Why Small Business Owners Get Burnout & How To Avoid It
There is no doubt that when anyone starts a new business, they are full of enthusiasm, energy, and get-up-and-go. However, the do-it-all-yourself approach that is sometimes needed at the beginning, especially when you are dealing with budget and staff restraints, can quickly take its toll on the most passionate entrepreneur, thus leading to what I describe as “small business owner burnout”. If this is not dealt with head-on and quickly, the once excited business owner can quickly slide into a state of feeling unmotivated and irritated with everyone, where the thought of throwing the keys to their business into the nearest dumpster suddenly becomes very attractive. Everything just suddenly becomes too much to deal with, as the wearing of many hats for different roles such as owner, sales consultant, HR manager, social media editor, and even cleaner on occasion, leads to a complete state of burnout where energy, focus, and motivation for what you do are in short supply.
In an ideal world, we would understand in advance that if we worked 24/7, tried to be everything to everyone, and put our self-care on the backburner for too long, we would most likely end up in this very unpleasant state of being. Therefore, prevention is better than cure. So, if you are thinking of starting a new business, or if indeed you already run one, here are my ideas on avoiding the dreaded “small business owner burnout”.
You are #1, 2, and 3: If you try to continuously burn the candle at both ends, it is only a matter of time before you experience total burnout. Taking care of yourself is simple common sense; you must absolutely make sure that you are getting enough sleep, eating correctly, and having an outlet for your stress. If you don’t take care of yourself, you simply won’t be able to take care of your business and others. For tips on sleeping well, check out the book Sleeping Your Way to the Top: How to Get the Sleep You Need to Succeed by Terry Cralle—it’s a must read.
Limit Technology: Are you the type of person who checks emails the minute they get out of bed and reads or writes emails before going to bed? Studies now show that this does not keep people ahead of the game; in fact, if it does anything at all, it drains people of their energy and thus their creativity. Make sure that you limit technology and that you are not constantly plugged in. This will really help in making sure that you are able to look at things with a fresh and renewed perspective. The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris is a great book for learning how to use technology to your advantage rather than being enslaved by it.
Challenge Yourself with New Ideas and Expansive Thinking: If your business is in the doldrums or if you feel stagnant and, in a rut, I have found one of the best things to do is to create a “Think Tank” group. This will be made up of yourself and three or four like-minded people who meet to support each other in a positive manner while using the group as a sounding board for new ideas and strategic thinking. It is hard to be negative in such a positive and supportive environment; this can even be done online if you don’t have anyone locally.
An Unrealistic To-Do List: While it’s good to have a to-do list that gets checked off as you complete tasks, it can be unrealistic if you are the only person who gets to complete each task on the list. Ideally, you shouldn’t have more than three to four items on your to-do list each day because doing so will make it seem like you are doing nothing, which can be very demotivating. Another problem with to-do lists is that they are full of things that make you efficient but not effective. I remember one time where I spent an enormous amount of time entering the details of people that I met in my contacts in Outlook. There is no doubt this made me more efficient, as I could find people’s details much easier, but was it effective in any way? Looking back on that now, I don’t believe it was. I could have outsourced this to someone else and used my time for a much more effective activity.
The Power of Outsourcing: Back in the day, when I didn’t know any better, I tried to do it all myself. While it was fun in a way to learn about HTML, sending mailing lists, SEO optimization, and so on, I would have been far more effective if I had outsourced these things to the relevant professionals from the start. While budget may sometimes be an issue, we now live in a world where many services can be bought online through freelancers. For example, if you need a logo, editor, webmaster, etc., these can all now be purchased on Fiverr. Check it out—you will be glad that you did. I once led a support group where I used to teach people that it’s a sign of strength to ask for help, and I still believe that today. A guaranteed sign of “small business owner burnout” is trying to do everything yourself!
Learn to Use Your Time Wisely: Another drain on one’s mental and physical resources, without a shadow of a doubt, are things and people that waste your time. Meetings that have no agenda or a colleague that just wants to interrupt because they have nothing better to do are just two examples of things that don’t produce anything and suck your energy. Learning to avoid meetings that go nowhere or colleagues or clients that just want to waste your time needs to be learned as soon as possible if you want to avoid burnout. I noticed that the quality of my clients really increased when I decided that I would only go to meet with potential clients if they had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve from the meeting. Most of the time, potential clients with vague ideas and objectives who eventually became clients turned out to be a draining experience for all concerned. For this reason, I am a big proponent of firing clients that take up too much time and energy for too little remuneration; let them be someone else’s problem.
Learn From Your Emotions: I have believed for a long time that our emotions are our inner teachers. Regular bouts of anger, frustration, resentment, depression, and resignation are all symptoms that something is not working. If you are a small business owner and you feel any of these emotions on a regular basis, please take a moment to regroup and address the issues at hand. Reach out to a business coach for help or become part of a support system for business owners who are dealing with the same challenges as you. I have greatly benefited from talking with other businesspeople when I’ve had challenges of my own. Very often, reaching out to others has helped me put things in perspective, give me an idea of how I could improve the situation, or even launch a new product or service, thus taking me to the next level.
What It Takes to Run A Business: Many people dream of running their own business or being entrepreneurs, but surprisingly, many people don’t really know what it takes or what the challenges can be. As I have just described, if you don’t take care of yourself, you can easily end up burned out, and this can be devastating for your business. Before embarking on a self-employed route, sit down and ask yourself if this is really the path for you. Again, work with a coach, if necessary, to get clarity on why you want to follow this route and if it is indeed right for you. Not everyone is made to be an entrepreneur, but if you are, and you take care of yourself to make sure that you don’t get burned out in the process, it can lead to a wonderful life full of passion, excitement, and rewards, both personal and professional.
