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The Heart & Hustle Podcast
452: How to Prepare for a Profitable Maternity Leave as a Female Entrepreneur
00:43:53
Navigating maternity leave as a business owner doesn’t have to mean choosing between your baby and your bank account. In this episode, Evie and Lindsey get real about how to plan for a profitable maternity leave without burning yourself out before,...
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- [00:00]
A
You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast. We are your hosts, Abby McLeod and Lindsay Roman. Welcome back to the show, my friend. This episode is going to be for our ladies or I mean, I don't know if you're a husband out there who wants information for your woman, I guess then you could listen to this. But this episode is going to be diving into how to prepare for a profit.
- [00:22]
B
Wow.
- [00:22]
A
Nope. How do you say that word? Profitable. There we go. Profitable maternity leave as a female entrepreneur. And while we will be talking about a lot of entrepreneur types types, most of what today's conversation will be will be mostly for service based providers where you are like the way that you get paid majority is from doing a service where you either book a service in advance or show up in person. And therefore if you're trying to take a maternity leave, you can't really or you shouldn't want to really do that during your break.
- [00:55]
B
The only exception I would say to that is we do. I would say this also very much encompasses if you are a product, you deliver a product but it requires you to make it. Make it or put time in each time like an artist or a jewelry maker or something. You don't have a pre stocked inventory.
- [01:15]
A
If you are a female entrepreneur, you're probably and you're wanting kids. You deal with having kids and deal with having maternity leaves. Having kids. I feel like deal with like the balance of that. This will be helpful I think in any capacity for you. We're going to go over like tips that we've done in the past, what we're doing for our upcoming maternity leaves as well as just what we recommend to think through smartly. How to have a profitable. Can't say that word again. Profitable. There we go. Maternity leave so that you can actually take a breath and take time to be with your baby. So without further ado, let's get into it.
- [01:54]
B
So you want to grow on Instagram, but you don't know where to start. You may even be posting out the wazoo, but you're still, still not seeing any progress.
- [02:02]
A
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- [02:19]
B
Yes. And today we are about to help you create a customized social media marketing strategy for free that will result in A ton of Instagram growth that will turn into sales and business growth. Now, are you ready to deep dive?
- [02:31]
A
Let's.
- [02:32]
B
We thought so. Grab our freebie how to define and establish your content pillars@theheartuniversity.com Pillars. Hey. Hey.
- [02:48]
A
I'm Lindsay Roman.
- [02:49]
B
And I'm Evie McLeod. And we are family and legacy focused serial entrepreneurs and the founders of the Heart University, a business education company with a mission to help you thrive in your business and life.
- [03:00]
A
Welcome to our Entrepreneur cocktail hour where business and marketing strategies meet faith, real talk and raw in life changing conversations.
- [03:06]
B
At the end of the day, we are all in this together, figuring out how to navigate the ups and downs, the messy and the beautiful and everything in between. This is a community where you can come as you are, get inspired and walk away equipped to build a legacy filled life.
- [03:20]
A
You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast.
- [03:30]
B
All right, let's dive on in. We're talking about building a profitable maternity leave and before we start on anything else, we kind of wanted to give a little bit of like a mindset preface before we dive in. Remember the ultimate goal with everything you're probably doing as an entrepreneur. I'm just going to make an assumption here, but I feel like it's a safe assumption if you're listening to this podcast, it's to build a business that supports your dream life and not the other way around. You're not necessarily trying to have your life be your business. You're trying to have your business support your life.
- [04:09]
A
I would hope so. Lord almighty, if you're listening to this, please make your business that's a good not your life.
- [04:16]
B
And a sustainable business is one that can flex with your life. Like, that's the real legacy here. That's what you know is important. So take these tips and implement them in your business, whether or not you're preparing for baby or maternity leave. Because you want to have something where you have the flexibility to take time off when and where needed, including, you know, maybe there's a grief or death in the family or, you know, you just want to have a sabbatical or whatever the reason. There are a lot of tips in here too. And then the other thing I just want to encourage is just keep that thought at the forefront of your mind of like, I want to build a flexible, sustainable business that allows me to have my dream life.
- [04:52]
A
Yeah. If you're allowed me.
- [04:53]
B
Yeah. If you're feeling any form of like, stress over the thought of taking time off and what that could look like for Your business for your finances. Like, that's why we're here, that's why we're going to talk about it. But just remember, the goal is a business that can flex with your life and not the other way around. Okay?
- [05:11]
A
Amen. All right, let's get into it. So the first thing when thinking about planning a maternity leave, you're probably thinking about this when you're actively pregnant, right? And you're like, oh, this is looming, it's coming up. The first thing you want to do is your. To plan your timeline and your capacity. So work backwards, in my opinion, from your due date. So whatever your due date is. And, and remember, I like, this is maybe just personal preference. I would call it a due range because you never, you never know.
