In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I’m pulling back the curtain on how I prepared my business for a 10-weeks completely on maternity leave while ensuring everything ran smoothly without me.
From setting up systems and automations to empowering my team and clients, I’ll share the strategies I used to keep the momentum going and protect my revenue.
Whether you’re a business owner preparing for a break or just looking to create more freedom in your schedule, I’ve packed this episode with loads of my practical tips to be able to help you manage your business with ease—even when you step away.
I know that Christmas break is coming, and we all need a little time off. This is one not to miss.
While you’re here, I have a new key marketing tool for you over on my website which you can access here: www.hayleyosborne.com titled: 3 essential posts your biz needs to get more people through the door – with templates & swipe copy!
This is a must for you to implement into your business to optimise your social media and make the most of the platforms.
Summary
0:00:01 Introduction
0:08:30 Automating key business processes
0:14:00 Setting boundaries and maintaining productivity
0:16:30 Returning to the business and future plans
0:18:00 Advice for other small business owners planning time off
0:19:00 Closing
Hayley Osborne
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. I am really glad that you are here this episode 130 and welcome back to me officially. So this is actually the first time that I have been in front of the microphone since almost the middle of July.
So I have pretty much had like 10 weeks off of recording any podcast episodes, because that’s how much I preplan in my business, and I thought, what a better way to come back onto the podcast. So obviously, the podcast has been happening, but to talk about how I planned for 10 weeks maternity leave, really. And, you know, there’s lots, lots of things there. I had the time off of the really big things inside the business, which was so, so nice.
And I do have help, which is lovely. I did some things along the way. You know, turns out babies sleep a lot. So yes, I had a little boy, and he is growing beautifully. That makes us a party of five, which I love. But I thought it might help regardless if you’re going on maternity leave or not, if you’re planning to have some time off in your business, and you’re wondering, oh my gosh, how do I actually plan to have this time off?
That was the reason for coming in to give you a little bit of a life update and how you might be able to plan yourself to have some time off inside your business, because you can’t just keep work, work working, but I get it because who’s going to do it if you don’t do it, especially if you don’t have help? So some of the things that I’m going to share with you today may actually help you to be able to do that. If you’re watching on YouTube, I actually have a new microphone, which is really cool as well.
You can probably see in the video, it is a boom mic, so it’s one that just sits on the side of my desk, so I can, like, lean it in and out of my desk. So prior to that, it’s a Rode microphone, which is like, has a lovely swivel, and it just makes it really, I like to operate with a clean desk, so not a lot of papers. So it just makes me feel really, like motivated. And, you know, everything is quite polished and clean prior to that. And there was nothing wrong with this microphone.
I had a Blue Yeti desk mic. That was the first microphone I had a couple years ago when I started, you know, being showing up more professionally inside the business. And it had a sock and a pop filter and everything. And so now I thought it’s a nice time to get a different microphone, and so while I’ve been on maternity leave, so to speak, I’ve made a few upgrades and done some things inside the business. So that’s I’ll save that for another episode, because you can’t cover everything, right?
So how I planned for 10 weeks off, essentially, we’ll call it maternity leave, because that’s what it was. I’m still kind of, you know, taking things a little bit easy, but this is now me coming back into the podcast, and I was so excited. I got on with my stories today, and you know, I plan to do everything up until the first of October, and it served me well, because, you know that newborn loved up bundle is just so lovely.
Anyway, So how did I do that? How did I really take time off? Well, to preface this, I do have help. So I do have a full time VA inside my business, and she does all of the back-end stuff in and around the podcast, and gets that really organized for me, but in saying that I didn’t always have that so leading into knowing that I was going to have another baby, I set to work on hiring a full-time employee, and it was the best thing I ever did.
I’ve always had for the last few years; I’ve had help in and around. In the business. Some of them had been on, you know, a particular number of hours per month and not full time in the business. And then I had a graduate that worked with me as well at one point. So I definitely have had help over the last few years. But this year, knowing that I was having another baby, my third baby, I knew that I needed help. And so that early planning, and I want to kind of preface that early planning is one of the things that helped me plan for time off.
But the early planning really helped with a smooth transition into this so early on. So she started working inside my business in March, April. And so what that meant was having a huge runway in onboarding her into the business, setting up systems and processes and also programs and things that will seamlessly work in the business, while I took some time off and, in the lead, up to this period of time.
So obviously, you know, you don’t just fall pregnant and have a baby. It takes nine months to grow a human. So you have nine months to pre plan on how it’s going to go and how smooth the transition is in your business. So early planning is definitely key. And what I did was sit down and thought, okay, what are the biggest jobs inside of the business that take up the most amount of time?
And one of them was actually a podcast. So what I did initially, if for those of you that do have a podcast and you really want to keep going with it, the podcast is such a great marketing tool that I have inside of my business. And you know, I don’t want to stop helping you to learn and grow and educate yourself. So I wanted that to keep on going. And so okay, I thought to myself, all right, now I need to plan out what those 10 episodes look like and make them really different.
