Are you currently expecting a baby and are wondering how on earth you are supposed to prepare your business for maternity leave?
Can you even take leave from your own business? Who will be there to look after your company while you are looking after a baby?!
Worry no further. In this post, I’m breaking down the major 6 big areas you should be focusing on over the next few months to prepare your business for a baby and maternity leave.
Even if you aren’t having a baby anytime soon, these strategies are applicable to any kind of break or hiatus you want to take from your business. Say, an extended holiday, travel, or if you just need a break!
How To Prepare Your Business for Maternity Leave & A Baby
Before we dive in, hold up!
If you are expecting, and you are wondering how to START a business while on maternity leave from your day job, then this article will be what you need: How To Start A Business While On Maternity Leave.
As the tips here, below, apply to someone who already owns your own business and is looking for strategies to take leave from the business you are the CEO of.
Whether you are looking for systems to ensure sales continue to come in, or automation that generates passive income, this post is for you.
The time is now to put systems in place and set up passive streams of income, that will allow you to take time off to be with your baby when he/she gets here.
Related: Use This Step-By-Step Sabbatical Plan To Give Yourself Time off From Your Business.
1. Set up sales funnels
Your first big goal is to set up evergreen sales funnels for all of your digital products and courses.
I’d recommend that you create at least one webinar-based funnel and one email-based funnel.
In a perfect world, you would have the funnels set up a few months before the baby arrives, so that you can test and tweak them until they’re converting optimally.
2. Create an affiliate program for your courses
This may have been on your to-do list for ages. But with maternity leave looming, it should be bumped to the top of your list.
An affiliate program is something that allows your clients, students and fans to promote your products to their audience. They’ll earn a commission, and you get sales without having to do any work!
Here’s how to start an affiliate program for your business. Read that, and you will feel a million times more confident that you can set up an affiliate program that actually generates a profit.
3. Increase your affiliate income
On the flip side, you should also want to implement systems to make more affiliate sales.
Any creator who runs a website should earn income for the products and services you recommend to other brands.
Affiliate marketing is simple, passive, and evergreen. Don’t worry if you let your affiliate promotions fall to the wayside over the last year.
Your goal now is to create automated, evergreen systems that drive traffic to products and programs that you are an affiliate for.
This includes:
- Sharing affiliate pins on Pinterest and using Tailwind to circulate them
- Creating a “Tools I Love” page on your website with affiliate links
- You may also set up an email-based funnel for an affiliate product or program, which is a great evergreen sales tool!
4. Host 1-2 launches now
A big sales task on your maternity leave prep list is to host at least one more big launch for one of your own offerings.
Launches are one of my favorite ways to create a quick cash injection in my business.
You can run a sale/promotion for an older product, or launch something new. It doesn’t matter!
Generate sales now to stack your income ahead of time.
We can’t be sure how you will be feeling a few months from now. But if you have the energy to do a launch or special promotion, definitely do it.
==> Read this guide all about sales funnels.
You could plan to set aside the vast majority of the revenue from these launches for your maternity leave (and, let’s be honest, to buy a ton of cute baby stuff!).
Psst. Want to learn how I execute my launches? Download my free checklist:
5. Get ahead with your content
If you can get at least 30 days ahead with content for your blog, podcast, and email newsletters.
But at the same time, realize that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t publish any new content while on maternity leave.
One thing that I’m counting on to help me get ahead with my content is…
6. Expand and delegate to your team
I currently have three wonderful women on my team, including a new virtual assistant who is able to handle a lot of tasks in my business.
I can’t even explain how much of a relief this is! I went years as a solopreneur with zero team members supporting me, and honestly, I don’t recommend it. 😝
Take a moment to appreciate the feeling of knowing you can delegate work to your team, allowing you the freedom to enjoy your maternity leave.
Remember that you don’t have to run your business on your own. This will make a world of difference in terms of how your business can grow, and how much better you will feel as the CEO.
Your business will need different types of support. But that could be:
- A graphic designer
- A virtual assistant
- A copywriter
- A Social media manager
You can also outsource the job of writing content by hiring an agency to write content for you.
Or, you can actually buy established websites for the content and traffic, move the content to your website, and redirect the links to your site.
7. Set Up A Robo-You
Automation is key to any business owner’s success. The less manual activity you can have in your business the better.
Some examples of what to do now:
- Have your Gusto account all set up to automatically pay your team.
- Use Earth Class Mail to have all of your mail sent to their office, where they will scan it and then email to you.
- I would also recommend you use an evergreen automation tool like this one, to keep your social media active while you are on hiatus.
How To Prepare Your Business For Maternity Leave – Conclusion
Those are the six big areas I would recommend that you focus on, to prepare your business for maternity leave.
Remember to look after yourself, take all the time you need and just enjoy this time with your little one.
Everyone says the baby months go by fast, and they really, really, do!
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Keep reading: How To Sell Your Blog For $50,000
