Pregnant and in the process of open my family buisness

Nan123

I am 25 my business will be open in 2 months. How do I tell my family. I understand I can hire someone for maternity cover but will I get my maternity benefit as I have been on social welfare with last year. I am due 5th Jan 15. My family are going to be so disappointed how can I approach this. I am 10 weeks and my partner and I are happy. Was thinking of hiding it for as long as I can. Help

MillyD123

Hi Nan123. Congratulations on your pregnancy !! Its a very exciting and special time so try to enjoy it. I'm sure your family will be delighted with the prospect of a new grandchild. Be proud of your new growing family and don't feel you have to hide it. You are obviously a very bright and capable young women to be starting your own business at such a young age. I feel you are much better off starting your family now in your mid-20's rather than delaying it for years.

Can I ask what kind of business you are opening ? I'm self-employed also and had my third child while completing my degree part time and running the business. It was a busy time and I have great support from family and colleagues though but I did have moments (and tears) wondering how I would manage. It all worked out fine in the end.

Nan123

Hello. Thank you so much. It is a retail business in seafood my family are all fishermen so I taught it would be a good idea to retail there catch for them as they loose money sending it elsewhere. I am very excited about this as I think it is going to take off as soon as it opens but I think if I postpone I will never open it at all. We have the shop and we will be beginning work etc and getting equipment this month and next month.
I would be able to work the whole way up to Xmas as I am very active with gym swimming and also exercise classes, I have had no pregnancy symptoms bar a little tiredness if I leave it one day between exercising.I was planning on keeping this up through the pregnancy so I'm hoping it will go as easy as it can (please god).
Was going to try hide it until my shop is nearly open as I am slim built and nobody would no

MillyD123

Hi Nan,

Sounds like you have it all planned out well. There is no reason that you can't work up until your due date as long as you remain healthy and don't take on too much. You will need to hire someone to work in the shop in the weeks after you have the baby and it should be easy enough to hire someone with retail experience. It may not be possible to take 6 months of maternity leave but you can certainly cut back your hours until your baby is a little older and you have good childcare established. You can still do the managerial work (accounts, orders, suppliers etc.) at home in the evenings if needs be. Also as its a family business, maybe some family members will be happy to help out - after all they are benefiting from this business too.

Once you have the baby, you will have great flexibility with regards to your working hours - you are the boss after all. So you can work mornings/evenings weekends. You can take a long lunch to go and see the baby. Also young babies tend to sleep quite a lot so you probably bring him/her to work with you at times.

I totally agree that you shouldn't postpone opening the shop, enjoy your achievements, take each day as it comes and most importantly enjoy your pregnancy - its such a special time (especially your first :-))

MillyD123

Just want to add - think what a fantastic role model you will be for your child, especially if she is a girl. Female entrepreneurs are few and far between in Ireland and strong role models are essential if we are going to encourage other young women to start their own business. And no doubt the next few months will be busy and hard, but if it were easy everybody would be doing it !

Nan123

Hi Milly,
Very positive feedback off u I feel great now. So what about the hiding it thing for another month at least? Super excited x

skelligs

Maternity benefit is paid based on the previous years employment record.

The baby is due Jan 5th, however you maternity benefit would normally start 2-4 weeks beforehand, so the 2013 prsi year will be the basis for your maternity claim.

If you have an accountant (if you are starting a business you should get one) ask him/her or check with your ocal citizens advice centre to see what is best.