Are you planning an upcoming maternity leave as a self-employed business owner? In today’s episode, I’m sharing my plans for my third maternity leave: what I’ve learned from the past, what I’m doing differently this time, and what you can do to prepare your own business for your leave.
Listen in as I walk through the steps you need to take and the decisions you need to make to be able to walk away from your business for an extended time. Whether you’re planning a maternity leave right now or simply planning ahead, this episode is for you.
Listen to this episode now:
Search for episode 136 of Called to Both on your favorite podcast player!
Today’s episode is brought to you by Mama Meals. As a busy business owner and a soon to be mom of three, preparing for my maternity leave has been no small task between the managing the day to day at home and at work. The last thing that I want to think about is what’s for dinner, much less when I’ve given birth—that is why I am stocking up on Mama Meals, organic nourishing meals designed for postpartum recovery specifically. Mama Meals are based off of traditional healing practices, feature only the highest quality ingredients and get delivered straight to your front door. Give Mama Meals a try today and get a discount on your first box when you use the code JOY.
What I’m Doing Differently For My Third Maternity Leave as a Business Owner
Taking maternity leave as a business owner can feel impossible, but it is doable with careful planning. I’m currently planning my third maternity leave as a business owner, so I wanted to share my process to offer you some encouragement.
Whether you are expecting a baby or maybe thinking about what this would look like down the road for your family and you want to begin to plan and forecast, let’s walk through some of steps to taking a maternity leave when you’re self employed.
With my first maternity leave, I had my daughter during a slow time for my wedding and portrait photography business. I didn’t necessarily plan a maternity leave, but it worked out that I was able to take time off. With my second maternity leave, I had my son right in the middle of the pandemic. I did a little more planning content-wise, and I had team members who helped out.
Looking back, I still could’ve done a lot more planning, which is why I’m approaching things differently for my upcoming third maternity leave. This time, I’m planning three months away from my business. I know myself well enough by now to know that when I have a baby, I like to go into hibernation. This time around, I’m going to embrace that time and prepare for it. I plan to give myself more time to fully heal from pregnancy and childbirth.
Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Take a Maternity Leave
- How much money do you need to make during your maternity leave? The answer to this question will dictate a ton of your planning.
- What do you want the business to do while you’re gone? Essentially, does everything pause, or do you have team members who will continue working on projects while you’re gone?
- How long do you plan to take off? Plus, what does “time off” mean to you? Are you totally unplugged or checking in?
Once you answer all of these questions, you have a framework for what your maternity can look like. The next step is to fill in the framework and create a plan.
1. Get Clear About Your Time Off
While I previously wasn’t sure that I’d want to continue my business after my first child was born, that led to me not having a solid plan. This time around I’m being intentional with my time off.
I plan to follow the 5-5-5 rule, which is when you spend five days IN bed, five days ON the bed, and five days easing back into light activities. During this time, I’m going to follow recipes from the book The First 40 Days, a book I recommend to all new moms. I also subscribe to the Chinese/Eastern medicine mindset of healing now more than ever which really encourages new moms to take 30-40 days and HEAL.
I now know myself better now and how I tend to feel and what I tend to need in postpartum—which makes planning much easier this time around.
2. Planning Meals Ahead of Time
This time around, I am preparing more food than I did in my other pregnancies. This includes prepping meals, accepting meals and help from my family, and using a service called Mama Meals. This is something I didn’t do well with my first two children—making food a source of stress postpartum. Making these decisions to prepare will help with prioritizing rest in the weeks after the baby comes!
3. Paying Myself During Maternity Leave
This time, I’m going to pay myself my full biweekly salary during my maternity leave. Unlike my previous leaves, my salary is much more consistent now, and my family relies on it to make our lives happen.
For this to work, I counted up how many paychecks I need to take during my leave and how much money my business would have to account for. In my calculations, I considered both the money I’ll need for my salary and the operational costs my business requires to keep running while I’m gone.
My next step was to use the Profit First method to save that amount of money over time. I can currently log into my online bank and see how close I am to hitting my goal.
To break it down, here is how you can plan for paying yourself:
- Step 1: Calculate how much you need to pay yourself + business expenses during leave
- Step 2: Identify how much you need to save in advance (or how much revenue needs to come in)
- Step 3: Use Profit First (or another method) to make sure the money is set aside
The reason I decided to pay myself a full salary during my leave, besides the fact that my family relies on the money, is because I want to run a business that can continue to pay me whether I work or not. I love that my business doesn’t come to a screeching halt when I’m gone because it allows me to be a whole person.
If you have time on your side or you’re not even pregnant yet and want to plan ahead, I recommend building passive income streams. Creating passive revenue streams outside of your services is one of the best ways to keep your business running while you’re gone.
Looking to diversify your revenue for your maternity leave? Check out episode 74: Growing Beyond Services: Building Diverse Revenue Streams.
4. Batching Content to Release While on Leave
Another thing I’m doing to prep for maternity leave is batch-prepping content. I see my content as a sales engine for my business, so I don’t want it to pause while I’m away. For example, I’m pre-recording a bunch of podcast episodes and getting them over to my team that helps me produce this show.
5. Utilizing Tools for Efficiency & Organization
Lastly, I have to mention the tools that are helping me run my business with efficiency!
- Riverside FM: Recording my content.
- Notion: Track projects and assignments for my team.
- Community: I’m planning to re-air a few past episodes and ask friends to contribute audio to new episodes.
Having a Baby Doesn’t Have to Jeopardize Your Business Success
I refuse to see having a baby as anything that would ruin my business or jeopardize my success. Instead, it’s a challenge that requires thoughtful planning and creative solutions. I hope you can take what works for you from this episode to plan your own maternity leave and work towards building a business that runs without you.
Find it quickly:
3:25 – My previous two maternity leaves
5:10 – What to think about when planning your maternity leave
6:48 – How I’m planning for my third maternity leave
Links:
74: Growing Beyond Services: Building Diverse Revenue Streams
Mama Meals – Use code JOY for a discount!
More ways to connect:
Joy Michelle Website: joymichelle.co
Joy Michelle Instagram: instagram.com/joyymichelle
Joy Michelle Facebook: facebook.com/joymichellephotography
Joy Michelle Coaching: joymichelle.co/coaching
If you decide to use any of the links above and buy through them, I’ll receive a small commission back. All of those affiliate income commissions really add up over time and help generate revenue to help support this podcast.
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