- [05:39]
B
It's such an estimated date.
- [05:40]
A
It really is. And you could go early, you could go late, but, but start with that season, that range, if you will, and work backwards from there. And ask yourself a couple questions. When is the last day of taking new projects? How long do you want off? Realistically and ideally. And I have opinions on that, I will share. And what is your return plan? Are you going to kind of slowly dip back into business or do you want like a, like a 0 to 100? I'm like back in office right now. Here we go.
- [06:11]
B
Full time, nine to five.
- [06:12]
A
Yeah, all the things. And I would say don't forget buffer time, which I kind of indicated that with due range, just because births rarely go as planned and you want to give yourself flexibility and freedom to have, in my opinion, time before and after your due date, just because you don't truly know when that will happen. And so something that I highly recommend is if at all possible, I would give yourself two months after birth for a maternity leave. Like, if you could take more great, glorious. If you, if you can't. Like, that is like, in my opinion, like a perfect goal. And when I say two months, I mean two months from birth. So in a perfect world, I would probably do three, including like a little bit of buffer before you have the baby.
- [07:01]
B
Yeah.
- [07:02]
A
So that, and again, I not, I know not everyone can do that, but hopefully this episode we're going to give you tools and tips for being able to do that more.
- [07:10]
B
So, yeah. And some people prefer more time. Some people may be like, I want a 12 or 16 week maternity leave, you know, like after birth. Right. Versus eight weeks.
- [07:18]
A
I almost thought you said month. And I was like, whoa, banging.
- [07:22]
B
That is a long, lovely maternity leave. I think the, the last thing. Did you talk about this Soft. A soft return.
- [07:30]
A
Did.
- [07:30]
B
I mean, I don't zone out ask, what's your.
- [07:33]
A
Well, no, I, I was framing it in the sense of like, what is your return plan? And ask, do you want a slow return? Or are you the kind of person that like, after that has gone, like once your, your returnee leave is up, do you want to like come back full swing? I would say I would.
- [07:48]
B
I think what our opinion is is I would encourage a soft return, especially like having taken sabbaticals, even where it's, you know, simply a month off and this will be my first maternity leave. So I'm, I'm building in a soft return, assuming that that's what I'll want. I can report back after. But Lindsay has more experience on the actual maternity leave. But I just know coming back from any form of vacation, sabbatical time off, there is an element that there is a lot of adjustment, especially when you add into the mix a newborn, especially if this is your first child.
- [08:19]
A
There's a lot of life changes, there's.
- [08:20]
B
A lot going on. I just would almost set the expectation and prepare yourself more for, hey, I'm not necessarily working again five days a week, nine to five. I just know that that's probably like maybe not going to be possible right away. I need a little bit more adjustment and I kind of want to plan. Okay, I work, I come coming back to work two days a week and then three and then four. You know, I like build it up over a couple of weeks and I only plan to work, you know, while baby's napping or breastfeeding.
- [08:52]
A
Especially if it is your first baby and you're, you're almost wanting to like take bite sized steps at balancing both.
- [08:58]
B
Yeah, there's, there's just a lot to navigate. So I just would encourage when you do plan on like, okay, I'm going to take this length of time for my maternity leave, like I'm going to do a full three month stretch, you know, before my due date to like two months after whatever. I would just encourage maybe set a plan which we'll kind of to touch on a little bit later of what that plan could logistically look like too. But like really set a plan for like can I possibly do a soft return and a slow return that allows me even more time to adjust and not be like pedal to the metal the minute, the minute the leave ends.
- [09:30]
A
It'S like, it's like if you're two months after birth is like fully off and, and at the end of those two months is when you're like considering yourself fully back in office, taking calls, taking in person like events or, or services in that way maybe lead up to that time with like stepping back into office or starting those baby steps a little bit before that.
- [09:52]
B
Or you can obviously ease yourself in.
- [09:54]
A
Ease yourself in. That's a great, that's great. Okay, so that was planning your time and capacity. Now we're going to talk about knowing your numbers because obviously we are taugh talking about profit in this episode and we want to be profitable, but we also want to do that strategically. So in our opinion, your maternity leave is essentially a self funded sabbatical.
- [10:12]
B
Right?
- [10:12]
A
Like it is, it's your choice to take time off, but obviously you still want to ideally be getting paid for that time off. So first off, you want to get clear on your monthly expenses. I would recommend doing this even if you're not taking a maternity leave. Like, you should know your monthly expenses. And when I say that, I mean like how much money does your business take out of your bank account every month for business expenses?
- [10:36]
B
Yes. I would also add in any personal expenses. Such like if you are like, hey, I pay myself X from my business.
- [10:47]
A
So expenses plus payment to yourself.
