Planning Self-Employed Maternity Leave: Key Questions and Lessons Learned
Back in April 2021 I vividly remember handing over my work to colleagues, flipping my out-of-office on and waving goodbye to my full time office job for 13 months to go on maternity leave. Fast forward three years, and as a self-employed person, the experience is a whole different ball game.
When I found out I was pregnant, I started asking myself important questions - how much time I wanted to take off, how to keep in touch with clients, and how I was going to make it work financially. Below, I’m sharing the key questions I asked myself, along with my responses, in case you find yourself in a similar situation and don’t know where to start! If you're planning maternity leave, or even thinking about it for the future, these reflections might be helpful. If you want to plan all of this with someone who really gets it, join my waitlist to see how we can work together in Summer 2025.
What needs to be covered while I’m away?
It’s helpful to write down everything that will need to be covered - whether by you, or someone else, while you’re away. Getting it all on paper can ease the overwhelm. I’m a fan of good old-fashioned post-it notes, but digital tools like Miro can work too. Try to separate tasks into “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” since it’s unlikely you’ll be able to cover everything.
How long is practical for me to take off?
Only you will know how and when you work with clients - one off and retainer clients will work very differently in this scenario. I work with a variety of clients, from one off Incubator session clients, through to clients that I meet monthly for accountability sessions and bigger freelance clients that I deliver regular workshops for. Early on in my planning process I sorted through each of these in turn and worked out that by having a bumper session with a lot of my regular clients just before I go off, I can take 6 months off fully. I’ll then be utilising my ten Keeping in Touch days to keep in touch with my regular clients once I’m ready to take work on again.
Thinking about when your Keeping in Touch (KIT) days might be can be really helpful for helping you to map out messaging to clients on when you’ll be back. I found a spreadsheet and calendar worked well for this. I took great care in planning these out to see when key projects would ‘break the bank’ of KIT days; for example, I run a big project called Super Seconds Festival and there’s no way I could run this on occasional KIT days as the event gets closer! That will be my trigger for going back to work, and I’ve worked my KIT days back from that point at the rate of 1 a week.
Considering your profile of work for KIT days can also be very helpful - e.g. multiple 1:1 client sessions might be tough to fit in if childcare is limited, but writing an online course can be more flexible.
How will it work financially?
I’m sure this is a BIG question rattling around your head - it certainly was for me. As a limited company I have a slightly different approach to how to organise my finances around taking time off - I’m definitely not here to advise on the financial side of maternity leave, but I found it very helpful to seek my accountant’s advice! One of the main approaches I took was to take on quite a few bigger freelance contracts in my second trimester (when I wasn’t feeling sick, or too tired!) - this allowed me to boost my finances to take the pressure off.
Do I really need that Canva, Miro, Zoom, etc. subscription whilst I’m away?
I took a hard look at my subscriptions and decided which ones to keep. But learn from my mistakes - don’t forget about your annual subscriptions! I made the mistake of overlooking them and ended up being charged for things I won’t need for six months.
What content should I post whilst I’m on maternity leave?
This completely differs depending on how long you’re taking off - for me I put up a few promotional posts on my Instagram about joining the waiting list, but on the whole I’ll be focusing posts on podcasts I’m listening to, book I’m reading, and posting about clients on my KIT days. I appreciate not everyone is into maternity content and the parent/business juggle, so I’ll be utilising the ‘green circle’ for ‘close friends’ on Instagram to share this type of content with anyone who fancies following along!
Whose advice should I listen to?
A lot of people will have their own opinions about how much time they took off, and it’s easy to feel uncertain on what your plan are. It’s great to get input, but ultimately, only you know what works for your financial situation and client load. Take all advice with a grain of salt as your journey will be unique to you.
Who can help me whilst I’m away?
Is there anyone who can help whilst you’re off on maternity leave? A partner, a friend, a member of your team, or a freelancer? I work with Abby who is a wonderful help and I will be asking her to keep an eye on certain projects and inboxes to take the pressure off me whilst I’m away. Even if you’re in planning mode now it’s not too late! Is there someone who you can get on board freelance for a few hours a month to ease the pressure?
If you have passive income products like online courses, consider hiring a social media ads expert to keep generating leads (or get them set up yourself if you have those skills!). I love working with Michaela from Wild Social on Instagram and Facebook ads.
What should the last month of maternity leave look like for me?
I’ve learnt this the hard way - I’ve been feeling increasingly tired in my third trimester but I had taken on quite a bit of work, thinking I’d be able to continue as usual. In hindsight, I would have reduced my workload and made more time for rest and movement. With this experience under by belt, I’ve pulled my maternity leave forward to give myself 3 weeks before my due date.
How can I incentivise getting back to work after 6 months off?
Parent guilt is real, but it can also be really nice to get back to work after taking maternity leave - however, you might want to plan something fun for your return! I’ve decided to have a whole new re-brand and a new business name (watch this space!). I’ve been meaning to update my branding for a while and decided that if I didn’t take the leap now, that it would be another year before I got around to it. It’s making me feel really excited for when I get back! Are there any things that would give you a buzz after you get back?
How can I best prepare for returning to my business after time away?
One of the ways I’m preparing is by setting up a waitlist for potential clients to join while I’m away. Could you do the same? This allows them to express interest without any pressure to respond immediately. If I could go back 6 months, I’d also consider if there are any forms of passive income I could introduce whilst I’m off - e.g. courses, recordings, etc.
I hope reading through these thoughts has helped you consider your next steps, or reflect on steps you’ve already taken. Get in touch by joining my waitlist if you want to plan with someone who really gets it; I have lots of tips and reflections to share!
A few things I enjoyed reading and listening to to help me prepare for maternity leave:
Naama Zusman’s blog on navigating motherhood, work and maternity leave
The Doing it for The Kids Podcast - Planning your maternity leave as a freelancer