as your best self because you deserve that. Okay, much love to you and I will see you next week.
Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. If you want to learn more about how I can help you stop making excuses and start making moves, head on over to www.jenna.coach. I’ll see you next week.
Welcome to How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. It’s a podcast that helps working moms just like you, optimize your time, manage your mind, and start a business that helps you create more freedom, flexibility, and, yes, fun. I’m business and mindset coach Jenna Rykiel. And I offer practical tips to help you ditch the nine-to-five. I have been exactly where you are, and I know what it takes to make the transition without trading one form of burnout for another. So, let’s get started.
Hello, hello, hello. Today we're diving deep into a topic that's so close to my heart and couldn't be more timely. We're talking about how to navigate maternity leave as an entrepreneur. When this episode airs, it's a strong possibility that I'll already be on maternity leave or at least very, very close to birthing a human. And I thought, what better time than now to talk about this topic, which I know feels like a really big obstacle for women who want to start a business, but are worried about growing a business while they grow a family.
So many people think it's impossible, but I've had the exact opposite experience. I've found that growing my business and family at the same time has truly made both so much more enriching, which is something I'll explain in this episode. Maternity leave as an entrepreneur isn't just possible. It can be an incredible opportunity for both personal growth and business development.
So in this episode, we're going to break down exactly how you can plan for and thrive during a maternity leave. We'll cover everything from financial planning to delegating tasks, and I'll even share some insights from my own experience as I go on maternity leave number two and how that looks different from the first one. So by the end of this episode, you'll have a plan for creating a maternity leave that works for you, your family, and your business, no matter where you're at in growing your business and or your family.
I want you to walk away knowing it's possible to do both so you don't feel like you have to choose between one or the other, okay? Let's start by addressing the guilt and anxiety that comes up with taking time off from your business. I want you to take a deep breath and repeat after me. Taking maternity leave is not just okay, it's essential for my wellbeing and the long-term success of my business.
That's a mantra I've been reminding myself of over the last few months constantly, right? It's easy to think, but what about my clients? What about my income? What about all the momentum I've built? And I hear you. And again, I had all those same freak out moments and thoughts during my first maternity leave, and I'd be lying if I said they weren't creeping in for this upcoming one.
Those concerns are valid, but they don't necessarily serve us. So to start, I want to talk about thinking differently about maternity leave. And I want to also say no matter where you're at in your business or where you're at in growing a family, this episode, there are nuggets that you can take away no matter where you're at in the process. So definitely tune in and take note of what resonates with you and what pieces you can stick in your back pocket.
So first, remember that your clients are human beings too. Most of them have families or at least understand the importance of family. They'll appreciate your honesty and probably respect you even more for taking maternity leave. You know, as opposed to you pretending you're a superhuman that can take care of a newborn while staying in touch with all of their clients. I'd say, in fact, your transparency and boundaries may even deepen your relationship with your clients.
The second big worry, you know, income, right? And yes, your income might dip temporarily, but think of this as an investment in yourself and your little one. Just like you'd invest in a course or a coach to grow your business, you're investing in your family and yourself when you take maternity leave. And this investment will pay dividends in terms of your mental health, your family bonds, and even your business clarity, which I'll talk about a little later.
The last mindset shift that I want to provide is that momentum isn't just about constant forward motion. Sometimes the most powerful momentum comes from a strategic pause. So if we think about archery and shooting an arrow, right, you have to pull it back to propel it forward. Your maternity leave is that pullback, right? Giving you the potential energy to move forward with intensity and purpose when you return.
There are so many benefits to taking this type of pause that we often overlook since it's hard to get past the reality of our business looking a little different while we're on maternity leave. Some of those benefits are a renewed focus, right? So stepping away from your business will definitely allow you to see it with fresh eyes when you return. Maternity leave allows you to spot inefficiencies or opportunities that you might not have been able to see before because you were too close to all the problems or inefficiencies.
Maternity leave also forces efficiency, right? When you know you have limited time, you become ruthlessly efficient. You'll streamline processes, cut out unnecessary tasks, and make your business leaner and more profitable, which we'll talk about in a couple minutes here.
