7 Tips to Prepare for Maternity Leave as an Entrepreneur
There are plenty of perks to entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurs are faced with less than ideal options when it comes to maternity leave. As a business owner, you’re likely used to making many difficult decisions but deciding how to structure a maternity leave as an entrepreneur is a unique challenge, especially if you don’t have a team in place yet to help keep things running while you’re on leave.
One of the hardest parts of preparing to take maternity leave is knowing how much time to take off and how to best prepare before stepping away from your business for a few weeks/months. I was a full-time freelancer with my first and had no idea what to expect. I planned to wrap up all of my projects a week before my due date, took the first four months almost entirely off, and jumped back into new projects again full-time right as the four-month sleep regression started, and that was not fun!
A few years later, as a founder of a small, early-stage startup and pregnant with my second, I knew my ‘maternity leave’ would look very different from the average 12-18 months of maternity leave most of my mom friends would be taking. (Canada is a great place to live, eh?) After planning and taking two very different maternity leaves as an entrepreneur, here’s my best advice for any entrepreneur preparing to welcome a baby into the world. Here’s how to prepare for maternity leave as an entrepreneur:
Consider Your Financial Situation
As entrepreneurs, it can be tough to take time off because often, our time spent on our business directly corresponds with our income; preparing a budget for maternity leave as an entrepreneur is highly variable and personal. When deciding how much time to take off, you will want to consider: How will your time off directly impact the business’s revenue? How much and what type of childcare will you be able to afford when you return to work?
Decide How Much Time to Take Off
Once you’ve taken your financial situation into account, you will want to think about how much time you want to step away from work. There is no right answer to how much time off you should take, but I suggest planning for a little more time off than you think you will want or need - it’s much easier to jump back into work earlier than extend your leave longer than you’ve prepared for. Also, you never know what your postpartum recovery will be like or if your baby will need to spend time in the NICU. If things are more complicated than you anticipated, it’s better to have the extra time.
Take All The Meetings Beforehand
A due date can be a pretty motivating deadline! As a soon-to-be second-time mom, I knew that scheduling meetings would only get more complicated once baby number two arrived. I eagerly booked all the meetings I possibly could until the day I gave birth to connect with investors, vendors, and fellow founders before heading out.
Work Ahead, Automate and Schedule Out
You’re probably wearing all the hats as an entrepreneur, from accounting to social media. Figure out if there are any tasks you can automate a bit, like accounting, and work ahead to schedule out social media posts for a few weeks around your due date.
Embrace A Unique Maternity Leave
Your maternity leave might look different than previous ones or other people. Do what works for you- every situation is different! After my first maternity leave experience, I knew I wanted to get back to work earlier and on a part-time schedule rather than full-time. It’s not easy to hop back and forth between mom mode and work mode throughout the day, but it works for my family at the moment.
Arrange Your Schedule Based On Your Needs
I now know it is easier to work with a sleepy newborn vs. an active 8-month-old that’s up all night from teething. For baby #2, I decided to work more initially, knowing I might need more rest and flexibility when working from home with a mobile baby. For the first few months, I took meetings while wearing my baby in a wrap and working at a standing desk.
Hire + Accept All Help
When you’re in the early stages of a bootstrapped startup, it can be impossible to hire much, if any, help. But hiring someone to help just a few hours a week to assist in one of the areas with the most workload has helped keep my business moving forward. And as a general motherhood tip, don’t be shy about asking and accepting any help offered to you by family or friends!
It can be challenging to take maternity leave as an entrepreneur, but you and your family deserve this time together. As hard as it can be to step back from your business for a bit, it’s also an opportunity to experiment with new ways of working and find the best solution for you, your family and your business.