- [10:50]
B
Yeah, I would consider that still business expense, but I wanted to clarify that of like not just oh, hey, I have a honeybook payment that goes out or you know, whatever it is, but also being like, hey, on as a self funded maternity leave, I would like my family would, would do best if I'm still taking 2,000amonth from my, you know, photography business or whatever.
- [11:10]
A
But it's like in theory that would still be considered a business expense in addition to like your domains and like all the other stuff that you pay monthly.
- [11:18]
B
And the other thing that I want to say too, obviously we're touching on like, hey, know your business expenses. You know what your business needs to just stay afloat and keep operating. Ideally what you would want to pay yourself. But I know that a lot of entrepreneurs when approaching maternity leave can feel really intimidated by the thought of are my husband and I going to be okay, like financially in our personal, like can we, you know, can I take a full three months off and we still pay our mortgage or our rent and our, all our groceries and all of this because we were a dual income. So in that sense I would also encourage, even though it is a little bit separate than like paying yourself, I would also, if you guys are not very, very clear on your monthly expenses, personal, like your budget, how much you guys need every month to live to pay your bills, to feel comfortable in that maternity leave. I would just encourage, like, if that's causing you stress, feeling like I can't possibly take three months off because I, I pay myself every month and that's how we pay our bills each month. Like it's a dual income. We're both, you know, putting in the money into the pot, whatever. I would just encourage, know your numbers in general, especially on the business side. What does your business need expenses to pay those bills, ideally paying yourself. But beyond even paying yourself, make sure you and your husband like, really have clarity on like, okay, we're going to be fine. The business just keeps paying me this amount. You know, you're bringing in this amount. It's actually, I can take a full three and a half months off. Like, this is fine. Or maybe that's not possible at this season of business. I'm going to take two months off. Whatever. Like, just an encouragement to like, knowing knowledge is power, especially in this situation. And having clarity on, on what you really truly need, both for your business but also for yourself, I think is going to give you a lot of relief and, and ease any anxiety or stress if you are feeling any of that.
- [13:08]
A
So once you know your expenses, including what you want to pay yourself, you have a general number of like, what ideally you need to make per month, including while you're on maternity leave in order to have a successful leave and, and pay yourself and, and cover all your expenses and all of that. Um, now we're going to give you some options on things that you can do.
- [13:29]
B
Like what does profitable maternity leave even look like? Right, we're kind of gonna break that down.
- [13:33]
A
Yes, we're gonna break that down. This is where we're gonna give some caveats depending on the type of business that you run. For the majority of listeners that are probably listening to this, you probably are a service based business that typically relies on you showing up or physically doing a service. And that's how you get money. And obviously you might book that in advance a little bit and then, you know, get paid for it afterward. We'll talk about that in a second. However, for the people that have an evergreen, like you have a digital shop and you get sales, you know, whenever that is a nice thing to have, especially when you are considering a maternity leave. So it's, it's something that you can make money while you're quite literally away. And so that is the first thing I want to say if you do have an evergreen product that can run and make money while you're gone. Great. If that's the case for you, what I would do is work on batching marketing content that could sell your evergreen product for you while you're gone. So that way, like, sales are continuing to come in to help pay for your expenses. I know that that's not every person's circumstance. And I will say, if you don't have that currently set up and you're like, oh, that's a great idea, I'm going to set that up for my maternity leave. Yeah, okay. That. Not to, like, be a Debbie Downer or like, heart or like, crush your dreams. Crush your dreams. That's a great way to phrase it. If you don't have an already established brand. Like, say I'm just using digital product, for example, like a course, or maybe even something simpler like an ebook. Like something as simple as an ebook. If you don't have an established brand and audience set up to sell that ebook to. Just creating an ebook off the cuff right before maternity leave isn't gonna do much just so you can try to sell it while you're gone. Usually isn't going to actually work unless you've already built an established, like, the platform and the brand that can support that and like, sell that logistically while you're gone. Not that it can't be done, but usually when I, like, people are thinking about this, they're like four months from birth and they're like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna do a course or I'm gonna do a digital product. And again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but just like, let's think long game here. So maybe like, before you get pregnant or like, if you're wanting to start building and incorporating that into your business, start now.
- [15:56]
B
There are exceptions to that. I will say, like, certain products or digital things or whatever that that can sell via, like Etsy or something. Right? There are occasional exceptions to that, but in general, yes. Say not only do you need to have like a brand built, but it also needs to be aligned. Like, yeah, like, if you are currently a wedding photographer and you're like, hey, I would actually love to sell an ebook on, I don't know, beginner photography, but you have never once ever talked.
- [16:29]
A
About, like, photography educated, like, because that's a completely different ideal client and probably who you've spoken to in the past.
