Send us a text
Maternity leave as an entrepreneur doesn't have to mean choosing between your business and your baby. Alyson Caffrey, operations expert and author of the Sabbatical Method, reveals how she transformed from answering client messages hours after giving birth to enjoying a fully present two-month paid leave with her second child.
Most business owners build their companies around their unique skillsets, making it nearly impossible to step away. Alyson breaks down the four essential systems every business needs: lead generation, conversion, fulfillment, and improvement. She explains how analyzing your calendar can reveal shocking insights about where your time actually goes – and how much of it you're spending on tasks that could be delegated for a fraction of your hourly rate.
The emotional journey of entrepreneurial motherhood runs deep. Your business was likely your "first baby," making it difficult to loosen your grip on the reins. But as Alyson discovered, trying to maintain business-as-usual with a newborn on your hip simply isn't sustainable. The surprising truth? Maternity leave can become a powerful catalyst for business transformation and growth when approached strategically.
With only 13 states offering any maternity leave support for self-employed mothers, entrepreneurs must create their own solutions. Alison shares practical strategies for reimagining your business structure based on how you want life to look after baby arrives – from financial preparation to team training and systems documentation. Her advice? Give yourself at least two months to fully embrace the transformative experience of new motherhood, then customize everything else to fit your unique family needs.
Whether you're expecting your first child or planning for future family growth while building your business, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on creating space for both ambition and motherhood. Follow Alyson on Instagram @MasterMaternityLeave or visit mastermaternity.com/guide to access her comprehensive free resources for planning your entrepreneurial maternity leave.
Resources:
Maternity Leave Planning guide: https://www.mastermaternityleave.com/free-maternity-leave-planning-guide
The Ultimate Time Audit & Productivity System (Freebie)
Grab it here: TIME AUDIT WORKBOOK
How to Hire Your First VA for $27
Get it now: GROWTH CHEATSHEET
Discover Your WHY – Free 5-Day Workshop
Sign up for free here: DISCOVER YOUR WHY
The Mom Balance Playbook (Freebie for Managing the Mayhem)
Download here: MOM BALANCE PLAYBOOK
Hire a VA or start your VA business here: https://camillewalker.co/
5-Minute Meditations for Kids Podcast
Listen & subscribe here: APPLE SPOTIFY
Connect with Alyson:
Instagram:
@alycaffrey: https://www.instagram.com/alycaffrey/
@MasterMaternityLeave: mastermaternity.com/guide
Connect with Camille:
Follow Camille on Instagram:
Camille (00:32):
So you want to make an
impact.
You're thinking about startinga business, sharing your voice.
How do women do it that handlemotherhood, family and still
chase after those dreams?
We'll listen each week as wedive into the stories of women
who know this is Call Me CEO.
Listen each week as we diveinto the stories of women who
know this is Call Me CEO.
Welcome everyone to Call Me CEO.
(00:54):
This is your host, CamilleWalker, and we are talking today
about how to change your mindaround what it means to have
maternity leave, especially as asolopreneur or a busy
entrepreneur that has a team.
There are different skill setsand ways of thinking or
deconstructing, rather, what itmeans to set up a system for
(01:15):
yourself, for your business, sothat you can enjoy that sweet
little baby.
And I was thrilled when AlysonCaffrey reached out for being on
the show, because this isexactly the kind of thing that I
would love to share with thisaudience is how mothers can be
supported and how you can enjoythat sweet little baby.
She is the author of theSabbatical Method and she has an
(01:38):
incredible approach to creatinga maternity leave that is made
for you.
So, Alyson, thank you so muchfor being on the show today.
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited to be here.
Yeah, tell our audience alittle bit about you.
Where do you live?
How many kids do you have?
We talk about motherhood heretoo and what your business is
(01:58):
all about.
Alyson (01:59):
Yeah, totally so.
I'm Alyson Caffrey.
I'm married to my best friendof 10 years.
We just celebrated our 10-yearanniversary in 2024.
And I've got two little boys athome, almost three, so he'll be
three in a couple of weeks andfour years old.
So I'm basically a professionalreferee All the time.
We're just making sure thatfolks aren't hurt and not
(02:19):
hitting the walls and honestly,I love the beautiful, upbeat
nature of our life.
I run two businesses.
Operations Agency is atraditional operations
consultancy.
We celebrated eight years lastyear, so we're in our ninth year
of business.
I am behind the scenes ofstructuring some really high
growth eight and nine figurecompanies, most owned by parents
and busy moms and things likethat.
(02:41):
And Master Maternity Leave wasborn about two and a half years
ago on the heels of having mysecond son, jack, and our big
goal at Master Maternity Leaveis to help moms create space for
this wonderful season to justfully embrace the transformation
and snuggle your baby and alsocreate a better business in the
meantime.
