Being a small business owner can be like running a sprint and a marathon at the same time while jumping over hurdles. Then most small business owners start a steady diet of less and less sleep, and voila! You have burnout!
When you started your small business, you were likely inspired by the allure of freedom. The idea of working on what you wanted and when was probably very exciting.
Unfortunately, this quickly turns into working hours so long that most labor laws would prohibit it.
The only freedom you now have is to work yourself into the ground.
As you read this, you may be thinking…
“Yes, but once I get past this next thing, things will be different!”
STOP! And read this part slowly!
There will always be “another thing.”
There will always be work for clients, new website updates, prospect meetings, keeping up with the daily admin pressures, and trying to be on all social media platforms all the time.
Is Speed Your Superpower?
When you’re always exhausted, you’re guaranteed to make mistakes. Most small business owners just try to go faster and react to the demands of the moment. For years, I thought my superpower was speed. And like so many small business owners, “flying by the seat of your pants” became commonplace.
Let’s look at how much this costs you.
Imagine you had a grocery list. You head to the store, gather the items you need, line up, cash out, and then spend money on gas to drive home. The whole thing may take you 40 minutes. You get home, and half way through making dinner, you discover you are missing the most important item on the list.
It takes you several minutes to figure this out. Then you run through a series of ideas to compensate for this error, and finally you decide to head back to the store.
Heading back to the store, you go through the same actions again. You get the item you need, line up, cash up, and then you spend money on gas to drive home. The whole thing takes about the same amount of time as the first trip.
This mistake cost you double the work and cost, plus the extra time it took you to find the mistake.
And why does this happen again and again?
You’re set up to fail! The problem is not your memory or discipline; it’s that you’re not using systems and processes to leverage your time and scale your small business.
Small Business Owners, Do You Need Systems & Process?
Systems and processes are essential to a business’s success.
Being a visionary is your most important role as a business owner.
It’s all about getting your ideas executed.
It’s not something you can do on the fly in between reacting to all the events of the day.
When you’re running around doing things in a one-off manner, you’re draining your energy quickly. And this does not aid you in being clear-minded and creative.
If you’re like most business owners, you think your business is different. You may think you know your business and don’t need to rely on systems and processes.
Let me explain it another way.
On average, you make about 35,000 decisions every day. Each one of those decisions zaps a little bit more of your brain power. Decision fatigue is a very real thing. It’s similar to having all the apps open on your phone—it burns the battery down quicker.
Did you know that restaurants that have fewer items on their menu have higher per-table sales? Yes, the fewer options available to the consumer, the easier it is. Can we all agree that dining out is less demanding than running a business?
Without systems and processes, you waste a lot of time and energy.
With all of the extra energy you expend remembering things and correcting mistakes, you could be generating more revenue.
You’ll find that you’re constantly trying to keep on top of it all.
Your desired results are always slipping out of your reach.
And then you fall into the constant cycle of burnout, and your business fails.
Benefits of Outsourcing Virtual Assistants
The benefits of outsourcing for small businesses are amazing. It truly has changed the game for small business owners, allowing us to compete in the bigger marketplace.
Creating systems and processes is quite easy when you have a virtual assistant to outsource. Use a loom to screen capture any small business tasks you need to complete. Then, have your outsourced Filipino virtual assistant write out the steps.
Outsource admin work, and you can be free to work on revenue-generating projects. This allows you to work hard without burning out. You can work less and make more money.
I know that for most of my clients, hiring a virtual assistant was their first step to freedom. It’s easier than you think to scale your business with outsourcing. I could write a whole book on the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant. Hiring a VA saves money and lets you enjoy your business again!
This is where it is essential that you change your entrepreneurial mindset. Burnout is not a reflection of your doing something wrong; it’s a reflection of your trying to use sweat over strategy. The bottom line is that you want to free up your time so you can have freedom in your business and your life.
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