Sincerely, Future You - Maternity Leave
The US government is very slow to implement policies to meet cultural demands. So I’m not going to suggest any of you wait for this type of leave to be government-funded, being that even traditional jobs don’t have standard paid leave.
Yes, let’s improve the system. Yes, let’s build the village. Let’s create policies and funding that value women, so we aren’t expected to pay a “pregnancy” or “maternity” tax. But the fastest way - is to change your plan and set YOURSELF up with a fantastic Maternity Leave.
Sincerely, Future You on Youtube
Full Transcript
Jessica McKinley 00:00
that anxiety comes from my brain feeding me thoughts like, Are you sure you remembered everything? What if this doesn't work? Can we really trust all these other people can run our business? Without us even they're like us with like the royal we. This is so normal these thoughts, okay? Trust is an emotion that requires that we lean on our future selves, the one who has the evidence that it all works out fine, even if it's not without flaws, failure and learning. Welcome to sincerely future you a podcast that helps ambitious women like you make decisions today with the future you in mind.
Jessica McKinley 00:50
Hello, hipsters, I cannot actually believe that when you're listening to this, if you're listening to it on the day that it airs, it is July 1, and I'm actually on my maternity leave, I'm on the maternity leave that I've spelled spent the last year thinking about and making decisions about and preparing for. And now I just have to sit and be in the trust that I did everything. And because I was so open and public about this process, so many of you guys have reached out to me, asking for help with creating your own maternity leave as an entrepreneur. And I'm just kind of really amazed going through this process myself, and how little examples we have out there in the world of entrepreneurs taking maternity leave, like what do they do, unless you're just really truly rolling in it. And even if you're someone who's listening, and you're making multiple, six figures or upwards of a million dollars, likely you aren't even sure how to take your maternity leave either because your business might be more complex you might feel like you're even more relied upon. So how do you take maternity leave? Do you take it, I wanted to just pull up in the curtains and show you a look at my entire journey. And also a little bit of insight into the journey that I've helped a couple of my clients who are preparing for their maternity leave who have different business models than me. And I wanted to share that with you. But yeah, so most likely, when you're listening to this, I am holding my daughter who as I'm recording this is not born yet, but it's definitely impacting my ability to take deep breaths. So apologies if this episode, which is the last episode that I'm going to be recording, because I've pre recorded the rest of the summer for you guys, I'm actually really excited about these minisodes that are coming up starting next week. So get ready, make sure that you continue to tune in, they're going to be shorter, but they're going to be action packed. And you're going to want to make sure that you listen to them with a pen because a pen and paper because they are going to require a little bit of action on your end to get the most out of them. Okay, so before we completely dive into this, I do just want to shout out the hipster of the week, which is a little non traditional in that it's really shouting out the entire March class of happening sessions. I met with them yesterday we had our group call, which we have on Wednesdays we have one more group call as I'm recording this scheduled unless the baby comes early. And we I was just talking to them about the guest coaches that are coming in. And they're about halfway through the program. And they're going to have two months of coaching with guest coaches. So I just wanted to hear all of their thoughts naturally, as human beings when there's change, we tend to be a little bit hesitant and not love it. So I experienced that myself with my own coach who went on her maternity, maternity leave during this round. And it's actually been so amazing. And it's helped me being a participant in hers and knowing that I had hesitancy going into it, sort of relax and be like they're going to be fine once they get there. But I just really needed to shout them out today because it is something to trust yourself and lean on yourself as the CEO and as your number one tap to resource for your own success. Where to kind of talk to go outside of ourselves to look for all of the answers. And what we teach in happening sessions is how to condition yourself. Mind your own brain first. And the level that they had to get to in these first two and a half, three months, in this round of happening sessions was really developing that skill of being able to trust that they can come in to a session with a guest coach they've never met before, and come and get what they came for. And I really believe that they're all right at that place, and that they are going to thrive and I can't wait to share with you. Little snippets definitely come and follow me on Instagram. That's the only place I'll probably be showing up on my maternity leave live. So you can get any little updates that I hear about how all of that is going, I'm going to be announcing publicly a little bit of info on the guest coaches that are coming in. So you can kind of see what the behind the scenes of that is. But if you're a hamster that's in the March class that's listening, just give yourself such a pat on the back. Because this skill that you had to develop in order to be ready to go into my maternity leave as a participant of my group, is something that is going to help you be a better CEO for the rest of your career. So