I am a systems and process nerd.
My formal background is inoperations and we actually just
(03:04):
moved from Pennsylvania, so myhusband and I grew up on the
East Coast in New Jersey and wefinally decided to kind of take
the plunge and go live in thisbeautiful place.
That was kind of a bucket list.
Maybe we'll never do this typeof thing and it's feeling really
surreal.
But we live in Colorado Springsand we're enjoying it quite a
bit.
Being outside hiking all thetime as a family and, just like
(03:24):
I don't know, embracing theoutdoors.
It's been really nice.
Camille (03:28):
I bet your boys love it
too to be able to be out and
run amok.
I have three sons and adaughter, so I know about the
referee life.
It is always it's never a dullmoment.
In fact, my husband just tookour little boy skiing.
They've been three or fourtimes at this point and he says,
now that our eight-year-old isgoing so fast he can't keep up
(03:49):
with him, which is terrifying tome because I'm just imagining.
I know I'm like, oh no, is helike knowing how to weave in and
out of people and like not killhimself?
It's very frightening to be aparent, let's be honest.
But I love that you are chasingafter these dreams and helping
redefine what it means to takematernity leave, and you and I
(04:11):
both are big on taking advantageof creating a system that works
well.
That means that you are notrunning yourself into the ground
.
So I want to start there.
What are some number onepitfalls that you see with
entrepreneurs who are maybetrying to do all the things, and
what are those first systempieces to put into place before
(04:35):
even getting into the space oftaking a maternity leave?
Alyson (04:39):
Yeah, this is a great
question and I'll say this a lot
of us who have started abusiness, first and foremost
likely aren't starting becausewe're like incredibly business
savvy right, like running abusiness, modeling, structuring
systems, all that stuff.
We aren't naturally reallyamazing at that oftentimes.
And so when I meet founders andwhen I meet folks who have
(05:03):
grown these massive companies, alot of times what happens is
they start because they see aneed and then they have a skill
set right.
So a lot of times we work withservice providers.
It's one of the ways that I'veworked with most folks who have
come through the doors ofoperations agency or work with
us at Master Maternity Leave isthey're like, hey, listen, I do
this thing and I can't imagineme leaving the business.
(05:24):
Like, hey, listen, I do thisthing and I can't imagine me
leaving the business.
And so the business growsaround this person with the
skill set.
And then we have to think aboutwhat systems that person keeps,
what habits that person keeps,in order to kind of rise above
and allow someone else to comein and take that over.
So oftentimes I say that thefirst key systems and, frankly,
until you probably hit like 50,70 people in team.
(05:44):
The only four systems that abusiness really really needs in
those early years is a leadgeneration system, so a way to
get eyeballs.
The second is a conversionsystem, so turning those
eyeballs into customers.
The third is a fulfillmentsystem, so fulfilling the
promises that you're making inthe other two systems.
And then the fourth is animprovement system right, being
(06:07):
able to rinse and repeat, refineand tweak and then relaunch
again.
So I think a lot of folksbecause the books out there that
are written about operationssystems, people, replacement,
all that stuff they're gearedmore toward larger companies,
our EOSs, our scaling ups, ourclockworks, even they are really
geared toward teams, big teamsand a lot of us either
(06:29):
solopreneurs, folks who aretaking on their first handful of
VAs.
Under 10 in team, we make up agood majority of small business
ownership and there's really nota lot out there for folks who
want to start to replacethemselves in their business.
So whenever I sit down with afounder, I first look at how are
we spending our time?
Right, business is centeredaround us and our skillset.
(06:51):
Let's start to create somesystems around that.
What are we doing?
And then the second thing islike does the ecosystem of the
business work right?
Do we have those four keysystems?
Camille (07:07):
And if we don't have
them, we need to start to build
them as quickly as we can and assustainably, of course, as we
can.
Yeah, I mean, I love that youbreak it down so into the four,
because I think those thingsmight be happening for some of
us, or there are pieces of itthat we have.
But what about the improvementafter the fulfillment?
and how do wefill in those pieces, and that's
actually a question I get.
A lot is figuring out.
First and foremost, where doyou start when trying to replace
(07:30):
yourself and knowing how tomost effectively do that with
the resources that you have.
Alyson (07:36):
Calendar All day.
I have a mentor and client fora long time, dan Martell.
He's super famous.
He wrote a book that came out Ithink it was 2023, called Buy
Back your Time, and he talksabout the replacement ladder, of
basically taking all of thetime that you spend as a CEO and
replacing and hiring for thattime.
