Guess what? I’m pregnant! My husband and I are very excited to welcome our first child this fall. As many of you know, I am a full-time entrepreneur and my employer (aka me) doesn’t have a robust maternity leave policy, so I’m going to have to make this up as I go along. Here is what I am doing to prepare. If you are a creative entrepreneur and trying to figure this out for yourself, I hope this can help you too.

-Okay so financially, I think I’m good here. I’ve spoken in the past about financial independence and how that was a big factor in my even taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship, but my baby is due at the end of the year and I have had since March to plan ahead, book clients, close deals, and promote my books. So I feel like I am still going to be able to meet my financial goal for the business this year and then if I take the US standard maternity leave (just kidding there is no US standard – but other moms that I know who work a corporate job with paid vacation and FMLA) of 6 weeks I’ll be right at January 2021 so able to start the new year “back to work.” We’ll see how many hours a week that is for me. But I do get to make my own hours and I have been developing passive income for years. We’ll see how this all works out.

-For the actual business side of my business I’m planning to update my website with a waitlist for coaching and publishing project management services, starting to only focus on orders I can fulfill before the baby arrives, which includes POD paperback formatting.
-I’m finishing the books I can before I am out, for my own catalog and for clients. I had a super ambitious goal of publishing 6 of my own books this year. By the time this video comes out, I will have 3 books out so, not too bad. I’m still undecided about doing NaNo this year because I’m due in November. So I likely won’t be able to break 50K works before the baby arrives, but it might push me to finish the first draft of the sequel to the Infinite-Infinite before the baby arrives. We’ll see. I’m planning to be “on leave” a few days ahead of my due date so I may end up just reading and writing and twiddling my thumbs waiting for the baby during that time. I’m trying to not be too crazy about it.
-I’m also starting to think about more ways I can show up for indie authors where I am giving them really great information, helping them to achieve their dream, but where I don’t have to have my butt in front of the computer. I don’t like the idea of saying no to helping an aspiring author who is reaching out for knowledge just because I can’t predict when I can be available to coaching call. I’m planning to release more books in the Author Your Ambition series as well as a course. Is that something that would help you all? Let me know! If I can get the course done before the baby comes that will be a big relief that I can still help and provide you guys with answers and details but without taking time away from my baby. I’m also going to be pre-recording a TON of videos for this channel as well so don’t worry!
-First trimester morning sickness made it super clear that health has to be the priority. So I am doing a lot of mental preparation to remind myself that I can take a break and that I will need to take a break. This will be such a critical time in my baby’s life and I’ll need to recover as well. I am going to have to remind myself that it is okay if I’m not hustling and creating and doing bookish things every day.

And that’s what I have planned. Mammas out there – what am I missing? Any tips for a mom-to-be? Other expecting mammas, what are your concerns about building your own maternity leave? Let’s chat in the comments below.

If you have found this information helpful please let me know if the comments and be sure to give this video a thumbs up and don’t forget to subscribe and ring the bell. This helps YouTube know that this video was helpful and can get it in front of more authors like us, it will also help make sure you are notified every time I have a new video go live.
Now you can get back to writing your book!

Music from: https://www.bensound.com/ E.R.F.

Get my Top 5 Things To Consider if you are looking to narrate your audiobook here: https://mailchi.mp/e8e1707cdb7e/audiobooks

Links:
Order direct from me: https://payhip.com/MKWilliamsPublishingLLC
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14420756.M_K_Williams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1mkwilliams/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1mkwilliams/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1mkwilliams
Website: https://1mkwilliams.com/
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/M.K.-Williams/e/B06XK438L5
Order Signed Copies Here: https://goo.gl/forms/oyrOJ5BEBcKBn4DP2
Subscribe: https://mailchi.mp/6f9b4c7ce458/readersubscribe
Publishing Services: https://mailchi.mp/6631be0c687a/selfpublishingservices