As the founder of a 100% female-owned marketing agency, mother of a 19-month old, and vessel of baby number two who is about to pop out of me at any moment, I’m here to say that boss momming is HARD! Like, really, really hard. Cirque du Soleil plate juggling 2.0 hard. We deserve all the medals hard. The list of necessary accolades goes on… Being a pregnant female entrepreneur is just damn hard. Period.
But with the struggles, learning curve, and tandem pumping and Zoom sessions, I’ve picked up some survival skills and bits of wisdom along the way.
I’d love to share those tidbits with you fellow female entrepreneurs, moms, domestic queens, and ladies who do it all. Hopefully, my findings and tricks of the trade will help you on your momming and career journeys. And if you have any tips, please enlighten me! Us moms and entrepreneurs have to look out for each other.
Boss Mom Tip #1: Schedule Your Naps
Nodding off during a video chat isn’t a good look. I may have done it…before I radically accepted the truth that being pregnant is an absolute ass-kicking. Especially during the first trimester.
You won’t be able to resist the nap while pregnant. Give into it. Embrace it. Schedule it! Sleep in your car in the parking lot if you have to. Whatever it takes, get some shut-eye. You’ll need to make that happen to regain your focus and ability to do your day job(s).
Pregnant Female Entrepreneur Tip #2: Learn to Tame the Kraken. A.K.A. Your Hormonal Pregnancy Rage
I usually can keep my calm—grin and bear it. Dirty clothes that land on the floor two inches from the hamper? Secretly hate my husband for it, but let it go. Open cupboards? Close them and move on. Emails with no subject lines? SMH and reply to the task-at-hand. But what happens when you’re pregnant and experience these little annoyances? Unadulterated hormonal rage.
Emotions and business never mix well. To survive as a pregnant female entrepreneur, it’s important to allow these waves of rage to surge through you and leave the building before anyone gets hurt!
How do you do that? Go back to tip 1 (nap!). Pause before you reply to an email. Take a deep breath before responding to a client comment on the phone. Vent to your bestie. Ugly cry to your closest confidante. Whatever you have to do, pause and take breaks. This will allow you to feel your insane pregnancy feelings without causing excessive collateral damage. Like losing clients or making bad business decisions in the heat of the moment.
Boss Mom Tip #3: Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!
You’re busy enough as it is. You are running a business. You’re growing a human. In conclusion, you’re doing ENOUGH! This pregnant female entrepreneur thought life would go on as usual while gestating. Wrong. So wrong. Delegating was key to my business’s (and personal) survival through morning sickness.
You never know what pregnancy has in store. Some of you ladies may puke the entire time with hyperemesis. Others may glow and feel like a goddess for all nine months. However, you’ll still have prenatal visits to attend and more fish to fry. Build your team so you have someone to lean on and take over when pregnancy calls.
Pregnant Female Entrepreneur Tip #4: Use All of The Auto-Posting, Scheduling, and Planning Apps That You Can
Mom brain is a thing. Your brain turns to mush along with the rest of your previously toned bod (sigh). You become forgetful when you never missed a detail before. You can’t think of words to finish your sentences. Legit every cell in your body changes course to grow your baby and leaves your brain in the dust. Luckily, we have apps for that.
Schedule your meetings with Google calendar. Set reminders on your phone. Use Boomerang to schedule emails in advance so they don’t get stuck in drafts. Use Planoly or other social media scheduling tools to ensure your social accounts stay alive. Whatever technology or robots you can employ to take over for your pregnancy brain, do it. Your business and clients will thank you.
Boss Mom Tip #5: Plan Your Maternity Leave Way Before You Think You Should
You’re a ticking time bomb when you’re pregnant. You never know when that bundle of joy is going to come out. Plan your maternity leave early! Get plans in place to keep your business running while you’re out. And please, give yourself more time than you think. It’s hard as a female entrepreneur and woman business owner to step away. But you will be tired. You will be healing. You will not know what is down and what is up. Take the time you need to adjust to mom life while ensuring your business runs itself while you’re away.
Look, being a female entrepreneur is hard enough. Cough, glass ceiling, cough. Add pregnancy and family planning to the mix and you’re in the big leagues. But you’re a woman. And women get things done. You CAN do this. You WILL do this. I hope my tips help you get there. Or at the very least, commiserate with your own experience. If you’d like to chat more, email us! Or, learn more about our woman-owned marketing agency and why we might be a great fit for your business.
