Business and Babies

SIX. I have a six year old. That means it’s been six whole years since I became a mum, three since I became a mum to two, nearly seven years since I first started growing a person, and nine since we decided we wanted a family and all things children started consuming my mental space. At this stage it’s almost impossible to remember a time when it wasn’t a part of my narrative. And whilst the biggest changes have been to my family, my priorities, and my social life (!!) I’ve noticed an evolution of my professional self too. ✅ I worry less about conflict. It still makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t lose sleep over it (sleep is FAR too precious!) or avoid it, which we know isn’t productive. I have no head space to let these nuggets of worry fester - much better to tackle things head on, and move on to a solution. ✅My stakeholder management is better. Managing the differing needs of 30 overwhelmed, sugar high children at a birthday party prepares you for anything. ✅My emotional intelligence has grown. I’m constantly seeing things through the eyes of children which is magical and infuriating and fascinating. I now always try to understand the position of the person I’m speaking with - their needs, frustrations, and priorities before passing judgement or reacting. ✅I’m calmer in difficult situations. Dealing with an irrational threenager who is melting down in the middle of a car park, devastated I can’t catch a cloud for them to eat can do wonders for your ability to stay steady under under pressure. ✅I’m more decisive. Keeping on top of the life admin of a family leaves little time to dither. If I don’t act decisively, a new situation has already arisen and taken priority. Fast and informed actions and decisions make for an easier life (and fewer forgotten dentist appointments or non uniform days 😳). All of this makes me wonder why mums/parents/guardians aren’t more valued as a commodity in the workplace, and employers often aren’t prepared to adapt their work environment (hours, locations, flexibility, parental leave) to make sure working caregivers are a part of the mix. Why wouldn’t you want to utilise these skills and learned experience? Thankfully for me, my employer DOES value these things. Shame this is the exception and not the rule. #WorkingParents #Career #FlexibleWorking

Mamava in the wild. 🌺 @ Honolulu International Airport Aloha mama’s, don’t forget the travel nanny! 🫶🏻🤭

I had a call this morning with a woman who asked me how I balance motherhood and running a business. I don't. I can't. As I documented in "The Motherload" report, women can't have it all, but society expects us to do it all. I'm the breadwinner and the default parent. I pay the mortgage and fund the childcare. I manage household finances and ensure we never run out of nappies. I have help—a cleaner and a nanny—but I coordinate their schedules and shoulder the financial burden. I handle most bedtimes and bath times, then work deep into the night. I deliver professional keynotes and never miss my baby's developmental reviews. I don't juggle plates. I juggle chainsaws. And I am depleted to my core. This is the unvarnished reality of modern motherhood. You're expected to earn a substantial income while maintaining a mental inventory of endless life admin. Be a fully present mother. Ensure your child always has properly fitting clothes and their preferred foods. Keep your business invoicing current. Do your tax returns on time. Pack the right nursery supplies. Remember World Book Day costumes. Book flights for your Berlin business trip while simultaneously arranging childcare for the single night you're away. It's an unsustainable chaos of competing priorities and parallel life management streams. And it's brutal, honestly. The sacrifice is always personal. Your needs evaporate first. I haven't finished a book in two years. Exercise is a distant memory. Proper sleep is a luxury I can't afford. My "productive" work exists only within the nine precious weekday hours of reliable childcare and that time vanishes between conference calls and trying to get deliverables out of the door. But I persist in this impossible gauntlet not because I've discovered the secret to balance, but because collapse isn't an option when others depend on you. And here's what no one tells you: I'm successful because I flog myself relentlessly, not because any of this comes easily. I work with bone-crushing intensity and still strive to be an exceptional mother, but fuck me, the weight of it all is staggering.

