As a business owner, there’s nothing scarier than the idea of taking an extended time away from your business. Trust me: I get it! I’ve taken maternity leave TWICE now as a newborn and family photographer. After the first time when Grayson was born, I realized that it absolutely was possible for me to and I worked hard to prepare for Adelaide’s maternity leave this summer. While I know the idea of stepping away from your business for maternity leave (or other extended leave) can be frightening, I want you to know that it is possible… and not only that, but you SHOULD also take time off! Today, I wanted to share 10 tips to prepare for maternity leave so that you can prepare ahead and enjoy your time off with that new baby!!
Plan ahead for your finances!
Start setting aside money in savings at the beginning of your pregnancy (or before!) to cover expenses during your time off. As a business owner, your expenses will not change just because you're not working, so plan ahead and start saving early to ensure that you have a steady stream of "income" from your maternity leave savings that you've built up over these past 40+ weeks.
Set the dates early for when you want to be off!
Make sure you know ahead of time when you plan to be out of the office. It’s also smart to plan to take more time than you think you'll need. With my first baby, I took 2 months off, and I was planning to work right up until 37 1/2 weeks, but then I was induced early and I had to reschedule a portrait session, which I did when he was only a few weeks old. It was stressful and exhausting, and I learned my lesson. Never again.
With my second baby, I planned to stop working at 36 weeks to give myself some time to wrap up client tasks, nest, and enjoy those last days with just my son at home, and I planned a full 3 months away from my business this time around. You have to do what feels right for you but set those dates and stick to them. At first it was hard turning away sooooo many new inquiries for the dates that I would be away, especially when they wanted something that was technically before my due date. As business owners, so many of us have trained ourselves to the "feast or famine" mentality and it's hard to turn away work. But trust me, saying "no" to clients and new inquiries will get easier the more you practice it, and if you stick to your policy and your dates you will be happier in the long run.
Prepare content ahead of time!
When you’re thinking about what to prep before you leave, don’t forget content! Plan for the months you'll be away, but also for the first month back, so you have it ready to go when you're getting back into the swing of things with work. Content includes your blogs, social media, and newsletters – so make sure to think ahead.
Bonus Tip: Outsource tasks when you can! I have loved the freedom that comes with having a virtual assistant handling certain tasks for me, and it's nice to have them prep as much as they can for you while you're prepping for your leave and delegating tasks as needed. Get this set up well before your leave so that everything runs seamlessly by the time you are out of the office.
Schedule your clients in advance!
Reach out early to clients to get everything scheduled with them in advance so that you can fit them in around your time off. You don't want your planned time off to catch them by surprise, so prep them months in advance that this is happening.
Let your clients know what to expect!
Take the time to let your clients know what to expect while you are on your maternity leave -- how much time you're taking off, how long it may take you to reply to emails, your plans for after maternity leave. If you're using an assistant or if you've hired someone to take over your inbox while you're away, introduce them to your clients ahead of time (a newsletter or a personalized email will do!) so that they know who to contact should they need anything.
Limit how clients can communicate with you!
I prefer email only, so I have turned off Instagram DMs and Facebook messenger on my business page. While you're busy at home with the baby, you don't want to have to keep track of a million messages coming in from all different channels. Your focus should be on your family during this time off – not answering all your messages!
Set an auto responder on your email!
Prep your email auto responder so that it's ready to go live when you are ready to step away from the office! The last thing you want is to be figuring out the perfect wording while in labor at the hospital, or while juggling a newborn.
Consider scaling back your content during your time off.
You are on leave and enjoying time at home with your baby, so your business can be a little more relaxed if you want it to! I plan to publish fewer blog posts each month, and fewer newsletters. If you don't want to be marketing your business a ton while you're stepping away for a few weeks or months, then don't. Make it work for you.
Give yourself the freedom (and the flexibility!) to work or not to work during your leave.
See how you feel, and if you find that you want to get a little bit of work done, go for it! Have a list of "if I'm up for it" tasks that prepped ahead of time so that you can get right down to business during baby's naptime one day. For me, these are all non-client related tasks and more focused on the back end of my business because I don't want to have any client responsibilities or client deadlines looming over me when I am trying to adjust to life at home with a newborn.
Plan for what your work schedule will look like when you do go back to work after your maternity leave.
You may want to give yourself a few weeks to ease into it with a transition period rather than jump in full speed ahead, so plan to take on fewer clients during that time and still delegate certain tasks, in addition to having marketing tasks automated ahead of time for that period and ready to go live without much (or any) effort from you. Allow yourself plenty of flexibility and grace and know that you're doing your best and that that is good enough.
As you can see, prepping for maternity leave is mostly about planning ahead, clear communication, and expectations for yourself and your clients. Stepping away from your business may seem scary, but I promise you: you’re going to want that time off to adjust to life with a newborn and to help your family through this new transition. You’ve got this!!
