When the business side of things is burning you out…

A picture of an ocean with waves, and a pink and purple sunset with clouds covering the moon.

We gotta talk about the business burnout occuring right now.

The theme that keeps emerging from The Spiral Collective monthly meetings is business burnout. Right now can be a challenging time to be a small business owner. It can feel like we can’t swim against the big corporation, late-stage capitalist hellscape we’re all living under right now. How could it not feel exhausting when these companies have thousands of dollars to market, and we little tiny businesses are usually doing our own marketing + being self-taught! Of course we’re exhausted…

In 2021, I could send out one email that I was accepting clients, and quickly after I would have inquiries. These days I wonder if anyone is even reading emails anymore. I’ve had to learn how to market more creatively than ever before.

Suddenly, the burden of running your own business begins to fuel burnout and loneliness if you're not careful (*cough cough join The Spiral Collective*). The unpaid hours start to pile up, and soon enough you’ve sat at your computer for hours learning SEO, Insta marketing, FB blah blah, etc., when what you truly want to be doing is working with clients—or getting your work out into the world.

I definitely didn’t go into therapy school thinking I’d learn this much about business within two years, but the landscape we’re working under has changed… So, we pivot.

Here are some ways to keep your spirit alive in these truly challenging times.

Join The Spiral Collective! You can self-promote, network, build strong referrals, attend monthly business meetings, and pop-up co-working events! Plus, sometimes there are free speakers and trainings!

Know that you are not alone! Gosh, I don’t know any small business owner who hasn’t had to pivot a lot in these past years. AI is changing the world quickly, and the internet. But more and more people are desiring small businesses (like you)!

If you can hire something out, do it! Ask in your communities for a strong referral. If you must learn another skill, you got this, and learn one new thing at a time. Take it from the double Gemini over here… Learning one form of marketing or a new business system is easier than trying to do it all at once! And when all else fails, ask for help! None of us learned how to do any of this without another small business owner teaching us along the way.

xoxoxoxo,

andie