It can really feel like the world doesn't want working mothers to return to work after maternity leave sometimes. 👎 The childcare schemes in England are ridiculously complicated. It's been a very frustrating week. 😅 To be eligible for funded hours you have to jump through so many hoops. Here are some of the challenges: - You have to apply on time - You and your partner have to be earning within the wage limits - You have to return to work from maternity leave within 30 or 31 days (depending on the term) of your child starting childcare hours - You're child isn't eligible until the term *after* they turn 9 months - If you're applying on mat leave, you have to apply, wait for it to say 'pending' on your application, wait for a letter through the post, and call the childcare services where they *may or may not* give you a temporary code depending on who you get on the phone - Your nursery might have different deadlines to the government - If you're teetering near the 100k limit a bonus / commission may push you over the edge causing anxiety - You might have to end your maternity leave early so you can be eligible for funded hours when your child is eligible or face months and months of full cost childcare - You can't start your child's funded hours part way through the term, or maybe you can, its depends on what your nursery says ....and on and on. 🙃 ....AND after all this, your discount from funded hours might be wiped out anyway by an increase in nursery prices because of the rise in national minimum wage in April & increase employer's national insurance contributions. 😩 Trying to explain all of these loopholes and requirements is not an easy task. We've fielded 100s (possibly 1000s honestly) of questions this week and I've come away quite cross with how complex these hours are to access 🤦🏻♀️ All of this to say: If you have employees coming off mat leave and returning to work - think about the hurdles they are jumping through to return. They are trying, and paying, a LOT to come back to work. 👩🏽💻 Nugget Savings run masterclasses on this topic, I am passionate about helping people get the right information. We can help your employees return to work. I've got a feeling with these hours increasing to 30hrs in September (woohoo!) they are going to become even more important - and it is crucial people are actually able to access them when they need them. XOXO Benefits Queen

Stop what you're doing and read this right now. Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen is a hero. Congresswoman Pettersen flew to DC yesterday to vote against the budget proposal with her 4-week infant in her hands. Barely out of the hospital on maternity leave, Pettersen was given no option to vote remotely. So, she chose to fight for her voters and flew from Colorado to DC. She cast her vote with her newborn infant in her hands. But this post is not about politics... Congresswoman Pettersen has been fighting pregnancy discrimination since late 2024 when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy and was denied the ability to vote remotely. Women are not permitted to fly in their final month of pregnancy. Pettersen was given no option or accommodation to vote. The law effectively banned her from doing her job. In response, she co-authored a new bill to allow proxy voting for Members of Congress who are new parents. The bipartisan bill was submitted by Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), along with Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and Mike Lawler (R-NY) in early January. When submitting the bill, Pettersen shared: "During my first year in Congress, I froze my eggs and delayed starting a family partly because of the demands of this job and the constant travel. That’s why I’m so proud to be a part of this bipartisan coalition to give Members of Congress parental leave after giving birth so they don’t have to choose between their family and their jobs." Opponents of the bill claim that 'voting remotely is unconstitutional'. But what's really unconstitutional? The rules of Congress were written in 1789 before women were part of Congress. In fact, a woman wasn't elected until 127 years later. Under the current law, women are effectively incapable of becoming a mother and being a Congresswoman in America. It's time for that to change. Don't you agree? 🔔 Subscribe for more stories like this: https://lnkd.in/gcjfbRCN

