[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ _builder_version=”4.23″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ module_class=”table-contents” _builder_version=”4.23″ background_color=”#f3f2f6″ custom_padding=”25px||25px||true|false” sticky_position=”top” sticky_limit_bottom=”section” sticky_position_tablet=”top” sticky_position_phone=”none” sticky_position_last_edited=”on|desktop” border_radii=”on|24px|24px|24px|24px” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.23″ text_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}” background__hover_enabled=”on|desktop”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ header_2_font_size=”32px” hover_enabled=”0″ header_2_font_size_tablet=”30px” header_2_font_size_phone=”26px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Running a business is a gratifying experience. It allows you to be responsible for your life, provide for your family, and determine success on your terms. Being a business owner, however, does come with its downsides. Long hours, often overworked, and you have less time for yourself and your family. Work that requires this often leads to burnout.<\/p>\n
Since COVID, we have reevaluated our working lives, recognising that work-life balance<\/a> is crucial. To reduce burnout and ensure they prioritise self-care, business owners must also find their work-life balance.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at how you can manage burnout as a business owner and take care of yourself.<\/p>\n Before we can effectively deal with burnout and consider strategies to avoid it, it is important to determine what burnout is and what it looks like. Burnout is an emotional and physical condition caused by the environmental stresses of work. Burnout manifests through any number of symptoms, and signs of burnout include:<\/p>\n The causes of burnout vary, but they lead to similar symptoms nonetheless. The causes of burnout can be separated into two categories:<\/p>\n Physical causes of burnout arise from the excessive working environments that business owners subject themselves to. Physical causes include:<\/p>\n Ultimately, physical burnout will lead to your body breaking down, leaving you unable to muster the energy to get out of bed. Without taking care of yourself, you can compromise your immune system and create new or worsen medical issues.<\/p>\n Mental causes of burnout occur due to the physiological tolls that excessive work places on business owners.<\/p>\n The physiological aspect of burnout can be self-induced, as the success of the business can take the place of an individual\u2019s well-being and their immediate family and friends. The pursuit of success can often cause us to lose sight of what counts: our health, family and friends.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Scenario” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#0a004a” background_color=”#eeecff” custom_padding=”30px|30px|30px|30px|false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ border_radii=”on|20px|20px|20px|20px” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Jessie, Cafe Owner<\/strong><\/p>\n Jessie is a coffee enthusiast, and so are his customers. Jessie started his business to serve good coffee and make a living with their passion. The pressures of owning a business and passion can feel like they clash for Jessie. Jessie is feeling:<\/p>\n Causes:<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite his passion, Jessie experiences burnout due to the demands of owning a business. Even those who love what they do can feel the effects of burnout. This shows that burnout affects both business and personal life. Circumstances can vary, but the cause and symptoms are universal.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n If you own a business that captures most of your time, you may experience burnout, or you may already have it. Statistically, between 25% to 53% of business owners experience burnout at some stage of their working life. To combat burnout requires real change and commitment to those changes.<\/p>\n Physical exercise and self-reward are effective ways to combat the mental and physical pressures that owning a business can demand. Physical exercise can start small, like a 30-minute run or strength training at the gym, but self-reward is individual-specific. Self-care through reward will require business owners to discover what they enjoy doing when they unwind. Even the act of doing nothing, such as not using phones, tidying your house, cooking a meal, and staying hydrated, is a small but effective self-care activity.<\/p>\n In our example, Jessie, the cafe owner, is passionate about coffee. Self-reward for Jessie could be as simple as sipping coffee from his favourite producer and taking the time to truly enjoy it. Self-care may be small, but it is the act itself that is mentally beneficial. Physical exercise and self-care build resilience for the burdens of owning a business.<\/p>\n Adjusting your mindset can be done in a number of ways. Common examples include getting support via a therapist, business mentoring, and focusing on mindfulness. Opening a dialogue with a therapist or a mentor to share your experience can have a lasting effect on your emotional well-being. Making sure that you get support from licensed individuals and proper business mentors is a must, as they provide advice and perspectives that are either objective or experienced (or both).<\/p>\n To combat burnout, you also need to make changes to how you work. This includes taking leave and holidays, turning off your phone, allocating time for your personal life, and sleeping.<\/p>\n Part of owning a business is the assumption that you are needed 24\/7, which is impossible, but the sentiment is hard for business owners to escape. Burnout occurs if a change isn\u2019t made due to the belief that the financial and personal commitment invested will suffer without constant availability. Creating a strict schedule that includes downtime, adjusting your mindset, and committing to acts of self-care will help business owners manage burnout.<\/p>\n Managing burnout requires change and commitment. Burnout affects not just your business but also your personal life and those around you. Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t an easy fix; you must implement strategies that effectively change how you operate. You are breaking habits learnt to cope for the short term.<\/p>\n As your business grows<\/a>, the coping mechanisms that once worked may no longer be effective due to changes in its dynamics and operations, which in turn require you to adapt and function differently. But these strategies can be started small and rolled out over time. Ultimately, these changes will improve not only your business but your personal life.