Many women have to consider how to take maternity leave while being self-employed moms. Typically, only full-time workers receive paid family leave. This means a number of women are left navigating the unique territory of self-employed maternity leave. This could require careful planning, saving money in advance, and doing extra work in the months before baby arrives.
Maternity leave for freelancers and self-employed women can be complicated. There may not be anyone to hand off the responsibilities of the work or business, and there are no employer resources to tap into. There could even be a sense of isolation in trying to manage the maternity leave situation on their own or having the pressure of their business success fall on their shoulders alone. Moms-to-be must figure out ways in which they can take maternity leave without it impacting their business negatively and, at the same time, ensuring they can bond with their babies.
If you’re an independent contractor or run your own business and need to take maternity leave, we’ll dive into some tips to help. Gather maternity leave planning ideas to set yourself up for success—both in your business and personal life—during this monumental time.
Create Your Own Maternity Leave Plan
When freelance journalist and content marketing writer Alex Frost found out she was pregnant, she was well-prepared to take maternity leave. After all, she already had four children under the age of eight, so she had years’ worth of experience.
As soon as she found out she was pregnant with her fifth child, she started saving money. “I did the math to determine how much I’d need to save monthly to take time off, and put aside money every month,” she says. “I also took on additional work to help save more during pregnancy.”
After giving birth, Frost passed on some of her responsibilities to her assistant, which included helping with emails, invoicing, and research projects. She also put up an out-of-office message giving specific directions to editors, publicists, and new potential clients so they knew what steps to take in her absence.
Although it isn’t easy, doing some advance planning and creating even a simple plan that works for your situation can go a long way. This will help to ensure you have a self-employed maternity leave plan that you can feel good about. To create a successful plan, consider including:
- Financial planning, personally and for your business
- Timeframes of when you will be working and when you will be taking maternity leave
- Ways to prepare and protect your business or freelance work (which could include things like automations or hiring temporary help)
- Communication with clients or customers
- A support network and self-care plan for yourself
Remember, it’s your maternity leave plan, so you can get as creative and flexible as you want or need to for your particular situation.
Quick Tip: Consider talking to other freelance and self-employed moms in your industry to find out how they navigated their situations, too.
Save Up Money
Once they find out they are pregnant, some freelancers—like Frost—start putting money aside and taking on extra clients during their pregnancy to build up their savings accounts as much as possible.
According to Gina Knox, CEO and financial coach at Gina Knox Coaching, there is no set amount freelancers should save. However, she says it’s important to make sure you can cover your expenses.
“Can you save or invest so you have three months’—or how many months you want to take—worth of those expenses [covered]?” she says. “This would help you to take that maternity leave without stress.”
If you’re self-employed, consider budgeting apps like YNAB, Rocket Money, Goodbudget, or Acorns to help you get your personal and professional accounts in order before you take your maternity leave as a freelancer. Apps like these can help you practice new money habits that you can use during your pregnancy, as well as adapt them to a post-pregnancy work life.
Through these changes, it’s also important to try and keep your day-to-day freelance budget fundamentals in place to help you make money and save money.
Look Into Government Resources
California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington are among the states that offer a form of paid family or maternity leave for self-employed workers.
Knox urges freelancers to research state programs before they decide to start trying for a baby as programs can vary from state to state or may not be available depending on which state you live in.
“Make sure you are paying into the government-assisted short-term disability,” she says. “This is not something you can start when you are pregnant, but need to have thought through prior.”
Set Up a Stream of Passive Income
Mariah Althoff, a six-figure freelancer turned graphic design mentor, didn’t want to halt her business completely while she was on maternity leave for five months. So, she established a plan: She’d automatically earn money while she was out of the office by doing affiliate marketing.
Althoff participated in an affiliate program for a peer’s online course and made sure to schedule all the emails she needed to send and social media posts she had to put up well in advance.
“When I was on leave, I could make affiliate sales without lifting a finger,” she explains.
Affiliate marketing is one of many options for passive income that you can try to set up before you take maternity leave to bring in extra cash during your break. Self-employed workers can also develop digital products, videos or courses that users can access while they’re on their self-employed maternity leave. You can also self-publish books, manuals and other materials that can earn your royalties on a per-sale basis while you take time off.
Complete Work in Advance
If you’re on retainer with a client, then you can complete work that’s due when you’re on maternity leave while you’re still pregnant. That’s what Kayla Sloan, a freelance virtual assistant, did when she was out of the office for months at a time, taking care of her two children.