Have a baby, and you are nothing. You give everything to your job Every late night. Every weekend. Every ounce of energy you have. You’re the one who stays when others clock off. The one who picks up the slack. The one who genuinely cares. And then you get pregnant. At first, they smile. They throw you a baby shower. They say take all the time you need. Then, the silence starts. The phone calls dry up. The big projects that were always yours go to someone else. The conversations happen without you. You tell yourself you’re imagining it, that they wouldn’t, that you’ll go back and pick up where you left off. But when you do, everything is different. You’re different. You’re leaving your child in a nursery that costs more than your mortgage. You’re sleep-deprived and permanently exhausted. You cry in the toilets before walking into the office, already drowning in guilt because whatever you do, someone loses. Your job. Your child. You. And just when you’re fighting to prove you’re still the person you were, the job you gave your heart to turns against you. It’s not immediate. No one ever says the words out loud. That would be illegal. Instead, it’s little things. The projects you don’t get. The meetings you’re no longer invited to. Conversations where no one quite meets your eye. You are no longer ambitious. You are no longer ‘all in.’ And then, suddenly, you are no longer there at all. 74,000 women are forced out of the workplace every year in the UK. That’s 74,000 careers shredded. 74,000 dreams destroyed. 74,000 women gaslighting themselves into thinking it’s just how things are. But it’s not just careers being shredded. It’s confidence. It's dreams It’s security. It’s the belief that we are worth more than this. And it needs to stop. Now. That’s why I’m supporting #CareerShredder, a campaign by Pregnant Then Screwed. Today, we are taking a stand. A real-life shredder, a physical destruction of CVs, a brutal but accurate reflection of what happens to women’s careers every day. Help expose this massive waste by shredding your CV at www.careershredder.com. Because we are sick of it. Sick of the whispers, the polite pushes, the quiet dismantling of everything we worked for. If this has happened to you, say something. If you know someone it has happened to, say something. If you think it will never happen to you, remember this. We thought that too. It is time to be loud. It is time to be angry. And it is time to stop letting them get away with it. www.careershredder.com #PregnantThenScrewed #CareerShredder #StopTheCareerShredder

I’m about a week and a half out from my third trimester, and only now am I openly discussing this pregnancy. Don’t get me wrong, after two miscarriages, I was pretty hesitant to share the first two healthy pregnancies too, but I started talking about them around the beginning of my second trimester. So why the hesitation this time around? Life and business look different now. When I was a W2 employee, I felt secure in the fact that I was protected under federal law (even if I shouldn’t have, but that’s a topic for another day). In theory, discriminating against me for being pregnant wasn’t allowed. Now, as a solopreneur, I was worried my pregnancy would deter prospective clients. They’d worry about my level of commitment, my ability to deliver, my drive. They wouldn’t want to work with me or would at least prefer to wait until I was “back.” And there’s no way to know now how many in my ICP will see these posts and pass before giving me a chance. But as I’ve continued to find and sign clients who get it—who are excited to work with me, new baby on the way and all—I can say with absolute confidence that it’ll be their loss, not mine. My motivation, efficiency, effectiveness and creativity have only ramped up as I’ve had more children. And there’s not a mom I know this isn’t true for. Don’t sleep on moms.

How I start my day. As a business mummy my day is manic. A mix of consultations, zoom sessions, on line presentations, school runs - which all have set times! As well as emails, content writing, housework, cooking, filming and admin- which can be done inbetween. I have to admit I’ve occasionally ‘forgotten’ my ‘set time’ commitments - once even the schoo pick up 🤦♀️. So, now this is how I start my day. I set alarms for all of the things I have set times for. ( including the schoo run!). That way I can relax, get my head down and get the other things done knowing I’ll be alerted a few minutes before I need to do something. What do you do to help you juggle work/ family and remember anything. Send tips my way! #WorkLife #WorkingParent #FamilyJuggle #FemaleFounder #CEOMummy

I shared this video on my 'parenting' instagram page last week 'The Day Job vs Full Time job' .... but also feels relevant here too...... Anyone who knows me knows I love my job, I have massive pride in what I do... It's never been a clock in and out for me BUT when I became a Dad I realised I had to create the boundaries .... The point in the day you switch off from worker, boss or leader to the doing the full time job, the one you have for life, the one that wakes you all hours 😁.... Every parent finds the juggle hard and recently I've found that juggle of trying to be everywhere for everyone even harder but the three things that I try to stay true to: ▶️Take a 'qualitative' not quantitative approach to the meetings you attend/take. ▶️ Mentally be where my feet are.... ▶️Work phones, emails wrapped by 630-7pm... may seem surprising or even 'slack' for some, but trust me the mental reset makes you fresher and better the next day to make good decisions!! There are always exceptions with pitches or live projects but as a general approach I try to stick to this. Insta Page: https://lnkd.in/eS_jcGjH #workingparents #leadership #parenting #parentchallenges #realityofparenting #job