- [16:35]
B
Which was couples, and that's still tied in. So maybe it could be something totally different. You're like, I want to do an ebook on like, meal prepping or something, but you've Never, ever, ever built that in as a brand pillar. You don't talk about that. Like it could be something that you're like, this is a really cool idea. I think people would really like this. Maybe there is crossover of your current, you know, audience and you have a brand built, but it's just, there's just a lot more that can go into building a digital product or evergreen product that what we would encourage is if you are thinking about digital products or evergreen, that is something that typically you need at least a 12 month Runway, depending on where you're at in your journey, sometimes less, sometimes more to build.
- [17:13]
A
Like the brand that can realistically see support that selling while you sleep.
- [17:18]
B
And here's the thing too, because I feel like Lindsay just hit on that really well to build what could continue while you take your leave, while you sleep. That's the biggest thing too that I notice a lot of people is like you could create a product and you could have interest in your current audience and you could sell 10 or 15 of that E book. What happens after that? What happens after the current like interested parties, the. The friends of friends.
- [17:46]
A
Unless you're doing that as like a way to save up and get like a final push.
- [17:51]
B
But I'm like if you're selling like a $15 ebook and you spend three weeks creating it and listing it and whatever and then you sell 15 and you've just made, I don't know the math on that, $400. So $400, is that actually genuinely the thing and is it just naturally going to sell on its own easily while you step back out of office? So that's the other thing to keep in mind too.
- [18:14]
A
I think it could, if you have built the brand and therefore batch the marketing content, formally your leave. Yeah, but okay, we, we digress. That's just an aside. The point is anybody that has an evergreen product currently or wants to do that. That was an aside. We're now mostly, mostly going to be talking to service providers that don't have that set up.
- [18:34]
B
Service providers or product providers that require it. It is like a custom. Like you are doing like you make knit sweaters or custom illustrations, like you're a watercolor artist or something. Where it's like you, you have to physically do the work to deliver the product.
- [18:52]
A
Yeah, typically, yeah.
- [18:53]
B
Okay, so we're going to talk about kind of like what does a profitable maternity leave look like. We're going to break it down into like two to three options of what that could look like. So option one is that you Book or work more than usual before your maternity leave and just budget and save for the time off. So it's kind of intentionally pressing the gas before you leave office to do services more than normal to afford to take a break from maternity leave, cover your expenses, payments. Ideally the things where your delivery of the product or service is happening before maternity leave. So for example, if you're a photographer, maybe you're like, okay, can I offer mini sessions?
- [19:36]
A
Even though I might not normally do that in this season. It's like, can I press the gas and do like flash sales, like a mini session or something that. Or even say you do like five sessions a month normally and now you're gonna increase that to 10 and really try to push that harder.
- [19:52]
B
Or eight for you know, like four, four months leading up. And that's, you know, that equals roughly the amount that you would have done on those three months of maternity leave. Whatever it is, you're kind of like, okay, if you're a wedding photographer or a photographer, what are things that could be booked within a shorter timeframe than.
- [20:08]
A
Let'S say delivered on?
- [20:10]
B
Right? Yeah. Yes. But I'm just even thinking like booked within, like if you're like, oh shoot, I have, you know, four or five months till my baby's here. I need to be thinking about, you know, money, whatever, like book a little more. You're probably not going to book a ton of weddings within that five month period. Like, like weddings that you will shoot.
- [20:33]
A
Five months period, because that's like a longer product. We'll, we'll get to that in a second.
- [20:36]
B
Yeah. So kind of thinking through that if you're also a photographer, maybe something that you're like, I wouldn't normally do this, but it fills my calendar, it brings in income. I'm going to start second shooting every weekend that I don't have a wedding and, or like connecting with friend as an associate photographer for her weddings in that time period too to just like fill my calendar and get income into my pocket. So that's another thing. If you are like a web designer, maybe this is like you offer a brand refresh offer. Like this is something that you don't usually do. You usually do like a full branding kit with like a, you know, six to eight week timeline or like a rebrand and web design. It's like six to eight weeks. It's like a full timeline thing. And in the last few months leading up to maternity leave, you offer kind of like a limited offer or like a flash sale where you're like, okay, I'm going to offer a brand refresh and it's, you know, a one week timeline for each project and I can, you know, bring in multiple of those. So that's kind of like option number one is that you almost push harder to work a bit more and deliver and get the payments before maternity leave and budget.
- [21:47]
A
Yeah, you're set. You're like almost saving up extra and working extra so that you can afford.
- [21:52]
B
To not really be making a ton of money for three months, but you're still paying yourself the equivalent that you would if you'd worked those three months. Yeah.
- [22:01]
A
Option two and you could even do a combo of both of these.
- [22:04]
B
I was gonna say, I feel like most people will probably have some form of a combo. If you are loving what you're hearing on today's episode, then we wanted to share something else you might love. The Heart Shop. It's our digital resource online shop for creative entrepreneurs. The Heart Shop is your one stop shop for all of our online courses, luxury website templates, PDF guides, social media, graphic templates and illustrations.
