Countdown to Maternity Leave

How I'm making it happen as a small business owner

One of the things I questioned the most when deciding whether or not to have kids was how I would continue to manage my businesses as a sole founder and small business owner. I questioned how I could continue to run my companies while growing, birthing and raising a baby. 😳🤰🏽

I am privileged to hold space for these types of questions. And while our pregnancy was a surprise at the moment, the timing now feels very much divine. I trust what is occurring (as I wrote in my last post, my word for this time is SAVOR).

Yet that does not mean there are some very real implications and action items that “need” to happen before the baby arrives (does anything NEED to happen—really??).

As I enter the last seven weeks of pregnancy, I find myself scheduling haircuts and acupuncture appointments, trips to Costco and car detailing services—squeezing in as many to-dos as possible before I start maternity leave.

But what does maternity leave actually look like as a small business owner? Since I don’t have access to a company maternity leave policy, setting myself up for a period of no income has been a priority.

Here’s how I’m preparing my businesses for while I’m gone:

I have three businesses: my swimwear company, a kite camp and retreat business and a speaking and mentoring business.

Let’s start with the swimwear company:

1. I’ve scheduled or am in the process of scheduling all emails through September (baby is due August 8th). If I get to October that’s a bonus but I’m not stressing about it.

2. My social media manager will continue to maintain our social calendar and send out content.

3. We have paused any production and canceled any collection launches we had planned (simplifying and creating space are my priorities). SHOP HERE.

4. Our warehouse will continue to handle any customer service inquiries and has instructions to resolve anything that comes up aka not to bug me.

5. My assistant will handle my inbox.

6. We are anticipating sales going down (I’m a big driver in marketing) and have paused any unnecessary spending. I’m not taking any money out of the business.

Some of what we’ve got on the calendar for our countdown to maternity leave.

As far as finances go, I am thankful that just last year Oregon initiated a paid leave act that enables self-employed individuals to take up to 12-weeks of parental and family caregiving leave, which means that I will have some of my income covered. 🙏🏽🙏🏽 This is a huge blessing as one of my biggest fears was not having any income for 3-6 months.

Currently, 13 states across the U.S. have enacted paid leave laws.

Next up: kite and wing camps.

1. My partner will be running any camps we have on the schedule.

2. I’ll handle accounting (I do our books) when I’m back/at the end of the year.

3. We’re scheduling all emails through September.

4. We’ve created our camp schedule for the next eight months.

5. My partner will handle our inbox.

6. No direct income happening here but money will continue to flow in the business.

7. Spending these next few weeks focused on promoting our current camps:

This business runs with very little overhead so we don’t have to worry about streamlining much. I’m super thankful to my partner who will be running the show while I’m out. This is a huge blessing.

Finally: my speaking and mentoring business.

1. My ongoing clients will have a chance to book me again starting in December. I’ll waitlist new inquiries.

2. I’ll be pausing any marketing efforts/emails.

3. My assistant will handle my inbox.

4. No income happening here.

Some of the feedback from my last talk. I’m taking bookings for 2025!

I will spend the next seven weeks at home; nesting, prepping food, scheduling as many things as possible 😂 both personally and in the business and focusing on my health and wellness. I also have a nest egg saved for maternity leave and not spending unnecessarily in these final weeks. Financial literacy is a huge passion of mine and I’m thankful to have worked hard to allow for this space.

Now the trick is the allowing…allowing myself to spend my savings instead of having to be productive and make money, allowing myself to do less and allowing myself the time to be present with our baby. This is the true work.

This is a beautiful journey that I am thankful to be on. I’m looking at taking a break from running my brands as a blessing instead of something that needs to be managed and/or worried over. I trust in the timing of everything!