How to Scale Your Business without Burning Out

Every entrepreneur would love to quickly scale up their business to the point where it was making significant revenues.

That, of course, is easier said than done. To scale your business requires an incredible amount of time and effort, and a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure. Many well-meaning entrepreneurs have found themselves worn out and burned out after trying too hard to take their business to the next level.

So how to your successfully scale your business without running into a burnout wall? The tips below should help you balance your work and personal life successfully.

Take Breaks

The biggest mistake that entrepreneurs make is thinking that they can’t afford to take breaks. In trying to work their way up to the top, some people will simply work, work, work, with no end in sight. While this kind of dedication to success is admirable, such an approach is very unlikely to succeed in the end. Everyone needs a break from time to time in order to clear their mind and come back refreshed.

Sometimes, these breaks can be small. If you have been sitting at your desk for several hours, take a 15-minute break just to walk around and get some fresh air. The movement will do your body good, and you will have a chance to shift your mind onto something other than work. Of course, longer breaks—like a week vacation—are helpful as well. Work on finding a way to squeeze a full vacation into your schedule for the coming year and you may find that you are more productive overall as a result.

Focus Your Efforts

The internet is a big place. If you spend all day browsing the web looking for the latest and greatest ideas related to your industry, you are going to waste time that could be spent being productive. In the end, you will feel tired from the day and you won’t have accomplished anything productive.

Social media is particularly harmful from this perspective. Rather than wandering around the web from place to place all day long, create a detailed to-do list for your day and check items off one at a time. It isn’t always easy to stay focused on the task at hand, but doing so will allow you to be more productive. That productivity will allow you more time to take breaks, and you will be able to stave off burnout as a result.

Set Specific Goals

Without goals in place, you may just work and work until you can take it no more. Goals are not only a great way to stay motivated, but they are also a helpful way to tell you when you are done for the day (or week). Knowing what you want to accomplish will help you get more out of your time. People who set specific goals are more likely to stay on task, and they are more likely to have a positive attitude about those tasks. Take a bit of time out of your schedule to set some goals and then watch those goals carefully as you build your business.

It is hard to recover once you reach a point of being burned out on your business. If you are an entrepreneur who is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to find success, you need to be realistic about what you are capable of achieving each day. Give yourself breaks throughout the day, and take days off from time to time.

No matter how much you want to succeed, you can’t break free from the fact that you are still a human being. Treat yourself with the same respect and consideration that you would give to an employee, and you should be able to stay well away from the risk of burning out.

Author: Jeremy Friedman started his professional career in web development in 1997, working on some of the earliest web-based software frameworks ever released to developers and completed his education at University of Delaware. Upon leaving a local development firm he helped start Greenwing Technology in 2009 to serve the small to medium size suppliers that need help integrating with the major procurement software providers. Follow @GreenwingTech on Twitter and Facebook.