Jessica McKinley 06:14
I'm proud of you guys. Cheers. All right, let's dive in maternity leave as entrepreneur, the US government, I know a lot of you that are listening are not in the US. And you might have a system that's better for maternity leave, just in general, within society, but I'm not sure I have yet to become made aware about a maternity leave that is government supported for entrepreneurs. So if this exists in the country that you live in, please let me know about it, I would love to know more about how a society as a whole comes together to support entrepreneurial women, because I just think it's a pretty new concept. And I would love to be boots on the ground to help this be more implemented in societal policy. However, the US government is very slow, slow, intentionally in our government to process so that there can't be, you know, dictators or anything like that. But unfortunately, in cases like this, where cultural changes happen, where women are becoming more and more career driven, and also are continuing to be the means provider and nurture at home, there is just we're at a place of an imbalance where policy needs to catch up, and it just isn't. And I think especially since COVID, so many people have started businesses, I love to see it, and it's so fun. But now there's this culture of all these people who are working from home, who have these businesses who are really psyched, and all of a sudden are like, Well, shit, what do I do? If I want to have a baby? Like, actually, what do I do I just started this business, I think it's actually going to come to a point where people are making decisions not to have kids, because they actually do not know how to solve for this problem. And that is a problem for our society. So I want to do my small part and sharing and being an example of what's possible for how you can do this. Because what I also don't want to see is those of you who are like, Alright, no, I definitely don't want to sacrifice. Having children. I'm gonna do it. But I'm just gonna work through those first precious weeks when I'm sleep deprived, and kind of just burn the candle from both ends and be miserable. No, I don't want that for you guys. So I'm not going to suggest that any of you guys wait for the type of maternity leave to be government-funded, being that even traditional jobs don't have standard paid leave? Yes, let's improve the system. Yes, let's build the village back together. Yes, let's create policies and funding that values women. So we aren't expected to pay what my coach calls a pregnancy tax or I'm even thinking of a maternity tax. But the fastest way is to change your plan and set yourself up with amazing maternity leave. So here's how you do it. I put this in steps when I was kind of outlining this for you, but it would be 12 steps. It's really more just a clean way for you to separate how I was thinking about it and what I did. So step one, if you will, is to decide what you want. And dream big for me. I decided I wanted eight weeks of maternity leave for some of you guys. That's gonna sound like nothing for others of you. It's gonna sound Just write for others of you, it's gonna sound like a lot. For, I've done this before with my son. So I knew that eight weeks was about my experience with him, what I enjoyed what I really needed and wanted as far as true recovery from my own experience of, of delivery, and also getting, you know, some sort of routine in the house between me and my partner. And just getting back to, I don't even want to say routine and sleep because I never got that not for a year with Calvin and I wasn't going to take a year. So
Jessica McKinley 10:44
you get to decide what you want. But for me, like I just know myself and working from home, and the number of hours that I'm working, going back even at eight weeks is not gonna look like me leaving the house for 40 hours. So eight weeks felt really, really reasonable for me. And it's actually I think, going to be more of a challenge for me to slow down and really unplug for those eight weeks because I am admittedly and openly more natural career person than I am a mother. And I love being a mother to my son. But I do think that my brain feels the most at home when it's stimulated intellectually with adults. And I enjoy mothering my son more and more the older that he gets, as he becomes more cerebral and communicative. So, yes, you get to decide what this looks like. But just decide really clearly what you want in math. So for me, it was I want eight weeks of completely unplugged. And I want to make money during