- [22:27]
A
If you've been at your wit's end with your website design and you don't know where the heck to create a high quality pricing or welcome guide to give your clients an incredible branded first impression. Ooh, we got you. We created the Heart Shop to serve you with the best tools and resources you need to successfully run your business. Just head to theheartuniversity.comshop and start browsing the goods. That's theheartuniversity.com forward/shop and we'll see you there. Want to know what both Evie and I use for our skincare? Our absolute favorite non toxic skincare products are without a doubt prim leaf here.
- [23:03]
B
Yes. If you've been searching for a natural, non toxic skin care company you can actually feel solid about using, knowing that the ingredients won't harm you and are derived from nature, then I'm not joking when I say that you need to try Primally Pure.
- [23:18]
A
Evie and I have been using Primally Pure for our skincare for a couple of years now and we are legit in love. Like we love that every product has minimal, safe, all natural ingredients that I'm not joking, smell divine and make our skin look and feel healthy and beautiful.
- [23:33]
B
Yes, some of our favorite products that we've used from primarily pure are their charcoal deodorant, the cleansing oil, their lavender complexion mist and their clarity serum. Like every freaking product of theirs, we're not kidding, knocks it out of the park. As far as quality and making our skin feel incredible.
- [23:49]
A
For 10% off your order, you can use Code Heart and Hustle. That's all caps, no spaces at checkout. Using the link in our show notes, we know that you're going to love Primly Pure as much as we do. Again, that's Code, Heart and hustle for 10% off your order today. But option two is you are strategic with booking to push future services or future service projects before maternity leave that you will then deliver on after your maternity leave but have payments continuing to come in during your time off.
- [24:16]
B
So.
- [24:16]
A
So this would look like something that typically has a longer timeline. So a wedding photographer is a really great example of this. Like say you do an intentional push to try to book as many weddings as you can before maternity leave. So that same concept, you're almost like setting up a nest egg and saving money and trying to book more that then those payments might be coming through during maternity leave. But then you would, you wouldn't shoot those weddings before or during maternity leave. Obviously you would shoot them after. So that's something. And it's basically your big ticket service that has a longer lead up time. I kind of said that with a higher price point that ideally has multiple payments. So that, you know, ideally those multiple payments are coming in either before or during maternity leave. And that can therefore kind of do the same thing as affording you to take that maternity leave.
- [25:07]
B
Yeah.
- [25:07]
A
If that makes sense.
- [25:08]
B
The last thing that again this all kind of ties in. I feel like most of us for a profitable maternity leave are probably going to have some combination or blend of any of all the, all these options. The other thing is that you have option kind of three is you have your marketing and systems continuing to operate as much as possible to continue to book new projects during your maternity leave for after your break, bringing in income with each deposit and or payment.
- [25:34]
A
So it's almost like from the outside perspective it doesn't even really look like you're gone.
- [25:40]
B
Yeah. So that leads us perfectly into. You're like, well how is that possible? We're going to talk about systems and automizations or automations which we recommend you.
- [25:48]
A
Do a form or all of this. Even if you are a normal Joe Schmo.
- [25:53]
B
Yeah.
- [25:53]
A
And you are not pregnant, you are not saving up for a maternity leave. This is just smart business. Like Evie mentioned at the beginning, if you have a sudden death in your family or something instantaneous, you need a break, you get burnt out, you have an emotional breakdown. There's many things that can happen in life that equals us not being able to work like instantaneously in our business for whatever emergency reason. This saves your butt in life. So do them no matter what.
- [26:19]
B
Yeah. So you may or may not have passive products, like things that you don't have to create or do whatever. But even if you offer a service or a product that requires you to deliver does not mean that your business cannot run or have systems without you. So we're going to talk about automating what you can. Marketing is the number one on our list. Prepare systems or marketing that can be continuing without you and continuing to book new clients. So what does that look like? That can look like batching blog posts or just making sure that there are multiple fresh blogs up before you leave on maternity leave that can really continue to work on targeting SEO while you're out of office for let's say you are a web designer or a photographer and you're like, hey, low key. Like, I would love to get, you know, multiple blogs up that people are searching, like the best brand designer for showit websites, whatever, and you're hoping to like kind of slide in there with those blog posts to target those people as they're searching. So blog posts are a big one. Batching emails to your email list if you have one, so that they continue to go out consistently. Batching any YouTube videos or podcasts so that you don't just ghost everyone for your entire maternity leave.
- [27:32]
A
Hey, that's what we're doing right now.
- [27:34]
B
I was actually gonna say I don't remember when this episode airs, but we are currently batching six months ahead.
- [27:39]
A
I'm pretty sure. I, I feel, I feel like you guys tell me whenever you're listening to this, I think based on our schedule, I think it's coming out in September, which you will be on your maternity leave. I will not be.
