I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly nervous about entering the baby phase of motherhood again, this time as a solo business owner of TWO separate businesses, LOTS more kids, and with a VERY active lifestyle.
In preparation for our son to join the family this spring, I worked very hard to set myself and our family up well for the postpartum period and for the transition back into work after my maternity leave.
In today’s post, I’m sharing three important steps I took to plan for maternity leave as a business owner!
- I saved four months’ worth of money to cover my studio and my salary.
As a photographer and a studio owner, I knew that in order to fully be present for our son’s birth and first few months of life, I’d need to save enough money to cover maternity leave from BOTH businesses.
This was SO important to me, and it took A LOT of really hard work over the course of seven months to save. I definitely took on more shoots and clients than I typically serve at a given time so that I could build up my savings account, but all of the sacrifice was SO worthwhile. I hit my goal of 4 months worth of salary and expenses saved 2 months before our sweet David arrived, and I can’t begin to tell you how much relief it brought me to know that was covered!
- I communicated with my current clients about when I’ll be back to work.
Setting expectations for my anticipated return to work was a crucial part of maternity planning. For the brands I shoot regularly for, we discussed specific return dates as well as what they could expect from me while I was out. And while I personally opted not to have an email auto response, that is a wonderful option as well! I chose to still respond via email to those that came in because I knew I would be able to keep up with it, and I like staying a teensy bit connected even when away. - I scheduled content, including social media, blog posts, and emails, to go out while I’m on leave.
Creating and scheduling content can be one of the most overwhelming parts of planning for a leave of any kind. We all want to remain top of mind for our clients, even when we’re out of the office. It can definitely feel overwhelming to create a bunch of content all at once in a big batch, so I took my time throughout my pregnancy to slowly write captions, create Reels drafts, and write emails and blog posts.
If I had time to create one blog post, I tried to push myself to write two instead, and I’d save the second one to go out while I was on maternity leave.
Other honorable mentions include stocking our freezer full of pre-made meals, outsourcing everything I could, and setting realistic income goals for the rest of the year. All of this work behind the scenes has been so important!
Have you ever taken an extended leave from your business? What did you do to prepare your business and your clients for your time away?
You are seriously superwoman!