Episode 415
The BABY Framework: A Roadmap to Maternity Leave for Entrepreneurs
Zhara-Marie Henry joins Jordan Gill to discuss the essential roadmap for maternity leave planning specifically tailored for entrepreneurs. The episode introduces the B-A-B-Y framework, designed to help business owners navigate the complexities of taking time off while ensuring their businesses remain sustainable. Zhara-Marie emphasizes the importance of breaking down personal desires and expectations surrounding maternity leave, adjusting business operations, building a solid plan, and ultimately yielding control to trusted team members. This insightful conversation addresses the common fears and misconceptions entrepreneurs face when considering maternity leave and provides actionable steps to prepare for this significant life change.
MORE ABOUT ZHARA-MARIE HENRY:
Meet Zhara-Marie Henry, a lawyer turned Online Business Manager who lives by the mantra, "Life is made for living." She finds inspiration through travel and immersing herself in diverse cultures.
Zhara’s professional journey began in the traditional legal realm, but the entrepreneurial bug bit her threw her in another direction. After a few pivots, the one that speaks to her soul the most is operating in the capacity of an Online Business Manager, blending her legal expertise with an operations-driven mindset.
She specializes in helping service-based professionals streamline their operations, manage teams, and execute major projects. Zhara firmly believes that while "winging it" might get you to stage one, scaling to new heights requires solid systems and processes.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:11 - Navigating Maternity Leave for Entrepreneurs
03:06 - Introducing the Baby Framework: Maternity Leave Planning for Entrepreneurs
10:09 - Transitioning Towards Maternity Leave Planning
14:55 - Transitioning to Yielding: Letting Go of Control
16:58 - Planning for Maternity Leave: A Personal Journey
Transcript
Welcome to the System Sammy podcast.
Jordan Gill:I'm your usual host, Jordan Gill, but this season I am so excited to share my feed with some absolute gems from my community.
Jordan Gill:And today I have Zara Marie Henry of Zara Marie Online Business Management hosting the podcast and sharing about the roadmap to maternity leave for entrepreneurs.
Jordan Gill:And now I will share here that I've never had a child through childbirth as I have a bonus on who is turning 11 soon.
Jordan Gill:Like what is happening.
Jordan Gill:And my husband and I, Marcus, have actually discussed having one of our own as well.
Jordan Gill:Someday maybe.
Jordan Gill:But I can admit that it has crossed my mind.
Jordan Gill:How in the heck would I be able to manage my business while taking significant time off?
Jordan Gill:I know right now as my business stands, it would not make it.
Jordan Gill:So I'm thoroughly thrilled that Zara Marie did these episodes for my reference later.
Jordan Gill:So many folks I know are going into this season, so I hope that you enjoy Zara Marie's episode today on the Baby Framework, a roadmap to maternity leave for entrepreneurs.
Zara Marie Henry:Hey System, Save me listeners.
Zara Marie Henry:My name is Zara Marie and I am an online business manager for service providers and I am super excited to have you here.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm super excited that you have decided to tune into this series of why are my podcasts now.
Zara Marie Henry:Being an OBM for me is such a sweet spot because I get to combine all my skills and help to create big transformations in the lives of others.
Zara Marie Henry:And that's super important for me.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm an island girl from the island of Jamaica, and because I'm from the Caribbean, sometimes, you know, I don't get tied into many things because opportunities just don't flow as easily when you're outside of North America or outside of the bigger countries in Europe.
Zara Marie Henry:So if you're listening this and you are from the Caribbean, whether you are a descendant of somebody from the Caribbean or you're living in the Caribbean still, or you are an immigrant child, big up yourself right through.
Zara Marie Henry:I work predominantly with women and as a woman myself and someone who knows that I eventually want to expand my family.
Zara Marie Henry:This area that I'll be talking about about maternity leave and family planning, it feels really personal to me and I've seen in this space how little support exists for entrepreneurs who really want to step away from their business.
Zara Marie Henry:And that's why I chose to offer this as a service, because it's not just a logistical problem.
Zara Marie Henry:It is deeply tied to how we run our businesses, how we see ourselves as CEOs, and even how we balance our ambition with our family goals.