- [27:49]
B
But still, still, we're batching through both of our maternity leaves, which are kind of back to back. So we are batching six months ahead anyways. YouTube video or podcasts, social media that could be Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, all of the above. And then something just to consider, depending on the Runway that you have any experience that you have with doing this or not, if you have somebody you could outsource this to, which we'll touch on in a second. Consider maybe having like meta ads or Google Ads running. I will say the caveat with this is that oftentimes this can require a more consistent eye, especially with meta ads. Very often you need to have like daily eyes and updates on those. So maybe you outsource that or there are certain situations where maybe you put yourself on like a Google, you know, sponsored Google Ad, whatever for, you know, your, let's say I don't know, you're pet grooming business. I don't, I don't know. And you like I, I'm just thinking, I was gonna say Realtor, but I was like realistically depending on where you're at in your business, you might not be taking new clients but like you can put yourself as a sponsored. So when somebody searches like you know, Columbus, Ohio Realtor, right. Like you, you're at the top three because you pay for that. And if somebody clicks on it, that's when you pay anyway. There's a whole thing. Do your research. Maybe you want to put ads out. That's the other thing that you can batch ahead as far as marketing.
- [29:10]
A
Okay. The next thing that you can batch ahead or well this is really batch ahead that you can systematize and automate is your email. So this is no matter what if you are taking a sabbatical, taking a maternity leave of some sort where you will not be regularly in your inbox highly recommend having an email autoresponder set up for your maternity leave that basically says hi, I'm on maternity leave, you can expect a response in X and, and that's up to you on whether or not you want that specific answer to be. Hey, I will get back to you, you know, a little bit later than normal. Maybe like three to four business days or yeah, you could say I am fully out of office until this date if you say that you need to be willing to lose inquiries in my opinion.
- [29:58]
B
Okay, here's the caveat that I would say I agree with what you're saying. You can literally set it depending in at least in my experience, I believe from Honeybook. I know, I believe this is the case. You can set it to be if it's a new inquiry, you have an automated response specifically to that. So it could be that like maybe your, your plan is hey, if it's an inquiry I will respond within a couple of days and if it's an exists a random email from whoever pitching whatever.
- [30:27]
A
Well but that wouldn't come through Honeybook.
- [30:30]
B
That's true. Okay, that's. I'm thinking Google but like I'm thinking for myself, maybe I should just give this example. I'm going to have an autoresponder for inquiries that say I will respond within three to four business days. I'm currently on Maternity leave. But for my existing coaching students and existing wedding clients, it is very clear I've communicated. They know I've set them up incredibly well. I will not be responding to unless it's something like really time sensitive, urgent. They really need my input on something. Obviously I'll be in the inbox occasionally, very occasionally. But like I can have a different autoresponder where I can respond to inquiries within a few days. If it is, I have a different one for like existing projects.
- [31:09]
A
And you're saying in Honeybook specifically you could set it up to have a specific autoresponder for new emails or, or normal project emails?
- [31:17]
B
Yes. So if a current coaching student emails me and is like, hey, question, what do you think about the new whatever?
- [31:24]
A
I'd be like, I will get back to you in three months.
- [31:26]
B
Yeah, like, like, I'm sorry, this is like you. I've already set this expectation. You probably know like most of my coaching are wrapped up before or they know that there's a three month break and we're diving back in after. So I will have an email going out being like, unless this is urgent, time sensitive, I will be responding at X date. Right. But for my increase, I will have a separate one going out. I believe I'm like 99% sure that's positive because I.
- [31:50]
A
The other thing in this conversation is if you have a VA or an assistant that monitors your inbox for you, you could purely not have an autoresponder at all and just have them fully take over. And maybe they already do that for you even when you're not on maternity leave. So that's another option that you could have. I've in the past done a combo of those. I've still done a email autoresponder, but I've also had my assistant in my inbox regularly.
- [32:14]
B
Especially like letting you like I would.
- [32:15]
A
Like, I'll have somebody, she filters it.
- [32:18]
B
Hey, you got an inquiry for a amazing wedding. You're probably gonna wanna respond to this.
- [32:21]
A
And like that's, that's something that I think you could communicate with your assistant of like, hey, handle everything that I don't need eyes on. And obviously you can train them, you know, in advance to be like, this is how I would handle this. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But alert me, send me a text if I get a grease inquiry for a wedding. Thank you so much. Or like something that you know, you would want to respond sooner.
- [32:42]
B
Yeah.
- [32:42]
A
And so I feel like if you have a va, a combo of an email autoresponder And a VA monitoring is a really good solution.
- [32:50]
B
Okay, the next thing you're going to want to automate is just your CRM workflows. If you don't have a CRM, get.
- [32:55]
A
A CRM, a client relationship management software. Kind of like honeybook, Dubsado, things like that.