Because I think the number onemistake that we make when we
(07:59):
either first start to hire or westart to implement some key
systems is we look around, welook at what other people are
doing, we see who other peopleare hiring, we look at job
descriptions that other peopleare giving out and at the end of
the day, we might think I'vedone this probably a dozen times
, gone into a business, done anaudit of how they're doing
things, looked at the CEO'scalendar and they're like I just
(08:19):
need an executive assistant, Ijust need a project manager and
I'm telling them that the proofis right there on their calendar
they need someone to come inand help them build websites,
because that's where they spendthe majority of their time.
So I think when we start tothink about the first initial
ways of getting yourself out ofthe business, it's being really
real with where you're spendingyour time, and sometimes that
(08:41):
can feel really confronting.
I remember when I did thisexercise the first time, I was
realizing that I was spendinghalf my time in administrative
tasks, which was like sucking mycompany resources dry because I
was paying myself a salary tobasically do something I could
offload for $25, $35 an hour.
And I think being really realwith yourself through this
(09:01):
process is absolutely key.
You have to be able toscrutinize your calendar in a
way that feels like you can makethose tough decisions of being
like well, actually, allie, yousend invoices for like two hours
a day, so like, probably don'tdo that anymore.
And that was the time where Ihad to get really real with
myself about what I was doingand the value I was bringing to
(09:21):
the company.
And then, of course, somethingthat Dan talks about in his book
which is a fantastic read, bythe way he talks about refilling
your time back up.
So, of course, when you offloadthose administrative tasks,
what a lot of founders do isthey say, oh, I'm going to go
kick it and do whatever, or I'mgoing to go off on maternity
leave.
That's a different kind ofsituation off, offload those
(09:47):
tasks, right, thoseadministrative kind of baseline
things, and then you start goingin and either generating new
business, building your brand,doing things that are going to
invest in the longevity or topline revenue of the company,
instead of doing what Allie in2020 or 2020 or 2018 did, which
was send emails and invoices fortwo hours a day.
Camille (10:11):
Which I think is very
easy to get stuck into that loop
, especially when you're used towearing all the hats and you
think, oh well, only I can dothis.
No one's told you that, but youthink in your mind that's the
situation, when a lot of timesit's not.
We have to reevaluate, and Ithink a lot of times it takes an
outside perspective like yoursfor someone to come in and say
(10:33):
no, really, how are you usingyour time?
Do you feel like people aresurprised by that practice?
Alyson (10:39):
I think sometimes
they're surprised and I think
there's a handful of folks whohave that voice in the back of
their brain that's like, oh, Iknew that this was an issue and
so I just needed somebodyexternal to like help me get
there.
But I mean, listen, I'vestruggled with this personally,
I've seen clients struggle withthis.
I mean it feels really good tofeel needed in your business.
And I think, on the emotionalside of this whole thing because
(11:01):
we've gotten pretty tacticalpretty fast, on the emotional
side of this we started ourbusiness.
I mean it was our first babysome of us, right or it was a
baby in between babies, and so,like, emotionally speaking, you
are going to feel very tied tomaking sure the invoices look
perfect and making sure theproposals look perfect and
double checking every singlecaption that goes out on social
(11:21):
before it's posted, like that isgoing to happen and we need to,
at some point, in order toembrace the growth of our
business, be able to understandthat if we want to build
something that lasts, we need tobuild something independent of
us, and so that means letting go, that means pulling back, that
means allowing other people,whether that's formal team, vas,
(11:42):
contractors, partners, whateverto be able to shine and build
things within the confines ofthe brand, of course, but it's a
really solid emotionalchallenge too.
So I want to acknowledge thatthat if anybody listening to is
like, oh, I've tried doing thisand I've tried delegating and
it's always fallen flat, theremight be a tactical reason why
the laundry list of things thatwe just talked about, but there
(12:03):
also might be an emotionalreason.
I know plenty of founders whodon't want to let go of the
reins of their business becausethey're afraid of what that
might mean for either theirpersonal growth or their
professional growth.
They need to find somethingbigger now to do.
They need to become bigger, andthat's pretty daunting.
Camille (12:20):
I agree with this so
much because, as you know for
those of you listening, that'ssomething I help people with all
of the time is hiring virtualassistants to help them do the
work that their likeness doesnot require, which I think, as
you're saying, it can be thoseday in, day out things where the
big thinking moments or thatgrowth that really needs to
(12:41):
happen needs to be done by thefounder, and that can be a
growth.
Pain Like that can be reallyscary, it can be painful, it can
be daunting in many ways.
So, as you're helping peoplewith taking maternity leave, I'd
love to hear what yourexperience was with this and how
it led you to create thisprogram.