Zara Marie Henry:Right the main ways I help people are through my OBM retainer service is a fractional service and my clients, thankfully I feel like I have I get to work with the best women in the industry.
Zara Marie Henry:They trust me as their right hand, their second brain to ensure that their systems run smoothly, their teams stay aligned and the major projects hit their goals so that they can focus on being a CEO in their business.
Zara Marie Henry:As an obm, you don't have to tell me what to do.
Zara Marie Henry:I find the things to get done because we make our planning very early.
Zara Marie Henry:We do our planning very early and we are strategic thinkers.
Zara Marie Henry: I'm going to be launching in: Zara Marie Henry:So in this first episode of my two part series, I'm going to be talking about maternity to leave planning for entrepreneurs.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm introducing you to my B A B Y Baby framework which I designed to help you plan for your maternity leave.
Zara Marie Henry:Even if you're just starting to think about it, it's not a one size fits all solution.
Zara Marie Henry:And because it's a one size fits all solution, I really like to give that disclaimer.
Zara Marie Henry:But it still gives you a roadmap to help you to start planning with confidence.
Zara Marie Henry:Now here's the thing, and I like to say this clearly and boldly.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm not a mom yet, just a dog mom.
Zara Marie Henry:But I know I want to be one one day, right?
Zara Marie Henry:And I know you're listening to this and you may want to be one one day, keep on listening even if you're not a mom yet.
Zara Marie Henry:Once you have that passion and you you have the desire to eventually be a mom, just keep on.
Zara Marie Henry:When I started looking for resources to help me plan, I found I didn't find much.
Zara Marie Henry:And as an obm, I have, as I said, I serve women.
Zara Marie Henry:So I was diving into finding out how to help my clients prepare for maternity leave who were going off to have precious babies or even if you're not having them in the same way that like the conventional way welcoming babies into their world.
Zara Marie Henry:And in doing the research I realized that there was such a huge gap in the market.
Zara Marie Henry:I've successfully so far supported two entrepreneurs through their maternity leave planning from beginning to end.
Zara Marie Henry:And I am currently helping three more with with the planning in the stage B which you'll hear a little bit more later.
Zara Marie Henry:But the three who I have in stage B, obviously I can't talk about them because they haven't publicly said it to anybody.
Zara Marie Henry:That's one of the thing about being being an OBM you hear all the things very early.
Zara Marie Henry:My clients always joke about the fact that she told me that she's planning for a baby even before she mentioned it to her mom.
Zara Marie Henry:And that's just because we want to make sure that the things are in place for the business.
Zara Marie Henry:So when I was doing my research, I was like, I'm going to create a resource to make this process easier for others.
Zara Marie Henry:And that's how I came up with the framework.
Zara Marie Henry:It's what helps my clients, it's what I'm currently using, and it's what I will continue to use and I'll continue to refine it.
Zara Marie Henry:So the Baby Framework is a simple yet comprehensive guide that you can use to plan your maternity leave.
Zara Marie Henry:And it focuses on four key phases.
Zara Marie Henry:Phase one, B phase breaking.
Zara Marie Henry:This is where you break down your desires, your goals, your expectations, and any myths or assumptions about how your maternity leave should look.
Zara Marie Henry:This is in the region where you ask yourself why you, what you want your maternity leave to feel like, what do you need to let go of to make everything possible?
Zara Marie Henry:Right.
Zara Marie Henry:Second stage is A, because you know it's B.
Zara Marie Henry:A adjusting.
Zara Marie Henry:Because once you've clarified your vision, now you have to adjust the things in your business, your expectations.
Zara Marie Henry:Then the second B is for building.
Zara Marie Henry:Because now you have to create the plan, you know, the timelines, the roles, the, the communication protocols, the contingency plans.
Zara Marie Henry:You have to build that.
Zara Marie Henry:And then the Y stage is yielding because you have to yield control.
Zara Marie Henry:You done the work.
Zara Marie Henry:It's time to now trust what you've done.
Zara Marie Henry:Right.
Zara Marie Henry:This phase is where we do the test run and, and we just allow nature to take its course.
Zara Marie Henry:Because guess what?
Zara Marie Henry:We live in a world where things will always fall apart.
Zara Marie Henry:Nothing will ever not go wrong.
