Burnout
Tactics to Avoid Self-Employment Burnout
Managing burnout as a solo owner requires financial and emotional solutions.
Updated June 6, 2024 Reviewed by Ray Parker
Key points
- Working for yourself creates a risk of burnout.
- Seek outside guidance since burnout can take both a financial and emotional toll.
- You must turn your business from an income source to an investment vehicle.
When working for yourself, particularly when you run a single-person practice or business, one of the biggest financial threats you face is burnout.
Why? Not only does it impact your health, well-being, and self-perception, but it also threatens your livelihood. If you suffer burnout and can no longer work the hours you planned for yourself, then you make far less, resulting in the potential for far more negative financial outcomes, like growing debt. As a solo business owner, you need strategies to protect yourself from this fate.
And it’s a fate that impacts many.
Few studies have looked at solo business owners directly, but you can glean some of the reality. Surveys that range in credibility often cite that three out of 10 entrepreneurs to four out of 10 face the symptoms of burnout at any given time. Meanwhile, 45% of therapists report feeling the symptoms of burnout, according to the American Psychological Association. Considering the high rate of private practice in the therapeutic space, it stands to reason that it’s a threat that many who earn their hours based on the hours they work in solo practice or business must protect themselves from.
To do so requires a combination of financial decisions and emotional tactics. Here’s how to do it.
Finding Outlets for Your Income
One of the reasons that service-based solo businesses or practice owners face this dilemma is that they create an income source in the company they’ve launched. Still, they do not create a thriving business. What’s the difference?
An income source requires continual effort to build, grow, or even invoice. Your hours determine how much you gain year in and year out.
A business, on the other hand, allows the owner to gain even when that person isn’t working. This allows room for vacations, relaxation, and recharging.
A solo income source, however, may not provide that same level of protection. Instead, it requires you to take the steps to build protection.
How Do You Create Protection?
To turn income into a protective tool, you must create a system to invest some of the income. There are essentially three ways to invest in the U.S.: Invest in the markets, business(es), and/or real estate. Understanding what methods work for you will determine how you can create that flexibility.
Often, a solo business owner will look at their company and think they have invested in a business. But investing in a business requires building it out in ways that expand beyond you. If you want to stay a solo business owner, it requires building solutions beyond the individual service you provide. This can be books, courses, or an entirely new business of some sort.
For those who don’t want to invest in such tools, this can mean shifting away from the one-person model.
The other common tactic is investing in the markets, which many people do through retirement accounts. These can create tax savings today and build wealth for the long term. But it requires a plan for the solo income you’re making.
When done right, it can create a secondary income source for the future—one that’s working to protect you.
Emotional Support Is Key
When surveyed about their mental health, entrepreneurs and business owners have reported a high concern for their well-being. Last year, an entrepreneurial toolkit company, Silver Lining, surveyed business owners, finding that 56% reported that they had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or stress-related problems.
Running a business is hard. No wonder running a solo company without any room for breaks can lead to similar outcomes.
While it’s important to manage income and create space for yourself from a financial perspective, it’s equally (or more so) important to seek an outlet for stress.
As someone who has worked for himself for years, without the proper mental health outlets, I would have suffered, my partner and my relationship would have been impacted, and who knows if I would be doing the work I now do.
Finding the right outlets for your stress will ease some of the anxiety. This clarifies what matters in the business and what you can wait for when you’re back from that vacation you can now afford to take.