- [33:00]
B
If you do not already have systems and automation set up within those CRMs. Do that last week.
- [33:07]
A
Do that no matter if you're going on maternity leave or not.
- [33:10]
B
Yes. This will save so much of your sanity. So set up workflows and automations with email templates, your questionnaires, your guides, your resources, your scheduling links, like all of that. Not only is this going to help significantly if you do, let's say like I might have some emails, like I'll, I'll tweak them and like have them prep to go out to some of my brides at like the six month mark or whatever while I'm still on maternity leave. Maybe I can set it up that up. But the other thing is I, I'm such a believer in having systems and automation set up regardless of where you're at. But especially I'm thinking of it as like, hey, I'm stepping into like first time mom with a newborn. When I come back to office, I, I know that like my mental capacity is probably going to be less. I want to have everything set up, prepared, systematized, automated, ready like it is. It is so seamless and streamlined that I'm not jumping back in and being like, okay, wait, so, so who, who's in what timeline? Where are they at? Where? What emails do they need?
- [34:06]
A
What?
- [34:06]
B
Okay, I need to write a whole email. What did I say on that email? Like, like six months ago, I don't remember at all. Like you do not need that mental effort ever. But especially like preparing for maternity leave, either doing something on it or coming back. Like work smarter, not harder. Have your systems set up because you're gonna have even less time coming back from maternity leave. Whether you're adding your first kid or your fifth kid, it's still one more kid to make this, you just need to have this set up. So I would pay attention to your, your CRM workflows and have those automated before maternity leave as well.
- [34:39]
A
The other thing that you could set up is if you are a service provider that I feel like things that are not in the wedding industry, wedding industry, or even photography to an extent is like a service that is relegated to a specific date. If you're not that like say you are an online coach and it is a service or a web designer, although sometimes a web designer, depending on the client, that's. That might be time sensitive for them. Regardless, if you do a service where you have the ability to get someone on a wait list and like they can wait for you. So say you get an inquiry while you're out for your coaching services or you know, insert whatever you do. You could have a waitlist funnel almost set up for maternity leave so that.
- [35:22]
B
When you get those emails in what, another automated response?
- [35:26]
A
We love automated responses that basically says something like, hi, thanks so much for inquiring. I'm on maternity leave currently and I'm not currently booking new projects, but click here to be added to my waitlist for when I return. And so that way like you're still collecting leads while you're on maternity leave that then you can follow up with once you come back.
- [35:42]
B
Yeah. So all things in that automate and systematize as much as you can, outsource as much as you can, even if you temporarily hire like an assistant or maybe there's like, you know, a friend of a friend or not even friend of a friend, a friend in the industry who's like totally gets the back end of your business that you're like, hey, could. I don't even want the stress on maternity leave of like checking my inbox. I want everything to be shut off. I don't even want to think I. But I don't really want to lose any inquiries that come in. Could you just every three days, like, here's my login. Can you just check and see if an inquiry came in and if so, just tell me and then I'll go respond to it. Like even something as simple as that, maybe it's your spouse, maybe you ask your spouse to check your inbox for you. I'm just saying, even something that maybe is not like I'm hiring a full assistant, but you are asking somebody to just monitor your inbox for you, see anything urgent if there's any big inquiries. But getting stuff off your plate and ready to be like in somebody else's hands, automated, outsourced, ready to go out marketing, all of that, in our opinion, that will lead to a restful but also profitable maternity leave for you.
- [36:55]
A
All right, so now you've done your maternity leave. You are living your best glorious postpartum life. You are reveling in your baby snuggles. Now let's create a plan for your post leave return. So how to return kind of back to office. And we kind of hinted at this other thing at the beginning of the episode with like that soft return a little bit.
- [37:14]
B
I think we talked about that, a good bit. But there are some other things in there that I would prepare for before you leave office.
- [37:21]
A
Yes.
- [37:22]
B
Wait, before, before you leave office, I would create a plan.
- [37:26]
A
So. Yes, yes.
- [37:28]
B
In my opinion, yes, we talked about, like, okay, the soft return, I think that's a big one. But the other thing that I think is really important is for you to kind of write a list or identify the things coming back to office that are on your top priority. Of like, these are your top needle moving tasks that will actually get your momentum back up, slash, get the revenue ball rolling faster when you're back in office. Because the reality is you're probably going to come back to office and there's going to be 350 emails in your inbox. There's going to be, you know, just a million things spiraling through your head of like, I have 150 tasks that I could do. And it's easy to feel very like overwhelmed, confused, frustrated, like, whatever. But if you've taken the time ahead, which is why I would do this before you leave office to kind of assess. Okay, when I come back, I need to get fresh content rolling because I'll have run through my bank of content or, you know, or maybe I really took a break and I was off social media, off email list, off, you know, whatever. I took a full break, silence. And that's awesome. But I need to get that, like, I need to come back into my audience mind. I need to like, stay top of mind again, whatever. There's like, things you're like, okay, I need to get my marketing rolling again. I need to reach out to that wait list that I had compiling while I was gone and I need to connect with my, you know, upcoming projects and clients that I booked in advance. Like, maybe those are your top three things.
