Regarding maternity leaves, American females afford less than other countries, such as U.K., Sweden, and other republics. Among developed countries, the USA is the only state without paid maternity leaves. Even the salaried employees of an organization that offers additional benefits get less support in this situation. For self-employed females, from solopreneurs and contractors to owners of small business, the maternity leaves are tricky. Taking leaves post-birth may not seem feasible logistically or financially. Maternity leave credit for business owners may vary in each state. Here are some tips for females to balance their maternity leaves while running a business.
Form a Support Bolster
The states of Rhode Island, New Jersey, and California offer disability benefits to freelancers that they can use after and during their pregnancy. This system requires you to pay for disability benefits before getting leaves. If a state doesn’t provide any insurance benefits, you have to prepare for this time by saving your money. When the time leads up to leaves, you must have sufficient money for this period. You have to build your nest egg while working as a self-employed person. When you started planning your pregnancy, you must start saving money.
You can set a particular goal for $15,000 to $20,000 as per your income. If you have a limited budget, you can drop the idea of fancy shower and babymoon. You can cut back dining out, expensive entertainment and travel to save money.
Cutting back requires you to cut different items for different people, but you can consider a saving goal or curb expenditures that you don’t need, such as cable TV, subscriptions of magazines and gyms, etc.
Avoid a New Business
You have to pay attention to the maintenance of current customer roster during your maternity leave instead of risking your regular business. For instance, if you are running a business at home as a solopreneur. You may not afford maternity leaves. You will need a workable solution without forgoing your business. You can turn off some campaign and avoid accepting new projects around the birth of your child. It will give you extra time while setting deadlines to manage the expectations of your client.
Recruit Outside Backup
Maternity Leave Credit for business owners may not provide maximum benefits. Maternity leaves may contain a leave of 26 weeks along with 16 weeks optional unpaid leave. A person in insurable employment can get maternity benefits from Employment Affairs Department, and credit is automatically included to record the payment of periodic benefits. This benefit will be available for 26 weeks only. If you want to get extra leaves for 16 weeks, you have to apply to the section of Maternity Benefits to get credit for the additional period of unpaid leaves.
If you are a self-employed person, you must take essential measures to retain your clients. You can temporarily swap yourself. Ask the help from your colleague in the similar industry and ask if they can do some extra work for you. Make sure to hire a reliable person and keep financial matters in your hand. You have to save the percentage of client fees.
Your selected person must have the ability to offer quality services to clients. You should be very clear with his/her what he/she could get in return. You can make a contract for the protection of your business before your handover the charge of your business to your colleague.
Trust on Team Members
Before going to maternity leaves, you should find ways to emissary your responsibilities. Some people like to do new things for others, and they feel honored when they got a chance to play the role of a leader. It can be an exciting opportunity for your team so you must recognize the potential of your team members before distributing work among them. To smoothly run your business, you have to create a sequence of commands for everyone when you are on leave. Clear all circumstances in which you must be contacted.
Maternity leave credit for business owners require you to contact Maternity Benefit department to ask for credit. To understand the rules of your state, you must contact a tax preparer or a professional tax advisor.
