On Maternity Leave, Becoming a Mama to 3, and Business Growth
About the episode:
Hey friends, welcome back to Rebrand with RuthAnn! Today’s episode is a little different—it's just me catching up with you about what’s been happening in my world as I return from my third maternity leave in four years. If you're a mompreneur trying to balance life, kids, and a growing business, this one's for you. I am talking about the challenges, the surprises, and some exciting changes I’m making to make life and business in order to flow a little better. I hope this episode gives you some encouragement, practical ideas, and a big hug from one mompreneur to another.
Highlights:
Balancing motherhood with a growing business and finding creative ways to make it work
The importance of delegating the onboarding and administrative tasks to focus on core business growth
Challenges of finding reliable childcare and how to manage work with three little kids
Introducing a client membership model to create steady, reliable income
Exciting news: R Artspace is Hiring!
RuthAnn’s vision for the future of stepping back from daily business tasks to homeschool her kids while still guiding her business’s growth
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Hey guys, welcome back to Rebrand with RuthAnn. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today's episode is gonna be a little different than normal. It's not really gonna be teaching or training or interviewing a guest expert instead. It's going to be just a catch up chat with you and just to talk with you about coming back from my third maternity leave in four years and what it looks like right now in my business, in my life, in my work.
And this this episode is just meant to encourage any mompreneurs out there who are going through it with life as a parent, life as a mompreneur, life with littles. It's just all the things. And today I'm just just sharing kind of where I'm at with everything to encourage you, inspire you in just to tune you in to what's going on in my business, what's working right now in my business and some of the changes I'm making moving forward, what I'm looking to do, my vision for the future, and a few of those types of things. Well, hold on.
So in today's episode, I would love to fill you in on what's going on in my world right now, what is working in my business, my long -term plan for the future, and yeah, where I'm at with business and how it's growing and what I'm doing next in this really busy season of life. So let's start at the beginning. So I went on maternity leave in June. My son, Samir, was born June 10th.
And I'm not going to go into the whole birth story, but I had a really wonderful birth experience. It was the best one out of my three babies. And so it was really nice to have a great experience. I will say coming back to the house with my 15 month old and my four year old though, it was just a lot. It was a lot to take in. was a lot to o,you know, all the emotions are running high whenever you have a baby for me anyway, like my emotions are just a little out of control. And so it was definitely an adjustment coming back home with all the little kids. And it just felt like I remember feeling like, how am I going to do this? How am I going to make this work with my business? How am I going to make this work in general? Like I'm nursing, which I really love nursing.
And so right now I'm just, you know, nursing every few hours. And right now it's a little bit more spread out. It's not every like three hours. It's more like every four to five hours, but I'm nursing all the time. And I was just thinking to myself when we got back from the hospital and I was in that first couple of weeks at home with the kids, my husband had paternity leave, which was awesome. So he was home with me, but I just was thinking how on earth am I going to do this? I don't even know. But the thing is you just,
You figure it out, you make it work. And I feel like so much of business is a reflection. Like I see it in parenting a lot of the time. Like, you know, every stage is new and different. you know, whenever you get comfortable, things shift and change. And so there's a lot of, to me, like reflection of business growth and childhood development and parenting. But I definitely felt that way in the beginning.
So I actually in that first week of my maternity leave, I actually signed two big clients and it was just one of those things where I was like, hmm, I'm the one doing all of this work. So I was on my laptop a few times, like I had to get things set up. I was doing the onboarding because that's still something I haven't outsourced in my business. I still do the onboarding. I do all the client communication with with like the sales process and everything. So I signed a couple clients in that first week of maternity leave. it was just, I think something it showed me is like, I'm ready to outsource this part of my business. Not necessarily the discovery calls and the sales process, but the onboarding process. I think I'm ready to outsource that. I'm ready to have someone else help me in that process, because it's one of those things when I hear this all the time from different podcasters and different business owners.