The third thing that truly benefits your business is team empowerment. So if you have a team, your absence allows them to step up and grow. This can lead to a stronger, more capable team in the long run. And that's also true of corporate, right? As leaders, when we step away and truly unplug from the day-to-day, we are allowing other people to step up into that leadership role, which can be a really amazing experience, not only for you and them, but for the entire team.
The other benefit is clarity of values. So nothing puts your priorities into perspective quite like a newborn, right? This clarity can help you make better decisions for your business and your life. Your maternity leave isn't a setback. It's more of a, let's call it a setup for incredible growth, both personally and professionally. So I want you to embrace it, plan for it and watch how it transforms, not just your family, but your business too.
So let's talk about the planning for it. I've convinced you to think differently about maternity leave, I hope, and what it means for you and your business. So I want to talk about the nitty gritty of planning for your maternity leave, because as the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. And truthfully, it's impossible for me to go over everything that's critical in those nitty gritty details.
So I encourage you to go to jenna.coach/16, which is the episode number, and you'll see there's a free resource. It's really more of an e-book that I created after my first maternity leave. And it does in fact get into all the nitty gritty details step-by-step. I'll go through some big picture planning here because I know listeners are at all different stages of both starting or growing a business or starting or growing a family.
So for those who need the step-by-step roadmap of planning for maternity leave, that e-book is a week-by-week guide showing you exactly what to do in your business each week leading up to your maternity leave. You know those fun apps that tell you exactly what's going on with your baby and the type of fruit that or the size of each week. It's kind of like that only for your business which is fun.
So for now I do want to address a few big picture things on this episode to consider with planning. The first being timing and I want to address something I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs at a lot of different stages of family and business who are putting one or the other off because they don't think that doing both is possible.
Okay, I hear these moms say things like "I'm waiting until my business is in a better place" or "for having a baby or another baby" or I hear them saying things like "I'm waiting until I'm done having kids to start a business." And let me tell you, there's rarely a perfect time to add another human to your already full plate. Your business will always have goals to reach, projects to complete, and growth to achieve. But the truth is your business will wait for you. It will be there when you return from maternity leave.
In fact, amazing growth is still possible even when your foot isn't always on the gas. Remember, life doesn't happen in the spaces between your business milestones. It's happening right now. So if starting a family is something you want, or growing your family is something you want, don't let fear hold you back. Your business can grow alongside your family and often the perspective you gain as a parent and in the maternity leave process can fuel unprecedented creativity and growth during your entrepreneurial journey.
So trust in your ability to adapt, grow, and thrive in both roles. Okay, back to the things to consider with big-picture planning. I recommend thinking about planning for maternity leave in five big chunks. The first, of course, is financial planning. This is often the biggest concern for entrepreneurs and similar to financial considerations that I talked about in episode nine, when you are leaving corporate and starting your own business, finances does not necessarily have to be a roadblock, right?
It can be more of, let's say, a hurdle that you jump, like Sidney McLaughlin Leveroni, the U.S. Olympian. And if you aren't familiar with Sidney, just go watch some clips from the 2024 Summer Olympics. But like Sidney, you're going to put in time to prepare in advance, right?
The very unfortunate thing about entrepreneurship in the U.S. at least, is that there's little to no financial support from government programs for mom entrepreneurs going out on maternity leave. But that doesn't mean you can't be your own resource and create something that works for you, okay? So you want to do a few things as you're preparing.
Of course, you want to review your current financial situation. I want you to look at your income, your expenses, your savings. Ask yourself, how much do I need to cover my personal and business expenses during leave? You want to get very clear on where you are currently so you know what financial preparations you need for maternity leave? What can be cut out? What expenses can you pause in the business?
The second thing I want you to do is to create a maternity leave budget and plan. You're going to factor in new expenses like diapers and baby gear, and also factor in potentially reduced income, right? This will give you an idea of what you need to save, maybe how much you dip into savings, and can really help influence the conversation of how long you want your maternity leave to be.
Third, I want you to build a financial cushion. Start setting aside money now to cover your leave. Even small amounts add up over time. When you have a good idea of where your finances truly are, and I want to emphasize truly, because I know we all have money beliefs and scarcity mindsets that get in the way of us doing things like bonding longer with our newborn, but writing out all of these numbers will help in the process, even if it shows there isn't as much of a cushion as we thought.
