Congrats to David and Victoria Beckham on the birth of their baby girl, Harper Seven. No doubt, David and Victoria (and their sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz) are looking forward to getting to know their new family member, and want to sound as much time as possible with her.
But what about running her fashion label, and other business commitments? This is a difficult situation that a lot of business mums find themselves in when they have a new baby, and many mumpreneurs are unable to take more than a few weeks off (often less than that) because they fall into at least one of the following categories:
1. They have no staff – with no one to delegate even the smallest tasks to, the goes on a standstill.
2. They are the business – running the business a lone ranger, means that more often than not, there is no emergency backup plan.
3. Can’t afford childcare – very often, the business is not making enough money to afford even part-time childcare, so mumpreneurs have to juggle caring for a new baby (and sometimes other children), with running a business
This is something that Victoria Beckham is unlikely to face – but if you are a business mum who is In any of the above situations, here are some tips to help you manage your business while you take some time off to look after a new baby:
1. Fail to plan and you pan to fail
Unless you are one of those women who don’t find out that they are pregnant until they are halfway through their pregnancy, you have nine months to get something in place for maternity leave. Don’t leave it all to the last minute – only 4% of babies are born on their due dates, so there is a 96% chance of panic if you plan everything around this date.
Make sure you have a contingency plan in place before the end of your first trimester (if you have enough time), and certainly before your third trimester!
2. Put a virtual team in place
If you are a mumpreneur, you’re likely to be working from home and won’t necessarily want someone coming to work from your home – or have the space!
So, you need to build a virtual team. This means you need to start using the services of professionals who work from their own homes, and communicate with them via email, telephone, or VoIP services like Skype if they are abroad. Even if that virtual assistance is to answer your calls, and make bookings for you, it will be a great help.
3. Get an online payment system in place
If you intend to take a short maternity leave, and you know exactly when you will start working again, use your website to maximum effect. Make sure there is an automatic booking and payment system in place that uses a payment handling service like Paypal so your clients and customers can still book work while you are on maternity leave. Block out the dates that you will be unavailable for work and it will just look as though you are booked up (which isn’t always a bad thing!), and your clients and customers can book for work on your available dates.
This is a great way to keep the money coming in, and it let’s you have some motivation to start working again, because you know your services have been purchased.
Also, using an online booking system means that you can start working again gradually – one day a month, and gradually building up to your target.
4. Use interns
The government is trying to get graduates into the workplace, and if you are able to offer experience to graduates, you can also benefit from keen and enthusiastic people working for your team. Interns can be much cheaper than paying an experienced professional to carry out work for you, and if you are able to give them good experience in your field, then it is a win-win situation for you and your business. Visit www.graduatetalentpool.directgov.uk to find out more about graduate interns.
5. Call in help from friends and family
If you’re a mum who suffers from the superwoman syndrome, then work on a cure before your baby is born! It sounds harsh, yes, but even if this is not your first baby, every child is different, and you never know if your new baby will be more demanding than the others, and therefore not enable you to carry out all the work you intended.
Pregnancy is the best time to start asking for help – not many people can say no when you let them know that you are worried about being able to cope with your new baby and managing your business. So, all those friends who say they want to babysit – use their offer of help. And don’t forget to get your spouse or partner involved. Make sure he takes his full partnity leave, and at a time when you need it most – so if grandparents will be on hand in the first few weeks to help you settle in to a routine with your new baby, for example, he probably doesn’t need to take all his paternity leave int he first few weeks.
6. You can do it!
Whatever you do, don’t panic – you can do. Once you get yourself and your baby into a routine, you will start to see things settle down a bit more each passing week, and before you know it you’ll be working happily again.