Alyson (13:06):
Yeah, so when we got
pregnant with our first son, my
business was about three yearsold and I was mostly doing
one-off projects and fractionalwork.
So I was very much againbusiness built around the
service provider type of personand I was in operations.
So I kind of was like, oh, I'lljust figure this out.
I've got a handful of goodteammates.
(13:27):
This feels really good for me.
And I sat down to kind of planmaternity leave and I just did
what every person does when theystart a new project go to
Google.
And I was like how to plan aself-employed maternity leave?
And the first result that I gotwas largely self-employed moms
are on their own when planningmaternity leave.
(13:49):
And this was before the AIsynthesis and all this stuff
back in 2020.
And I was like well dang,nobody's figured this out.
I like couldn't believe it, andso I did what anyone does, I
think, when they hit kind of adead end there and they've run a
business or like, oh, I'll justfigure it out.
So that's what I did up untilthat point.
I did the things I should do.
(14:10):
I gave people trainings andstandards of operating and I
told our clients and did allthose things.
I even hired in a partner ofours in the industry to help
white label and take over someof those projects, which felt
really, really good for me.
But I still was really, reallywoven into the growth side of
the business the marketing andthe sales and I could not
(14:32):
imagine a situation where thebusiness grew in any capacity
without my direct involvement.
So I decided to press pauseduring, frankly, a really
stressful time on taking on anynew clients, which was really
really tough for us as a family.
And I remember when my son came,he was born on a Thursday night
, so into Friday morning, and Iwas actually so grateful I kept
(14:55):
telling him in my belly pleasedon't come out until Friday,
Please don't come out untilFriday, Because I, infamously,
have always taken Fridays offever since I started working for
myself.
It's always been anon-negotiable.
And so he came on Thursdaynight, born into Friday morning,
and we were in the room that wewere going to spend the night
in.
So after we'd birthed him, myhusband snaps this picture of me
(15:17):
and my newborn son and he'ssleeping in my arms and my hair
is still super messy from birth.
I hadn't even looked in themirror yet and the picture that
he didn't capture was the nextmoment.
I took my sleeping son andplaced him in the clear bassinet
next to the bed and, like,whipped out my phone to tell all
(15:37):
of my clients and my team thatI wasn't going to be available
because we just had our babyuntil Monday.
Camille (15:44):
Oh my gosh.
Alyson (15:46):
And honestly, at the
time I kind of wore it like a
badge of honor.
I was like, look how dedicatedI am to my business and look how
flexible this can be.
I can answer Slack messagesfrom the hospital bed.
But in the back of my mind Iknew I was like there has really
never been such a physicalrepresentation of where my
(16:10):
priorities were.
They were clearly still with mybusiness and it made me feel
like I was starting off like areally crappy mom.
I was like how is this evenpossible?
And so I kind of landslowed,slid, landslid, landslowed into
being a mom.
So I was just like on theroller coaster and I was like
(16:32):
snagging time to work in betweenfeedings and at nap time and I
just felt like everything waslike on my shoulders.
I just figured I could do allof it just with a baby on my hip
Right.
So I kept doing everything.
I didn't think about thebusiness and the big picture.
I didn't think about the thingsI could improve.
I didn't even think about anynew schedule I wanted to keep.
(16:52):
When baby came I was just like,oh, I'll just do all the things
, but with a baby and ninemonths postpartum we got
pregnant with our second son.
Camille (17:03):
Wow, surprise.
Alyson (17:06):
And you know we had
struggled to get pregnant with
Frank, which took us two and ahalf years to conceive him.
And so Steve and I my husband,we were like we know we want a
family close together.
Let's start trying, let's getahead of this so that in the
next year, ideally, we'll bepregnant and month one I mean by
the grace of God.
I was so excited, I was veryhappy, I was so grateful and
transparently utterly petrifiedbecause I was holding on by a
(17:31):
thread and in that moment I knewI was like I need to do this
better.
I really need to figure out amore sustainable way to be able
to actually take a leave andactually create a business that
isn't totally dependent on me,that can still grow and that
still feels fulfilling.
(17:51):
And that is how MasterMaternity Leave was born from
two very interesting experiences, totally night and day
different, and I will say that,after going through and writing
all the stuff down and beingsuper intentional about that
process, that was the firstiteration of our curriculum and
I was able to take a reallysolid two-month paid maternity
(18:15):
leave with my second son and itreally felt honestly like I got
a second chance to bond with mytwo boys at the same time
because I felt like I was sorushed through that early stage
postpartum phase with my firstson and I still am grateful for
the gift that that brought ourfamily.
Camille (18:38):
Wow, yeah, I can only
imagine that having that
experience so close together andfiguring that out that quickly
is impressive.
