Is there anyone out there…
…which is exactly how small business owners can feel sometimes when the workload becomes plain overwhelming.
There are so many small business owners who experience work overload - we find it so hard to say ‘no’ or ‘I am so sorry, I have a full portfolio at the moment, but if you’re happy to hold on, we can do this next month…’ and the like. So we end up stressed, our productivity takes a dive, small things make us irritable, we make errors, miss opportunities and suddenly what is a successful enterprise becomes a small nightmare. What we loved to start with stops feeling like our passion and begins to feel like our scourge. It all then adds up to our businesses becoming less productive, less successful or failing altogether.
Let’s see if there are some practical steps we can all take to seek out help relieve the burden a bit and make business success sustainable…
Acceptance
Start to recognise the signs of work overload. You may find that your working hours are getting longer and longer - that an occasional late finish has become a daily routine. You might find yourself missing deadlines, or finding creative excuses for not getting some items done. You might notice mistakes you made or that your work is just generally below the standard that you normally achieve and that you pride yourself in delivering to your clients.
Your health might be affected; you’re constantly tired, you’re not sleeping properly, you’re always thinking and talking about work. This is bordering on burnout and you were originally in business to follow your dream, do what you love, have a sense of pride and also (let’s not every forget about this) you’re in it to make money and achieve a better lifestyle. But right now you have no life because all you do is work.
Here is where you need to stand back and accept it. Accept that you are not able to perform miracles and do everything yourself. Accept that there is too much work, too many things to chew on, too many worries for just one person.
Acceptance brings clarity. As soon as you recognise that you are in a position of work overload, you can reach out for help, and there is a lot of help out there.
What help is there?
What help you seek out depends on what you identify as being the best areas for you to delegate. Just running through some of our client portfolio, our help has been sought for the following among other things:
keeping the books - once the keeping of money in and money out is being done for you, those extra couple of hours a week can feel like freedom
setting up a website and preparing written content for it
writing up a monthly blog post to keep content relevant
setting up and organising an online filing system (and keeping document files up to date)
writing and producing a regular newsletter
email responses (personal responses are better than AI)
setting up visual and written workflows for the teams
branding
These are just a few examples and other outsourced help can include market research and marketing, IT support and full virtual PA services.
You can also hire an employee for that bit of additional manpower, if funds and space allow and you are happy to take on the liability of being an employer.
There is also software and a vast range of automation tools, including AI, that can help to streamline processes.
The important point here is that you take time out to identify exactly what you want help with and then seek out that specific assistance.
Help is out there
To find exactly the right help for you, you may need to explore a number of different avenues. There are online platforms where you could seek out the perfect freelancer or consultant.
Local business groups have networking events which can sometimes be very helpful. In fact, collaborations between small businesses can often lead to an easing of workload for each and also to new opportunities. Networking events can be held in person and online, and online forums can also be a source of information about support - word of mouth is strong!
There are also business support companies like Athena. We specialise in supporting small business owners to ease their workload by providing help in a variety of ways. Our bookkeeping service is often the first service clients book; passing to us the burden of getting the books organised and up to date often provides a huge sense of relief for the small business and eases the work burden. Creating branding, providing content for websites and publicity material often alleviates the mountain of work created by a new project or a product launch. Virtual admin services including taking on board responses to customer queries and emails are also popular client requests, as is help with general organising business workflows and patterns. We also help to streamline processes which has helped clients to work smarter rather than work harder and thus be able to reclaim their personal time and much needed energy.
Seeking help with your small business is a positive step. It means that you are growing your business, that your idea and your dream that you were so passionate about are working and that you are on the right track. Seeking help is a mature and intelligent approach to managing your life and your time to avoid burnout and avoid your business declining in the long term. The benefits of delegating to outsourced support, like Athena Services, are invaluable for small business owners aiming for sustainable success.
