5 Things They Don’t Tell You About Being an Entrepreneur In Early Pregnancy

There are things that all of us expect once we become pregnant – a bit of sickness, swollen ankles, stretch marks – but in my childless naivety, I had absolutely no idea how hard the first trimester would hit, and how much it would impact my business.

Here are my top 5 things I wish someone had told me about being an entrepreneur in my first trimester.

1.      KILLER CONTENT!

Sorry, I mean ‘content killer’.

When I first told my mum our exciting news, she responded ‘ah that would explain why your WhatsApps haven’t made much sense lately’.

I looked at my partner for reassurance, and he just nodded.  Yeah, thanks love.

It seems to me that this baby has not only sucked away all my creative juices, but also any practical ones I may have harboured, within mere hours of it’s existing.

In fact, I am convinced that the eagled eyed among you could go back a few months through my posts and figure out the exact timings. Not that you’d want to. (Right?)

I spend ages writing content, checking it, re-reading it again and then happily placing into the scheduler, only to see on the day of the posting that not only did it contain typos, but sentences made either zero sense or stop entirely halfway through, a sudden tendency towards strange use of completely inappropriate words (though I’ve always done this to be fair) and at points, trailing off entirely into utter ramblings.

What made complete sense to me at the point of writing, wouldn’t make sense to any educated person at the point of reading.

In terms of business impact, this one is a biggie. 

Content is my footprint.  It’s my ‘know, like and trust’.  It’s how I stay relevant and visible to a network of connections and potential clients.

Looking like a donkey who can’t spell and posting vanilla warblings isn’t generally linked with good business practice. 

All I can hope is that any skills I do have come back for a short term before deserting me again due to pure exhaustion once said child actually arrives!

2.      MORNING SICKNESS HAS PYTHON-ESQUE TIMING

An interesting fact for you; did you know that morning sickness and Zoom are best buddies?

Perhaps you’d assume so. And really, we all know that a bit of sickness can be expected, but did you also know that morning sickness is sharper than Stewart Lee in the mid 90s?!

Its timing is impressive and ruthless.

At the point you’re telling me your mum didn’t love you enough and your dad smacked you a little too hard more than once – ooh hello sickness!

At the point you’ve had a breakthrough and realised that you just don’t love them anymore and it’s time to leave – ooh hello sickness!

At the point where you say to me that you’d love to work with me, how much would it cost and when can we start – ooh hello sickness!

It goose-stepped through the most important moments of my calls like John Cleese and his Ministry of Silly Walks.

Now, genetically this kid is going to be a wind-up merchant – it’s parents live in a never ending battle of trying to out wit each other and one-upmanship.  But kid, please.  This is Mummy’s livelihood!!!

3.      EMPIRES ARE BUILT ON TEA

I shy away from talk about the British Empire (or any empire for that matter). I find it dark and shameful.  It’s not a point of pride for me.

But if I have learned anything in the last 4-5 months, it’s that I now understand how the power of the tea industry was intrinsic in building empires.   It all makes sense!

Now, I was expecting some strange cravings – licking coal, sniffing the walls, eating sponges – but I haven’t experienced any of that, I have only experienced aversions. (I know, dull right?)

And my biggest aversion is tea.  Yuck. Hate it.

Hate the look, hate the smell, hate the taste.

Now- my entire business (nay career!!!) has been built on taking a minute, putting the kettle on and settling down to conquer the task in front of me with a fresh builder’s brew.

I was a solid 10-12 cups a day girl.

So what the bloody hell am I supposed to do now?!

My entire business has ground to a halt because I have no equivalent of putting the kettle on and taking a minute. 

Where’s my release?! Where’s my sweet relief?! Where’s my buzz-inducing nectar of the gods?!

Please someone, save me from this fresh shade of hell.

4.      NOT GIVING A TOSS

Another worrying impact on my business is how this ever-so-wanted-and-very-much-loved little bugger has commandeered my mindset.

When we decided to try for a family, I had all these big ideas to protect my business.

I planned on creating streamlined passive income, beautiful online only content, smooth and friendly sales funnels, web pages and mailing options. 

I was going to increase my exposure through seamless channels and profile optimisation. Landing pages, welcome pages, thank you pages, membership opportunities, blogs, vlogs and downloadable value.  Doesn’t it all sound wonderful?!?!!

Did I do any of it? Did I f*ck.

My skin hurt, my bones hurt, my muscles hurt, my eyes hurt, my head hurt, my fingers hurt and I couldn’t drive to Tesco without a bucket for company.

All I wanted was to coach my clients for 90 mins (still my love), and nothing more.

My energy and appetite for global expansion disappeared quicker than my waistline.

And along with it, so did my business security.

Thankfully, the second trimester is kinder – I feel far more human than I did before, and with it a return of energy - but I suspect another bout of this is coming in the third, which puts me in a massive rush to produce anything I can to cover my maternity and keep my business afloat once the little cherub steals my peace.

5.      BEING PROUD AS PUNCH

So, it’s not been easy. 

In fact it’s been bloody hard.

And when the majority of your identity is intrinsically linked with your being a woman in business, it can be quite a shock to adjust to your movable goals and abilities.

But it is still bloody lovely and I am proud as punch of what I have and what I’ve made – very Blue Peter of me; business, baby and all.

One the of the hardest elements in all if this is meeting regularly with clients …  these people who I know more about than possibly anyone else, who bare their souls and give me access to their ugliest thoughts, these people who I genuinely care for and want to have their best lives possible … meeting them and having to sit there with my wonderful little secret burning a hole in my tongue.

That and wanting to apologise for suddenly having really shit content on LinkedIn.

So there we have it.

5 things they don’t warn you about in early pregnancy and their impact on business (in my experience).

I just wish someone warned me how much of a write-off the first 12 weeks were likely to be and I would have factored it into my world domination!

Oh well.  On the plus side, at least I have a new marketing angle for ‘Emma’s Snippet’ now, eh.