Getting to the root cause of burnout. The systems (or lack thereof) that create chronic overwhelm and burnout for small business owners.
As entrepreneurs, we're often wearing most (or all) of the hats in our business. We are CEO, CFO, Social Media Manager, Head of Sales, and Customer Service.
As the business grows, so does our list of responsibilities. Enter a high risk of burnout.
At its root, burnout is caused by trying to stay afloat given an unsustainable pace of productivity and workload.
Burnout is often seen as a personal failing - due to an individual not managing their time properly, not taking care of themself, or failing to ask for help.
While these factors can contribute, they're not the cause of burnout. The overall environment and systems we work in are the root cause.
As much as our society has made progress away from the hustle culture and "busy badge of honor" as a standard, we still have work to do when it comes to structurally solving the burnout crisis.
This means making real changes in how we lead and manage, set expectations for our team, and how we set up our business operations.
What is Burnout?
Burnout happens gradually, but the weight of it can become suddenly all-consuming and send an individual into a major breakdown (physically, mentally & emotionally).
Burnout is the feeling of extreme physical and mental exhaustion. A sudden detachment from things you typically enjoy. A decrease in the ability or enthusiasm to complete tasks. Burnout can also bring feelings of doom and hopelessness resulting in a loss of meaning.
Burnout is not the same a just being tired, and it's definitely not laziness. It's not representative of your worth as a person. It's a sign from your body, begging you to slow down and make some drastic changes.
Tips for decreasing the risk of burnout as an entrepreneur or small business.
Set Clear Boundaries
Establishing boundaries is becoming more commonplace in mainstream culture as a self-care/respect tool and a way to protect mental health. Boundaries can also benefit your business efficiency if you're commitment to implementing them.
As a business owner or manager, it's important to lead by example. Modeling healthy boundaries between work and your personal life helps your team feel empowered to do the same.
This can look like not talking calls after hours, leaving the office at the same time each day, unapologetically taking time off for important life events.
Another crucial boundary is between you and your clients - you don't want to be too accessible. Set the expectation of a 24-hour response time to avoid constantly checking messages all hours of the day.
Have clear boundaries around what services you offer, or what kind of resource you are for your clients. Avoid doing for one client what you wouldn't do for every client.
Finally, know your target market so you can avoid chasing clients who aren't a good fit. Raise your standards or prices and allow undesirable clients to fade away, making room for your ideal clients (who love you, will keep coming back, refer their friends, and are happy paying full price)!
Systems and Best Practices
It's common for small businesses to be relaxed on systems. They may have systems, but don't enforce them. Things seem to work well enough as is and it doesn't feel worth it to shake things up.
In my experience, what end up happening is each team member does things their own way - which leads to an inconsistent customer experience and a lack of transparency.
This policy works...until it doesn't.
It works when nothing goes wrong, but at soon as there is a complaint or issue, there's a breakdown. It's hard to figure out what happened because it's near impossible to retrace the steps taken when there's no standard process.
A lack of process typically equates to doing things more than once (because they weren't done correctly the first time). Similarly, tasks fall through the cracks because everyone assumes someone else is handling them.
Repeating and correcting tasks all day long is exhausting and frustrating and will lead to burnout if it continues long-term.
Establish and hold your team accountable to processes and best practices to improve clarity, consistency, and effectiveness in your daily operations.
Utilize Strategic Planning
As an entrepreneur it's easy to get wrapped up in the daily operations of your business and temporarily lose sight of the big picture.
Making time for monthly/quarterly planning and reflection is a great way to stay on top of your goals and connected to your why.
Regularly stepping back to assess the direction of your business helps to keep you focused on what's most important (not urgent). It's also an opportunity to celebrate small wins and set new goals and action steps.
Practicing reflection and strategic planning forces you to know what's going on in your business and brings attention to new issues and challenges that need to be addressed before they spiral out of control.
This is also a chance to eliminate a service/offer that's not working, reorganize and delegate responsibilities, and check in with your team.
Schedule a vision and strategic planning day with a business coach or consultant. It's worth it to have someone to guide you through this process and hold you accountable to following through!
Check-in with Employees and Encourage Feedback
To reduce overwhelm and burnout for your employees, have regular check-ins and formal opportunities for them to provide feedback.
Engaging in productive conversations not just about work, but about how things are going for them outside of work creates real connection and trust within your team.
Ask for feedback on how you can help make things smoother for them. Being supportive and flexible helps decrease stress and mental load for your team.
Keep an open mind and remember that you want things to be simple and straightforward for your team.
As a business owner, make sure you have a mentor, partner, or counselor that you can speak openly with and share the challenges of your business. You need an outlet too!
Maintain Meaning and Purpose at Work
Integrate your mission, vision and values in your daily operations and interactions. This can make the difference between a long hard day, and a challenging yet fulfilling workday.
Aim to only bring on team members who share your values and align with your why.
Being clear and connected to why you do what you do is what creates meaning.
Prioritize Life Outside of Work
Just as important as meaningful work, a meaningful life outside of work is equally if not more important to decreasing burnout symptoms.
It's not healthy to spend all your time and energy focused on work, even as an entrepreneur, even if you truly enjoy it.
Prioritize family, friendships, hobbies, etc. Being well rounded and having many interests is only going to serve you more in your work life! It keeps your creative juices flowing and helps you stay open minded.
Prioritizing your life outside of work forces you to prioritize at work. If you want to have time for all your other activities, you'll be more deliberate about how you spend your time within your business.
Doing more of what matters, in less time encourages a progress over perfection attitude, which really helps ward off overwhelm and burnout.
Bottom Line: Self-care alone won't keep you from burnout.
Taking regular days off, leading an active lifestyle, and other self-care practices are valid and can help reduce stress in the short term. But self-care is not a solution to burnout.
We must address the cultural norms and systems (or lack of) that lead to chronic stress, anxiety, lack of boundaries, and overwhelm.
This includes systematically creating a less stressful and chaotic workplace, making work more manageable, creating open lines of communication, setting clear expectations, and bringing people together.
Comment below and tell us about your burnout experiences, how you overcame them, and what you're doing to keep burnout at bay. If you are struggling with burnout now and are curious about implementing processes as part of your recovery, send us a message! We'd love to help.
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