If you step out of your business, can your business run without you? The answer for me in my business is absolutely not. Everything would come to a crashing halt. And I don't know if I want to do that anymore. Like, I don't know if I want to be the end all be all in my business. And so coming back from attorney leave in that instance, it kind of showed me I think I'm ready to grow and evolve in this area. And when I previously thought I would never want to step out of my business, and have it run without me, now I'm thinking maybe I'm okay to explore that option and kind of see how it goes. And just like anything in business, know, whenever you make a decision, you don't have to do it forever. You know, you can definitely try it out, see how it goes, and then you can always go back, take things back. I remember, when I hired my first team member,
Something my coach told me was you know you can outsource these things to her and if you want to take them back You know you can take them back this nothing is set in stone and you have the option to do that if you want to so I think that's what I'm I'm wanting to do moving forward as I'm wanting to outsource a bit more so my Business can run on its own and I can take an extended time away if needed maybe not a maternity leave again, but maybe like a vacation or taking a month off or something like that. So I think that's something I noticed when I came back from maternity leave that I want to work on in my business. So right now, if you didn't know, I have a four -year -old, Zia. I have my 18 -month -old, Sophia, and then my now three -month -old, Samir. And it is a wild, crazy, beautiful time in life with the littles, Sophia is walking everywhere. She's a little unbalanced still, but she is so curious and explores everything. Both Zia and Sophia love the new baby so much and they are constantly all over him and I'm trying to keep them from loving on him too much. But it's definitely a fun and beautiful time in motherhood and in a very exhausting time, I might add. I am not getting a lot of sleep these days.
I am up a few times at night nursing and so there's that. And then I'm also trying to figure out my childcare situation, which we'll get to in a minute, but it's just, yeah, it's a very exhausting, beautiful, wonderful time. And as I'm sure all of you moms out there listening can relate and So I did take a two month maturity leave, that was my plan, with one of the projects I signed a month after, sorry, a week after I was on maturity leave. I did start their project a little bit early before I came back. So I was in my business more quickly than I was anticipating, and I was doing a few things behind the scenes and...
So that's kind of how it turned out. That wasn't really how I was anticipating it when I first thought I would take maternity leave. I really wanted to be fully unplugged, but that's just not how it turned out. And I don't have a lot of resentment about that fact. I think it's just how it can be with life and business. Sometimes your business is very intertwined with your life because it's especially as like a personal brand. Like it's just a part of...
It's just a part of, I don't know, it just feels very intertwined to me. So checking my laptop does not feel bad if I'm on vacation, if that makes sense. I used to be really strict about that for myself. Like, I'm not checking email or I'm not on Vox or anything while I'm on break. But now I feel more relaxed about it. If I want to, I will. If I don't want to, then I won't. And so in this case, I was in my business a little bit more before I came back. But I came back mid -August and I told myself I was gonna hire a sitter. So my son Zia is in preschool three days a week. And my idea was to have a sitter come on those days and watch the other kids so I could work. And I tried Care .com and that was really not successful for me. I reached out to people and there was just not very good follow up and I had people cancel at the last minute. And so, and I tried a few other people and yeah, it's just nothing really has worked so far. So I am taking a little bit of a break when it comes to looking for childcare. And I was telling my husband, I was like, maybe I just need to continue to do the nap time routine, which is what I'm doing now, by the way, I am recording.
as Sophia and Samir are sleeping, Zia is in preschool and I am recording this episode. it's totally possible. I think it's a little bit more stressful just because if someone cries or if someone needs me, I have to go to them, but it's doable and I'm very thankful I have very good sleepers. All of my kids have been very good sleepers. And so it just makes it ideal if I don't have any childcare that I can work during nap times. So.
I still am looking for a sitter, not as actively as I was before, but that is still something I want to do. Moving forward, I would like to have a sitter on hand just to help me during my work days, but it has been tricky. And my husband has a rotating schedule, and so some days of week he's off, and so those days he can help me.
So it's tricky because having a sitter come over sometimes, it wouldn't be on the same days every week, it would be a little bit more sporadic. So a lot of people don't want that type of schedule. it's been a little bit of, it's been a little tricky finding what I need in this season. But like I said, I'm taking a step back, I'm working during nap times and I am staying up late to work sometimes too and it's working out okay, but I don't think I can sustain this for too long.
if that makes sense. I definitely think I'll need help pretty soon. yeah, hiring a sitter is still on my to -do list. It was on my to -do list when I came back and it's still there and it'll happen one of these days. Thankfully, my mom is super helpful and so she helps me once a week and then my in -laws also help me. And so it's all working out. I have a support system and it's gonna be fine, but it's...