You know to look at it and sayI want to do it differently this
time.
What were those first initialchanges that you wanted to make?
Different for this mastermindmastering maternity leave?
(18:59):
Let's get your time back and ifyou need to take it a step
further and you decide it istime to hire a virtual assistant
, I do have an offer.
That is how to hire your firstvirtual assistant workbook.
This is $27 and it is abouttaking back your time and
finding out what are the thingsyou're spending too much time on
(19:21):
.
Maybe it's juggling your emails, social media, scheduling,
editing.
Whatever it might be, it's timeto hire your first virtual
assistant without the guesswork.
My brand new guide how to hireyour first VA gives without the
guesswork.
My brand new guide how to hireyour first VA gives you
everything you need toconfidently outsource and free
up hours of time every singleweek.
It's only $27 and no morewondering where to start.
I've got you covered.
(19:41):
So go to camillewalkerco andyou can grab it now and scale
smarter.
Alyson (19:50):
The biggest thing,
honestly, that I didn't know,
and I think we just don't knowwhat we don't know before we
become parents and my hope,through our programs at Master
Maternity Leave, any first timewe're trying to conceive moms
that come into our ecosystem,I'm like I'm not here to tell
you what to do.
I'm just here to present youwith options, because I
personally believe that freedomequals options, like being able
(20:12):
to have so many different thingsthat you can do, and our big
mission statement at MasterMaternity Leave is to create
space.
We just want to create spacefor moms to be able to figure it
out, to be able to snuggle, tobe able to do whatever they
personally feel like is best fortheir business and for their
baby.
And so the big, key, criticalelement that I tell every single
person that walks through thedoor with master maternity leave
(20:34):
is like we have to imagine whatour business might be like
after baby.
So how do we want to spend ourdays?
What type of mom do we want tobe?
Do we want to have in-home care?
Are we sending our kiddo todaycare?
Like there's lots of differentdecisions that we make as
first-time parents, but then wedon't think about the
implications on the business.
(20:55):
So for me, I was like it'sreally important for me to have
my kiddos home.
I don't want them to be indaycare.
That was a decision that wemade for our family, but that
also meant that I couldn't workfor full days every single week,
right, it just didn't work outlike that.
So those types of things Ithink when we start to think
about in future pace, what thebusiness will look like, then we
(21:16):
need to kind of work backwardsfrom there.
So if I want to only work twodays a week, be with my kids
three days, five days a weekright, my husband, of course, is
with them too.
But, like, those differentthings need to be true, I can't
be a one-stop shop serviceprovider.
Like.
I need to grow out of thatphase.
And I think a lot of whathappens when we start a company
(21:39):
is that we get almost addictedin this really weird way to like
that startup mode where like,oh, I always have to be working,
I always have to be hustling, Ialways have to be doing these
things, and sometimes the hustlejust makes us stay in the same
place for too long.
So I started thinking about,well, like what if we decided to
create something more leveragedLike what might that look like?
(22:00):
And so that's when we startedto even with our programs at
operations agency and ourservices there I was like, well,
what would a knock it out ofthe park person look like to
come in and help me withsomething like this?
And so we started staffing upour team and so I think thinking
big picture that way was thenumber one thing that I started
doing.
The second big thing was sayingno to like basically everything.
(22:25):
I don't think you internalizethis really until you become a
parent, but your time is soprecious, like your kids grow up
so fast.
Everybody says the kids grow sofast and the time goes by Three
exit, 10 exit, and that'sactually how fast it goes by.
So my thought process becamewell, I can't waste all of this
(22:49):
time on stuff that I don't love,that doesn't push the business
forward, that doesn't bringfinancial security for our
family.
We need to just say no to it.
And so I got a lot morecomfortable.
Saying no to things and that'sanother thing I encourage moms
with in our programs is like, ifwe don't love it or if it's not
a driver in the business, wegot to cut it out.
We just have to.
And I think, like I've felt,I've felt moms, and they've told
(23:12):
me in our Slack channel and allthese things like they feel
lighter, like going through theprocess, like their business
feels like a weight, somethingthat they feel like they need to
be all the things and they wearall the hats and all the stuff.
But if sometimes you, just youjust say no, right, you're like
no, this isn't for me, at leastnot for this season, right?
So thinking big picture aboutwhat business looks like after
(23:35):
baby, making sure that you sayno.
And then the third thing is justgetting strategic with what's
available to you financially.
So I had no idea thatshort-term disability could
cover a portion of my leave.
I had that insurance throughthe business.
It was a missed opportunity.
Second time didn't make thatmistake again.
Every state has some kind ofprogram, whether it's
(23:57):
specifically for self-employedmaternity leave.