Zara Marie Henry:I don't even know that makes sense.
Zara Marie Henry:But things will always shift.
Zara Marie Henry:Things will never go as we've planned them.
Zara Marie Henry:So just being in the mindset is going to be so life changing.
Zara Marie Henry:So let's break this down a little further, right?
Zara Marie Henry:I've always heard these things from people.
Zara Marie Henry:I can step away from my business without it falling apart.
Zara Marie Henry:My business needs me.
Zara Marie Henry:Oh, I'm not ready for kids yet because this is not going to happen.
Zara Marie Henry:Oh, oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh, oh, oh.
Zara Marie Henry:Well, the truth is, when we break down the beliefs, we break down our desires.
Zara Marie Henry:It helps us to create a plan that aligns with our visions.
Zara Marie Henry:Now, this B stage is a stage that a lot of us stay in for months, years.
Zara Marie Henry:I currently am in the B stage, so that's one of the Beautiful things about this B stage is that you can stay here for as long as you want to stay here.
Zara Marie Henry:And you can start thinking about what you want your maternity leave to look like.
Zara Marie Henry:What do you want to be able to do while you are away?
Zara Marie Henry:How much do you make?
Zara Marie Henry:How much do you want to continue paying yourself?
Zara Marie Henry:How long you want to take?
Zara Marie Henry:Do you want to take six months or three months?
Zara Marie Henry:Stuff like that?
Zara Marie Henry:How do you want it to be when a child enters into your world and into, into your plans?
Zara Marie Henry:Now we have to break down those desires.
Zara Marie Henry:We have to write them down.
Zara Marie Henry:And the beautiful thing about this section and why I wanted to start here and I wanted to show you how important it is to even this at forefront of our minds is that we can go further to see what the next four or five years needs to look like if we just start breaking down these myths, breaking down these desires, breaking down these dreams, writing them down and being very intentional about them.
Zara Marie Henry:Right?
Zara Marie Henry:It's so, so, so, so important now what that looks like for me.
Zara Marie Henry:My husband and I, we got married at 24, so we're pretty young.
Zara Marie Henry:And yeah, we wanted to be together, wanted to get married, but we didn't want kids yet, right?
Zara Marie Henry:And now it's been three years, we're 27, maybe about 28, maybe about 29, 30 there.
Zara Marie Henry:But that's when we would want to welcome children.
Zara Marie Henry:So I'm in this first B stage.
Zara Marie Henry:What that looks like is being honest with myself about how much I want to comfortably earn.
Zara Marie Henry:So that's the first thing.
Zara Marie Henry:And also be honest about with myself about how much time I would want off.
Zara Marie Henry:Where will that, where will that money come from?
Zara Marie Henry:Do I.
Zara Marie Henry:Yes, I need to know.
Zara Marie Henry:Start thinking about building an emergency fund.
Zara Marie Henry:And okay, now because I have those desires, how am I currently setting up my business operations?
Zara Marie Henry:Okay, the business operations is set up in this way.
Zara Marie Henry:I might have to shift it.
Zara Marie Henry:So those are the questions that I'm asking.
Zara Marie Henry:No and yes, I am a little bit way, I'm a little way up.
Zara Marie Henry:But can you imagine me asking this question where I am already way into my first trimester, it looks different.
Zara Marie Henry:And the power that I have there is a little bit different.
Zara Marie Henry:I've had clients who come to me and they say, hey, Zara, I just found a time pregnant, just started telling everybody I am in my first trimester and in my first trimester, and I'm now ready to create a maternity leave plan.
Zara Marie Henry:And what we have to do at this point is that we have to work with what we're Given, right.
Zara Marie Henry:What I'm giving is already pregnant, mommy.
Zara Marie Henry:Then there is no time to break down any dreams and goals and expectations in order to shift to new beginnings.
Zara Marie Henry:Right.
Zara Marie Henry:We are now bugged down with this seven month or six month Runway versus no.
Zara Marie Henry:If you start working these things down years in advance, we just get a little bit more control.
Zara Marie Henry:And for me, I like control.
Zara Marie Henry:So it really is dependent on what you, what type of personality you have.
Zara Marie Henry:All right?