It does still feel not as like grounding or stable as I would want it to feel. So that is something that is still on my to -do list. Something else that's on my to -do list is
Okay, I have two other things. So one of them is streamlining my income. So it's not these really big peaks and valleys of income and that the way I'm streamlining my income is to add in retainer clients and I'm calling it my client membership. And so that's only for my past clients and they can have access to me for a certain number of hours and they pay a monthly fee and this will be retainer work. So I tried this a while ago and I think I tried this two, three years ago and it just didn't really work out very well. I don't know why, but I think it wasn't priced correctly and I think it was, it didn't feel as streamlined as I wanted it to feel. And so this time around, I'm making it the client membership. have, it's on a credit system and with each credit, they can do a certain amount of design tasks. And I'm honestly so excited about doing this for my clients, especially cause when I design their brand and their website, I'm already, you know, I already have all the assets. I'm already in their business and know their tone of voice, I know their style and what they're wanting. And so it's really exciting to offer this to them and just have a more continual support to be a more continual support for my clients in this way. So that's something I am now adding into my business is that retainer option instead of just the brand and website work, which I absolutely love. But this retainer work would really expand our capabilities to we would offer marketing materials if they needed help with their podcasts, doing graphics, doing PDFs, they slide decks, a whole bunch of different things to help my clients grow their business from here on out. So that's really exciting and I'm really excited to offer that. And so that's starting this month as I'm recording this. yeah, so I'm really thrilled to have a steady stream of income in my business as well as all of the services I offer, having an underlying retainer work is really, it really helps me with security because I think something I always have wanted in my business is that security piece and this is definitely something that's helping with that. Something else I am wanting to do and that is happening also right now.
is I'm growing a team. So I've, or I think I've already shared on the podcast that I have different team members. I have a website designer on my team. have a copywriter, a WordPress team, and a WordPress development team. And I am looking now to hire a junior brand designer. So as this episode is airing, the application is still open for that. So if you are interested in applying to be a part of the R .Art .Space team, I would love for you to apply and the applications are open until Friday the 27th of September. So if you are wanting to check that out, you can go to ourartspace .com slash hire. And I would love to see if you could be a great fit. But that's something I've noticed as well is like as my workload is growing, as my retainer clients are signing on, I'm just noticing that I need a lot more time to work. And that is something I just.
don't have at the moment. I don't have a ton of time to work. I get like 10 to 15 hours a week in, sometimes more if I can work during, like after the kids go to bed or something, but it's just not a ton of time to get everything done. And so I feel like I've been like forced into a corner almost of like, okay, I can slow down. I could do like one project at a time, or I can continue the pace I'm going, which is three to four projects at a time.
Continue with retainer clients, that kind of thing. And the only way to do that is to add in more support. And I'm honestly, I think I'm ready for this. remember when I was, I think I was a few years in business and my coach advised me to hire a designer and I was like, absolutely not. Like I was so against it. I was like, this is what I always have wanted to do and I'm doing the thing and I don't want anyone else to do it because this is what I've been wanting to do.
And now at the point where I have these three little kids at home, I really want to spend more time with them. And I really also want to continue to grow my business. The only answer is to bring in someone who can help me with the design work. And it just made me think of like when I was a younger designer and I really wanted the opportunity to grow my skills. And I remember applying when I saw other brand designers or other different industry leaders, influencers, maybe not influencers, but like industry leaders in the online space, they were hiring for like a designer position. I would apply to all those positions and I really wanted to just hone my craft of design and I ended up not getting a lot of those positions, but something I have been doing, my whole business has just been working on a lot of different like with a lot of different clients on a lot of different businesses with a lot of different styles. And so I have grown my skillset that way, but I think it would have been such a great opportunity for me to grow my skillset working with a team. And so I'm so excited to offer that to someone else. Like if you are a newer designer and you're wanting to learn, you're wanting to grow, you're showing a lot of promise. with what you can do, I would love to help you get to that stage where you're excited, you're growing your skill set, and you feel really confident in the work you're providing. so, yeah, I'm really excited to have a new team member coming into my world, hopefully soon. yeah, I'll be reviewing applications by the end of the month and we'll go from there. But that's something I'm ready to do is just hire a designer who could help me with client work.