There's only 13 states in theUnited States that currently
offer some kind of program orthey'll do grants and funding
and that sort of thing forbusiness growth initiatives that
you can use to kind of pad themargins to be able to pay
yourself and take that time off.
We actually opened up ascholarship fund called the Bond
Fund, where we fund maternityleaves for self-employed moms
(24:18):
that have businesses that arereally tough to separate from.
So talk therapy, massagetherapy, dentistry, like those
types of industries, and I thinkwhen you start to see some of
the work that's being donealthough very little, it is
really intentional in this way.
So being able to take advantageas well of all of those
financial resources was a bigone for us too, to help us with
(24:40):
our second leave.
Camille (24:41):
Wow, I haven't even
heard of that.
In only 13 states, that is sosad, I know.
Even Canada.
They take, like what?
A two-year maternity leave,where-.
Alyson (24:51):
If you're employed.
Camille (24:52):
If you're employed.
If you're employed so if you'reself-employed and even
paternity leave, that they get aleave too.
I feel like the United Statesis just woefully behind where we
seem to be so progressive.
We're not.
What would you say for peoplewho are looking to take time off
?
What is your coaching underunderstanding how much time to
(25:13):
take for yourself or how to knowhow much time to do that?
Alyson (25:18):
That's a loaded question
.
I always advise to try to takethe first two months very, very
light.
I think there's a couple ofways.
I wish that I did itdifferently with both of mine
and my youngest son's about tobe three.
So it's been a little whilesince that second at bat and
they were so close together thatI feel like I just needed to
(25:38):
make sure that things feltstable and calm for us at that
time.
But had I done it a little bitdifferently?
We take about 90 days vacation ayear, so I spend about a
quarter off from the business,which is pretty scary for some
people.
They're like, oh my gosh, how.
And of course we spread it outthrough the year and it feels
nice and digestible.
But I've always loved that takea month off in the summer type
(26:03):
of business, and so we did that.
The last two years I took amonth off in the summer and I
think that thinking aboutmaternity leave as kind of your
first at that, with being ableto create a more leveraged
business, I actually reallyencourage my moms to think about
like what if you took anadditional month, like later in
the year within your baby'sfirst year?
Because when we were on theheels of our second maternity
(26:25):
leave, jack, my youngest son.
He was about eight months oldbut he got a really bad case of
RSV and he was hospitalized forfive days and it was horrifying,
like absolutely horrifying.
Didn't know what we could do.
We were just in the hospitalwith him.
He was clearly struggling andit was something that we had to
(26:46):
drop everything and go.
And then afterward I was like,well, I don't really feel like
being a business owner right now.
I just want to go snuggle myson, who came like so close in
so many ways to like not beingwith us anymore and so it's so
confronting sometimes to thinkabout.
But like our kids and what wewant to build our business and
(27:09):
our family right, like they cansupport each other and I believe
it's through you know my workwith the sabbatical method and
all the different things thatwe've done, weaving founders out
of the business is like, if youtake this maternity leave as an
opportunity, right, rewrite itright.
The companies that employ folksthat are taking maternity leave.
That's kind of how we'vepreconceived this idea of like
(27:31):
what maternity leave should behow much time should I take?
When should I take it?
Should I get paid?
Should I only get paid half?
I have moms come through thedoors all the time of master
maternity leave and they're like, oh, should I only just like
pay myself half of my salary?
And I'm like, why?
Why would you do that?
You know what I mean?
Because we think that reallycompetitive maternity leave
policies in companies are threemonths or six months or whatever
(27:54):
.
I told them.
I told a gal on my program theother day.
I was like if you want to takea year off, take a year off.
There's no reason why that isunavailable to you.
If you can make it workfinancially, if you're excited
emotionally, if your businesscan stand in, or if you want to
shut things down, take a yearoff.
So it really does depend on thefamily.
(28:17):
It depends on their financialsituation.
It depends, frankly, on whethermom wants to work or not in the
business.
Like when I was on the heels ofour second maternity leave, I
love writing, just love doing it, and I wanted to write blogs.
I wanted to write blogs for anhour-ish a day and I told my
husband, steve, I was like, canyou like bond with him now and
then I'll go write some blogsand then I'll come back and I'll
feed the baby, and it wasreally nice.
So all I'm saying is the timething.
(28:37):
I think it really does dependon each family.
I think giving yourself thatfirst two months to just really
be off and like, embrace the newseason is a best practice that
I've told almost every mom, butreally it's up to them.
And also, frankly I will saythis I hear moms all the time
who are like I feel guilty.
So if baby sleeps a lot, ifthey're feeling really good
(29:02):
postpartum, they're like I feelguilty, working I should be
doing something else.
