Your photography business needs you. So does your baby.
Welcome. If you opened this because there's a list in your head that keeps getting longer every time you look at your belly, you're in the right place. This workspace has already thought through maternity leave for you, so you don't have to hold it all in your head anymore.
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WHY THIS MATTERS
Most photographers try to prepare by working harder until the baby comes, then quietly keep working through leave. This kit gives you a different option: a temporary version of your business that needs less of you.
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WHAT TO DO
Read this page once (about 10 minutes). Then follow the Quick Start below, one step at a time. Tick off steps in the progress tracker at the bottom of this page as you go.
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WHEN TO DO IT
Ideally 12–16 weeks before your due date. Starting later? That's fine. Use the Fast Track at the bottom of this page.
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A complete planning system for taking maternity leave from a photography business you run yourself. It helps you finish client work, decide what happens to your business while you're away, tell the right people at the right time, understand your money, prepare for an early arrival, and come back slowly, on your terms.
It is not another to-do list to feel behind on. Every page tells you why it matters, what to do, and when to do it. Most pages take 20–45 minutes.
Self-employed photographers (weddings, portraits, families, newborns, brands, events) who are pregnant, or planning to be, and who feel like the business depends on them for everything. If you're the one who answers the inquiries, edits the galleries, sends the invoices and posts on Instagram, this is for you.
You don't need to keep everything running. You need to decide, on purpose, what your business looks like while you're gone. Every task in your business gets one of four decisions:
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STOP
What can completely pause while you're on leave?
e.g. new bookings, styled shoots, blogging
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AUTOMATE
What can technology handle without you?
e.g. invoice reminders, inquiry replies
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DELEGATE
What can another person handle?
e.g. editing, inbox checks, album design
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SIMPLIFY
What can continue in a lighter version?
e.g. one evergreen post a week
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You'll make these decisions in The Business Can Survive Without Me Audit, and the rest of the workspace builds from them.
Work through these in order. Each step points to the page that does the work.