If you're feeling like you need more of a cushion or some passive income during maternity leave after crunching the numbers, then you know a little bit about what to invest time in to better prepare over the next few months. That way you can explore things like passive income opportunities, right? Like, can you create a digital product or course that can generate income while you're away.
Maybe you can consider offering prepay options for clients. Some clients may be willing to pay in advance for work to be delivered after you return. I did something similar to this during my first maternity leave, where I had clients who wanted to continue with me after maternity leave put down a deposit to work with me when I returned, because I'd only be taking on so many clients to start. That cash injection was great right before maternity leave, and I felt great knowing that I had a number of clients financially committed to start again when I returned.
It may also be pertinent to spend time hiring so that your business can continue while you're away. It might dig into your margins to have someone else running the show, but small margins are better than no margins, right? So that might be a route you consider after looking closely at the financial planning piece. But again, you have to know where you stand in order to create a financial plan for maternity leave. And if you're an entrepreneur, you have to create a plan.
The second big picture planning bucket I want you to consider is business structure planning. This is where you'll get into the nitty gritty of how your business will run in your absence. I'll give you the overarching steps that you should consider, and I want you to grab the e-book in the show notes, jenna.coach/16, to really take it a step further if that's where you're at in your business. The e-book provides worksheets to help you do all of these steps. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, please check out those resources.
First, you'll want to take inventory of your tasks. You want to list everything you do in your business on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. You want to categorize the tasks into a few different buckets. Things that can be paused, things that can be deleted. You know, I love to delete things. Things that can be delegated, batched, outsourced, repurposed, and automated.
Next, you're going to want to create standard operating procedures. This is just a big scary word for write down what you do and how you do it. That's all. Document how you do each task. This will make it easier to delegate and outsource when the time comes. And honestly, this is truly something that should exist for every business. So maternity leave is an amazing excuse and advantage to get operationally organized.
Once you have all of the what you do and how you do it documented, then you can start thinking about identifying team members or contractors that you can lean on for those responsibilities. You can start delegating things early and troubleshoot in advance. An example of this in my business is the mom entrepreneur circle that I always talk about. I lead that group, and on the surface, one might think that it has to pause if I'm not available.
But instead, I was able to delegate the leadership responsibilities to another mom in the group and hand off those responsibilities while I'm away so that the support continues even while I'm on maternity leave. And this is amazing because I know I talk about this monthly group all the time on this podcast. And I don't have to worry about moms signing up and not receiving support when they need it.
The third bucket of planning is content and marketing. I want you to think about the content and marketing plan for your business while you're away. If you want to keep your business visible, even when you're not actively working, you have to think about this in advance. For my first maternity leave, this is not something I worried about, so it can absolutely be something that you don't worry about too.
Honestly, I didn't have systems in place to do this in a way that made sense, so I truly checked out from communicating with my email list, social media, and really anyone. But this second maternity leave is a little different for me. As you know, I'm going to be releasing episodes throughout maternity leave, but that doesn't mean I'm recording them at the hospital and with a newborn in my lap. I'm doing things like batching content and recording episodes in advance. I'm scheduling emails and social media posts in advance so that my audience hears from me even while I'm focused on my family.
I highly encourage setting up a content calendar. My podcast production team and I have an incredibly robust and detailed one so that we're all on the same page. And I also encourage you to use scheduling tools. I've used paid options like Hootsuite, and I've also leaned on options that are within the specific apps for free, like on LinkedIn and Instagram. That allows you to post and keep visible even while you're not actively checking and monitoring your social media.
Another fun thing you can think about is planning a return campaign. So this is a way to reintroduce yourself to your audience after maternity leave. It might just be a few emails or a special offer, or maybe you have a business where you want to just fly under the radar, right? I'll be taking about four months off from direct client work, and I intend to do a live webinar once I get close to the end of my maternity leave, which will give me something fun and exciting to do that doesn't require too much of a lift since I've done so many in the past but it will also give people a chance to see me and interact with me live once I return or right before I return.