- [38:57]
A
But it's helpful, I feel like, like to think about that in advance.
- [39:00]
B
Yes.
- [39:01]
A
So that you're not putting the mental weight of having to think about that on like the day you come back when there's everything.
- [39:08]
B
Because I think that's the thing is like, it's not just like, oh, the day I come back, I suddenly have to like, plan my whole strategy for the next, you know, whatever season of.
- [39:16]
A
Business again, like, do your future self a favor.
- [39:19]
B
Yeah. But it's also like, there's just so much going on and you're probably, I mean, even if you love what you do, there's probably going to be an element coming out of, like. And maybe I'm wrong. There have been times coming back from sabbatical where I'm like, fricking, let's go. Like, I had a great break. I'm ready.
- [39:35]
A
But there are also my last maternity leave, I was like, I would be so fine never working a day in my life again. I am on Bermuda. Mentally, I am not here. I am chilling.
- [39:48]
B
There's an element of that that I'm like, I think depending on the season, whatever. Like, I love what I do, but I know that there's probably coming out of, like, a newborn bubble bliss. There's probably still gonna be a part of me that's like, okay, okay, all right, all right. Like, hence the slow return. My, like, mindset back again. And I love what I do so much. So it's not like I'm dreading coming back in any way, but I know that there's gonna be a little bit of friction. Like, I'm coming out of a bubble.
- [40:17]
A
Yeah.
- [40:17]
B
And. And that may be different, but I would just encourage, like, prepare ahead in case you do feel that friction or you do feel overwhelmed or you do feel, like, lost and confused. Cause you were just so focused on keeping a child alive and figuring out the whole breastfeeding thing and whatever it is. Like, there's so much this is going through your head that suddenly you're like, funnels marketing CRM.
- [40:41]
A
Just maybe try to do yourself a favor and think about what you will tackle, what those big items will be when you first. First step back into office. Something else to consider is what would be your, like, re engagement strategy? And. And again, this could be different depending on if you fully batched all content through your maternity leave. And from the outward perspective, it looks like you weren't gone at all. That's great. But. But when you actually do come back physically, like, is there. Is there an announcement or an awareness that you want to make known that, like, hey, I am back in office. Especially, I feel like if you did ghost the world and truly take a break with no content going out, what is the thought process of that re engagement strategy to try to, you know, start getting clients coming in again and like, really, like, revamping, I guess the marketing end of your business.
- [41:30]
B
Especially if you think about that in slow season, that's the other thing too. Depending on, like, what business model you're in, there could. You could be coming back during a slow season of, like, that's my experience. I'll be coming back right around the holidays in the Winter, which is like a biz, like slightly busier, like booking season. But like, I'm not necessarily, like, I. I have a couple weddings coming when I come back, but like, that's kind of it. I'm not hitting the ground running, like, like sessions, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, like right when I come back. So I'm not able to like, push that level of marketing. So it's like, okay, I'm coming back in like slow season, but it's kind of booking season, so how can I prepare ahead?
- [42:05]
A
Yeah.
- [42:06]
B
To like, think through. I really want to capitalize on this booking season or I'm coming back truly in slow season. There's not even a booking season. How can I still try to, you know, keep myself top of mind? And also, what are the projects in slow season that I've been wanting to tackle, to accomplish, to. To, you know, maybe it's that passive product for your next maternity leave. You're like, coming back on this one. I'm ready to, like, get that evergreen product, you know, built out and ready and launched. So just kind of thinking ahead while you're in the work zone right now, while you're preparing for time off, also prepare for your return. Don't just forget that and come back with no plan. Cause it'll probably frustrate you and leave more stress than necessary.
- [42:48]
A
And that's on that.
- [42:50]
B
That's on a profitable maternity leave, hopefully. That was insightful and helpful, friend. We are just so excited for you for this season. Whether it is coming up very soon for you or it is something that you're planning for in the next couple of years to have a maternity leave coming up. We just hope that this was insightful and helpful and we're cheering you on always. So we are, hopefully.
- [43:13]
A
Yeah, you got a lot out of this. Share this episode with your friends, with your pregnant mama friends that are entrepreneurs. That would probably be the only person that that would apply to, but hopefully you got a lot out of this. Share Leave a review if you felt personally blessed by this episode. We love reviews and we will always accept them and we will always cheer you on and say thank you virtually for a review. Okay, we love you.
- [43:37]
B
We'll see you on the next episode.
- [43:47]
A
Sam.