So that's another thing. yeah, a lot of change is happening as I am back in, you know, in the office, so to speak. And I wanted like also to pivot now to share a little bit of my vision for the future and what I'm hoping my business will continue to be. First of all, my business isn't going anywhere. And I always said to myself, like, I'm fine with closing my business at any time if I needed to.
At this point, I don't really think I want to do that. And I think what I would prefer to do is maybe take a bigger step back from the, because I'm really in my business in the day to day. And I think if I took a step back, I could still let the business run and I can still provide creative direction, know, design elements, client communication. But my team would take, take over basically and let the business continue to grow.
And so I think that's kind of where I'm headed. That's where I see myself headed. And when it comes to my family, something I haven't shared yet on the show, but something I am open to talking about is that I would love to homeschool my kids. And yeah, it's just something that's been on my mind and my heart for the last few years. And I still feel really strongly that I want to do that. Zia will be in, he'll be in kindergarten next year. So I would start homeschooling next year.
And yeah, it's just something I really would love to do. So with that in mind, that is something I'm working towards is stepping out of my business more and more over the next year, having things in place so the business can run. And, you know, whenever I'm ready to step back in, I can do that or, you know, we'll kind of go from there. But that's kind of what I'm envisioning for myself. I just have a picture in my mind of.
Yeah, homeschooling Zia is such a quick learner and he's very interested and engaged in like learning new things. And so I think he would take really well to homeschool. And as far as my other kids, I just, and I told my husband this too, was like, Fawad, we just have to take this day by day, year by year, maybe even like quarter by quarter, because, know, with these decisions, you know, it really takes a lot out of.
For me, if I was to homeschool, it would take a lot out of me. It would require me to spend a lot of time working with him and being with the other kids too. So there's a lot that kind of goes into it. And I just think the best thing to do is just take it little by little and just kind of see how it goes from there. Just like in business, you just, 90 days, see how it goes and then make a change if you need to.
So that's kind of my vision for what I see in the future and it makes me really excited, honestly. And I never thought I would say that. I never thought I would get to this point where I would be ready to like hand over the reins and that I'm not saying that I'm ready to do that now, but it is exciting because I just see a different, I see my business going in a different direction, but an exciting direction and I'm here for it. I'm okay with it.
I'm welcoming it and I'm wanting to ease into it slowly. And if my business journey has been anything, it has been easing into it slowly. That is the story of my business journey. Everything I do, I'm just easing into it so slowly and I'm just taking my time with it. And I think that's okay. If you are making a big shift in your business or a pivot or changing direction, it's okay to take it slow. You don't have to just cut the cord and just change.
Direction on you know on a whim you can take your time. You can really think it through With homeschooling. It's something I've thought for months like a very long time Yeah, know sorry with homeschooling All right, let me back up With homeschooling. It's something I've thought of for years at this point I thought about it when Zia was just two years old and so it's something I was thinking about that I was like I would love to see if I could do it. Like, in a lot of the last couple years, I've gone back and forth in my mind of like, can I do it? Like, would I be good at it? I don't really think I'm like a natural born teacher, but I would love to give it a go and see if Zia would flourish in that environment. I really think that he would. But yeah, I'm just excited to see that side of it and to see like if I can take my business in the direction I think is possible. So there you have it. I hope this was encouraging and also just permission giving, just to let you know that you can make changes, can, know, whatever's working for you, continue to do those things. And even if it's working, you can still make changes and decide to do things differently. And, you know, wherever you're at in your business, know that you're not alone and
especially with mompreneur, being a mompreneur, you are definitely not alone. We are all figuring it out. None of us have all the answers. We're just doing the best we can. if you are in the thick of motherhood with the littles, I am right there with you doing the best I can. And I hope you feel encouraged and inspired to do the same. But thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and we will talk again soon.