This is your maternity leave,your way.
You've created something out ofnothing when you've launched
your business, and so you can dothe same thing with your leave.
You can rewrite all the rules,you can imagine exactly what you
want and then, if it's notworking for you in a two-month
period, you can always go backearly.
You can always take more leaveor more time a little bit later
(29:24):
in the year.
So don't be afraid to reimagineand then re-reimagine how this
could go.
Camille (29:31):
I like that advice.
It's interesting doing what Ido and interviewing so many moms
.
A lot of new businesses areborn when women are in maternity
leave.
Alyson (29:41):
And I think that you're
right, because your mind is just
in a new space.
Camille (29:45):
You're thinking about
things differently.
You're looking at your role nowas a mother and what that means
for the future.
You, or even just givingyourself permission to have
different, thinking differentyeah, not expecting things of
(30:07):
yourself and discovering thingsabout yourself and your new baby
, because you really can'timagine what it's like until
you're in it.
Alyson (30:15):
Would you agree, totally
agree.
And I always say imaginemeeting your best friend and
hugest advocate again andgetting to know them again.
That's what maternity leave is.
You can just kind of re-get toknow them again.
Like that's what maternityleave is, like you can just kind
of re-get to know who you are,get more in touch with, like
(30:35):
what you're excited about,create that space to really feel
through.
And I totally agree with youJust as many businesses are born
in maternity leave as they arere-imagined in maternity leave.
Like it's such an incredibletime.
And I fully reject.
I know there's so many thingsout there that are like if
you're pregnant, don't make anybig decisions, don't buy a house
(30:57):
, don't move, don't whatever.
And I'm like no, this isn'tsome horrible medical condition,
this is a very naturaltransitional process in our life
and to think that we can becomea totally different person and
birth a whole new human beingand our business is going to
stay exactly the same honestlyis, in some cases, like I felt
foolish.
Personally, I was like how didI actually think that I was just
(31:20):
going to continue doing all thesame stuff and then just with a
baby on my hip, right.
So I think, like power to themoms who are, like, ready to do
all the things and have all theenergy Like.
I will be the biggestcheerleader and supporting every
mom through that and any momthat like wants the permission
to just like, take a step backand say no to more things and
create boundaries and reimaginea business.
(31:42):
Like that is amazing too, likeit's just.
Both of them are amazing intheir own way.
Camille (31:47):
Yeah, I totally agree
with that.
What do you think the biggesthang up is that people have when
imagining what that time,because it is, it is kind of the
unknown.
So there is that in the spacewhere you're like I don't know
how am I going to feel and andwill my baby sleep, and am I
sleeping and what's happening?
How do you help people kind ofsearch through that unknown?
Alyson (32:10):
You know, I always tell
them that they've already
embraced the unknown, becoming abusiness owner Like we, we have
this muscle.
And I think um, I heard thisquote, I think it was from Steve
jobs.
He was like most peopleoverestimate what they can do in
a year, but underestimate whatthey can do in 10.
And I think about this all thetime because I'm like, if you
(32:32):
just give yourself some time,like your wildest dreams,
absolutely greatest things youwant to build, can come true.
They might not be exactly inthe way that you thought they
would come true, but I alwayssay, like, broaden your time
horizon, so just give yourselfsome time to settle in,
especially for my moms, who arelike very type A.
(32:53):
I was very anxious new motherlike very, very anxious, and I
always wanted everything tohappen and my baby was a great
forcing function to just slowdown and be present and just
absorb, right.
So I think, if you, I heardsomewhere also once that anxiety
does not live in the present,it lives in the past and it
lives in the future.
So if you can just try as muchas possible to stay present,
(33:15):
don't worry about how birth isgoing to go, don't worry about
how if baby is going to sleepright.
Just do the right thing in themoment, the thing that you feel
most aligned with, and actuallyit's just about trusting
yourself.
So really, if you have thatself-trust, it's it's you know,
a practice, it's work.
But if you have that self-trust, I think a lot of moms feel
(33:38):
like they can navigate thatunknown season a little bit
better.
Camille (33:41):
Yeah, ooh, well, that
is really good advice.
I love that about being presentin the moment.
I I feel like, well, I, myoldest, is going to be turning
17 soon, so I am like I know,can you believe that?
Alyson (33:56):
That is wild.
First, of all no, I can'tbelieve you have a 17-year-old
Second of all driving probablyyour other kiddos around right?
How is that with the?
Camille (34:05):
freedom it is so.
It's way cool and the best partand I'll be honest about this
too it's just like setting upsystems and processes in your
business.
The same rules apply to yourkids, where you enable them to
have autonomy and trust, and Ifeel, like.