Zara Marie Henry:And I could stay there for long because.
Zara Marie Henry:Because that's my phase.
Zara Marie Henry:It's very personal to me.
Zara Marie Henry:And then adjusting.
Zara Marie Henry:So we now have to go into the second stage A adjusting.
Zara Marie Henry:This is how you're going to adjust things like your operations.
Zara Marie Henry:We're going to be creating SOPs.
Zara Marie Henry:We're going to be assessing the financial stability of your business.
Zara Marie Henry:Is like I had a client who, when she was preparing from IT for maternity leave, what she did, she had a launched based model.
Zara Marie Henry:She's a coach and she had a launched based model.
Zara Marie Henry:So she was launching four or five times a year and it was just launch after launch after launch after launch.
Zara Marie Henry:And she realized that, okay, that wasn't going to be sustainable during the time when she was pregnant.
Zara Marie Henry:Cause she never knew what type of.
Zara Marie Henry:You don't know what type of symptoms, symptoms.
Zara Marie Henry:You don't know what type of symptoms pregnancy will bring to you.
Zara Marie Henry:For some people, they get no symptoms.
Zara Marie Henry:Some people, it's a lot.
Zara Marie Henry:For some people it just, it just messes with your body in a way that's so unpredictable.
Zara Marie Henry:So because she knew that, what we did was that we transitioned her from a launch based model to a retainer model so that we can have predictable revenue and so that we could predict some of her operations.
Zara Marie Henry:Now that is an adjustment that we made for you.
Zara Marie Henry:We may decide to not choose a retainer model.
Zara Marie Henry:We might just push up the launches up further, have bigger launch goals, maybe pull some things in place that, okay, let's try to use ads to get some more volume so that you can have a bigger launch at this point.
Zara Marie Henry:So it doesn't really mean that the adjustments that you need to make will have to be business model changes.
Zara Marie Henry:However, we will have to be intentional about making sure that the adjustments are in line with the desires that we broke down in the stage one.
Zara Marie Henry:You get me?
Zara Marie Henry:Does that make sense?
Zara Marie Henry:Okay, now moving on to the third stage, the building stage.
Zara Marie Henry:This is the second B and this is where we actually put the plan in place.
Zara Marie Henry:We start writing down the timelines, we start writing down what are the contingency plans you have to have a very detailed communication plan, you have to have something in place so your team knows.
Zara Marie Henry:When do you contact you?
Zara Marie Henry:Do you want to go off the grid completely?
Zara Marie Henry:Do you want to leave comments in Slack?
Zara Marie Henry:What do you want that to look like?
Zara Marie Henry:Who's in charge of what?
Zara Marie Henry:Who are the vendors, who we normally use?
Zara Marie Henry:How will the workflow work?
Zara Marie Henry:You know, those are things that we write down down and we make it plain.
Zara Marie Henry:And this is going to look different.
Zara Marie Henry:This, the building of the maternity leave plan is going to look so different for everybody because everybody is so different.
Zara Marie Henry:But just like a tip, in general, I think what's important to have in this plan is to make sure that one, you set what type of date you're working with, what's the timeline?
Zara Marie Henry:So when are you due?
Zara Marie Henry:When are you going to be having your final days in office?
Zara Marie Henry:In what the transition period will look like?
Zara Marie Henry:So in the next in the why, we'll talk a little bit about yielding and you'll see why it's important to do a transition.
Zara Marie Henry:And we'll also talk about in this phase in the maternity leave plan, we'll talk about the different roles that everybody has to play while you are gone and stuff like that.
Zara Marie Henry:It's going to be super important to build this and put this in place because things can, like things happen so quickly, you know, and things not just happen quickly, it's just unpredictable.
Zara Marie Henry:So you have to just make a plan and put these plans in place.
Zara Marie Henry:Who's going to take over your work?
Zara Marie Henry:What will that look like?
Zara Marie Henry:Will we communicate to your clients?
Zara Marie Henry:At what point do we need to communicate to your clients type of thing?
Zara Marie Henry:What will the automations look like when you are gone and how do we do this?
Zara Marie Henry:I love our project management tool.
Zara Marie Henry:So I am a systems nerd.
Zara Marie Henry:Okay.
