The 12 Steps to Plan Parenthood Mini-Course

Introducing.... The Parenthood by Design Bootcamp

Transcript

Hi, I'm Helen Cammack.

Hopefully you've been through the 12 steps to plan parenthood mini course that tells you all about my methods to plan parenthood. If you haven't, you can still sign up to it at preparental.com/12steps.

If you have found the mini course helpful and if you see the value in following the process that I've described, then I'd love to tell you about the Parenthood by Design Bootcamp.

In the Bootcamp, which is a six week program, you'll be fully supported to write the first version of your strategic parenthood plan, not just to sketch down your ideas, which you might've done during the mini course, but to construct a comprehensive, coherent, fully costed plan that aligns with your values and your goals. And one that is completely implementable.

The Bootcamp follows my 12 step parenthood planning process and it gives you the structure and the framework so that you can move forward with creating your plan without getting stuck, without getting confused, and without getting bogged down.

A great parenthood plan, as we've seen in the 12 steps, starts with where you are, builds on what you know about parenthood. It outlines your ecosystem, what's going to support you in terms of your team and your environment.

A great parenthood plan sets goals based on your values and then outlines your preferred operating model, your work plans, your childcare plans and your home life plans, both your domestic plans and your leisure time.

And then a great parenthood plan calculates how affordable all of this is for you, and makes tweaks to ensure that you can afford it.

A great plan, therefore leads naturally into well-formed decisions about whether to become a parent, when to become a parent, and how. And it's supported by adjustments to your mindset to make sure that you're able to actually enjoy being a parent and get the most out of it.

So a great plan will get you on the same page as your partner, help you make big decisions and feel better about parenthood before you do it, because you will have set up your family life for success when you are a parent.

So who is this course for?

Well, it will be of most value to you if you're thinking of having kids with a partner and if you are in the UK.

You could be at the thinking, deciding or planning stage.

If you're not in the UK, you should still get a lot out of the course, but there will be particular steps, which will be slightly less useful to you - just slightly because bits of them are UK specific. And frankly, I know much more about being a parent in the UK. I'm particularly thinking about the childcare planning step and the affordability step. However, with both of those steps, you can still follow the process. It's just that the details of what I'll be teaching you have a UK focus.

If you are currently expecting a child, you are very welcome to join, of course, but bear in mind that some of the planning that we talk about is long range planning. That means it assumes that you have time to implement it before you become a parent. That doesn't mean that the course won't be useful to you, but your plan might be harder to implement in good time. And you may find that you're implementing some of the plan once you are a parent instead of before. And that can be a harder thing to do.

If you're not sure whether you're going to get a lot out of it because of your specific situation email me at helen@preparental.com and I will be completely honest with you about whether the course will help you out or not. It's not in my interest for you to take this Bootcamp and not get good value out of it.

So what's the format?

Well, the Bootcamp is a fully supported live group course led by me over six weeks.

Each week, we will cover 1-3 steps of my 12 step planning process.

Each week of the Bootcamp, recorded lessons will be released to you for the steps that we're covering that week. The lessons will typically be in total only between one and two hours per week, which you can watch as a video or listen to as a private podcast. Or even read if you prefer reading.

Every one of the 12 steps will also have an accompanying worksheet or checklist or tool, which will help you to put into action what you're learning.

And you'll have one single plan template where you can summarize your plan in one place.

So at the end of it, you've got your complete plan and you can see how it hangs together.

Your task each week will be to work on writing that week's section of your parenthood plan, noting down your thoughts, your discoveries, your insights, and your decisions about that part of the plan.

You'll have access as well to the Preparental Calculator, which you will use as part of step 10, the affordability step to create financial planning spreadsheets. You'll have access to this calculator for 12 months. So you can keep coming back to rerun scenarios on the numbers if you need to.

During each week you'll have the opportunity to ask questions relating to the steps that we cover that week. And to join a live session on zoom to ask questions, listen to me answering other participants questions, and get feedback on your plans and your thoughts. And just share and discuss how you're getting on at what support you need. It's also an opportunity for me to go a bit deeper on that week's topics. There's no compulsion to join in with the zoom calls or to use your real name. You can attend it with no camera if you like, you can attend it with the mute button on. But it does at least allow you to ask questions through the chat, and to address any issues that you're having, even if you ask questions anonymously. These calls are going to be in the evening time, it's likely to be on a Thursday evening, but they will also be recorded with replays available to all participants if you can't make it live.