That's something where I don'tknow exactly how I did that, but
(34:28):
somehow I have succeeded inraising very independent and
successful children.
But to be honest, I think it'sfrom them watching me navigate,
building a business with them asbabies and with toddlers, and
making them a part of theprogram where I say, okay, I'm
going to be doing this projectand you're working on this, and
(34:49):
then we'll come together andit's very much open
communication about what thegoals are as a family, and so I
don't know.
It's really neat to see thatyou learn that a lot of things
are not emergency and that youwhat really is important and
what you really need to investyour emotional bandwidth into,
(35:10):
and so creating systems ahead oftime and really creating space
for you to have the unexpectedhappen because it will is so
freeing.
So I love that you're doingthis for young moms from the
very beginning, because you haveto become comfortable with the
unknowns.
There's unknowns and that'sjust a part of being a mom.
(35:34):
So I just love what you're doing.
It is so empowering that yousaw something that didn't exist
and said I'm going to take mystrong skillset of creating
operations and all the thingsthat need to happen and I'm
going to help new moms do thisfor themselves, so I just love
that you're doing this.
It's so empowering for our momsand that is very much in line
(35:57):
with the Michaels for what I dohere.
So thank you so much forsharing all of that, and I know
that we're just scratching thesurface here.
Will you please tell ouraudience where they can find you
and your free resources?
And then you also have coachingand programs as well.
Alyson (36:12):
Yeah.
So the best way to start onthis process is to head over to
master maternity leavecom slashguide.
It's my free guide.
It's super comprehensive and itreally just kind of walks you
through the big things that youneed to be thinking about for
maternity leave.
And I think that a lot of momsare just wondering, like where
do I start?
So if you're listening to thisand you're like I know for sure
(36:32):
I want to grow my family, thereare tons of things you can do
while you're still trying toconceive restructuring the
business, taking advantage ofshort-term disability, paying
into some of those stateprograms if that is available
inside of your state big, bigtime benefits from being able to
do that.
If you're currently expectingand you're just wondering, like,
(36:53):
how am I going to hold this alltogether, Maybe you haven't had
a plan yet.
We do have some amazing,amazing programs.
My roadmap is like a reallystep-by-step process, especially
if you want to get it in andget it quick, if you're like six
months, seven months along.
But really, master maternityleave is the home for women who
just want to be able to growtheir business and grow their
family simultaneously likereally, really, and not
(37:14):
sacrifice the quality of either.
So, like I said, I think takingadvantage of the free guide
would be amazing.
I would love to have you guysin our ecosystem.
I'm also super active onInstagram, so at Master
Maternity Leave, come on over,give us a follow and if you have
like questions from the episode, if you're like hey Ali, what
about this?
Go ahead and DM us.
I answer all my DMS and I'd behappy to connect with you.
Camille (37:36):
Amazing, you're amazing
.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show and sharing your
experience and having thisavailable.
I think it's really excitingwhat you're doing and so needed
and shocking.
We don't have it, but youcreated it, so how cool is that.
Alyson (37:50):
Yes, I love it.
Honestly, I wake up everymorning so excited about what
I'm doing and I've been inbusiness for myself for eight
years and professionaloperations for 10.
And I will say this if you'rereally excited to embrace this
transition of maternity leave,or even if you're just wondering
as a parent or as a you know,as a business owner, like what's
(38:11):
next for me, like, I know thismight not be it, but I feel like
there's a change coming there.
I finally feel like I'm like inmy zone of genius and in my
calling.
After eight years time, andthere's never, you know, a time
that's too late to get into thething that, like you, were
really meant to do and it's kindof all for a purpose.
I really believe that myexperience in operations agency
(38:33):
and all the clients that wesupport there and currently
still support um, have given mean incredible foundation to be
able to build this thing and um,it's just been such a fun ride
and um, I hope, yeah, that weget to connect with everybody
who needs the support.
Honestly, like I just want tobe like doors open, full
resource.
Come on everybody, you'rewelcome.
Camille (38:54):
So cool and no better
way than to be written by you.
Even just looking at your pageof like, this is who you are,
this is how I'm helping you andthis is how it's going to look.
And here you go.
I'm like yes, this is all laidout so perfectly and easy to
understand, so you're awesome.
It was just waiting for you tocome along to create such a
beautiful resource.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
Alyson (39:16):
Thank you, I had a blast
.
Appreciate you having me youbet.
Camille (39:19):
Hey CEOs, thank you so
much for spending your time with
me.
If you found this episodeinspiring or helpful, please let
me know in a comment and afive-star review.
You could have the chance ofbeing a featured review on an
upcoming episode.
Continue the conversation onInstagram at callmeceopodcast,
and remember you are the boss.