So, you know, when I had some downtime on the couch, I just kind of went through my phone and looked at other people’s podcasts and looked at what questions people were asking in and around the internet, and did a lot of keyword research. And so I came up with the last 10 episodes, and I have had guest experts as well, but the solo ones I came up with were in and around what people were looking for.
And I also looked at my podcast stats in the past and what episodes did really well, and then I used that data to piggyback off of and create the titles for what we’re going to be the last 10 weeks of podcasts. And so then once I had those titles, I kind of ran the title through AI to see what it would come up with. And you know, if you’ve heard me talk about AI before, I absolutely love it as a helpful tool inside my business, but I also loathe it a lot because it is very generic.
And so it’s great to come up with research. So it’s a massive time saving tool. However, it’s not your thought leadership, which I am really, really big on. And so, you know, I created an outline through that just, I need to have a little drink of water, because, you know, clearly, I’m a little bit rusty at the podcast, so hang on a minute. And okay, that’s better. And I’m very raw with this, so I’m not going to press pause. I’m not going to do any of that, because if you’re a small business, and you are listening to this, which I’m sure that you are, and you are thinking of creating a podcast, I want you to keep it as real and easy as possible.
So I kind of like walking the talk anyway. So early planning is really key, and so that’s what I did, sat down, came up with 10 episodes, strategically. I’ve got a podcast planner for the year, so that all went in there, and then I kind of moved them around to fit how I wanted them to, and then kind of planned out dot points around each of those episodes.
And let me tell you, it wasn’t always like this. I didn’t just need dot points to record a podcast very early on in this journey. For me, I needed the whole transcript, so it would sometimes take me an hour or two to write a podcast episode, because I was very particular about making mistakes. I didn’t want to do any of that. I wanted to sound nice in your ears and so a lot of ums and has.
I didn’t want any of that, and so I would write them all out. But now, you know, 130 episodes in and a few guest speaking gigs, and you just get better at public speaking. So practice makes perfect. Let me tell you, if you are starting out, keep going, because it will get so much easier. So I. Created dot points in and around what I wanted to talk about, and then I just batched like crazy. So I would do it in the morning, normally, that’s when my brain fires the most, and I would smash out three episodes or four at a time.
So I kind of did three lots of batching to get that much banked up of episodes, which was the biggest task in the business, because what happens then from the podcast is the weekly email gets created, the social media post gets created, the blog posts get created, and so and the transcript and everything else, all of the soundbites and everything that comes from the one piece of content cascades down to create many, many pieces of content. And so I knew that if I wanted to continue to market my business, it had to start with the podcast.
And so then I did all of that, and then at a separate time, I batched the top and tails of the podcast and what that looked like, and put it into a final edit. And I find that really easy to do, so I edit the podcast myself, and I actually don’t cut and chop anything at all. So it is a one take wonder, because, you know, I am now a busy mum of three with a successful business as well, so I have to be very clear about my objectives of what I’m going to do.
And I actually have learned to be fast in the way that I execute. And I think that that is one of my superpowers. And I make fast decisions. I do it once. I do it well when I move on. So early planning is the best. So I had to get the podcast out the way first, and that was so much relief for me, I can’t tell you how much. So I have full on systems and processes set up in the back end for the podcast, and it works like a well-oiled machine, I’m telling you now. So if you are thinking about starting a podcast, send me a message on Instagram and let’s have a chat, because I have done it all, and it’s really important to be able to launch it well, to plan it well, and to be able to maintain it well.
So there’s three parts to a podcast, and so it’s the mate, the maintenance part that’ll get you in the long run, because this is a marathon, not a sprint, having a podcast anyway. So that was the biggest thing I needed to do, which then cascaded down to me continuously being in your inbox every single week. And then the next thing I did, to be able to help me plan for some time off in my business, was automating key things.
So I set up a lot of systems and automation tools for things like the marketing and sales funnel in the business, and one of them was creating a few new lead magnets in the business. So I knew that when I was going to have some time off, the objective in and around that was to grow my database. And so I had some Facebook ads set up ready to go. I did have help with those, and I had some new, beautiful lead magnets circulating in and around to be able to help you to grow your business. So if you don’t know what they are, you can go over to my website and have a little bit of a look, but they’re there to be able to support you to grow. Let me tell you the names of them.
So what I found was there was a lot around as I went through with my private clients in and around social media. And so there were a couple that I built out of which one of them is the three essential posts that your business needs with templates and swipe copy. Okay, so that was something that was clear to me.
Lots of talk in the market around what you need to be posting on your social media, but there was no how. And so those templates and swipe copy that I have are how. So there’s creative templates that I’ve built in Canva ready for you to use and make your own, and also the words. So I have written the copywriting, the captions for you as well, in and around those three posts, and that’s what you need to optimise your social media initially. All right, so there’s that free lead magnet, so I ran ads to that to help to grow my database.
There is also another couple. So I’ve got an equipment freebie for you, which has all of the resources I use inside my business, so all the equipment you can have a look at. And then I’ve got a checklist of 10 posts that your business needs to have more people walk through the door, as well as the essentials every marketing plan needs.