Okay the last area of planning that is one of the most important and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't talk about is personal care planning okay it's not just about the business don't forget to plan your own well-being during maternity leave i want you to think about arranging postpartum support right whether it's family friends or hired help make sure you have support lined up i want you to think about planning for self-care right schedule in time for rests healthy meals activities that recharge you, all the things that in the moment when you have a newborn baby fall by the wayside.
I also want you to set realistic expectations, right? Remember, recovery takes time. So don't expect to bounce back immediately. And please, please, please, for goodness sake, take advantage of being an entrepreneur and take longer leave. I know it's hard because we're so worried about the business. But like I said before, the business will be there when you return. I know our businesses are our babies too, but you don't want to miss out on the newborn snuggles.
Now, I know this seems like a lot, but remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Take it step by step, week by week. Like I said, the free e-book guides you through each week of your pregnancy with actionable steps to prepare your business for maternity leave. And I encourage you to embrace flexibility and redefine what success looks like during this unique time in your life.
As entrepreneurs, we're used to having a clear vision of success, right? Set goals, we create timelines and really work tirelessly to achieve them. But maternity leave, it's a whole different ballgame, right? It's messy, it's unpredictable and rarely goes according to plan and that is okay. In fact, it's more than okay. It's an opportunity to grow in ways you never expected. So I want you to take some time to journal about what success really looks like during your maternity leave. Be specific and realistic. Lean towards more time and space for your little one and less work on the business. Please do not let fear creep in and take over the conversation.
I can't stress enough that your maternity leave isn't a pause or even a restart in your entrepreneurial journey. It's a vital part of it. It's a time of immense personal growth and personal growth always translates to business growth, if we let it. One of the biggest mindset shifts that I had to overcome was thinking that maternity leave meant that I was starting over, and that's just not true. I'm not starting over with my business when I return. If anything, it's an intentional pause, right? I don't lose all of what I've learned over the past few years in my business when I go on maternity leave. Like I said before, if anything, maternity leave makes me more prepared and focused when I come back.
Okay, we've talked about the mindset shift that I want you to adopt. Remember, taking maternity leave is not just okay, it's essential. It's an investment in yourself, your family, and the long-term success of your business. And recognizing where we can leverage maternity leave for business growth is so important. Use this time to gain new perspectives, streamline your business, empower your team, and so much more.
And it's so cool to be able to make the rules for yourself as a business owner. I know that I've enjoyed that piece of it the most. We talked about the four big buckets I consider most important for planning ahead. Start early with financial planning, business structure planning, content creation, and planning for your personal care, especially planning for your personal care.
Use the free e-book I created that I keep referencing to be a guide through each week of your pregnancy. We talked about redefining success, redefining success for yourself and taking time to create a maternity leave that works for you. During this time, success might look different. Bonding with your baby, recovering physically, maintaining good mental health, and any small business wins are all measures of success.
Okay, remember your maternity leave is not a pause in your entrepreneurial journey. It's a vital part of it. It's a time of immense personal growth. Now I want you to take action and here's what I want you to do. Depending on where you're at in growing your business while growing a family, I want you to download that free e-book I mentioned earlier. You'll find the link in the show notes and this guide will walk you through actionable steps that you can follow during maternity leave.
And even if it's not something that you're immersed in right now, give it a look so that you know what to think about ahead of time, especially if you're a type A planner like me. The second thing I want you to do is start your planning process today. Whether you just started thinking about growing your family or if you're in your third trimester. It's never too late or too early.
I want you to also share this episode with a fellow mom entrepreneur. Let's spread the message that it is possible to grow a business while growing a family. Keep tuning in and see content batching at its best as I stay in your ear providing support while I'm off focusing on my family. I'm sure it will feel really good for me to be in two places at once.
And please, please, please send me some love. I might be taking time off from client and business operations, but there's never a bad time to send good vibes and positivity. So please do that. Take care of yourself today and every day this week so that you can show up as your best self because you deserve that. Okay, much love to you and I will see you next week.
Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. If you want to learn more about how I can help you stop making excuses and start making moves, head on over to www.jenna.coach. I’ll see you next week.
Enjoy the Show?
Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS.
