Heading off on maternity leave

Got something a bit different for you today.

I wanna take you “behind-the-scenes” of my business. 

I’m about to have a baby (sometime in the next couple of weeks), and I thought you might be interested in having a sticky beak at the processes my team and I have set up to keep things running while I’m at home, keeping the aforementioned baby alive.

Maybe it’s weird for me to be so forthcoming with you, but I personally love it when other people share the behind-the-scenes stuff about their business. A little transparency is a good thing I reckon.

So, let me pull up the curtain and bring you backstage.

(Just mind the step to your left, and watch that low hanging beam over there).

How the business will keep operating:

This is how the team and I prepped for maternity leave this time around.

1. Planned “content” for the rest of the year.

Back in August, my 2IC and I sat down for three days and mapped out all the content I wanted to share with you in these letters, in my blog posts and around my product launches for the rest of the year.

Normally we only plan about a month in advance, so planning out a whole year of content was pretty intense, to say the least (we’ve worked together for 5 years now but we needed several private “coffee breaks” to get through this process ).

But we’re so glad we’ve done it. I like that there’s more thought and planning behind the stuff I share with you. It doesn’t mean I can’t be reactionary or write about what I want on certain days, it just means that the pressure’s off. We’ll keep this system moving forward. 

2. Recorded all video content.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m gonna be an affiliate for Marie Forleo’s B-School in early Feb. (If you don’t know what it is, B-School is online training for people who want to build a smart and profitable online business. It’s what helped me turn my business into what it is today. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it). 

This project with Marie and B-School is something I’ve been FROTHING about for the past year, and I wanted it to be epic. But obviously, I can’t be filming videos and posting stuff from the hospital (I mean, I’m cool with it, but I can’t get the baby to sign a release form until he or she is born, so that makes things tricky legally ).

So, in October, we filmed all the videos attached to the project and created all the extra resources. Again, it was a lot of additional work but I feel so much better knowing it’s done and to a standard that I'm really proud of.

3. Team WIPS

I scheduled weekly WIP meetings with my team, and assigned point people for all major projects so that they can run without me.

4. Approvals

I also set up a system for all content that needed to be approved by me. Anything that needs to be seen by me (for e.g. photos from a shoot) will all come through one team member - that way I’ll avoid my inbox getting cluttered with lots of different emails, and miscommunication will be minimised.

5. Process Documentation

I went overboard for six months on creating process documents - basically ‘How To’ guides for all parts of my business. So for example, if you’re trying to get in touch with a team member, what do you do? Some of us would call, some of us would text, some of us would send an email. But in a remote team, when everyone does something differently, and in a different context, it can create confusion, miscommunication and inefficiency. So, enter process documents!

I took it to an extreme. To the extent that there’s a process document on how to use a process document. 

 Now, because I’m a bit OTT with all this planning stuff (you know how much I love a good system), I’ve put together a guide to the core systems and tools that the team and I use more generally in the business too.

Things like how we run team meetings (we all work remotely, scattered across Aus, with team members in Melbourne, Noosa, Newcastle, Sydney and Mollymook), the tools we use to manage our projects, how we manage and schedule my social media and so on. 

So, if you’re interested in how we do things, you can download it here.

It’s free. Just something I thought you might be interested in, especially if growing your business (or starting a business!) is on the cards for you this year.

(And if it is - make sure you pop your details here so I can tell you more about B-School when the time comes).

Anyway, I’ll keep sending you this weekly letter while I’m off. And I’ll be kicking around on social media too.

So, we can still chat! I’ll just also be feeding a baby and eating corn chips on the couch while we do so. Sounds sort of perfect actually.

Chat soon,

Turia x

TL;DR?

(That's internet speak for “too long, didn’t read”).

Here’s the gist:

1. I created a little guide to the tools and systems we use to run my business. You can download it here if you’d like a little stickybeak behind-the-scenes.
2. If you want to start or grow a kick-ass, profitable online business this year, pop your details on this list and I’ll give you some more info on how to make that happen (It’s B-School. That’s the answer . But I’ll give you some more info!).

Turia Pitt is a mindset coach, international keynote speaker, humanitarian and athlete. She is the author of ‘Unmasked’, ‘Everything to Live For’, ‘Mindset Magic’ and ‘Good Selfie’. Follow Turia on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or subscribe to her weekly newsletter here.