Have you been feeling a sense of overwhelm creeping in…and you’re looking for some tips to prevent burnout?
You’ve come to the right place, friend.
The best time to stop burnout in its tracks is before you’re in the thick of it.
By implementing these burnout prevention strategies, you’ll be able to make sure that your business is working for you…not the other way around.
Because remember: you started this business for FREEDOM and impact. Not for 80-hour workweeks and to be chained to your laptop on weekends .👩🏽💻
You left corporate for a reason, sis!
So read on to learn our best tips for how to prevent burnout so you can GROW with ease instead of running yourself into the ground, mmmkay?
Improve Your Time Management
As a business owner, it can feel like your to-do list can be seriously never-ending. 😭
It can feel like you’re responsible for all the things and there’s no way you could possibly have enough hours in the day to get them all done.
We’ve just gotta be real with you for a sec, boss.
You probably DO have too much on your plate!
If you’re starting each day with a mile-long to-do list, you’re most likely expecting too much of yourself.
Which is why instead, you have to be ruthless when it comes to time management and prioritization.
4 D’s of Time Management
One strategy to help you manage your workload when you’re feeling totally overwhelmed is the 4 D’s of Time Management.
Those stand for:
- Do
- Delay
- Delete
- Delegate
Here’s how this strategy works in practice.
When you’re staring at your never-ending to-do list, take a new piece of paper and divide it into four quadrants.
Do, Delay, Delete, Delegate.
In the DO quadrant: place tasks here that you absolutely must do in a timely manner. These could be things like finishing work for your clients, delivering a live lesson, or having an important team meeting.
In the DELAY quadrant: place tasks here that you know need to get done, but they don’t need to get done straight away. You can come back to these tasks later.
In the DELETE quadrant: analyze your tasks and ask yourself if it’s absolutely critical that all of them get done. Is there anything you’re holding onto that you feel you “should” be doing…but when you take a closer look, realize it isn’t really necessary?
In the DELEGATE quadrant: look over your tasks and ask yourself, “Do I really need to be the person to handle this?” See if you can pass things off to team members or service providers so you can free up some time and brainspace!
The Pomodoro Method
One way to improve your time management skills is to implement the Pomodoro method.
With the Pomodoro method, you do a 25-minute work sprint followed by a 5-minute break.
The magic of the Pomodoro method is you’re able to improve your focus and minimize overwhelm.
It’s a lot easier to get started on the things you’ve been avoiding by telling yourself, “I just need to focus for 25 minutes” rather than telling yourself you need to work on a project for 3+ hours.
If you’re someone who gets easily distracted when you have a lot on your plate, you should definitely give this technique a try!
It’s as simple as this:
- Pick a task you’re going to work on
- Set a timer for 25 minutes
- Take a 5-minute break
- Repeat the process
- Every 4 pomodoros, take a longer break (15-30 mins)
You can even use a tool like Toggl which has a Pomodoro chrome extension.
Stay Consistent With Your Schedule
One of the best ways to prevent burnout as an entrepreneur is to implement consistent routines and rituals.
Let’s be real…when you first get started as an entrepreneur, it can be easy to be all over the place with your schedule!
But while in the beginning, a lack of structure might feel fun, or freeing even – pretty soon you’ll realize it actually holds you back from true balance.
Our fave strategy to stick to a consistent schedule as an entrepreneur?
Time blocking. ⏰
This means that you’ll divide your day into “blocks” and only focus on one task (or type of task) during that work block.
This prevents you from context-switching and wasting precious mental energy.
Make sure to add frequent “rest blocks” into your day in order to prevent burnout. Your whole day can’t be filled to the brim with work!
An example of time-blocking might look like:
- 9:00 – 10:00 – Emails and Team Check-ins
- 10:15 – 1:15 – Client Work
- 1:15 – 2:15 – Lunch Break
- 2:15 – 5:15 – Batch Record Podcast Episodes
Or, you might even use Theme Days to optimize your schedule.
With theme days, you might dedicate one day to client meetings, one day to content creation, one day to admin and finances…you get the idea!
This strategy will help you avoid feeling like you’re flitting from task to task, reduce your stress, and feel like you have more time in your day to get everything done.
Simplify Your Offers
If you’re still feeling the overwhelm after implementing these time management strategies, it might be time to reexamine your offers.
