Why Support Is a System (Not a Sign of Weakness)
When I had my first son, Frank, I thought “asking for help” was a sign that I wasn’t cut out for both — motherhood and entrepreneurship.
I wore independence like armor.
And for about nine months postpartum, that armor held… until it didn’t.
The truth hit me one day when I spilled freshly pumped breastmilk all over my kitchen counter (IYKYK): I had built a business that depended on my willpower, my grit, my time…not my systems. It was like a big ol’ smack in the face: the systems girl (hi, me!) was craving support systems.
It turns out, asking for help wasn’t weakness. It was my first real sign of leadership as a business owner.
So if you’re an expecting, business-owning mom — especially if you’re wired to “do it all” — this is your reminder: support is a system. And like any system, it needs clarity, intention, and practice.
Here’s how to build yours.
1. Business Support: Structure That Holds It All Together
You don’t need to replace yourself before maternity leave. You just need to build supports that absorb what you usually carry.
Here are three that make a huge difference:
Administrative Anchor
This person keeps your inbox, calendar, and client communication moving while you’re out. They know where everything lives and how to filter what truly needs your attention.
Think of them as the air traffic controller of your business — keeping the skies clear while you rest.
If you don’t have the budget available currently to hire directly into this role, the beautiful world we live in today comes packed with about 1,000 AI-enabled options for you to make things more administratively “light” in your business.
Project Management Lead
If you’ve ever been the one tracking tasks in your head, this is your sign. A project manager isn’t just a scheduler — they’re a stabilizer. They keep delivery on pace, make decisions using your values and KPIs, and run weekly pulses with the team so you don’t have to.
When things are moving smoothly without you, this is the person visibly making that possible.
The “Bat Line”
You don’t need to be off the grid to protect your peace. You just need a controlled point of access.
The “bat line” is a single channel — one Slack DM, one email, one person — who filters any real emergencies that come up while you’re on leave. It protects your inbox, your team’s confidence, and your sleep.
You do not need to be “available” during maternity leave. In fact, you might decide that when you return from leave… you’re not going back to being “on” 24/7.
Maternity leave is a fantastic opportunity to allow teammates and clients leverage their own resources and creativity for figuring it the f*ck out.
2. Home Support: The Unseen Infrastructure
The systems that keep your home running are just as critical as the ones in your business.
We tend to underestimate how much decision fatigue lives inside our four walls — meals, laundry, errands, dishes, scheduling. When you create systems here, too, you protect your bandwidth for what truly matters.
Meal Magic
You don’t have to batch-cook 50 freezer meals before baby comes. Just decide your rhythm now:
- Will you use a meal prep service?
- Rotate a simple list of 5 dinners that your spouse or mother can prepare?
- Ask a friend group to organize a meal train?
Think of meals as energy management, they are important.
House Care
Outsource anything that drains you and doesn’t require your unique touch — cleaning, lawn care, errands.
This isn’t indulgence; it’s design. Every hour you buy back is another hour of peace, recovery, or quiet.
When I was postpartum with our second son, I wanted my husband to be more available to support with the baby so that I could go take a shower (groundbreaking, I know).
When we were auditing our home responsibilities that season, we noticed that he did yard work… a lot.
A simple scheduled maintenance team for a few months got us our time back and allowed Steve to be with our kiddos while I got 20 uninterrupted minutes of my own shower.
Reset Rituals
Even with help, clutter creeps in.
This is my absolute end-all-be-all #1 trigger. When there’s stuff all over the place I am a different person.
Especially first thing in the morning, coming downstairs to chaos– it guts me.
When we had our kids at home those first few weeks, it seemed like a constant train of dirty laundry, bottle parts, pump parts, diapers, random bags.
Gosh, my heart rate is going up just writing about it.
A really simple ritual Steve and I put in place was the 10 minute evening reset.
As soon as the babies were down, we’d just spend 10 minutes picking up.
Fold the throw blankets, do the dishes left in the sink, run our little downstairs vacuum.
We’d limit ourselves to only 10 minutes.
It felt good to start every morning with a clean slate.
3. Evolving Support Is Still Support
The plan that works at 38 weeks pregnant may not work at 8 weeks postpartum — and that’s okay.
Support isn’t static. It flexes with your capacity and your needs. Some weeks, you might crave solitude; others, you might need a friend to hold the baby so you can feel like yourself for an hour.
I find that a few proactive check-ins are supportive during postpartum. Hormones are swirling, things move slow and fast at the same time. It can sometimes feel like a blur.
Then you pick your head up and your three months into this whole thing and you’ve forgotten to ask anyone for help.
LOL– not like I’ve been here or anything.
I invite all my clients to schedule a 2-week check in, a 1-month check-in, a 3 month check-in, and a 6 month check-in.
4 powerful stops in the schedule to just assess: how are things going?
Here’s the system that never fails:
- Notice what feels heavy.
- Ask who or what could help lighten it.
- Let them.
If something that was working no longer is, let it fall away.
There are so many metamorphoses during this time that it’s almost impossible to measure.
Here’s to committing to getting some support through it all.
Warmly,
Aly