So those things were created to be able to circulate and keep the momentum going inside the business, while I stepped away from the business, so the database continued to grow and. And my brand awareness continued to be in the market. So just before I went on maternity leave, I did a huge media push. So you would have seen I’ve been featured in cos Business Builders. I’ve been featured in Smart Company.
I have been featured in balance, the grind inside small business, dynamic business, daily media, so many different publications, both as well as national TV. And so that still needed to be maintained, because those things now are living out there and would live on as really great marketing tools and top of funnel driving activity for the business. So I really needed to continue that momentum, and so I had the Facebook ads running to that which is part of automating the business. And then from the back end, I use Slack with my team.
I use Asana as a project management tool, and I use another piece of software called confluence, which houses all of my procedures, and so everything had to be really buttoned up, which was really great, because it helped me get super organized inside the business. But there are systems and processes and automation tools now for the marketing, sales and client communications inside of my business, and so that’s another thing that I did, right?
So these aren’t small things. I had nine months to plan to have time off, and now my business is set up so beautifully as well that I can continue to, I don’t spend as much time in the business, but I can continue to take step back, take a step back, because there’s lots of things that have been automated. So, you know, outsourcing was a big part of that, and it was just such a great thing that I did from the beginning.
And then, you know, obviously, I batch created my podcast, I batch created blogs, I batch created my emails, I batch created all my social media ahead of time. And then, you know, when it comes to my ongoing clients, I love them so much, and I know that they love me back. And so they were. I was really transparent with what was happening inside the business. I pre planned a lot of things in and around my clients, so that way they were supported.
I had my VA as well to help me, and I was very transparent about what was happening with my most beautiful ongoing clients. And you know what happens? Your vibe attracts your tribe, and they support you no matter what, which includes having a baby. So I was really lucky, but it’s not really luck. I’m grateful because I’ve spent seven years building this business, four of them I’ve had children, and so it’s never like the last four years I have not been full time in my business, and you know, it still continued to grow.
So I’m very grateful for the love and support of my clients. And then, you know, I have had to set some boundaries, mostly for myself, so not just, you know, boundaries in and around, like leaving my phone. I don’t have emails on my phone. I don’t I didn’t want to be on my phone, except to take photos, obviously, because, you know, cutesy newborn phase.
But I really disconnected. And, you know, I did that, but I genuinely love being and supporting a lot of my clients and people that I know in business on social media. So I stepped back a bit from that, but I still kind of did a little bit, and that was really nice. So the boundaries are important. So just checking my emails intermittently, not really having me out of office, on being really open with my clients, and then, you know, everything else can wait. It honestly can. And what it’s taught me so many things, is that it really highlighted the fact that I don’t need to be on my social media during the day at all. I don’t need to be in my emails during the day at all.
It is a simple check in the morning and check at the end of the day, but otherwise, close down the lot, because what happens is you are so much more productive when you are not being interrupted, and that is about setting boundaries. So that worked really well. And I will continue to take that into the rest of my days, because it just worked well. And you know, when you do have a lot going on in your life, i.e., three children now, you have to set boundaries to be able to get anything done in the pockets of time that you have.
And so that’s what I did. I love it, and it’s about, you know, the wealth inside of my business comes with what equals for me, time, freedom. And so I was really lucky to be able to do that. Yeah, and then, you know, now I’m gradually returning back into the business. But you know, the funniest thing that has happened since having time off is that my creative juices have gone through the absolute roof, and so I’ve got some really great ideas to be able to implement into the business.
One in particular that will happen before the end of this year, which I’ll share more about with you soon, and the other things will roll out next year, which are really cool. So no more babies from me. That’s it. We are done as a family now of five, we have the complete completion of our little family, which I’m so proud of. But onto the business.
Now I’m like, okay, now I’m just looking after myself a lot, getting back into moving my body, fueling it with all the right things, and being really like, fit and healthy, so I can mentally be there and just move really fast and be not so much reactive, but proactive as well. But just make a decision. Don’t take too long, no procrastinating, and get it done. And so I think that all of those things combined, there are a few things there if you want to do that and have some real time off to disconnect, it’s all in the planning to make sure you have a smooth transition.
If you want to know anything else, please feel free to send me a message on Instagram, that’s where I hang out the most. I would love to have a chat with you further. If you needed help to do that, my one-on-one coaching is open, which I can help you set up all of your marketing funnels and planning and optimising and everything so that your business operates like a well-oiled machine when and if you want to take time off and just in general to be able to help you get more done when you fail to plan you plan to fail.
So they say, anyway, that is all from me for today. I hope you really enjoyed this episode of the podcast. It is a little bit different, but you know, it’s nice to spice things up. Alright, guys, I will catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode. If you have hit subscribe, so you don’t miss any new episodes released every Tuesday, and while you’re there, leave me a review. I would absolutely love to read it.
Also, don’t forget to tag me @hayleykosborne over on Instagram and share this post with your audience so they can get learning too. Sharing is caring. If you want more, head over to https://hayleyosborne.com/category/podcast for today’s show notes and links. Catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
