4 Ways to Beat Burnout as a Business Owner

Owning a business is exciting… and a lot of work. What starts as an exhilarating venture can quickly turn into a 24/7 whirlwind of being pulled in a million different directions at once. If your inbox is overflowing, your desk is hidden under a sea of stickies, and you can’t make heads or tails of your calendar, your business might be burning you out.

Prevent Burnout: Plan Ahead

Fortunately, there are ways to keep from getting overwhelmed—and burnt out—as a business owner. The more organized you are, the less likely you are to feel like you’re buried under a sea of to-do lists: phone calls to make, emails to respond to, work to delegate, payroll to verify… and on and on.

Feeling like you’re being taken under by a tidal wave? Here are some easy ways to prevent burnout as a business owner.

Get organized

We went over this in a lot more detail in our last blog post on business organization, but we’ll say it again for the people in the back: Getting organized can help you get stuff done! Finding the tools that work best for you to help you get (and stay) organized is critical. Are you a big fan of Google Calendar? Do paper lists work better for you? Do you have a task management program?

We recommend using a few different programs and apps together to get organized. Task management software is a must for keeping not only yourself, but also your employees, on the right path.

Write it down

A big part of being organized is getting ideas, tasks, and information out of your head and onto paper (physical or digital) in a legible, understandable, and easy-to-follow way. Ideally, you want to set yourself up to be able to hand your tasklist off to someone else and have them know exactly what needs to be done (you do want to take a vacation some day, right?)

Again, that probably means spreading out your tasks and projects into a few different apps or programs. Create task lists in your task management software to ensure that everything that needs to be done gets done. Use Google Docs or Sheets for ongoing ideas. You might even consider color-coding lists to ensure you get high-priority tasks done on time.

Delegate

Unless you’re a one-man-or-woman business, odds are, you can’t do it all on your own. So it’s important to know how to delegate tasks out to other employees or contractors. This is where task management programs really come in handy—you can easily dole out work to others, thereby taking items off your to-do list.

The more organized you are, and the more you write down and share, the more easily you’ll be able to delegate parts of your tasklist out. And the more you share, the less you have overwhelming your plate!

Make time for YOU!

When you own a business, especially if you’re just starting out, it’s easy to let your work take over your life. You wake up in the morning thinking about your business. Eat breakfast at your computer, bring your to-do lists to the dinner table, and skip social engagements in favor of logging a few more hours… sound familiar?

While it’s tempting to go the extra mile whenever possible, it’s important to learn that sometimes it’s okay to say no or to put your personal needs in front of your business. Remember, owning a business is a long-term career, so you want to create sustainable habits and work-life balance.

Still Feeling Overwhelmed?

We get it. Owning a business isn’t easy! We’ve all been there, where we feel completely overwhelmed, disorganized, and burnt out. Fortunately, Corridor Consulting can lend a hand. While we’re not going to start color-coding your tasks lists, we can take marketing off your plate for you—delegate that part of your business to us, and we’ll gladly accept your social media, blogs, website updates, and more! Curious? Contact us today, and let’s chat about your business.

You can also join Corridor Community for more business and marketing tips and tricks, or to connect with other small business owners!