I’ve just stepped back from work to have my second bub

There are a few things I’ve done to prepare my business for this time away, and I thought I’d share them here in case anything I’ve done is helpful.

(Also, I just love behind-the-scenes peeks into people’s businesses so maybe you do too!)

 

I created a new self-paced course, Anchor into Your Power

It’s been on my mind for quite a while to create a self-paced course, based on a workshop I initially ran back in 2018 on an Australia-wide tour. The workshop was so well received, and such a joy to host, that I knew I wanted to deepen the work in some way.

Earlier this year, I studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and I was very excited to add this powerful modality into my business and work.

The course is a blend of kinesiology tools, practices and balances, with NLP techniques, energy alignment and mindset coaching, to help you create more of what works for you, without working harder.

I created it simply, using my book-writing formula (taught in Hello Book, It’s Me), to create the outline, fleshing that out, and then recording videos using Vimeo’s new in-built recorder. Each module also has a collective kinesiology balance, plus some modules have bonus audio lessons and reprogramming visualisations.

I priced the course in a way that felt aligned with me not offering a community space at this point, and it’s my intention to offer the opportunity to join live rounds of the course with group coaching (for a higher fee) when I return to work, alongside a pop-up community.

 

I created a new free masterclass

To launch and promote Anchor into Your Power, I ran a free masterclass with simple ways to step into your power. This was so well-received and lots of students joined Anchor after tuning into this workshop.

I then put the replay up on my website as an opt-in, with a lovely nurturing sequence to follow it and invite people to join me in the course.

I’m also running some Facebook ads to the free masterclass.

 

I re-opened my content-creation workshop, Love What You Create

It’s a self-paced workshop to help you own your gifts, create aligned content, and share it with the world.

I thought I’d keep this workshop closed for the rest of the year and open it up again once I was back at work, but I got a few nudges to re-open it, so I did. It was my bestseller while I was on maternity leave with my daughter, so it felt right to re-open it for anyone who needs the support and clarity while I’m on leave and not able to offer private coaching.

 

I scheduled months of content for social media and my newsletter

This was a big one, and something I did more extensively this time than when I went on leave to have my daughter.

Last time, I scheduled fortnightly newsletters but no social media posts, and I was loving the newborn/baby bubble so much that I could barely string a sentence together for social media for months. And while I was very happy with my decision back then (I really just wanted to tune out the world, and tune into my baby), I knew that this time I wanted to be able to step back as much as I did last time, but with more visibility for my business.

For Instagram: I scheduled 4-7 posts a week, for over five months. (It’s about 180 posts in total… and no, I have never batched so much in my life.)

For the content, I had my lovely VA go through my books and pull quotes and little snippets, and then pop them into promo graphics in Canva. I also pulled out themes, affirmations, quotes and testimonials from Anchor into Your Power, promo for my free masterclass, affirmations and themes from the podcast, new short posts (that were sometimes tweaked/expanded content from quotes from my books), blog posts and any other content I could think of that felt aligned.

I used Canva to create any graphics needed, as well as photography from my latest photo shoot (shot by Hannah Blackmore). I use the scheduling software Later to publish these posts automatically.

For my newsletter: I scheduled weekly emails to go out from the start of my maternity leave, and for about 4+ months after. Some of the content was taken from my social media scheduled posts, some not.

The content is also essentially also a mix of short new posts, affirmations and themes from the podcast, content from my books, blog and promo for my course and free masterclass. I also popped a little note at the bottom of every email saying I was on maternity leave, with links to my courses, books and podcast.

 

I put up waitlists for my workshops and coaching

I closed down all the links to my offerings that require 1:1 time (sessions, coaching, workshops) and instead, linked those offerings to my waitlists.

You’ll find my 1:1/group coaching waitlist here.

And my Hello Book, It’s Me workshop waitlist here.

 

I tested a new offering

As part of a launch bonus for my new course, Anchor into Your Power, I offered a distance kinesiology balance. I asked clients to fill out a form with more information about themselves and what they were going through, how they wanted to feel etc. and then I recorded a 3-remedy kinesiology healing for them, delivered via a private video link, without them being present.

This was an amazing way to connect with the students of the course, some of whom I’d worked with previously, and to also test a new offering that I may offer once back from maternity leave.

My clients loved the balances they received, saying they were spot on, so insightful, healing and helpful, and it was really fun to do something new that was both serving my clients, and opening up another potential way to work once I’m juggling two little people.

The feedback was incredibly positive, and will go up on my website at a later date if I offer this as a new service.

Jump on the waitlist here to be notified if I open spots for distance kinesiology balances.

 

I collected testimonials from clients I’ve worked with this year

Similarly to above, I collected testimonials from new clients I’d worked with this year, whether from my Hello Book, It’s Me workshop (both private and group clients), new students in my Anchor into Your Power course, 1:1 session clients, clients who joined me for my 3-month coaching program, and clients from my Aligned & Unstoppable Coaching Circle. (Basically for all the offerings and programs I’ve run this year.)

Some of these have gone up on my website already, and some will go up prior to returning to work. It’s so nice to keep up to date with client testimonials, and apart from being great social proof of your work, impact and connection, it feels energetically aligned to continually showcase my latest clients’ results and up-levels from our work together.

 

I created some landing page templates through my CRM software, Ontraport*

My CRM software, Ontraport* has a landing page builder (that I use for most of my opt-in/thank you pages etc. and to build my membership portal), and as part of this, you can create templates to share with other users, for a fee you set.

Commission is set at a really high rate, so to add a little extra income stream to my biz while I’m off work, I created several templates and put them up on the marketplace. Clever!

 

I put on my auto-reply with links to most of the above

I truly love my auto-reply. Not only does it communicate a loving boundary around when I’ll reply to emails, but it’s a great way to offer my services and support without me needing to reply in real-time. (Of course, I reply when I can, but in this way, I’m still being of service even if people have to wait several days for me to reply.)

I let people know I’m on maternity leave and will reply when I can (notice I don’t give a timeline!), and then I link out to Anchor into Your Power, my free masterclass, coaching waitlist, books and podcast.

 

There were also things I couldn’t do

While those were the main things I did, I also had to say no to a few things in the lead up to going on leave.

Due to timing (and an unexpected Covid lockdown which rocked my delicate balance of work and childcare for a couple of weeks), I couldn’t pre-record more episodes of the podcast, Balance, that I’ve created with my amazing co-host, Kate Kahl. We’ll have to see how things pan out for a second season later in the year.

There were also five wonderful podcast opportunities that didn’t pan out, due to timing, that I had to let go of.

I was initially a bit upset about this, but I also knew I didn’t want to push myself too hard in the lead-up to baby, and working nights and weekends, trying to squeeze in every last drop of work that I could, while also managing third trimester fatigue, preparing our home for baby, looking after my beautiful toddler, dealing with a Covid lockdown (and the stress that comes with a close Covid outbreak and being pregnant, and asthmatic…) and everything in between, was too much. So I took a few deep breaths, and let it go.

I hope this list is helpful and remember, no matter what you do or don’t get done before your baby arrives, you’ve done enough; the time with your little baby is so finite. Time passes, they grow up, and you can always come back to your biz.

Honour the season you’re in.

And on that note, I’m signing off… making another chai, and resting.

Stay in touch while I’m on leave over on Instagram, and why not take some time to dive into my free masterclass? It’s right here for you.

 

Love,

 

* I’m an affiliate of Ontraport because I absolutely love the software. I’ve used it since 2015 and couldn’t recommend it more. If you’re looking to switch and would love to ask me a question about it, please get in touch and I’d be happy to answer.