Zara Marie Henry:I love our project management tool.
Zara Marie Henry:I think that especially if you're in the world of online business and you work with people, you need a project management tool.
Zara Marie Henry:It doesn't have to be.
Zara Marie Henry:You need a project management process.
Zara Marie Henry:It doesn't have to be a tool as long as it is a process that works for you.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm a big fan of process over tools because I strongly believe that any tool can apply a process.
Zara Marie Henry:As long as you're collaborating, your to do list cannot stay in the place that only you alone can access it.
Zara Marie Henry:Right.
Zara Marie Henry:I think people who say I don't use project management tools or I don't use any type of collaborative tools are great, especially if you're by yourself, but as soon as somebody else comes in, you need some type of collaborative tool process.
Zara Marie Henry:And if that is just using the Google Suite, if that's just making sure that you are doing your updates manually, whatever it may be, as long as there's a process.
Zara Marie Henry:And most of us have processes, they're just not written, nor are they streamlined, nor are they efficient processes.
Zara Marie Henry:But we usually have a process.
Zara Marie Henry:So I like a project.
Zara Marie Henry:I like using a tool to write my maternity plans and to help to delegate the responsibilities.
Zara Marie Henry:My tool of choice is ClickUp, but I know that everybody doesn't like ClickUp.
Zara Marie Henry:You can create a great one in Asana as well.
Zara Marie Henry:You can create one in Google, in Google Suites.
Zara Marie Henry:It really, really doesn't matter.
Zara Marie Henry:What matters is that there is a plan in place.
Zara Marie Henry:And then now we come to the final stage, which is yielding stage.
Zara Marie Henry:And this stage is actually a stage I find most people having an issue with, because you have to let go, you have to trust your team and you have to also trust the process.
Zara Marie Henry:Yielding isn't about giving up control, to be honest.
Zara Marie Henry:It's about stepping into your new role as a CEO.
Zara Marie Henry:And as a CEO, you lead, you empower, you are the combining force.
Zara Marie Henry:You don't always have to be the one to do the doing.
Zara Marie Henry:So we're in the last stage, yielding.
Zara Marie Henry:In this stage, it's about letting go.
Zara Marie Henry:Remember, you've done the work.
Zara Marie Henry:You have broken down your desires in stage one, you know what your goals and expectations are.
Zara Marie Henry:You have made the adjustments in stage two, so the vision has been clarified and you've adjusted the entire business operations.
Zara Marie Henry:You've had the SOPs in place.
Zara Marie Henry:You have delegated.
Zara Marie Henry:You've also built the plan.
Zara Marie Henry:And the plan is in one central place.
Zara Marie Henry:Everybody can see it, everybody has access to it.
Zara Marie Henry:Even if your team is just a va, right?
Zara Marie Henry:Like one single person who will help you to hold it down.
Zara Marie Henry:You already have that built.
Zara Marie Henry:It's no time to yield control.
Zara Marie Henry:And during this stage, I highly recommend doing a test run, doing a trial run, where you leave people in charge with the plan that you made initially.
Zara Marie Henry:This trial run can be a day, it can be two days.
Zara Marie Henry:Because one of the things that's going to make maternity leave even better is for you to trust that everything is going to go well.
Zara Marie Henry:Because you don't want to be having a little cutie tiny baby or a big baby who just entered your family in some other beautiful way, like adoption, right?
Zara Marie Henry:You don't want to have to be in those precious moments.
Zara Marie Henry:Moments.
Zara Marie Henry:And you can't really focus because you're worried about what's happening on the background, because, yes, the plans are in place, but you're worrying if they're following it and stuff like that.
Zara Marie Henry:So just do a test run.
Zara Marie Henry:Just do a child run.
Zara Marie Henry:Yeah, run.
Zara Marie Henry:Run it a week before.
Zara Marie Henry:And then what you do with those test runs is that you can identify the gaps in your plan and you can literally make the amendments right then and there.
Zara Marie Henry:All in all, planning for maternity leave, as an entrepreneur, it can feel overwhelming.
Zara Marie Henry:It can feel overwhelming.
Zara Marie Henry:But with the B A by framework, you have a roadmap to guide you.
