Making the Most of Maternity Leave: 5 Tips for New Moms
This Spring, we welcomed our first baby, Noah Wren, into our family.
While I was so excited to become a mom, there were a lot of fears, too – especially when it came to my business! No one tells you how to prep for maternity leave when you run your own business.
"Will my income take a hit?"
"Can I truly step away from work?"
"How do I manage inquiries?"
With so many possible approaches to maternity leave, I knew I wanted to be as hands-off as possible and cherish every moment with our Noah. I had to carefully plan and set myself up for success to make that happen. I won't pretend I had it all figured out, but I learned some valuable lessons along the way that I'd love to share with you!
Tip #1 – Prepare way in advance
This may be the most important tip that I have! In my experience, projects tend to take longer than you think they will, so it's important to leave a buffer so that you don't have projects running into your leave (unless you have a team member running them).
Preparing in advance also helps you prepare your clients for being out of the office for some time. No last-minute panic emails saying, "Oops, sorry, I'm off on leave!"
Here's what that looked like for us:
I didn't take on projects that I led past January, even though maternity leave technically would start at the end of March. (We did have one project that went a little longer than expected, but hey, we'll do better next time!)
Tip #2 – Consider a team!
A small team was a game changer while I went on maternity leave. Having a team could look many ways depending on your business's size and values. For example, you could have a small team leading projects; that way, you still receive income. Not quite there yet? That's ok too! Having a team could be as simple as having someone care for any pressing inbox needs.
Here’s what our (small) team looked like during maternity leave:
One team member led a couple of branding projects during my leave. Another team member managed an email account set up just for client emergencies.
Tip #3 – Plan financially
One of the biggest fears people have about maternity leave is “Will I stop making money?” and the answer doesn’t have to be yes. Instead of taking on extra before leave, or coming back before you’re ready, consider creating a passive product and/or having project invoices due during your leave.
Here’s how we made money during maternity leave:
We made money through our passive products like our process templates for designers and our DCxSA collaboration templates. We also had clients’ payment plans scheduled to be due throughout our leave.
Tip #4 – Set & Manage Expectations
Setting & managing expectations is key to having a peaceful maternity leave. Most clients/potential clients WANT to respect and value your time (at least the kind of clients you want 🤪) but they need to know what to expect.
Here's what that looked like for us:
Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I started prepping our clients on maternity leave. I let them know when I was planning to be out and intended to be as hands-off as possible during my leave. This helped them to better understand the importance of deadlines and enabled them to plan around my leave.
During my leave, I also set expectations on my website that made it clear that I was out of the office. I gave potential clients the option to have their names added to our project waitlist and provided a list of recommended branding studios for those who would rather not wait. I also created automatic email responses letting anyone who contacted us know when to expect a response.
I set up a separate email that clients could contact if there were a true design emergency (you know, like a website is down or something crazy.) I gave a team member access to this account so that she could handle these requests and contact me only if necessary – luckily, this only happened once!
Tip #5 – Fully Embrace your Maternity Leave
When you own your own business, sometimes slowing down can feel like falling behind. I want to remind you that this is not true! The newborn stage doesn’t last very long, and I encourage you to soak up every second. While it may not feel like it, I promise your business will still be there when you return. :) And in my experience, time away often has a way of bringing inspiration and clarity.
Here's what that looked like for us:
During leave, I truly focused on resting and bonding with my new baby. I released the pressure of doing anything new and even logged out of my Studio Antheia Instagram account (which really helped prevent FOMO!)
Reminder –
your business will still be there when you return
I hope that this post is helpful to you as you plan your own leave. If you have any questions, or think of anything that I missed, we would love to continue this coversation over on Instagram @studioantheia. :)
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