There will come a time in most business owner’s lives where they have a big decision to make.
This issue arises when the work piles up and they start feeling overwhelmed with an endless to-do list. They wake up in the morning defeated and enter the office with dread. The weekends do not come fast enough, and sleep has gone from a plush eight to a mere three. Welcome to business burnout. Now what?
Welcome to the Business Burnout
Business burnout forces business owners to choose one of two paths.
Picture a fork at the end of a road. One direction is to expand or find a way to grow your business; the other is to stick it out and hope things will level out eventually.
One means continuing your current state of burnout, but with no major decisions to make. The
other means uncharted territory and more risks, but with the possible benefit of more quality of life, and hopefully, more income.
One is safe. One is scary. So, how do they decide?
Weighing the Pros and Cons
As any real business owner would advise, pros and cons lists are the go-to when decisions are tough. Naturally, a sound business owner would back any advantages and disadvantages with financial figures and statistics, along with their “gut” feeling.
To help you decide, consider the following:
- Stress Level – with an already heightened stress level , taking on more work may put an owner into the danger zone, however, turning away work would cause stress too, because they turned away the potential for more profits. Expanding and adding more team members not only allows a business to take on more projects but could relieve stress more than cause it. After all, more tasks can be delegated to new staff. Perhaps it’s the business side of things that needs a boost. If a business owner is always out in the field performing the work, then who is running the business? This is where franchising may help. Franchising comes with a plethora of home-office support and may help grow a business in a way that feels less risky.
- Profit versus Task - Sometimes, it makes business sense to turn down new work. Consider how much time is spent on that new project versus how much is gained. Projects should not stretch operations to the point where work quality suffers. Work should provide growth opportunity, and gained recognition for the business along with a profit. If it does none of that, then turning it away may be best.
- Volume of New Work Coming In - If you have numerous projects offered to you or your company, then it might be an indication you need to expand. Turning away the occasional project is fine, but once you are stretched so thin you are turning down several a month, expansion could allow you to take on those new opportunities.
Sometimes business burnout can be solved with one word: Support. Support with systems, operations, marketing, IT and more can be the difference between a business that suffers and one that is successful.
