How to have a baby, run a biz, and stay sane *it’s possible*
As someone who runs two businesses, adding a baby to the mix was a wild experience to say the least. I quickly learned surrender would be the only way for me to survive this highly transformative time. And as a person who loves to control the little details, this was a huge learning curve *on so many levels*.
I want to share experience alongside some wisdom nuggets from other creative boss mammas who have done it too (or are about to). Thank you, Kaity Griffin (mama of two with a third on the way), Melissa Pepers (mama to be), Kirsty Fanton (mama to be), Jodie Brett (mama of two), Anna Sinclair (mama to be), Ami Williamson (mamma of one), and Nikki Gaastra (mama of one) for sharing your tips.
If you’re about to go on this journey, I hope that this helps you find a little more ease and some much-needed sanity. Let the juggle begin!
How to prepare before baby arrives
Tell your clients early-ish & have a solution ready for them
If you have long-term or retainer clients, they will no doubt be excited about your news. But they’ll also want to know what that means for them. So have a rough plan in place when you do announce the news to your clients.
Decide how you are going to manage client work while you’re on maternity leave. There are many ways to do this. Here’s some ideas:
Hire someone to continue running your biz and taking on client work as usual.
I hired a relationship manager (and trained her before I had the baby) to take care of all things Cool Wow Collective. That meant she was the only person I needed to talk to about that side of my biz which made everything more streamlined.Pause all work and take a full break from client work.
Let go of clients and recommend others (great if you’re ready to end the relationship or don’t want any worries while on leave).
Continue to do some client work (Tip: Let your clients know that the hours will be irregular and deliverables may be reduced).
Handover your retainer clients to another trusted biz buddy.
Anna from Digital Aje has done this before and plans to do this again when her first bub is due in May “My client will move over to another digital agency and sit under their contracts and systems while I take maternity leave. Boht my client and the other agency were so supportive.”Frontload deliverables so they have what they need while you’re away.
As a copywriter, I chose to frontload some client writing before bub’s arrival. This means my clients had enough copy (e.g. blog posts, sales pages copy, and social media captions) to keep them ticking along and I could take a full break away from writing. This also boosted my cashflow before bubs.Create a digital product containing your signature skills.
Melissa from Bonbo is yet to have her bub, but is preparing perfectly, she says ”One of my main priorities in preparing for bubs’ arrival was to allow the business to earn some income while I am away. I have set up digital products plus a mixture of always-on paid ads and prepared social media content to continue advertising them.”
You’ll also want to get your tech sorted.
This could include putting an announcement on your website saying you’re on maternity leave. You can also start a waitlist to capture potential leads and get in touch with them when you feel ready to invite new clients onboard. Put your out of office on. I turned mine on a couple of weeks before bubs’ due date, having a little buffer to slow down is really important. I also kept my out-of-office on for a solid 4-months after bubs.
And as an important side note from mamma to be Kirsty Fanton; “check the eligibility requirements for the government’s paid parental leave well in advance of when you plan on having a baby! I skewered myself out of this by about $1300 and am kicking myself!”
When baby arrives
Let the fun begin! This is fresh new territory mamma, so go easy on yourself. Here are tips from those that have been there before.
Be patient and kind to yourself.
“Nine months is a long time to grow another human, then birth your baby and find your way in a very new (sleep-deprived) world.” - Jodi, DotCom Digital. So true!
Don’t put pressure on yourself to conform to traditional working hours.
The urge to work can strike at the weirdest of times and will depend on your situation. If that means weird hours at night, go for it. There can be a lot of pressure with the anti-hustle movement to not work weekends or nights, but when you have a baby, sometimes those are your best times.
“For me, you’ve kinda gotta get stuff done when you can, that might be when the baby is napping, weekends when your partners home, and don’t feel pressured that you’re doing things the wrong way. It can be messy at the start, you might only get snippets of time here and there, just do your best.” - Kaity Griffin, kaitygriffin.com.
Create some shortcuts to make life easier
Being a mum and a business owner really is a juggle. While single-tasking is the best way to find your focus, the reality is that giving something your pure undivided attention isn’t really possible with a small baby at your side.
Nikki Gaastra from Seedling Digital says “Anything you can get done one-handed, and preferably on a mobile device, will become the new normal. The best way you can move your business forward is by implementing hacks that allow the precious few minutes you do have, to be best utilised. Take advantage of keyboard shortcuts and canned emails for the phrases, answers and elevator pitches you type out again and again.”
These one-handed shortcuts are a gamechanger for late nights breastfeeding or idle time on the couch stuck under a sleeping newborn. Learn how to set up keyboard shortcuts on your mobile device here on Nikki’s blog here. It’s a goodie!
Don’t lose your connection to your business community
Having others who aren’t in baby land can be hugely important for your mental health. I noticed at the 6-month mark I felt quite depressed and craved conversations with others that weren’t just basking in new mum life with no other worries (like running a business).
