It’s not abnormal to face challenges when owning a small business. Whether you have issues launching a new product, have a problem reaching your target market, or maybe you are overloaded with constant emails and feeling overwhelmed. They’re are so many little complications that can arise no matter how organized or experienced you are.
Add on a world wide pandemic where you might have experienced a significant life event that could have created a deep emotional shift within you. It has been a trying time for many small business owners, enough so that many experts have now labeled this added strain “pandemic fatigue”.
According to an article in Ahead for Business, “All the emotional and mental effort used to maintain their business throughout 2020 has left many business owners feeling drained and finding it challenging to get through more restrictions.” Owning a small business in a “normal” world can be tough enough but now we are adding on this additional toll of pandemic fatigue for people to wade through both mentally and physically.
Since I am not an expert on mental health and the toll the pandemic has created for business owners, I will leave the pandemic fatigue alone.
I did, however, want to touch base on another type of challenge that has specifically been targeting small business owners for a long time, known as Founder’s Fatigue.
Have you heard of Founder’s Fatigue before? Do you know what this means? Most people have dealt with fatigue before for various reasons.
If you look up the general definition of fatigue, you will see familiar terms like; extreme exhaustion, mental or physical tiredness, low energy, strong desire to sleep, etc…now add in challenges of running a small business and you have what is called Founders Fatigue or Founder’s Burnout.
When starting a business, many start as a solo entrepreneur. This means you have total control over every aspect of your company.
You immerse yourself in the tasks needed each and every day to make the company run the way you think is best. You work countless hours, put in all of your energy, and when you’re not working – aspects of your company will still occupy your mind on some level.
So just what is Founders fatigue?
In an article by Stephen Moore, How to Deal with Founder’s Fatigue, Your Worst Friend it describes it as “Doubting virtually every aspect of your business and your choice of career, worrying about your business, cash flow, wages, the next job, the next client, and letting all of the above weigh you down, keep you up at night and generally consume you.”
This isn’t all though, once you mentally are diving into Founder’s Fatigue it’s hard to recognize what can help. Naturally, you will look to other successful businesses and compare yourself to what you perceive as their success or even seek out family members or loved ones for their thoughts.
However that might not be the right step either as Moore continues to point out in the above article
“…When you seek help and guidance from others (they) won’t always understand how you are feeling. Their support is welcome of course, but they won’t always be able to assist you in this rut. They unknowingly contribute to your fatigue — you will judge yourself against their jobs, earnings, possessions etc, and reaffirm your belief that you picked the wrong way to do this.”
So how do you know if you have it?
Do you feel like Founder’s Fatigue might be describing you? There are so many challenges that owners can face when running their company, it makes it impossible for one not to become fatigued. So, how do you know if you are dealing with this?
Has your business taken over your life?
Is it interfering with being able to provide better service to your clients?
Are you constantly feeling like you are drowning each day?
If you said yes to any of these questions, then you might have Founder’s Fatigue.
How do you fix this issue?
Talk about it! One easy way is to talk to other small business owners about how you are feeling or ask them what challenges that they are currently facing. You will be surprised to find that you are not the only one feeling this fatigue.
If you discuss concerns with other business owners, startup’s, or entrepreneurs – you may be surprised to hear that they have these same challenges. Attend Network events or join online small business owners groups.
You could also take the time to review platforms like Quora or Reddit and you will find like-minded individuals that are voicing the same concerns you have. Or you might find that their challenges are ones you have dealt with before and be able to help provide them with a fix to their own issues!
This can also provide you a boast of confidence and help reaffirm your expertise and the reasons you started your company in the first place.
Take time off! Plan some time off for you to recharge your battery. You won’t be helping anyone if you burn yourself out.
Whether an hour a week, a day off, or a week long holiday.
Go on and set a date, inform the people that need to be informed and go, relax, and stop thinking about what you can’t control.
Stop trying to control each and every part of your company.
Trust your current employees enough to expect them to be able to handle situations on their own.
If you don’t give them trust to handle tasks or situations, then they will refer back to you with each task. Creating additional work for all.
The more responsibility you give to employees, typically the better of an employee they can become.
Hire support. If you don’t have any employees or one of your challenges is managing your current employees, then this also may mean now is the time to hire an Online Business Manager.
They can handle many different tasks and take the daily load off of you.
Some examples include; managing your operations, being a point of contact for your employees, maintaining your marketing plan, and helping to organize and prioritize your day so you can focus on the aspects of the business that you enjoy most.
Each day of owning your own business is like a rollercoaster.
One day you are at the highest of highs and the next day you will be doubting your entire operation.
Just know that how you are feeling is not uncommon and you are not alone.
If you are interested in learning more about how an Online Business Manager can help improve your company and allow you to heal your Founder’s Fatigue, reach out to Support U today.
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