Zara Marie Henry:And I think, for me, I want you to always remember that ultimately all of us are so different and all of us will have different experiences.
Zara Marie Henry:So, yes, you can listen to people and they can give their experiences and their breakdown and they can tell you all the things that they did and all the things that made sense for them, but it might not be the same for you.
Zara Marie Henry:Maternity leave expectations are also different, based on your culture, based on your religion, where in the world you are living.
Zara Marie Henry:Because, for example, like, Canada, if you're in Canada and you're listening to this, I know that in your regular nine to five, you can get up to a year.
Zara Marie Henry:In the us.
Zara Marie Henry:That is just absurd.
Zara Marie Henry:In the Caribbean, you know, we're talking three, four months.
Zara Marie Henry:In the uk, I know some people get up to six months.
Zara Marie Henry:So it's just so different, it's so wide, it's so vast.
Zara Marie Henry:So this is going to be such a personal experience.
Zara Marie Henry:And that's why I like the framework, because it's.
Zara Marie Henry:You're free to make this into anything that you want to make it into.
Zara Marie Henry:What I want you to do in this moment is take a moment to reflect.
Zara Marie Henry:Where are you in this journey?
Zara Marie Henry:Are you where I am in the first B stage, in the breaking it down stage, we're just thinking about it and you're like, okay, here's what I'd want it to be.
Zara Marie Henry:Now, what do I need to do for the next two, three years?
Zara Marie Henry:Are you in that stage or are you already in the planning phase where you're like, I want a baby, I'm trying for a baby actively.
Zara Marie Henry:I want to get pregnant in the next six months.
Zara Marie Henry:Or am I.
Zara Marie Henry:Or are you, like, currently pregnant?
Zara Marie Henry:You're like, zara, just tell me what to do.
Zara Marie Henry:I don't know, just think about it.
Zara Marie Henry:And then you can place yourself.
Zara Marie Henry:It might be something that's nearer than you expect.
Zara Marie Henry:If you're ready to deep dive into this framework, you can download my free maternity planning checklist.
Zara Marie Henry:And it was created with the baby framework in mind.
Zara Marie Henry:It's really good and it has everything that I spoke about, but in steps.
Zara Marie Henry:Right.
Zara Marie Henry:So you can check it off.
Zara Marie Henry:I have a maternity leave toolkit, as I told you before, that goes even deeper into the framework and gives you a more comprehensive planning.
Zara Marie Henry:It's like I help you to plan it step by step.
Zara Marie Henry:It's way more detailed than the list, but trust me, the list alone will give you an immediate relief.
Zara Marie Henry:And in the second part of this series, we'll talk about how to start thinking about maternity leave as an entrepreneur.
Zara Marie Henry:So I told you what the baby framework was.
Zara Marie Henry:Now we're going to say, okay, how do we start thinking?
Zara Marie Henry:I want to expound a bit on that first stage, the B stage.
Zara Marie Henry:So whether you are months or years away from this moment, this is the episode that will help you to get clear on your first steps.
Zara Marie Henry:That was it.
Zara Marie Henry:I love sharing with you today.
Zara Marie Henry:If you want to connect, you can find me at ztheobm on Instagram and Threads where I mostly hang out.
Zara Marie Henry:I'm loving Threads these days.
Zara Marie Henry:Send me your questions, your stories or even baby pics.
Zara Marie Henry:I love baby pictures and I think that I, I consider myself like the business godmother.
Zara Marie Henry:Cause I'm help all these businesswomen really prepare their businesses in a way, like in a supportive role for these babies that are coming in.
Zara Marie Henry:So I consider myself a business godmother and I love this for me.
Zara Marie Henry:But until next time, remember you've got this mama and I'm here cheering you on every step of the way.
Zara Marie Henry:Take care.
Zara Marie Henry:Bye.
Jordan Gill:So good, right?
Jordan Gill:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the System Save Me podcast.
Jordan Gill:If you loved this episode, I will would so appreciate a review on whatever platform you're listening on.
Jordan Gill:But also go love on the guest host.
Jordan Gill:Connect with them on Instagram, LinkedIn or wherever they suggested to reach out.
Jordan Gill:I hope you're having a great day and I will see you on the next episode.