that time. We'll talk about this math, and what exactly that was going to look like for me in a couple of steps from now, but really decide what that looks like. So originally, when I was deciding what I want, I was like, Okay, I want to take maternity leave for eight weeks, but my main thought was like, Oh, I just have to hoard my money, I have to just save it all up for those eight weeks because I'm not going to be able to make money. During that time, my brain couldn't get there. So step two is really deciding that what you want is possible. And this is the hardest part, this is the hardest step of the entire process. Because most of you aren't even going to want to say out loud what you want in terms of money and time for your maternity leave. Because you don't think it's possible. So you feel like you're being ridiculous. Like I thought it was ridiculous to want eight weeks of paid maternity leave without any sort of a pay cut, whatsoever, like continuing to profit and keep my very high expenses. And I decided anyway to be like, Okay, I'm just gonna decide that it's possible. So while I during the phase that I didn't think it was possible, because of course, I hadn't seen a woman entrepreneur do it. I really liked I scoured the internet, I googled it i i was looking on on podcasts to see if other people had kind of done it. I just didn't see it. And not anywhere, not even just in the life coaching industry, but really other entrepreneurs. They didn't see it. So I need you to really pause here and let this seep into your bones. It's the most important step if you aren't willing to suspend your disbelief in what you currently thinks it's possible and get to this place where you're just like, okay, in Fantasyland, like, let's just say it's possible. None of the practical steps that follow steps three through 12 are not going to work for you. So, now I'm in a service-based industry. And up until this point, I'd argued to the death that the majority of my clients paid, not just for my service, but for me. And I bet my clients up until then would have backed me up and agreed, fueling that belief even deeper. Can any of you guys listening relate to this? What you do is art or its skill? You're irreplaceable, right? Wrong.
Jessica McKinley 14:30
This is our ego talking. This is the type of thinking that is going to keep you from having a truly scalable business that serves at the highest level. Do you think that Elon Musk still designs the Tesla models that release or Kate Spade she's still a brand has a brand with her name as the selling point, even after her untimely death? Because she created a brand and a business model that was bigger than her. And if you've haven't yet maternity done this process where you've started to think about your brand and your business as bigger than you. maternity leave is just the perfect time to create the self concept that you are the magic. Yes. But that people will trust that magic. When you build process processes in a team and then believe in that team and sell them, that team that they everything you touch is just an extension of your magic. So let's rewind to August of last year 2021 wasn't even that long ago. I wasn't yet pregnant, but I was actively trying to get pregnant. I just had a miscarriage and I was watching a girl in my mastermind be coached on she was about to leave for her maternity leave. And same thing she was about to pause all of her clients, she was talking about how she just like, was bummed because she wasn't gonna hit her goal. And her financial goal for the year, but she knew that it was the right thing because she wanted to take the maternity leave. So it was a trade off ticked you. And my coach was just like, why would you ever stop choose to stop making money during your maternity leave? And we were all like, what? Like, of course, what how else? Is she supposed to do it? And she was like, why wouldn't you just like, hire other guest coaches to coach for you. And even I felt like sick to my stomach watching her get coach because I could see her face she was like, and she just really wasn't at that phase, I think we all kind of feel like, okay, you'll naturally get to that place where you're ready to hire other people. But you need to be making XML or you need to be in demand at this level, you know, and really, truly, all of that is just thoughts and lies. So I watched her, entertain this and then go and hire, she was doing one on one coaching at the time and hire I think one or two coaches to just coach her clients during her maternity leave. And I didn't know any of the math of what she did exactly. But she continued to make money during this time. She charged the clients the amount that she was charging, and then she paid other coaches an hourly rate that was less so that she was earning a profit and doing nothing. And I was like, Okay, it's possible, I really just like let myself believe that it was possible at this point. Now step three, is to do the math. So for me, I wanted eight weeks, we knew that and at the time, I had 21, one on one clients, I wanted to make 250k and 2022 and work 20 hours per week. But the math didn't really add up. If I was going to be taking eight weeks out of the year, two months out of 12 months off, I really couldn't figure out exactly how I was going to do that. And last I offered one six months, and then just one four month, but I didn't love that
