Is Owning a Small Business Stressful?
For many people, the idea of starting their own business is a dream–they’ll get paid for doing what they love, they’ll be their own boss, and they’ll set their own schedule. However, owning a small business comes with many challenges that require careful navigation. As the owner, you’re responsible for the success of your business, and you’ll require a special kind of dedication and discipline to build something successful.
Based on these factors, owning a small business can be very stressful. For unprepared or under-equipped entrepreneurs, this can be like jumping into the deep end without knowing how to swim. These business owners may wind up overwhelmed and think: “My small business is killing me.” On the other hand, owning a small business can be incredibly rewarding. Passionate entrepreneurs can take pride in seeing their ideas brought to life and seeing their businesses grow.
So while owning a business is not without its challenges and stress, it can be a very rewarding career path for many entrepreneurs. To stick things out when challenges arise, the best thing to do is develop strategies that will help you overcome business owner burnout.
What To Do When You Want To Quit Your Business
If you’re feeling like you want to quit your business, you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs have days where it feels like everything is going wrong and they want to throw in the towel. Still, successful entrepreneurs will find a way to overcome these obstacles and see things through. Often, wanting to quit your business can be attributed to a loss of motivation. While there are many reasons that this could be true, a likely scenario is that you’re dealing with business owner burnout.
For business owners who feel like quitting their business, one of the best ways to combat this feeling is to rediscover your motivation and passion. If you’ve been looking at a long-term goal that seems like it’ll take a long time to achieve, try creating a plan with definitive milestones that can help you achieve this far-off goal. This way, you can celebrate the smaller successes while working towards the long-term goal you’re trying to achieve.
Additionally, it can be easy to become overwhelmed by the day-to-day stress of running a business and lose sight of your overall mission. If you’re feeling like short-term challenges are holding you back, remember why you started your business and what you’re looking to achieve. This can help you overcome these challenges and stay on track for success.
What Are the Five Symptoms of Burnout?
Even if you’re doing your best to stay motivated and keep sight of your mission, it’s still easy to become burned out. Here are the five most common burnout symptoms that can tell you something needs to be fixed:
- Fatigue: We all have days where we feel tired. However, fatigue is an extreme feeling of tiredness that makes it difficult to feel rested. Even after a full night of sleep, you may wake up feeling tired, find it difficult to complete routine tasks, or have an overwhelming urge to sleep.
- Dissatisfaction: Business owner burnout can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction. If you feel dissatisfied with what you’re doing and feel like you don’t want to go to work more than you do, you could be experiencing burnout.
- Headaches: As stress is a major component of burnout, it’s very common to experience tension headaches. These headaches often are mild-to-moderate in severity and are accompanied by a sensation of a band being wrapped around the temples.
- Eating or Sleeping Habit Disruptions: If you find yourself lying awake, unable to sleep, or eating more unhealthy foods than usual, burnout could be contributing to this.
- Mental Health: Although depression and burnout are different things, their symptoms overlap. This means that you may feel like you’re depressed, but once you step away from work, your mood will begin to improve. If you’re unable to differentiate between burnout and depression, it would be wise to speak with a mental health provider so they can rule out the latter condition.
How to Avoid Burnout as an Entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, you should become accustomed to the idea that your job will likely entail some sort of stress. If this stress is chronic and you’re unable to manage it adequately, you risk burning out. Because of this, it’s important to develop tools to prevent burnout in the future. Fortunately, there are many tried and true methods to beat burnout. Think of the ways that you typically deal with stress. These will likely help you overcome burnout as well.
When dealing with burnout, focus on self-care and taking time away from work. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, try to exercise regularly, and eat healthy foods. At the same time, take time to detach from work, whether that’s not checking emails and getting work tasks done in the evening or taking time off on the weekends.
If you find what works best for you, you’ll be able to effectively overcome burnout and get back to enjoying running your business.
