The early days of starting a business are fun. You’re full of ambition, desire, and hunger, which often translates into energy. It’s during this time that you are likely to be building up your workflow too, so you may find that you’re not completely rushed off your feet as you wait for work to come in.
However, once you start growing and scaling a business, the workload can snowball dramatically.
A common mistake that many business owners also make is scaling too quickly, leaving themselves with more work than they and their business can manage. In situations like this, burnout is inevitable.
But it doesn’t have to be this way; there are a number of ways you can keep your business on an upward trajectory while still maintaining a healthy work-life balance. If this is something you are struggling to balance, below are 5 ways you can scale your business without burning out.
Outsource Simple Tasks
If you start out as a solopreneur, as many founders do, you are likely to find yourself working in all areas of the business. One minute you’ll be handling the company’s finances and the next you’ll be providing customer service, not to mention everything that comes in between. Unfortunately, small businesses often don’t have the luxury of hiring large teams to reduce workload either. One option, however, is to outsource certain tasks.
For example, a phone answering service like the one provided by Pocket Receptionist allows businesses to outsource their phone duties. This means businesses don’t have to go through the stress of recruiting new employees, but it also frees business owners to focus on more important tasks.
For B2B companies, this also offers the advantage of capturing every lead, while small business owners may appreciate the stress relief of not having to deal with angry customers.
Hire For Relief, Not Growth
If your business is at a stage where you can afford to grow your team, it’s important to prioritise hires that will reduce the burden on your team. Founders can often be guilty of focusing on new recruits who offer the most potential in terms of revenue and customers, but is your business ready for this?
For example, a new marketing manager with a proven track record may be able to double your monthly order volume. That might be great in terms of your bottom line, but it’s also likely to drastically increase your own workload and lead to burnout.
Instead, think about areas of your business that are causing you the most stress. Alternatively, consider if you feel you’re wasting time on certain tasks. You may still be fulfilling orders when you could spend this time elsewhere. In this case, it would be wise, and perhaps more beneficial to the company, to put a fulfillment team together.
Clear Project Management
A disorganised project often takes longer to complete and requires more work than it should. As a business owner, this ultimately increases your workload and adds to your stress. Making sure projects stay on track is a surefire way to keep your tasks manageable, and there are several ways to do so.
The first, and perhaps the most obvious, is to improve your own personal skills. Organisation, time management, and focus all dictate how long a project takes, and improving these skills should help a project be completed in the shortest amount of time.
The other option is to turn to software, and fortunately, business owners today are spoilt for choice when it comes to project-tracking software. Some of the most popular include Trello, Jira and Notion, but there are so many more to choose from, so it’s well worth doing some research to find a tool that works for your business and your budget.
Switch Off
The last point is probably the simplest, but it’s also the one that so many business owners fail to do: finding the time to switch off. Having time to yourself and maintaining a strong work-life balance is a great way to keep motivation high and stress levels low, but so many founders end up working long evenings and weekends before ultimately burning out and going back to the corporate rat race.
When things get a little too hectic, try having no-meeting days where you focus on ticking off everything that’s sitting on your to-do list. And on the note of a to-do list, consider a not-to-do list where you list tasks that are no longer your responsibility.
Whether you hire or outsource to complete these tasks is up to you, but it’s important that you don’t commit to more than your body can handle!