“I worked ahead as much as possible and filmed a lot of training videos to help [my clients] or other team members be able to cover my tasks and duties while I was out of the office,” she says. “My clients were happy to continue paying my regular monthly retainer during my maternity leave, especially since I put in extra work ahead of time before leaving the office.”
Anticipating your clients’ needs while you’re gone can help you develop a plan now so they’re well prepared for you to take time off later.
Think about unique ways you can front-load work now that will continue to be helpful to a client while you take some time off. You may be able to build a content calendar or project management calendar that will cover your time off, or develop graphics and other content that can easily be published by your client during your maternity leave.
Communicate With Your Clients
Above all, you must be transparent with your clients about what’s going on. Don’t wait until the last minute to tell them you’ll be out on parental leave; instead, let them know as soon as you can.
“Communicate well and early so both your expectations and the clients’ expectations are known and understood in terms of work duties and finances/contract terms and payments,” Sloan says.
Frost urges her fellow independent contractors to keep the line of communication open as well.
“Clients are typically more understanding and accommodating than you think they’ll be if you are open and communicative from the start,” she says. “For example, I interviewed with and secured two new clients during my final weeks of pregnancy, because they were the right fit for me, and was super upfront about my pregnancy and time off.”
Find Help and Support While on Maternity Leave
Consider hiring an assistant or asking another freelancer to cover for you while you’re on maternity leave. Frost has an assistant to handle communications and manage invoices during her absence. She also passes some of her work over to friends in her industry.
“I have used my journalist friend during this leave and the last to help support any editors who needed a writer in my absence,” she says. “This agreement went well both times because I could trust my friend to ‘give back’ my clients on my return and also to do a great job if needed when I was out.”
When preparing for maternity leave while self-employed, remember that it’s not productive to worry. Instead, plan ahead as much as you can and focus on what matters most during this time: taking care of your newborn as well as yourself.
“The work will be there when you get back,” Frost adds. “Anyone who is not wasn’t worth keeping anyway.”
Common Mistakes to Avoid Before Taking Maternity Leave
It can be hard to juggle professional and personal responsibilities when you’re trying to figure out maternity leave for work and getting ready for a new baby at home. So, before you take time off, set yourself up for success by avoiding common mistakes if you’re self-employed on maternity leave.
Not Setting Clear Expectations With Clients
It’s a good idea to set expectations with clients so they know when you’ll be back to work, and then try your best to stick to that return date. It can be tempting to push it back with a new baby, but delaying your return could cause you to lose business or additional work.
Not Having Enough of a Financial Cushion
You should also consider saving more money than you need to financially prepare for a child and circumstances that arise while on self-employed maternity leave. This can be beneficial in the event of unexpected changes, such as a client dropping you rather than waiting out your time off on maternity leave or having your baby arrive early and needing your savings sooner. Hospital and medical bills surrounding the birth could also be higher than you anticipate or require additional costs due to complications during the birth.
Not Allowing for Flexibility and Changes
If anything is certain, it’s that life doesn’t always go as planned. That’s why it’s critical to build in some wiggle room into your carefully laid maternity leave plans. Add some flexibility to your schedule as you transition from being a self-employed worker to a self-employed worker with kids to establish a good work-life balance. This might mean pivoting when it comes to the way you do business, changing some of your processes or strategies or prioritizing things differently. This might also mean drawing on your support networks even when you are normally the one who does it all.
Have a Plan for Transitioning Back to Work
Part of the beauty of being your own boss is having flexibility and working within your own timeframes. Consider when you would like to transition back to your freelance work or business, and put things in place to help with the transition. For example, you might start off with reduced hours or a reduced client load in the first couple of months back. You might plan to do fewer in-person meetings and more Zoom calls that you can squeeze in during your baby’s naptime. You may need part-time care for your little one or to plan a care schedule with your partner. Having a baby means a major change, and it might not mean jumping back into work as usual as soon as maternity leave is over.
Take some time to consider your capacity and resources. This will help you create a post-maternity leave plan that will help you feel prepared and less stressed when it does come time to get back to business.
Get Ready for Maternity Leave—and Returning From Maternity Leave
There aren’t enough words to express the joy of a new baby. Be prepared with a solid maternity leave plan so you can make your time with your little one as stress-free and beautiful as possible. Enjoy time as a new mom while you put your self-employed professional life on the back burner for a short time.
Remember that maternity leave for contractors and freelancers can look different for everyone. Take some time to find things that best fit your unique circumstances so you can make your self-employed maternity leave work for you.
This article was updated May 2025. Photo by GaudiLab/Shutterstock
