So my intro at the beginning of every podcast episode says “I have been supporting women to grow and scale businesses that light them up – not burn them out – since 2014.”
And there’s one key phrase here from that sentence that we’re going to be talking about today. Burn them out.
You know the term burnout is a tricky one because oftentimes business owners don’t resonate with that term. And if you know anything about marketing, you know that we want to be speaking to the results that our clients are looking for and also the transformation that we provide in order to help them achieve those results.
So for me, in a lot of my marketing I’m specifically speaking to the problem that women in business are struggling with, like not having enough time and feeling like they have to work 24/7, or hitting an income ceiling and not being able to rise above it, just to name a couple of examples.
And then that transformation that I can really offer is to give them time freedom without them freaking out about stepping away from their desk and/or to support them in hitting that 7-figure mark and beyond and/or to help take them off the hamster wheel so they can make more income and impact.
But what things often boil down to are that my clients are literally at their wits end and they are about to burn their business to the ground because they are what? You probably guessed it. They are burnt out.
So before we jump in, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page talking about burnout and what it actually is.
I’m pulling this definition from the International Wound Journal in an article called Societal pandemic burnout: A COVID legacy. And that was published August of 2020.
And I quote, “Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.”
This is something that I see SO often with high-achieving women. They have pushed and pushed and hustled and hustled and grown their businesses and accomplished some really amazing things. But their plate is overflowing and they finally get to a breaking point where they just want to burn it all down.
Now burnout is usually a gradual thing. It typically sneaks up on you after months or even years of overworking, not prioritising yourself, and not having boundaries in place.
But. You do not have to get to the point where you are pulling out your hair, questioning your entire business existence, and wondering what the fuck the point even is to start putting things in place to protect yourself and your business. Being aware this is even a thing and taking steps to put things in place to avoid it can be really impactful for you in the future.
Now you know how I mentioned a minute ago that a lot of business owners don’t resonate with the term burnout?
If you’re listening right now and you don’t resonate with that term or it hasn’t gotten quote “that bad yet,” that’s totally fine. I still want you to hear me out though and just take a quick listen to some common signs to be mindful of.
Some common signs of burnout include:
– Loss of motivation
– Exhaustion
– Being over everything
– Change in sleep schedule and/or appetite
– Feeling trapped
– Sense of failure
– Isolating yourself
Burnout looks different for everyone, and something that I struggle with in burnout may not really impact you, and vice versa. So these are not hard and fast rules, but oftentimes burnout comes with losing motivation and just feeling like crap overall and having a really difficult time pulling yourself out of the funk.
And burnout doesn’t just impact your business. This can spill over into your personal relationships, your social life, the hobbies that you enjoy, and even your health.
I burned out a couple of years ago and for me, this looked like having zero motivation in my business, having little interest in my personal life, sleeping all the time, and primarily curling up on the couch and literally doing nothing except for binging shows on Netflix. It is not a fun place to be in.
I was slowly able to start to pull myself out of the funk personally and physically by scheduling coffee dates and hanging out with friends and MAKING myself go to the gym twice a week. These two things had a huge positive impact on my life, but in business I was just over everything. My biggest struggle with burnout was entrepreneurial burnout.
So. Million dollar question here. How can we prevent burnout, or if you’re already on the brink, how can we shift that?
Today we’re going to dive into 5 ways that you can find balance for your sanity and in your business and pull you from the brink of burnout. These 5 things are really tailored to entrepreneurial burnout, but literally every single one of these things can also be carried over into your personal life as well.
1. Boundaries
This one is crucial, and it’s one of the first big steps that need to be taken in order to shift things. Learn to say no!
I know, it is often SO much easier said than done, but I cannot stress enough how important boundaries are.
If you are constantly replying to clients as soon as a message comes through, or you’re answering your team at all hours of the night, or you say yes to absolutely everything that comes your way – boundaries are you first line of defense.
Now here’s the thing with boundaries. They can – and will – make your life SO much better in the long run. And they actually serve your clients better as well because they set expectations and clients know what to expect.
But they can be really difficult to put into place, stick with, and do a client reset if your boundaries have been lax. From what I’ve experienced with myself and also with my clients, it can be challenging to put the boundary in place, especially if you already have a relationship and an expectation has been set. So what I often see clients do is they will send the email or the Slack message or do the level set, what have you, but then when the rubber meets the road, they won’t hold the line. They’ll just revert back to their old ways because that feels easier. But it actually just makes things more confusing for your clients, can lead to resentment on your end, and push you to burnout in extreme cases.
So here’s the first step for you. For any NEW clients, set the boundary immediately – and stick to it. This can mean response times in 48 business hours, no working (or responses) on Fridays, only allowing calls to be booked in 2 days per week, stopping work immediately if a payment fails, etc. It’s going to look different for everyone. But it’s much easier to set those boundaries from the get go than trying to backtrack later on.