Jessica McKinley 18:32
I just really, I love six months for my clients, I feel like for my process the perfect amount of time for them. So if that was an option, but I just really, the math wasn't adding up. So do the math for yourself. And then step four is to find and list all of the problems or obstacles that you see neutrally. So in my current business model at 2021, one on one clients, I'd have to hire quite a few coaches and like I was asking around and the coaches at the level that I wanted to hire, what what they their availability wasn't like they weren't going to be able to take on my whole loads, I'd have to hire quite a few coaches and didn't have a great system either for vetting them for like, which coach was right for which client because I was doing one on one so I had slightly different needs and filters for my clients. Basically, this exposed one of my main problems with my business was that I had created a business that I alone could run. Like there were not great policies and procedures and clean lines for like what my business was. It was everything I was doing behind the scenes was like a little bit different, which worked fine for me at the time, but if I wanted to step away from it, it was not scalable and it wasn't transferable. So this is a great opportunity for you to kind of look and see like, what have I set myself up to be something that only I know how to do, or only I can do that has no sort of manual or training or that you even understand how you're going to do something before you do it, right. So I knew that I wanted to work less and make more, these were part of the problems and obstacles that naturally naturally came up and I saw, and I just started listing them, I just started writing them down, I was like, Alright, I'm gonna have to transition to group coaching, this seems like the right time to do it. If I want to hire coaches, it'll be so much easier to hire coaches for one call a week than it will be to hire them for 21 calls a week, right? So I knew Alright, this is the time I'm going to do my first group launch. So that was step five, step five, is to create a strategy list. So step four, is to list all the problems or the obstacles. And we don't do it in a way that like, we get freaked out by or in drama thinking we just write it as neutrally as possible, like, okay, current lead 21, one on one clients want to move to group instead of one on one, then create a strategy list. So I want to move to group, I wanted to clearly define my niche, which was part of the one of the problems, and I wanted less hours to cover, right. And
Jessica McKinley 21:36
I decided as part of my strategy that I was going to do two launches. And one of those launches was going to include my maternity leave, that I was going to take in July and August. Now I didn't decide on when that was going to be and what needed to happen until I got pregnant, which I found out in October that I was pregnant again, after a miscarriage. And I was like, okay, the baby's gonna come end of June. So like this has to speed up. Meanwhile, when I found out I was pregnant, I was still doing one on one coaching. And I got hit with crazy, horrible nausea. And I had to stop working for November, end of November and December entirely, I could not get off the couch. This is just another obstacle, it was not a problem. It was just a math problem. We're gonna get to that. So step six, after you've created your strategy list, you're gonna have more problems come up, you're going to create more strategies. This is just part of your process, right? Step six, you're going to start taking action and keep doing the math strategy list is great. It's a great starting point. But it doesn't account for failure, which there will be of course, this is never an actual problem. Failure collection hamsters know this in happening sessions, we train you on how to collect failures as as a growth strategy. But it's just a math problem. And then we solve for it. Okay. For example, I launched my first group, and my plan for the year was to have my revenue come from two group launches and 10 Total one on one clients for the year. So six months at a time. So really five clients at a time. Now, I've even modified that even more, because I don't believe I'm going to be continuing even having five one on one clients, second half of the year, I think I'm going to just completely eliminate it. Once these these clients finish however, I I am I continue to do the math to decide what I wanted to do there. So like I said, I launched my first group, and I hit half of my goal. I've talked about this on the podcast here. My goal was, I believe it was 75k, for that launch for the first launch, and I hit 44k. And I did the math and realize I was still short on what I needed to earn to flow all of my expenses and salary for my whole maternity leave. I was $14,000 short to be exact. So I rinsed and repeated this process of listing all of the problems and obstacles and creating the strategy list. And then creating my action plan. Right.
