Preparing for maternity leave didn't start when I got pregnant…

How I built a business that doesn't panic when I step out

In the past and since I shared I'm pregnant with our third (due on tax day, funny enough), I’ve been asked a lot how I’m preparing for maternity leave. Usually that question comes with an assumption that I’m in the middle of a big push to get everything “ready” before I step away. That there’s a long checklist, a lot of pressure, or some last-minute sprint happening behind the scenes.

To be honest, it doesn’t feel like much is changing. Not because I’m underestimating this season (trust me… I’ve been through this twice already 😅), but because the business is already operating the way it was meant to.

How did I get to the point where taking extended time off doesn't make me fee like I can't breathe?
Good question. Let's talk about it.
 

I’m not the center of the business anymore

I used to be the center of my business. For a long time, I actually thought that was the goal. If everything ran through me, that meant I was on top of things… right? I knew what was happening, decisions were getting made, and nothing slipped through the cracks unless I let it. It felt responsible. It felt like leadership.

Now, I’m not really in the day-to-day anymore. I’m not the automatic decision-maker, and I’m definitely not the person everything has to funnel through just to move forward. My team knows the work. They know the expectations. They know our clients. They don’t need constant check-ins or approvals to do their jobs well, and my clients don’t need me acting as the middle layer in every interaction to feel supported. Things move without me being involved in every little thing. Not because I stepped back, but because the business finally stopped depending on me to function.

That kind of trust didn’t happen overnight, and it definitely didn’t happen by accident. It came from hiring intentionally, being really clear about what ownership actually meant, and letting go of control (sometimes earlier than felt comfortable). Over the last couple of years, the decision to slowly step back (even when it felt awkward or inefficient in the moment) has compounded in ways I couldn’t see at the time.

Looking back, this shift wasn’t really about removing myself from the business. It was about building something that didn’t require me to be everywhere, all the time, just to stay upright. And that’s the part I wish I had understood sooner.

The business doesn’t rely on me being available

Let's take "not being the center of my business" a step further. Preparing for maternity leave didn’t start when I got pregnant. It started when I stopped building a business that only worked if I was present, available, and holding everything together. When I stopped equating being needed with being successful. Stepping back now doesn’t feel risky because I'm just allowing the business to keep doing what it already knows how to do. Work doesn’t pause if I’m offline, decisions don’t pile up waiting for me to return, and clients aren’t dependent on my response time to feel taken care of.

That’s not because I’m hands-off. It’s because the business has structure. I've spent a lot of time on our internal systems and operations, and when the structure is solid... delegation actually works. Things don’t fall apart the moment I’m unavailable, and decisions don’t stall just because I’m not in Slack. Roles are clear. People know what they own and where their responsibility starts and ends. Our systems are documented well enough that my team doesn’t need to ask me how something works. They can find it, follow it, and move forward with confidence. Expectations are known upfront, not implied or discovered after something goes sideways. 

I've created a system where the work moves the way it’s supposed to. Not because I’m pushing it forward every day or checking in constantly, but because it’s designed to move without me. I can step away, be offline, or focus on higher-level decisions without worrying that everything will slow to a crawl.

Why this is important for YOUR next maternity leave

This wasn’t easy, and it definitely didn’t happen quickly. This season is showing me something I didn’t fully appreciate before: how much of this business was built quietly, over time, long before it needed to be proven.

Stepping back doesn’t feel dramatic. It feels steady. Like the business is doing what it was always meant to do without needing me to constantly hold it together. I know that’s not the case for everyone. If reading this brings up a little tension or curiosity about what would happen if you stepped away, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s usually just information to store and think about.

This is the work I spend most of my time in: helping founders build businesses that don’t rely on constant presence to stay healthy. Think about a world where the business CAN survive without you. With the right team, internal and/or external (*shameless plug* like your bookkeeping or CFO team 😉), it totally can.