Self Care for Entrepreneurs: How to avoid burnout

Practicing self care for entrepreneurs is a real challenge because we’re constantly being pulled in different directions as business owners. That’s why it’s important to have some tools and rituals in your back pocket to fall back on.

Unfortunately, burnout is extremely common for online business owners and I’ve found from personal experience that it really takes very conscious effort to avoid it.

That’s why it’s essential to find ways to develop and maintain your self care practice.

Otherwise, it’s really easy to tell yourself “you’ll do it tomorrow” and then before you know it – months have gone by since you actually took that afternoon off that you promised yourself and you’re so overwhelmed and drained that you want to close up shop entirely.

It happens to business owners at every stage, including those that run six and even seven-figure companies.

What burnout can look like in Online Service Providers

I see it happen all the time with newbie Virtual Assistants and Online Service Providers.

The cycle usually goes something like this:

• Getting super excited about launching their business
• Working on it all day every day for 14 days straight
• Feeling frustrated that they are working constantly and not making lightening-speed progress
• Convincing themselves its not going to work
• Not working on their business at all for 3 months
• Finally regaining their energy to focus on their business again
• Starting the cycle all over again

You can probably tell that this just isn’t sustainable, especially for a start-up business owner.

There’s a lot to do in the beginning and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. So you need to take breaks and care for yourself in between the milestones in order to keep yourself moving to the next one.

Trust me, you can read my personal burnout story here and see how I experienced it myself.

So with all that being said, I want to share some simple ways to ensure that you build sustainable and healthy ways of practicing self care for entrepreneurs.

Set your work hours

I highly recommend setting your office hours for when you plan to be at your computer working on your business, whether that’s client work or your own projects like building your website.

This isn’t something you have to wait to do until you quit your 9-5 job either. Actually, I recommend doing it from day one when you’re just doing it as your side hustle!

Simply choose the days and times of the week you want to work and put them on your calendar like it’s a true part-time job that you have to report to. Doing so helps you avoid working all into the wee hours of the night and exhausting yourself so much you can’t work at all the next day.

It’s an easy way to give you a start and stopping point, keep yourself accountable and avoid burning yourself out all at once.

Set your no work hours

On the other hand, I highly recommend setting days that you will not work for any reason.

Because after all, life happens and you’ll more than likely have to readjust your work schedule here and there. Which isn’t a bad thing! That flexibility is a big part of the reason why we do what we do as Virtual Assistants. 🙂

But having set days and/or times that you do not work, no matter what ensures that your rest time stays protected regardless of what else happens.

For example, you could decide that every Friday night after 5PM and Saturday after 2PM are no work times. That means that if you need to catch up on tasks, you still have Sunday to do so. But you still have that Friday and Saturday to intentionally rest!

Be clear on your client boundaries

You’ll hear me talk about this again and again… and again.

Setting client boundaries helps you and your clients. They are probably the best way to truly tap out of your business mentally so you can rest in your off hours.

Because if you allow your clients to text you at all times of the day asking for updates on tasks, there’s no way for you to ever fully step away from your business and into your life.

So it’s critical that you set healthy and reasonable client boundaries and communicate them to your clients from the get-go.

Create community around you

I’m not going to lie to you: Starting an online business can get lonely.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for the world. But I’d be lying if I said that there aren’t days where I’m starved for a water-cooler conversation with another human being after working alone for 5 days straight in my house. haha!

We also just tend to face challenges that a lot of our loved ones who work “regular” jobs don’t understand. Our friends and family don’t get the struggle of finding clients, learning yet another platform, or spending 3 hours working through a tech error and wanting to throw your computer against a wall. (It’s not just me, right?!)

So make a conscious effort to connect with other online service providers online and build genuine relationships with them. It’s so encouraging to have other people who understand you that you can form a camaraderie with as you start or continue to grow your business.

Join facebook groups, send instagram DMs, or consider joining us in the VA Blueprint student community!

Use systems automation

Did you know that you can use Client Relationship Management Platforms to automatically respond to your inquiries, send contracts to clients and provide them their welcome packet after they sign?!

Yep, it’s true.

This isn’t something I generally recommend implementing from the start, but it’s crucial that you do so once you have a few clients under your belt.

You will save hours of unpaid administrative work by taking one or two afternoons setting up workflows and systems for your client process. My top recommendation for this is Dubsado! *That’s an affiliate link!*

Is this a strategic business decision? Yes, absolutely.

But it’s also going to give you more time and freedom as your business grows, instead of wasting time doing things you can automate. This will give you more time to care for yourself as a result. I mean, how is working less not practicing self care as a business owner?!

Schedule your self-care

If you’re anything like me, you regularly put off your self-care rituals and give into the need to be “busy” all the time. Basically telling yourself that you don’t have time to take that hot bath, walk outside, or make a healthy lunch.

We’re business owners, right?! So we should be working and pushing forward to scale all the time!

Uhm, no.

So I want you to explore the idea of putting your self care on your calendar and scheduling it.

Make it an appointment with yourself that you can’t break, like going to the doctor. That way, when the end of the work day comes and you need to do that “one last thing” that would cause you to skip it – You can’t! 😉

Go outside + Change up your scenery

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that cabin fever is real when you work from home.

So it can be really beneficial to change up your typical workspace to get a breath of fresh air and some new inspiration. This can look like going to a coffee shop, checking out your local co-working space, or simply sitting in your backyard with your laptop.

If those aren’t reasonable options for you, schedule in a 30 minute walk at the end of your work day.

Just getting out of the house and in the sun can give you so much energy and change up that monotonous daily pace of waking up, working, eating dinner and going to bed that can develop when working from home.

Invest in your workspace

Don’t be afraid to spend money on the things you use 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Trust me, your chiropractor bill with thank you.

I realize that this isn’t feasible for everyone and more than likely won’t make sense for everyone. However, I highly recommend treating yourself to some high-quality workspace tools to make it easier on your body if you can.

It’s not new information that sitting at a desk all day can have really harmful effects on your health.

I started out by just buying a desk to work at (I literally built my whole business working on my couch!), so it doesn’t have to be a huge investment up front. Eventually, I personally invested in an ergonomic desk chair, mouse and dual monitors for my desk but all of that was spread over the course of several years.

It’s made a huge difference in how I feel at the end of my work day. So I highly recommend that you consider what would be supportive for you and treat yourself if and where possible.

Hell, a five dollar scented candle beside your laptop on your dining room table can bring you a big dose of simple, daily joy!

So, treat yourself – You deserve it. 🙂

What strategies are you going to implement as you start exploring self care for entrepreneurs? I’d love to know what you do to take care of yourself as you take care of your business!