

I’m officially coming back from maternity leave starting next week! I’ve been doing a lot of resting and relaxing these past three months but I haven’t been able to stop my brain and the ideas are flowing! I am pumped to get back with you all and share my discoveries over the past few months with you. Hope you don’t mind my little side-kick baby. She’s super cute and I am soaking up every minute! 🙂
FUN FACT: One of my membership sites, Corporate Rescue Plan, was created 4 years ago when my first daughter was this age, 3 months. Today we have over 500 members and hundreds of women have launched their business dreams because of it. I’m excited for you all to see what else I’m giving “birth” to over the next few months…all inspired by taking time off and 3 AM pumping sessions.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions on Instagram about coming back from maternity leave and work-life balance so I wanted to answer them for you in this blog post:
How long was your maternity leave?
12 weeks. I originally planned for only 6 weeks but then I read this blog post from Kate Northrup and realized I could make it a lot longer if I wanted to. Sometimes as entrepreneurs we forget that we are in charge of our schedules. A 6-week maternity leave was what I was planning because that’s the normal amount here in the US and what I would have had at my old company if I was still working. Kate’s post inspired me to create a maternity leave that was best for me and my family. I love how she recommended giving yourself more space than you think you’ll need because I was nowhere near ready to be back at work at 6 weeks.
How did you plan out a 3-month maternity leave and still keep your business running?
There were two things that I had to sort out for my leave, consistent content for my blog/podcast and consistent content for my membership sites. I wanted it to appear like I was never gone and was still providing value to my audience. This required a lot of planning ahead. Of course, I used my 90-day planner to create a 90-day plan that involved a lot of batching.
Podcast: For the podcast, I started scheduling a lot of interviews. Every Tuesday, I interviewed 4 women so that I could create enough content to take me through the end of November. My due date was August 4th so I didn’t want to have to stress about creating content for a good, long time after the baby arrived. My virtual assistant helped me pre-schedule all the podcasts so everything was set up before Sienna was born.
Membership site: I made a decision to automate a lot of the content and streamline it so that members started getting emails every week that were specific to the phases that they were at in their career. For example, if someone is just starting a business, I wanted them to get information on what type of business to start, rather than scaling your business with Facebook ads (which would immediately overwhelm them). So, in April, I spent a week writing a ton of emails for each phase of our membership site so that we could automate the emails and it wouldn’t require me to write an email each week during maternity leave. Ultimately, this was best for our members and it’s been on my to-do list for a long time. It was perfect that maternity leave planning forced me to sit down and make it happen.

How will you work with the new baby?
My personal preference is to work a lot in the mornings, evenings and naptimes rather than use childcare early on. My husband and I switch off watching the kids and my mother is also nearby so she can help out some too. My 4-year old daughter is in pre-school for a few hours three times per week so that is the biggest chunk of time I get to focus. I’ll be doing a lot of work with a baby napping on me and I will make it work. These times go by so quickly and my priority really is my kids right now.
I know my purpose is to be a mom and I also have a purpose to help other women. When my first daughter was 3 months I almost quit my business because I was failing at both. But, I realized that giving myself that space to write a blog post or answer a reader’s question made me happier and more fulfilled. The days I didn’t have that interaction of helping others, I felt lost and sad. So I know that balancing these two things that I was born to do is the right thing now. I also did a lot of work years ago setting up this life and work situation so that I could do both of these things easier and better right now. Never forget how much those 15-minute increments TODAY can add up in helping you achieve your dream life someday!
Honestly, my work-life is a little jumbled and sometimes stressful. I don’t have a ton of focus time which is what I love. It’s not easy and sometimes I complete things in 20-minute increments during the day. I have offers for childcare on my phone and I could easily take them tomorrow. I don’t really want to. I’m not ready. It’s my daughter’s last year before kindergarten and I want to spend afternoons with her. So I don’t have a good answer for this question because I don’t have a working schedule yet. I just keep my priorities front and center and am not afraid to say no right now to things that aren’t my priorities. I will sleep a little less than normal and make the most of my early mornings before my kids and husband wake up. I will figure it out and if I need help, I know I can always ask for it.
What are you working on now that you are back?
Lots of exciting stuff!! During leave, I’ve had so many ideas and projects I’ve been thinking about. One that we are seriously taking action on right when I return is launching our first physical product! We’ll be coming out with the physical version of our 90-day planner next month which is a dream come true. I’m also doing a re-brand of Classy Career Girl to make it fit a little more of where we are headed today (not three years ago). I also have a new year planning course that I want to launch before the end of the year. Can you tell taking time off is a really good thing for me?
THIS WEEK: I have something special I am doing this week to kick-off my return from maternity leave. I’m hosting a 5-day Instagram Planning Challenge. I’m doing this because Instagram is something I really struggle with myself and I have heard that so many others are struggling with it right now too.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Instagram and our Classy Career Girl Instagram is doing great. We just passed 30,000 followers!

