A small business owner often does the work of five or six people, especially when his or her company is just getting off the ground. Trying to juggle more than one job inevitably leads to long hours, which causes stress and exhaustion. This often leads to a serious case of burnout and may even cause the business owner to trade in his or her fledgling business for a 9 to 5 job as someone else's employee.
Create Set Workday Hours
One way to reduce the chance of burnout is to simply set workday hours and then stick to those hours. For example, a new vet with a practice downstairs who doesn't create set hours could find him or herself answering calls from patients with sick pets and agreeing to see them on short notice around the clock. The result would be constant fatigue and stress. However, if he or she only wants to see pets from 8-12 in the morning and 4-7 at night and decides to stick to these hours, it doesn't matter that the office is right downstairs. Instead of picking up the phone whenever it rings, the vet can simply record a message that states the office hours and gives the number of the local 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital.
Outsource Time Consuming Jobs
While many small business owners are unable to hire full-time employees, there are a few other options for finding help. Hiring an accountant or a phone service are examples of ways to outsource time consuming tasks that may not actually generate income.
Another idea to consider is using a virtual assistant or a temp agency to take care of tasks that take a lot of time but don't create a lot of revenue. Both of these options allow someone to hire people to complete a specific task, which means there is no need to spend money on things like employee benefits or a full time employee's salary.
Make Health Care a Priority
Many times, health benefits are pretty far down on a business owner's to do list. However, since a small business owner is usually the key employee, it makes sense to make health care a priority. Proper preventative health care means more energy and stamina and a much lower likelihood of burnout.
Look for state-run health care programs or research individual and small business health care options in the state where the business is located before deciding that getting health insurance is impossible or that the premiums are too high.
While it may be hard to remember to limit work hours when there is so much to do and it may be tempting to skip additional expenses like bills for outsourced work or health insurance premiums, a business owner who does these things will be much less likely to burn out.
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