Having my Cool Wow Collective community and other biz friends without babies meant my conversations expanded beyond the latest baby milestone, leaps, poo nappies, and could get the biz part of my brain firing again.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or pay to outsource it.
I know you’re an independent woman ready and total boss, but know that it’s ok to ask for help (and you should). If this doesn’t come easily to you, prepare.
For example, whenever someone says they are coming to visit and asks “what can I bring/do?” have a go-to answer ready like “oh I’d love it if you please bring a couple of [insert your things here e.g. freezer meals, green juices, coffee, snacks]?”. You will be so grateful later that you did. Remember people want to help and support you.
Outsourcing things around the home also really helps. I hired a cleaner which felt like such a treat (so did Jodie “game-changer”), but for the cost, it was so worth it (it’s really not that expensive and will free up your time to do other things).
I encourage my new mum pals to use any bonus government money towards things that will make the newborn phase easier for you—trust me it’s worth it.
Having some help in place means you can use those precious nap times to do a little work if you need to rather than clean up or make meals.
You don’t “have” to do anything (that means yes…social media will wait).
When you’re used to moving fast and doing all-of-the-things, the transition to motherhood can be a tough one. Take a moment to realise that just because you used to do something all the time in the biz, it doesn’t mean you have to right now with a newborn bubba in the house.
Anything you can do to lighten your mental load will help. That means things like social media will wait.
“If you plan to have time off, don’t put pressure on yourself to show up constantly on social media. Do it if and when you can. A little time away will not impact your biz long term, it may actually give you some much-needed breathing space to determine what you want to do next in business.” - Jodi from DotCom Digital.
Don’t compare your maternity leave to anyone else’s.
As a freelancer or business owner your maternity leave is going to look different to someone who has a regular job, so don’t compare yourself to the mums who are doing every social baby activity while you feel drawn to dip into your biz from time to time.
“Sometimes I felt guilty not being able to be completely “off” and still needed to do biz stuff, but I realised that actually suits me well and keeps my brain firing.” - Kaity Griffin, kaitygriffin.com.
Returning to work
Don’t rush back if you’re not ready. Kaity says ”You may lose your drive for a little while and lean into what you’re feeling.” It’s so true, you just don’t know how you will feel and what you will need until you’re in it.
When you do feel ready to start working again, slowly ease yourself back into it. You won’t be able to work at the same capacity as before with a new tiny human vying for your attention, plus operating while sleep-deprived is not easy friends.
You’ll also need to plan for the unexpected, even if your little one does start in daycare and you think you have this extra time, it’s not always smooth sailing, “Remember that they end up sick every second week for that first year of daycare, plan accordingly” - Ami, DamnWrite.
If you’ve done a little preparation beforehand, you can allow for an easeful return. I love this tip from Melissa at Bonbo; “Before bubs, I prepared a launch plan for the other side so that my waitlist, relaunch offer, all my ramp-up business activities have been pre-defined and the assets created. The idea is that when I’m ready, I can just turn it on like a switch instead of having to work out the how when I don’t know how much time and energy I will have.”
As we know, time is already precious as a biz owner, but it’s going to become an even scarcer commodity now that you have a little one in tow. So treat time as precious, Kaity Griffin says “take advantage of daycare days, and protect your working time, because it’s really important that you are paying attention to your business, especially if that is something that fulfills you because you get to activate that part of your brain.”
Some days you’ll feel like chipping away on a work project, other’s you’ll just feel like lying around in your vomit-stained pajamas (seriously), so just surrender to what is. If you try to over plan you can (and will) get let down.
Final say
Becoming a first-time parent is one of the most transformative times in your life, you can never fully prepare for how you will feel, or what the experience will be like.
What helped me the most? It’s all mindset!
Practice radical self-acceptance. Learn to let go and not get frustrated or disappointed if work stuff doesn’t go to plan *cos it won’t always go to plan*. Guilt can and will creep in; from the feeling that you’re not doing enough work, to the feeling that you’re missing out, to the feeling that you’re not spending enough time with bubs.
But simply acknowledging where you’re at right now and being ok with it (in all its messy glory) is the greatest gift you can give to yourself.
Looking back on the experience (that I’m still navigating with my now feisty 2-year old), I realise it made me better at business. I don’t worry about what others are doing like I used to. Instead, I lean into my intuition and trust my inner knowing more than I ever did before becoming a mum. I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff, and take way more time off for me and my family because I know there’s more to life than work.
Remember, having a baby is a once-in-a-lifetime experience (that honestly flies by), so just enjoy it. Business is a long game anyway, and the work will wait for you. So just enjoy this time and surrender.
Written by Haley Berryman
A voracious learner. Coffee drinker. Freelancer brand strategist and copywriter. Founder of Cool Wow Collective. Write words on topics that relate to the human experience, productivity and the highs and lows of freelance life. Connect @coolwowcollective.