And then for CURRENT clients, have a level set convo and be sure to actually follow through with the boundaries that you have set.
2. Self-care
Self-care is another one that oftentimes tends to get put on the back burner and something that we can struggle to prioritise, especially as women running businesses, and especially when we already have a full plate.
Self-care in whatever way that looks. Taking a day off, going for a walk in the park, having a bubble bath – whatever that looks like for you that just helps you fill your own cup.
And I know it can seem really counter-intuitive to take time to focus on ourselves. After all, when we’re so busy we can’t breathe or take time to even pee, it feels asinine to step away instead of plow through and knock the next thing off the to do list. But that’s exactly what you NEED to do. You cannot pour from an empty cup.
It’s like when you’re on an airplane and the flight attendants say before you takeoff, “In case of emergency, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling, and you need to secure your own mask before you help others.” And this is such a relevant analogy. If you run out of oxygen and you cannot breathe, you literally cannot help others. And this is the same concept. If you are burning out, you literally cannot help others. Because there’s no space left. So taking care of yourself is imperative, especially if you’re burnt out or on the brink of burning out.
3. Reevaluate
If you’re burning out, it’s a GREAT time to reevaluate what you actually want. What you actually enjoy. And also what is no longer lighting you up.
Get rid of the shit that’s not serving you or that you no longer enjoy.
Burnout sucks, plain and simple. But one of the beautiful things about burnout is that on the other side, you have such an opportunity to create a life and a business that you really love and that light you up.
You’ve probably seen high-level coaches, consultants, or people in the industry who talk about closing down their super successful whatever. Programs, Masterminds, courses, etc. And they’ll often talk about walking away from the financial aspect of closing those containers down. And at first glance it may sound crazy or like a bad move financially.
But what we often don’t see behind closed doors is that these containers are things that either no longer resonate with them, no longer serve them where they want to go, or that they no longer enjoy. And it’s usually a great call for them to shift out of those because it frees up time and space and gives them the mental clarity to shift into doing something that they DO enjoy or that does support them in their next version of life or business.
So this is the same for you. Permisison to reevaluate your life and your business and start to take those baby steps and putting things into place to shift into doing things that light you up instead of trudging through on the crap that may make sense, but that you just don’t want to do anymore. That’s totally okay. And letting those things go that are no longer serving you paves the way for you to do something that DOES.
4. Streamline
This one sort of piggybacks on the previous point of reevaluating. But it takes it a step further.
Clean things up. Organise. Get systems in place.
It’s amazing how much clarity comes from getting rid of crap you don’t need anymore, both in a business sense and also a personal sense and just letting it go. And organising things so that you’re no longer bogged down by stuff just being everywhere – and again that can be digitally or physically. It all adds up.
And diving into that a bit further, streamlining can do wonders to help you if you’re struggling with burnout. It looks like making things more efficient and helping them to flow better. So this can be streamlining your operations, your offers, the steps in various funnels or your business in general, and just cleaning those things up.
Streamlining simplifies things, which is a game changer when you’re burning out.
5. Support
If you’ve been here for a bit, you know how much I talk about support and how important it is.
And support can come in SO many ways, shapes and forms, and if you are struggling with burnout, you can lean on each of those support tiers to help.
You can have support in the form of a team, who you can delegate things to and they can help you stay afloat and help keep the business running as per usual as you’re figuring things out.
You can have support in the form of a coach or mentor who can help give you perspective, help you navigate through the difficult seasons, and support you as you navigate those choppy seas and towards brighter days.
You can have support in the form of a community or Mastermind to bounce ideas back and forth with and have a support system of people who actually get what you’re going through.
And then of course you can have support in your personal life.
But the bottom line is – if you’re struggling with burnout, if you have too much on your plate, and if you’re having a hard time keeping your head above water – lean on your support system – that’s precisely what they’re there for. If you don’t have support, then look into getting some. Doing it alone is a one-way ticket to burnout.
Now as I mentioned earlier, several of my clients really struggled with burnout before we started working together.
And you know, every business and every client and every situation is different. But from a practical standpoint and with things you can start to incorporate in your business to help keep things running smoothly without you being involved 24/7, I help with that.
This can look like systems, streamlining, and even support to help you from continually adding more and more onto your plate. So if this is something that you are struggling with or you’re concerned you’re on that path, pop me a message. I can help you course correct.
I hope this episode was helpful for you and you had some great takeaways that you can start to implement to pull yourself back from the brink of burnout or course correct if you see that you’re quickly going down that path.
And if you are struggling with this right now, know that you are not alone. It is more common than you think, though of course we do want to pull you back from that because the world needs your light, not a massive fire from you burning everything down.
