When the Business Grows with You: A Story of Pregnancy and Planning

Pregnancy and the Founder Role

Pregnancy changed the way Maggie Conrad thinks about her role as a founder in ways she did not fully anticipate.  These changes were  steady and clarifying and the kind that forced her to slow down, prepare earlier, and get honest about what kind of business she was actually trying to build.

One of the biggest shifts happened before she was even pregnant. Maggie realized that if she waited until she was overwhelmed, she would already be behind. So she hired sooner than others might normally have, specifically because she wanted to prepare.

Even though the role started small, she saw it as an investment in the business and in herself. “I wanted support during pregnancy,” she shared, “and I wanted to create continuity long before maternity leave entered the picture.”

Preparing Before It Is Urgent

That early decision shaped everything that came after. As the company grew, Maggie was able to bring her team on more as her capacity shifted. By the time she began preparing for maternity leave, her clients were not facing a sudden handoff to someone they had never met. They had already worked with her team for months.

“There is trust there,” Maggie said. “Trust in the people, trust in the process, trust that care will continue even when I step away.”

That trust did not happen accidentally. It was built intentionally, well before she technically needed it.

Practicing Sustainable Leadership

Pregnancy also forced Maggie to practice what she preaches in a very real way. She often talks about sustainable work, work–life balance, and caring for yourself as a business owner, but being pregnant, especially with a difficult pregnancy, made that a daily negotiation.

She found herself asking repeatedly where the balance was between what the business needed and what she needed in that moment, and how to put herself first without making clients feel uncared for.

That question came into sharp focus in the fall, when family emergencies combined with ongoing nausea and fatigue. It reached a point where pushing through was no longer an option. Maggie took two weeks off, unexpectedly.

Choosing Rest

What stood out most was how clients responded. Because Maggie had built strong relationships and intentionally worked with people who valued her as a person and not just for her output, clients were understanding.

Putting herself first did not harm the business. It protected it.

When she returned, Maggie was more rested, more focused, and more capable of showing up fully. The quality of her work improved because she allowed herself that space.

She reflected on what would have happened if she had not taken that time off. Burnout would have followed. Productivity would have dropped. Work quality would have suffered. Clients would have noticed.

“That is the part people do not always talk about,” she said. “Pushing through does not actually protect relationships. It erodes them slowly.”

“I would much rather disappoint someone by saying that I need time off than disappoint them by saying yes and then not being able to deliver.” 

 In this case, rest was not a failure of responsibility. It was an act of care.

A Stronger Business

One of the biggest surprises of the year was realizing that the business did not suffer because Maggie prioritized herself. If anything, it became stronger.

She had long believed that prioritizing yourself does not require sacrificing business success. Seeing that belief play out in real time affirmed that the values guiding Little Light Solutions were viable.

Even with a difficult pregnancy and personal challenges, the company had a successful year.

Women, Capital, and Sustainability

Maggie believes this experience matters in a broader business context.

While women receive significantly less venture capital, often under three percent, data consistently shows that women-led businesses are highly successful. Research indicates that women-owned and women-led companies generate more revenue per dollar invested, achieve higher returns, and demonstrate strong capital efficiency despite systemic bias, limited access to networks, and funding disparities.

In other words, women are building resilient, sustainable, and profitable businesses even when resources are constrained. For Maggie, this reinforces her belief that sustainability, care, and long-term thinking are not weaknesses in business. They are strategic advantages.

Holding Goals and Uncertainty

Maggie did not experience many fears going into pregnancy itself. The fears emerged more as she began thinking about maternity leave.

She has clear goals for the future. She wants to grow the business, double revenue in 2026, and bring her employee on full-time. At the same time, she is preparing to take two months off while welcoming a newborn.

“There is a part of me that wonders how all of that fits together,” she shared.

Alongside that uncertainty, however, is a deep sense of trust. Over the past year, Maggie built trust in herself and in the process. She has already watched the business succeed through a season that was far from easy.

She has learned that not seeing the how does not mean the outcome is impossible. It simply requires staying open.

Letting the Business Shift

The past year did not unfold as Maggie initially planned. She had a vision for growth, and something shifted. The business moved in a different direction.

Rather than seeing that as failure, she views it as responsiveness. She followed where the business was actually going instead of forcing a rigid plan.

That flexibility, she believes, has been essential during pregnancy and will continue to matter in motherhood.

Redefining a Workday

Pregnancy also reshaped Maggie’s definition of a good workday. She intentionally built more rest into her schedule.

Her billable client work has always been part-time, roughly twenty to thirty hours per week. Outside of that, it was easy to fill time with networking, outreach, events, and content creation.

This year, she scaled some of that back. Outreach took a back seat so she could focus on client care. Word of mouth and existing relationships mattered more than chasing new clients at any cost.

“Not all money is good money” - Maggie.

She trusted that taking care of current clients would support long-term growth. Rest became part of the workday, not something earned afterward.

Preparing for Maternity Leave

Preparing for maternity leave has been both practical and values-driven.

Maggie focused on financial preparation by building savings for her family and for the business. This allowed her to step away without constant anxiety and ensured the business could continue operating while she was gone.

She also worked to ensure continuity for clients by building proposals that allowed her team to continue providing care in her absence. The goal was not to replace her income, but to maintain presence and connection.

Boundaries and Systems

Boundaries were another major focus. Maggie was clear with clients that she would not be available during maternity leave. Her team would serve as the point of contact, and only true emergencies would reach her internally.

“Leave only works if you actually step away,” she noted.

Systems made that possible. Maggie focused on updating standard operating procedures, training her team thoroughly, and building internal processes that would keep the business moving while she was gone. Content calendars, outreach protocols, and clear plans were put in place so intention could become reality.

Delegation did not feel as difficult as people often assume, largely because Maggie started early. She did not wait until exhaustion forced her hand. She built a foundation first.

She also emphasizes the importance of working with clients who respect boundaries. Not all money is good money, and working with people who value you as a human makes seasons like pregnancy far more sustainable.

Learning From Experience

This is Maggie’s second pregnancy, and she is older now. She has been in business long enough to know what she does not want.

During her first maternity leave, she was an employee. Although she had a supportive employer, the foundation was not there, and she returned to work early because systems were not in place.

This time is different. She has learned from that experience and is grateful for the knowledge she has now, especially given how much harder this pregnancy has been.

Advice for Founders

If Maggie could offer advice to founders preparing for pregnancy or parental leave, it would be this: systems and delegation provide peace of mind like nothing else.

Build savings for yourself and your business. Be intentional about who you work with. Start documenting now, not later. When documentation is built over time, leave preparation does not feel overwhelming.

“If you are the system, your business cannot function without you,” she said. “But if you build systems others can run, you create freedom for yourself, your team, and the business.”

Looking Ahead

As Maggie moves into this next chapter, she feels excited. Previously, she navigated motherhood within someone else’s structure. Now, she gets to do it her way.

She is excited to model that for her children, especially her daughter, and to show that strength does not require self-erasure.

It feels like all of her babies are growing at once: her family, her business, and herself. While she does not know exactly what the next five or ten years will look like, she trusts the foundation she has built.

A large part of that foundation has been systems, especially documentation and standard operating procedures. They are what allow her to step away without everything grinding to a halt and what allow her to truly be on leave.

In the next post, Maggie will share more about that part of the process, including how she approaches building standard operating procedures as a founder, where she starts, and how others can begin creating systems that support both their business and their life.