Jessica McKinley 24:27
So problem was 14k more needed by July and August. And I didn't want to work any more hours, or take on another one on one client and I had to solve for x. How am I going to do this? How am I going to get both of these things without doing this? For even more transparency because I think that's fun. I knew the following math right. So I think that the math is so so simple. are in need to know all your numbers. So I knew I wanted to pay myself 6k per month, to my personal account from my business. In the month of July and August, I was like, that is what I want to pay myself, I could pay myself more, I could, I could pay myself a little bit less, but really like that it would sustain my lifestyle is very fun and luxurious and continue to allow us to save in the ways that we like to, and to dine out and the way we like to, and to be generous and give and charity and all of that in the ways that we like to. So 6k per month in July in August, I wanted to continue saving for taxes. And at the rate that I was saving, I wanted to continue paying for my own coaching, which I've mentioned here on the podcast is 25k every six months, so I save about 4k a month towards coaching. So I wanted for for that I wanted to pay, I need to pay all the guest coaches that were coming in to work for me. So that was an expense, I need to pay my team and my podcast team, keep my podcast running, give my assistant a bonus pay all of my monthly business expenses, which all in total, all of that was going to be another about like 9500 a month. So 9500 plus 6k per are Yeah, per month. So about $16,000 per month that I knew I was going to need to bring in. And even with the launch that I had previously done, in March, it was 14 about 14k short, that's how I came up with that number. So step seven, expect your brain to say, I don't know how to do this, and then remind it that I don't know is not an option. My brain insisted that it's just not enough. It's just not going to work. And I know a lot of you guys are listening to this podcast being like, well, it's easier for her and her industry and life coach, she could just hire a life coach. I did this too, right? Like I was like for other people, it's easier. They don't have they don't have shared custody, or they don't have these types of clients or they don't know my, my way of speaking. I'm very people, I had all of the excuses, right? And you're going to as well, your brain is going to tell you like this just isn't enough, I don't know, it's not going to work. Expect that and then don't accept it. I would say like, I guess I'm gonna have to cut expenses, pause my podcasts or pay myself less, take less time off all of those no or easy solutions for my brain to come up with kind of like escape hatches that sucked. But at least I didn't have to think that hard. Those were the obvious, easy ways to get out of this problem. Okay, I could reduce my expenses, right. That's where we always go, like, just like spend less, I could just like take away all the things that are fun. I could just pay myself I wish I could just like work harder and more time. Right? It's like the easy the quick, the quick wins. I saw my brain doing this. And I was aware of it. So I got coaching on it regularly within my group and one on one. I self coached regularly, I reminded myself that every math problem is solvable. And then I said, Okay, if this was just for fun, how else could I do it without doing any of those things, I wrote down everything that came to me.
Jessica McKinley 28:56
Step eight, is to pick the best option, and then sell yourself on it hard. So my brain thought that people wouldn't be interested in a group. First of all, I was already new to selling myself on the value of a group versus one on one I had been for years selling people on how one on one is the best option. And the best way for them to get their results ever. And now I was new to my in my own brain to the concept that group was the best way for them to get their options. And now I really do believe that. And again, you can continue to just sell yourself on what works. But we want to make sure that the results match. And organically I really wasn't the place where this group was the perfect thing for my clients. But it was still like new in my brain on the value of group coaching. So my brain was like, Alright, already people are like struggling they want to work with me one on one now I'm telling them it's group and that I'm not even getting Be the one running it. I was even finding evidence of this, that people were not interested in being in something that I wasn't running or in a group. Of course, I was finding the evidence because I was creating it. That's how it works, right? Our thoughts create our results. I didn't believe it was valuable without me. So why were other people going to believe that this program was valuable without me, I was not selling it at all. So I sold it, I sold this right, I picked this option. Before I had to sell this program, before I knew which guests coaches were going to be in the program, which was so fun and such an up level in my business, because basically, I had to decide in advance and believe I have a excellent tapped network of very qualified people, they are out there, and I can find them and I can hire them. And it's going to be amazing. And it's going to be even more valuable than just having my brain in the program. I had to sell myself on that, before I went to go and sell my program. And that I did, right, so I did that for my first launch. And that was even before I had this 14k dilemma, but the other. So right, step eight is pick the best option and sell yourself on it hard. And then step nine is then once you are sold you your most important customers sold on the value of what you're offering, then you can go and sell everyone else. It's