November Newsletter (Open Me!) ??
Jessy Grossman
?? Influencer Marketing Community Founder (?? below) ??? Podcast Host (?? below) ?? Professional Hype Girl ?? Professional Speaker ??♀? Recruiter for Influencer Marketers via Tribe Monday JOIN WIIM (linked below??)
As someone in the final stretch of pregnancy, I've had a lot of interesting conversations with business owners and other professionals.?
If this topic is relevant to you (or you find it fun to be a fly on the wall), I'm bringing you three FAQs on maternity leave. And if you opened this email just for the marketing stuff feel free to scroll.
Question 1: How are you taking a maternity leave when you own your own business?
I love this question for so many reasons. If you would have asked me years ago if I'd be able to take three months off of work, I would have laughed and rolled my eyes. I love to work. I was a crazy workaholic from the time I was 16 through my early 30s. But in my mid 30s something shifted. I learned how much I love having freedom. Truthfully I don't take advantage of it most of the time, but just knowing that have the option to turn down work that doesn't fulfill me, or sleep in when I'm exhausted from being pregnant, or attend fertility treatments for months in order to get pregnant in the first place, is a gift. And I've always enjoyed giving OTHER people gifts. But for once, I felt compelled to challenge myself to be kind and generous to myself as well. Haven't I earned it? Don't I deserve it? Of course I'm letting my therapy conversations spill out a bit here, but the answer I ultimately came to, later in life, was YES. So HOW am I taking 3 months off, you ask. It's not a secret, but I don't think people fully realize that WIIM operates because of many people besides just me. There's no way I could manage a community of over 600 people by myself (even though I definitely tried). In recent years I've assembled a dream team of community managers, videographers and editors, photographers, marketers, sales people, podcast producers (news on that soon!), and of course the community itself. It's taken time and a ton of mistakes, but I got there. When I finally got a great group in place, I started encouraging them to be more and more autonomous. And that led them to be more confident. I'm a tiny details person. Very annoying to others I know. But I've learned to relinquish control, discover my team's strengths, and ultimately lean on them because now I see them come up with way better ideas than I do. So find your dream team, incentivize them, learn to get comfortable with outsourcing, and you too can actually take time off, even when you're the face of your business. Bonus share: I've decided to hire consultants during the time that I'm away to examine how we can improve WIIM. Not only am I taking time away, but I am also taking advantage of that time so that when I return from maternity leave, I can have a fresh perspective on things that we can do to improve the business.
Question 2: Are you nervous things will slip through the cracks while you're on maternity leave?
I'd by lying if I said no, but I also have anxiety, so my life is filled with varying degrees of nervousness. The reality is that we've had nine months to prepare. I do ultimately trust my team and my mentorship of them. But real talk, despite all the positives, things WILL slip through the cracks. Some people will want to reach me even though I'm keeping firm boundaries about my time away and we may even lose business because of it. But ultimately I'm not willing to let myself stress over it right now. Pregnancy is quite the physical and mental journey and I've worked way too hard to get here to allow a disgruntled customer to affect me and my baby's stress levels. Pregnancy hormones are helping, but I've also learned to let things go. I've gotten comfortable prioritizing what's most important right now but also knowing that will change in the future. Not everything needs to be done immediately. There's money I'm willing to turn down. There have been clients I've "fired". And I've never regretted it. Give yourself permission to learn and grow from the additional space you create.
Question 3: Did you have insurance that helped pay for the fertility treatments or the doctor visits during pregnancy?
Oh I wish. During the pandemic I didn't even have health insurance for months. It was a really scary time. Months later I got on Paul's insurance which is pretty decent, but still didn't cover the cost of fertility treatments. In NYC only companies with 100+ employees are required to contribute to fertility treatments for their employees. We paid out of pocket for most of it. The pregnancy is a bit different, but things like a doula or night nurse are only discounted if you pay them on the books. Then you'd reimburse yourself through an HSA. But many of these folks prefer to be paid cash for obvious reasons. So that may not be an option. Every city is different of course, but in NYC birth doulas run between $4K-$5K and night nurses are between $30-$40 per hour. Expect to pay more for postpartum doulas.
None of this stuff is easy, but I also love a challenge. I also think life is more fulfilling when you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. In this phase in life I guess I'm taking that pretty literally.
Keep reading for more on the creator economy. And if you're longing for community, mentorship, and (fun!) education, we're here for you. Don't wait to become a member of WIIM.
Return on Influence?is a free, weekly newsletter written by Eleni Zoe from Modash.
Eleni writes short, practical influencer marketing tips for brands. Backed & informed by survey data and expert interviews.
3-5 minute reads, no pitches, no links to click.
Read past editions and?subscribe for free here!
OUR TOUR CONTINUES!
Join us for exciting IRL community?events! Whether you’re based in LA or Chicago, these gatherings are a fantastic opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the influencer marketing industry.
On November 13th, we’re bringing you?the biggest event of the year in Chicago. Then, on November 19th, we're headed to do the same in?LA.
Don’t miss out on these incredible events across the country?—secure your spot at one (or all!) of them before tickets sell out. Fun fact: tickets are free! We can't wait to see you there!
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When you think of launching a creator marketing campaign, you may initially be drawn to big-name influencers, but did you know that shoppers are actually most likely to be influenced by the opinion of everyday consumers? But how are you supposed to give brand advocates a voice??
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Job Board Update!
Did you know we updated our job board to pull in influencer marketing roles direct from LinkedIn!? Now we just added jobs from the UK and Canada into our database! Now you can search for your next role in our 3 biggest markets: US, UK, Canada!
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Our Creator Membership is live!
It's been a long time coming, but we're finally beta testing a brand new membership just for creators! Right now it's only $4.99 per month ?? and you'll get access to a creator-only community, access to our industry experts to ask your burning questions, tons of brand partnership castings and great events.
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