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][ba_social_share icon_bg=”#03002e” icon_padding=”10px|12px|10px|12px|true|true” layout=”classic” show_text=”off” btn_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” btn_bg_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”50px||||false|false” custom_padding=”25px||||false|false” custom_css_before=” content: %22SHARE THIS%22;|| font-size: 16px;|| font-weight: 700;|| line-height: 22px;|| letter-spacing: 0em;|| text-align: center;|| color: #ff5447;|| margin-bottom: 10px;|| display: inline-flex;|| position: absolute;|| margin-top: 10px;” border_width_top_main=”1px” border_color_top_main=”#e4e4e4″ border_radii_icon=”on|5px|5px|5px|5px” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_css_before_last_edited=”off|desktop”][ba_social_share_child _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_social_share_child][ba_social_share_child network_type=”facebook” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_social_share_child][ba_social_share_child network_type=”linkedin” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_social_share_child][ba_social_share_child network_type=”email” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_social_share_child][\/ba_social_share][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Burnout can hurt more than your business. Learn practical strategies to manage stress and stay balanced as a small business owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":296637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" Tired of success? Sick to the back teeth with all talk of stability and strong cash flow? Dreading strong growth, healthy profits, and excellent brand recognition? Then listen up! It\u2019s time to run your business right into the dirt.<\/p> It\u2019s easy, let\u2019s get you started.<\/p> One of the best ways to ruin your business beyond repair is to ignore reporting. When you use business tools like accounting software to run reports on cash flow<\/a>, COGS<\/a>, budget forecasting<\/a> and accounts receivable<\/a>, you gain actionable insights through hard data.<\/p> Instead of steering your business on gut feel, running reports, and then taking the information onboard will help you make better business decisions. We can\u2019t have that.<\/p> Old websites are good websites. If you really want to curb your capacity for growth and profits, you should never update your website.<\/p> Ensure you have:<\/p> By keeping your website stuck firmly in the early 2000s you will make great progress in diminishing your business and becoming unappealing to customers.<\/p> Don\u2019t ever listen to your customers or request feedback. What would they know?<\/p> Understanding feedback leads to a deeper understanding of your client base and increases your capacity to make your customers happy<\/a>.<\/p> When you ask for feedback and then act on it to make changes to your business model, you may run the risk of making and retaining more customers and increasing your profits. Avoid at all costs, (as this will only make your business stronger and more resilient<\/a>.)<\/p> Nobody knows more than you, so never ask for advice or consult with a business advisor. Business advisors are adept professionals, skilled in analysing your data and making sage suggestions on how to improve many facets of your business.<\/p> Business advisors and accountants can help you:<\/p> Such professional advice and assistance will only lead to a healthier business geared toward growth.<\/p> If you\u2019d like to generate a tight ball of stress in your chest and make hasty decisions, you\u2019re best off leaving everything until the very last minute. Wait until the final chance to do your:<\/p> If you plan and work toward getting tasks done with a calm mind and a chance to do things consciously and correctly, you\u2019re only going to run a tighter ship.<\/p> Another surefire way to erode your business is to muddle up your personal and business finances<\/a>. By using business funds for personal purchases and paying for business expenses with personal accounts you\u2019ll generate a wild financial tangle.<\/p> This nest of interwoven finances will make it an absolute nightmare to tease out your real financial position and truly mess with your reporting and tax compliance. So, if you want to spend inordinate hours trying to separate your business finances<\/a> down the track, go right ahead and make it nice and messy.<\/p> If you want to run your ship into a reef, make sure you never adjust course.<\/p> There are a lot of successful business owners out there who keep a finger on the pulse, research the market, listen to feedback, and interpret data to adjust their offerings and business models.<\/p> These business owners tend to benefit from avoiding obsolescence and will make shifts to correspond to the changing tastes of their customers and prevailing market conditions.<\/p> If you want to see diminishing returns, however, don\u2019t be like them \u2013 just remain static.<\/p> Another fantastic way to damage your business is to take employees for granted. It\u2019s often said that a business is only as good as its employees<\/a>, so take advantage of that and neglect your staff. Nothing will demotivate an employee faster than neglect.<\/p> A few ways to do this include underpayments, never giving praise or encouragement, fostering a negative work culture<\/a>, never offering training or education<\/a>, deploying a harsh and unforgiving attitude, and having a general lack of respect. Your business will be suffering in no time!<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Burnout?<\/h2>\n
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Causes of Burnout among Business Owners<\/h2>\n
Physical burnout causes<\/h3>\n
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Mental burnout causes<\/h3>\n
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Burnout Example<\/h3>\n
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Managing burnout strategies for business owners<\/h2>\n
Focus on self-care<\/h3>\n
Adjust your mindset<\/h3>\n
Commit to work habit changes<\/h3>\n
Implementing burnout management for small business owners<\/h2>\n
1) Ignore reporting<\/h2>
2) Neglect your website<\/h2>
3) Don\u2019t ask for customer feedback<\/h2>
4) Do it all yourself and never ask for advice<\/h2>
5) Leave everything until the last minute<\/h2>
6) Mix up your personal and business finances<\/h2>
7) Never adjust course<\/h2>
8) Create hostile relationships with your employees<\/h2>