not the other way around. And a lot of you guys, I see you do this, you're like, Okay, I'm gonna go out there and try and sell it. And then if they buy it, then I can believe that it's valuable, then I'll give myself permission, it's not how it works, you're not going to get many sales, that way people can feel it. If you don't think it's valuable, right. Some of you won't have to change anything about your client or customer facing business. In order to go on maternity leave, some of you are not the face of your business, right, you're just the one running it behind the scenes. And that's great, because they won't know it's not you doing the work, or it really won't matter. You don't have to convince anyone, though, when you're 100% convinced that it's going to be amazing, and the business is going to run efficiently without you. So some people will be like, Okay, I just need to like, should I announce it, I put it on my website that I'm not going to be here. When I was selling it, I did not even mention that I was pregnant or going to be on maternity leave. Really at all, anywhere. I mentioned that there were going to be guest coaches in within the program. And I talked about the value of that. But I did not have to convince people. Don't worry, you won't even meet me trust me, these people are great, because I was so convinced that I literally would forget that I wasn't even going to be there. Right? So you need to believe it first and then make every decision necessary to make it effect and to make the reality match what you are, have sold yourself on. So I had decided this is going to be amazing. I'm going to find amazing coaches. And what did I do? I went out there and I hired them. And I got the best ones. Now I actually know who's going to be in the group. And I can say it and I can put a neat face to the name and I can feel great. But I feel like I manifested that because of course I did. I decided in advance thoughts first. Okay, so step 10 is expect more problems,
Jessica McKinley 33:53
execute the plan and just keep solving for x like the masterful CEO that you are. So for example, like I told you, right, I didn't know what was going to happen because I was short 14k. I did a whole live video explaining this in detail on how I did that exactly. And how I came to that conclusion Exactly. But ultimately, I got coaching and I decided to push my second launch for the September class that was going to be launching in September and starting in September. Like so enrolling in September and starting in September, I decided to enroll before I went on my maternity leave. You guys know I wrote a couple of weeks ago for that program. That decision was something that came to me prompted by the issue that I was going to run into that I didn't I needed 14k more to float my maternity leave and I wanted to make sure that it matched and it was perfect for me My clients. So I really, really sold myself. And I found all of the evidence for why it was the best thing for my clients to roll that early. First of all this round, they get time with the workbook, they get time to mind their own brain, and use the tools to make back their money before the program even starts, which is really fun. The other thing is, I enrolled that early for my coach, and I love it, like I love going in, and I could watch some of the videos and the modules. And I can kind of like consume and it's fun. And then once I get in there for the coaching, I can really just be focused on the coaching and the applying of it.
Jessica McKinley 35:40
So I loved that for them. I also loved the resourcefulness of how people were going to have to show up in order to source that money in advance and the commitment level and the belief that people had to have in this program, and the desire that they had to have in for these results in order to invest that early in a program. I know for me like it's a no brainer to do it for my mastermind. So I wanted that same level of commitment in the room. And I got it. So anyway, it makes sure that like you are selling yourself on this and that it makes sense for both for you and for your clients. Right. We share the value is all for your clients, but your policies and your processes you want to set up so that it creates a life and a business that you love as well that you want to be a part of that you want to deliver. Okay, so expect more problems. Once I solved her that I did the launch earlier, I more than exceeded my my goal. Then someone else asked him a beautiful question. I'm not going to go into it on this episode. But they asked an amazing question on the comments of that Instagram video, if you go to my Instagram, what's happening W Jess, and you click on how I created 14k without working more hours. You can see in the comments, I gave her the exact answer of what I'm going to do. She was like, Well, what are you now that you've just created all of your income up until this point, like what are you going to do for the end of the year? Are you worried you're going to run out of money? And I was like that's such a good question. Because I did have that created a new problem that I just had to solve for. So I just decided, okay, I'm I'm just going to continue to launch in advance. So our next launch is likely going to be November. I'm actually making that decision this week. And I will keep you guys posted. But definitely make sure you're on the waitlist if you're not yet for the next round. So you'll be alerted as to when the next enrollment date is for happening sessions. So I'm not worried my main thought about money is that it never runs out and that it's always flowing to me. So I could just make any decision that I want to add value whenever I want. And the money will just show up, right? I just go out there and add value. And you guys, I encourage you to adopt that same