As a business owner, I can take time off and don’t need permission from anyone. On the flip side, I don’t have the security of other jobs. These two facts became very apparent when I took maternity leave recently. Today, I want to talk about what I did as a business owner to prepare for maternity leave in a way that didn’t leave me with a financial burden.

 

LISTEN TO EPISODE 161 OF THE FED AND FEARLESS PODCAST

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Advanced Preparation and Understanding

To prepare for maternity leave, I started by making a budget. How much money would I need to cover my expenses and pay myself and any employees for at least three months? How much more would I have to sell to ensure that the business doesn’t lose money while I’m away? This requires really knowing your numbers so you can make informed decisions.  

Once I knew the budget, I was able to plan my promotional calendar. This let me set specific financial goals to ensure that I sold what I needed to before my leave. This will let you know what to focus on as you prepare for your leave.

 

Working with a team and batching your work

Next, I passed some specific responsibilities on to my team. This was something we did gradually over the course of several months so that everyone was ready once my leave began. Knowing that the business was in good hands while I was away was a huge relief.

The fourth thing I did before the leave was batching three months of podcast content. I didn’t want to take a break from the podcast but I also didn’t want to be recording during my leave. That’s why I pre-recorded weeks of episodes so my team could release them on schedule.

 

What I would do differently next time

Now that I’m back from maternity leave, I have a good idea of what I would do differently in the future. For starters, I would slow my reentry to work. Part of me was eager to get back to work and it can be hard to say no to things. Now that I know how tired I can be while having a baby that is only a few months old, I would definitely get back into work more gradually.

I would also like to build something in my business that can be sold without my involvement. If I can sell high-ticket passive evergreen products, I’ll be able to step back even more and know my business will continue to thrive during an absence.

How have you prepared your business for an extended absence? Leave a comment below! 

 

Got a question you’d love to hear me answer on the show? Leave me a voice message here!

 

IN THIS EPISODE

• Determining how much money you need for a maternity leave [6:00]
• Selling what you need to ahead of time [13:00]
• Passing responsibilities over to your team [24:00]
• Batching content in advance of a leave [32:00]
• The importance of a slow return to work [38:50]
• Creating products that will sell without your involvement [47:45]

 

QUOTES

“You shouldn’t just be guessing at what you need because that’s going to cause constant questioning if you have enough.” [10:10]

“It gave me so much more confidence leading into the birth knowing the company’s finances were covered for at least 8 to 10 weeks postpartum without making any additional sales.” [18:28]

“You live and learn. Now I know that in the future I need to protect my energy more.” [45:58]

 

LINKS

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Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters

Traction by Gino Wickman

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