Part of learning how to prevent burnout is crafting offers that are easy to market, easy to sell and easy to deliver.
If you have a dozen different clients, offering each of them a customized service…burnout is going to be your middle name, FAST.
It’s time to streamline, sis.
- Streamline your marketing
- Streamline your sales process
- And streamline your service/coaching delivery
Streamline Your Marketing
You want to have a consistent way to market your offers that predictably brings in leads. You don’t want to feel like you’re throwing spaghetti at the wall!
Marketing becomes exhausting when you’re in a constant reactive state rather than strategically planning ahead.
Here are a few ways to streamline your marketing process:
- Get clear on your main marketing channels (one or two) rather than trying to do it all and spreading yourself too thin
- Spend one or two days batching your content for the month so you can set it and forget it
- Consider outsourcing to a content writer or social media manager if marketing is eating up all your precious time
- Only show up on the platforms your audience is hanging out on and skip the rest
- Make a point of repurposing your content and making the most out of every piece of content you create
Try to batch your marketing tasks so you can stay in your creative zone of genius! It’s all about being intentional so you can get the best results possible while beating overwhelm.
Streamline Your Sales
Streamlining your sales process is going to prevent burnout while making your life 1000x easier.
We wanna know…👇🏽
How many times have you been on a discovery call that’s been a total waste of time?
How many times have you been in the DMs answering questions about your services that you’ve already answered a million times over?
How many times have you gone back and forth with a lead trying to find a time that works for both of you?
The answer to all of these problems is a systematized sales process.
That could look like:
- Having an application form so you only get on the phone with leads who are a perfect fit
- Having an FAQ page where you answered the most common questions about your service, so you can direct leads there instead of having a back-and-forth
- Using a scheduler like Acuity or Calendly so your prospects can easily access your calendar and find a time that works for both of you
Not only will these practices help you save time and prevent burnout, they’ll also help you show up like a total pro to potential clients. Which is going to put more coin in your pocket! 💰
Streamline Your Delivery
Do you ever feel like when you work with clients it’s like you have a million tabs open in your brain?
Then it’s about time you streamline your delivery process!
Whether you offer coaching or done-for-you services, streamlining your delivery is all about getting clear on the process you use to get clients from Point A to Point B.
What are all of the individual steps you need to take to achieve amazing results for your clients?
This should include everything from your client onboarding process to the final service delivery to requesting a client testimonial.
Map it all out, and make sure you keep your process relatively simple and consistent for each client.
We promise you, friend… streamlining your delivery process is going to change your life! 😍
Outsource, Baby
If you’ve:
- Learnt new time management strategies
- Streamlined your marketing, sales AND delivery processes
And you’re STILL feeling the burnout creeping in?
It’s time to build a team, mama! 💪🏽
The thing is, we were never meant to do business alone. So why are you trying to be freakin’ superwoman?
You don’t need to carry the weight of your business solely on your shoulders. It’s time to release the burden to a group of talented humans who can help you grow WHILE also preventing burnout!
You don’t have to go from solopreneur to 50-person team overnight.
Maybe you start small with hiring an administrative assistant for just a few hours a week (admin assistants really do make the world go ‘round 🌎)
Maybe you want to bring on a junior service provider to take on some of your client work.
Or maybe you even want to reduce how much time you’re spending coaching each week so you decide to bring on an associate coach to help you prevent burnout and further support your students!
The possibilities are endless. ☀️
Take Time For You
Even once you have a team, it’s easy to lose yourself in an endless pile of work.
No matter how much support you get, there’s ALWAYS something you could be doing as an entrepreneur.
The key to prevent burnout is to develop the self-discipline to rest.
There’s always going to be one more thing you could do to get ahead. But you’ve got to take time for yourself, sis.
Part of the reason you started this business in the first place is to craft the life of your dreams.
A life where you have time for friends, family, travel, and hobbies.
Don’t forget why you started!
Schedule in that rest time and prioritize intentional rest.
If you’re suffering from burnout as an entrepreneur, you’re not alone!
The pressure to do it all, have it all, and be it all can be overwhelming.
But when you take a step back and implement some of these tips to prevent burnout, you can beat the overwhelm and regain balance. 😌
You’ve got this, sis! ✨
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