thought about money for yourself never runs out, you have something that you're offering, go out there and offer it. So one of the problems in step 10, like I said that came up was I had a guest coach drop out. And I I just moved people around. Honestly, I empowered my assistant to handle everything else that might come up because there will be problems. I'm sure like little things that might come up during my maternity leave. And I decided like I do not want to be we created a new email address for her. Originally, she was just using all of my accounts and responding on my behalf. But finally, it was like, Okay, actually, I know that if I have access to my email, I'm gonna probably want to be checking it to check in and see how things are going. And I don't want that for my maternity leave. I really do want a truly unplugged experience. I only want to be made aware of something when it's absolutely necessary. And I've pretty much told Janelle, that it's just not necessary. There's nothing I need to know. I ran through everything that I do, and communicated it to her. I trust but then verify that we're on the same page. I have. I ran her through my five step delegation process, which I teach in happening session. That's an episode for another time. But again, I let her tell me Okay, all right. These are all the things that I've told you. Where do you feel like you can you repeat back to me what you feel your responsibilities are during this time, in this case, et cetera, et cetera? And we found like a couple of little areas where I hadn't explained something thoroughly enough. No problem I explained it more and there might be another question that she has. And I told her the chain of command for exactly how I want her to solver that before reaching out to me, but then ultimately, cool, we're gonna still have like one meeting every so often for a check in and for feedback because I just want to know how everyone's doing. Okay and then finally step 11, you step into future you. Finally you get to go on leave. And for me, it's actually a little bit of a negative emotion which was unexpected, a little bit stressful.
Jessica McKinley 40:36
I set up everything meticulously, but our actions don't create our feelings our thoughts do and my anxiety around actually just being at that moment where it's time to like, let the birdies leave the nest, all the people that I prepared to like go and run this program without me comes from my brain. That anxiety comes from my brain feeding me thoughts like, Are you sure you remembered everything? What if this doesn't work? Can we really trust all these other people can run our business? Without us even they're like us with the royal we? This is so normal these thoughts, okay? Trust is an emotion that requires that we lean on our future selves, the one who has the evidence that it all works out fine, even if it's not without flaws, failure and learning. Alright, so you need to step into future you and allow the discomfort to be there. When it finally comes time to go on your maternity leave. Even once you've done the whole process, it's not going to feel comfortable. So expect that. And then step 12. Sell yourself on this last thought, I can relax, I created this maternity leave, I deserve this maternity leave this time with my child. Let it be uncomfortable. If that's what's coming up. It is certainly for me, I remind myself there are no emergencies here and no problems that I cannot solve that my team cannot solve. I remind myself that they are capable humans, and that there's room for them to make mistakes the same way I made mistakes in my own business coming up and that it's all works out. I am now a CEO who makes money and has so much time to spare. You could apply this 12 steps process not just to your maternity leave, but to any type of planned time off to a sabbatical or just a vacation or just to scale your business and time so that you are less in the day to day. But if you're a mama, or if you're an expectant mama right now, where you wish to be soon and you plan to do not wait to start this process. Come and start it with me right now. Okay, I started a year before my daughter was born actually 12 months before she was even conceived. But I've helped hamsters do it in four months. It's never too late and it's never too early to be mindful and thoughtful about this process with a totally different business model okay than me. You do not have to be a coach for this to work I'm I'm watching a lot of my clients think that oh, this process just applies to me. So we will likely have a whole nother episode may be called maternity leave 2.0 Where I field questions that come from this episode. So DM me your questions on Instagram at what's happening W Jess that's whats h a p p y happy and i n g w Jess. Get on my email list for wisdom from maternity leave. Okay, that I will put both of those things in the show notes. Set up a 20 minute consult to learn about joining the room where we apply all of this work and where you can problem solve directly with me. In happening sessions, now is the time I'm sending you all of the love and possibility and I will see you on the other side of eight weeks with my daughter motherhood round two I can't wait to meet the next round of you. Then in happening sessions September. Have a beautiful summer.
Hey Happters. If you want to learn more about today's topic, head over to what's happening.com forward-slash podcasts. That's what's happening. podcast that's what's happening w-h-a-t-s-h-a-p-p-y-n-i-n-g com forward slash podcast if you're a business owner and you're resonating with what we talk about here what are you even doing come hang out with me over where the party's at on Instagram at what's happening w jets again that's happy h-a-p-p-y-n-i-n-g and book a discovery call to see if coaching is your next best step