Self employed and pregnant

[FinallyPregnant23]

Posting here for traffic!

I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant and I run my own company with a few staff.

I'm not sure what to do about maternity leave though. I desperately want to be able to take at least a few weeks off to recover and bond with my baby but I don't know how to get someone to cover what I do.

What have other self employed people done when you've had babies? Were you able to take any actual time off? How did it affect you - both business wise and with the baby?

I could delegate some of my tasks to the staff I already have but the bulk of what I do now is running the business which I couldn't give to them. I could ask the accountant to submit VAT returns etc, but I would have to prep everything to send to him, actually doing the returns are the easiest bit. I thought about taking someone on to cover my job, this would be ideal because they could cover 90% of my work and I could have a proper maternity leave but I don't know if I can afford to - I haven't had the best year financially, it's been okay but not sure if I could afford another permanent staff member. I also thought about maybe looking for a self employed admin / virtual assistant type to take on some tasks, but how would you find someone you can trust? I've already looked in my area for someone but there doesn't seem to be many doing it and I don't know how comfortable I'd feel just getting someone completely random from like one of those fiverr type websites.

Also, whichever option I go for, I'm going to have to oversee them and make sure things are being completed and they're on top of everything.

I would gladly welcome any advice or your own experiences, it's causing me quite a bit of stress to think about already and I don't know anyone in real life who's been through similar.

AIBU even thinking I'll be able to take any proper time off?

Do you need someone to cover for you fulltime? or could you get away with part time?

@piperpheobepruepaige yes technically they would be part time, I'd need about 25 hours a week I think

Would a partner who can do your job and a buy in investment help grow your business?

I've used the Freelance Heroes Facebook groups to find recommendations for freelancers to do bits for my business. It's worked out well so far, although they are tasks done under my supervision, so a bit different. You might get some other ideas for how other women have coped as well.

Split your role up

If you have a program like Xero, you can email invoices to it, and you can link your bank account, etc to it - then your accountant can deal with your bookkeeping, as well as VAT

They can also do your payroll, etc

Then look at what else you do that you can give to other people

Hi @FinallyPregnant23 hope you don't mind me asking 4 months later than the last post. I was wondering what conclusion you'd come to? I'm in a similar position and really can't decide what's best (due August)

I am also wondering with maternity allowance (due to being self employed - full NI payments made) is it worth even applying for if I just have a few weeks off? Any advice appreciated.