And you'll also have the opportunity to ask me questions either by email or WhatsApp throughout the period of the Bootcamp. So I can answer your questions.

Doing it on a timetable with others means that you're much more likely to stay motivated, to keep up with everyone else and to keep going through the plan.

At the end of the period, if you've managed to complete your plan to your satisfaction, and I really hope that you will, you have the option to get my personal feedback on your plan. This is not to criticize it as such. I'm not in the business of saying that's wrong, or your plan should be more like this and less like that. It's more so I can make constructive suggestions that help you to meet your goals and that build upon your thinking. I can recommend next steps. I can recommend complementary actions that might help you, including things to read, further reading material, who to talk to, what podcasts to listen to it, et cetera.

So what is the outcome?

What's the intended outcome of the course? Well, the outcome of the course is for you to complete your first draft of your parenthood plan. This plan should be complete. It should be comprehensive. Even if it doesn't go into depth, it needs to cover all the bases and answer all of your big questions.

It should also be really coherent. Your plan should hang together and be consistent and coherent and workable. All the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, your work, your childcare, your money, et cetera, should fit together.

And it should be costed. You should know what your plan will cost you financially, and you'll come away with a financial spreadsheet showing all of your assumptions and the costs that go with those assumptions. So you have a really good idea of your financial plan for making this happen and you can actually budget against it.

Your plan should be values led. It will start with identifying your goals and your values. So the plan should feel like your plan. It should be very personal. It shouldn't be like anybody else's plan.

And it should be actionable. You should know what's next because you'll have an action plan to put everything into place, which might include further learning and preparation, further planning, stakeholder engagement or implementing big moves, such as career moves or house moves, or working on your relationship and building up your support network.

If you're thinking that you would like to do this, but you also want your partner to do it with you, here's the good news. You can both do it with separate access to all the training and support for the price of one person. I have no intention of gatekeeping this to one partner in a couple, it will have way more value to you if you do it together.

The best time to do this Bootcamp is now it is always now whatever stage you're at with your planning, because there's no such thing as too early to start planning. Even if you are undecided whether you want to be a parent, this will help you decide. The earlier you start the longer you've got to implement your plan. And the more likely it is to be successful because you will have everything in place when you do finally become a parent.

Also the best time financially to join the Bootcamp is now because it will never be such good value as it is at the moment. I'm currently running this Bootcamp starting in Q1 2025 for the first time. You can see the website for the exact date. Later this year when I run it again it will be significantly more expensive because I will have ironed out all of the imperfections and taken on all of your feedback. And hopefully I will also have testimonials from those who have taken the Bootcamp. But because this is the very first one, I'm offering it at a fraction of the eventual price - at £99. And this is important. I intend to run this Bootcamp a few times a year. And if you participate in one Bootcamp, you'll also be eligible to participate in any future Bootcamp with a 75% discount. That means you can repeat the Bootcamp later on for just 25% of £99, that's £25, later in the year, if you wish.

You might be thinking, why would you want to repeat it? Well, here's the thing. Whilst I'm really proud of the content of the lessons that I've been developing on all of the subject matter, such as financial planning for parenthood and childcare planning, and whilst I know that the lessons and the tools are going to really help you, this Bootcamp, isn't just about learning. It's about creating a space and a structure where you can think about your plans for the future and discuss them with your partner in a structured and well-informed way and get supported to do so. It's as much about walking you through a process so that you take action and you do the right kinds of thinking and decision-making, as it is about the specific learning that I'm going to teach you in the lessons. And that means that repeating the process, once you've done it for the first time, is potentially valuable because the second time around, if you're still at the planning stage, you can go deeper into your plan, ask different questions and make your plan even better. The price that I'm offering this at now absolutely won't ever be better. And if you come on board now, because you can repeat the Bootcamp, I'll be supporting you in an affordable way, all the way to becoming a parent if that's what you eventually choose to do.

If you've decided that this Bootcamp is for you, I'm delighted to welcome you on board. And you can get started immediately before the Bootcamp starts with some detailed question prompts on each step, although there's absolutely no need to do so if you want to wait for the Bootcamp to start properly. If you have any questions about the Bootcamp - how it works, whether it's good for you - please don't hesitate to email me helen@preparental.com. I would love to see you in the Bootcamp and to support you through planning the next phase of your life.