How I prepared to leave my first baby for my second
Renee Diaz
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This may be my last article I write before my baby girl arrives in early January. Over the years, I’ve expressed the difficulties, joys, and lessons I’ve learned while being a small business owner. I held nothing back and allowed myself to be vulnerable for a lot of people, mainly strangers, to read. Looking back, though, I realized I typically write about lessons learned after the fact, and assumptions I’ve made before something happens. In this article, I want to write about the steps I took before my maternity leave.
Being pregnant was rough in the beginning. But now, I have had the second trimester bliss where you have energy, you have a certain glow about you, you can feel the kicks and flips of your baby, and life is great. As I started to feel better, I began to plan for the business, before the baby comes and I take maternity leave. I approached this process in a calm manner, realizing getting a head start may be beneficial before I get tired again.
One of the first things I had to come to terms with is I’ve worked for nine years in my bakery, and I deserve to take time off to be with my newborn baby. This was harder than it seemed. The second thing I did was contact my accountant and bookkeeper, my landlord, and my loan officer at Cornerstone Bank to let them all know when I plan on being out, so if there is anything they may need from me beforehand, I can get it to them. After I let them know, I started to tackle an emergency contact list. I’ve always tried to run my business if I were to walk out and get hit by a bus, The Queen’s Cups could continue on and my employees would not be left stranded. I started to think, “Who would my manager call if our one of our refrigerators stopped working? What if the coffee machine burnt out? What if our food delivery was never delivered, and they needed to call our salesman?” I created a list of every person and company I could think of they may need, just in case.
Then it came time to decide what roles needed to be filled in the bakery. Who is going to take over the kitchen? Who will be their assistant? Do I have someone to order the food weekly, and are they aware of all the passwords for the different vendors? These things were being done before, but I wanted to make sure everything was set, and questions were answered beforehand. If I needed to make introductions between the managers and people we work with, I wanted to make sure that was done, to develop rapport between them.
With new roles, I had to think of the financial aspect. What can I afford? It can be easy for employees to see the money coming in from customers and orders. However, they do not see the money going out to keep the lights on, order food, pay insurance and taxes, and everything else coming with running a business. Before any major decision can be made, there are often 10 steps I need to go through before I can give it a go. I cannot make financial decisions on a whim; there is a process behind it. This has been the most stressful part of all because it’s not easy for others to understand. Our sales are down hundreds of thousands of dollars, we are still trying to bounce back from COVID-19, and there is not a promise this holiday season will be like they’ve been in the past.
Alas, I also have my own family. My body is growing another person. And, at the end of the day, I have a business where my concern often puts me last and my employees and business decisions first. When I am up at night due to pregnancy insomnia, I am worrying about work. Am I stressed I will be away from my first baby, The Queen’s Cups, for a while? Yes. Do I know some issues will arise when I am not here? Yes. But I have full trust in the decisions I’ve made and the new roles I’ve filled, and I am confident the steps I have taken beforehand will allow me to have time with my new family.
Renee Diaz is the owner of The Queen's Cups bakery in Worcester.
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