Business Education

Start the New Year Strong – Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout

Now that 2018 is upon us, it’s time to make good on your resolutions. As an entrepreneur (or soon-to-be business owner), you want your company to succeed. This requires a lot of hard work. It also requires dreaming big. Without those two elements, it’s very difficult to move forward. Unfortunately, being an entrepreneur means having to shoulder a big load. And, that can easily lead to burnout. The passion turns sour. It’s no longer a challenge but a burden. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be a reality.

Make 2018 a Great Year for Your Business

If you want 2018 to be a success for your business, you must avoid certain personality types. Additionally, you’ll have to keep the fire going inside. Entrepreneurs are complex people. They love to dream and can easily leap from one to another. What’s more, they really love to work and work hard. The reward is simply too good a feeling. But, even the hardest workers, the most disciplined business owners can fall victim to burnout.

Being an entrepreneur is no mean task, and definitely isn’t meant for the fainthearted. Entrepreneurs have too much to do and a lot to prove, not just to their competitors, but also themselves. Dealing with the daily challenges and frustrations that come from running a business operations can take a toll on any sane person’s mental and/or physical health. —All Business.com

In fact, this is actually one of the biggest (if not the single biggest challenge) entrepreneurs face. Long weeks with plenty of nighttime hours devoted to work takes its toll. Eventually, you feel less connected to personal relationships. And, strangely enough, less in-tune with your own business.

How to Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout

Entrepreneurial burnout is a real thing. It’s a trap entrepreneurs unwittingly set for themselves. They don’t even know it’s happening until it’s too late. All of a sudden, there’s little to no reward. Things seem dull and routine — even monotonous. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid entrepreneurial burnout:

Avoid falling into a rut. Okay, so one of the biggest challenges to running a business is to set and stay on schedule. But that very strategy can also turn against you. It goes from smart scheduling to rut and does so without warning. Seemingly out of the blue, you feel like you’re just doing the same thing over and over. So, change environments and scenery. And, do so regularly.
Schedule regular breaks. Make no mistake about it, both long and short breaks are necessary. You not only need to get out of the office on a daily basis, you need to get away from the office regularly. And, take actual time away from the business. A simple weekend getaway without any work offers amazing refreshment.
Stay away from time wasters. You probably fall prey to time wasters. Social media is a great example because it’s so prevalent. Or, it could be constant chit-chat. Whatever wastes your time, identify these and you’ll lessen the burden of feeling unproductive.
Always be clear about what you want. Losing focus is a big problem. But, there are simple ways to deal with it. Every day should bring you closer to your next goal. But, if you’re unclear about that end, you don’t know where to begin. So, work with others and be cognizant of where you want to go next.
What does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur as quoted by Tony Robbins. I listened to a great interview with Tony Robbins recently, and when asked about the characteristics that it takes to succeed, Tony shared in his interview:
1. HUNGER … dig deep to successful people, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg … you will find that they are HUNGRY to achieve and push beyond the pain
2. Having a Mission larger than you … your WHY. Why do you do what you do? Pride of ownership, mission, joy, being able to give to our kids and others more than ourselves
3. You have to become Obsessed with Strategies or a Plan to succeed. For example; if you say you want to enjoy life on the beach and you start running North … you’re going the wrong direction because the beach are South! The right strategy can save you a decade and lots of losses.

How do you avoid burnout? What other things do you use to stay focused and excited? Please share your thoughts and experiences by commenting and joining the conversation!

Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

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Should You Scale or Scuttle Your Startup

May 16, 2017 No Comments

When business starts to slow, it’s easy to feel like a failure and start packing up your office. But before you make any drastic decisions, it pays to look at your situation objectively—because scaling down, scaling out, and shutting down are all very different paths forward. Here’s how to figure out which one is right for you.

How Genesis Landscape Solutions Tripled Growth by Building Real Infrastructure

September 30, 2026 No Comments

.elementor-widget-text-editor{font-family:var( –e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif;font-weight:var( –e-global-typography-text-font-weight );color:var( –e-global-color-text );}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:var( –e-global-color-primary );}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap, .elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-default .elementor-drop-cap{color:var( –e-global-color-primary );border-color:var( –e-global-color-primary );} Warren Wheat wasn’t new to landscape maintenance — he’d already built and sold one company in the industry before the entrepreneurial itch brought him back in 2012 with Genesis Landscape Solutions. What started as a request for help writing better commercial proposals turned into something much bigger. “Since hiring John and his team three years ago, our company has experienced more than 3X growth. During that same period, our profit margins have also risen significantly,” Warren says. “John is an extremely well-rounded consultant that has the ability to adapt and customize his approach in order to fit the specific needs of your business… As the President of a company with over 120 employees, I genuinely appreciate the partnership we have formed with John.” From a Better Proposal to a Bigger Question Warren originally reached out to Waters Business Consulting Group for help putting together a more comprehensive, professional proposal he could submit for large commercial maintenance opportunities. That work naturally expanded into a website overhaul and refined marketing to support a more cohesive brand. But partway through, Warren admitted something bigger: he knew he was at or near capacity in the business’s current state. A sharper proposal and a better-looking website were great, but they didn’t solve the real question — how could the organization actually grow and move to the next level? That reframe pointed to deeper gaps: the business needed a clearer understanding of its current model and what was driving top-line revenue and margins, a real roadmap of growth objectives, and the organizational infrastructure to support scale. That meant building out organizational structure, hiring high-caliber talent to form a cohesive team, and continuing to sharpen marketing across proposals, website, and presentations. Building the Infrastructure for Scale Waters Business Consulting Group worked with Warren’s leadership team to rebuild the business model around its highest revenue-generating services and activities, collaborating with outside experts on web design and the new professional proposal that had started the engagement. The team helped build a more balanced portfolio of work to support profitable growth, and analyzed direct costs closely to protect and improve margins as the business scaled. Just as important was the human side of scaling: key stakeholders were brought into meetings to increase buy-in and develop leadership within the organization, and a formal organization chart prioritized hiring for the roles the business actually needed, with clear operational responsibilities and KPIs tied to compensation. The employee recruiting and onboarding process was refined to consistently find the right people to support growing properties and workflow. The Results — and What’s Next The changes gave Warren something he hadn’t had before: a predictable business model that let him see where the company was heading proactively instead of reacting to whatever came up. Clear processes and procedures with real accountability metrics replaced guesswork, the team gained a shared understanding of goals and revenue targets, and direct costs and overhead came under real control through internal tracking systems. Leadership strengthened at the upper levels of management — all of which supports the more than 3x growth and rising profit margins Warren describes over the engagement. The work continues, too, with new technology for weekly property reporting and GPS employee time tracking, a more proactive recruiting and retention strategy, a refined and more profitable irrigation division, formal career tracks and compensation plans for key positions, an updated policy and procedure manual, and a new CRM solution to improve customer retention alongside ongoing leadership development training. If your business has outgrown its current systems but you’re not sure what infrastructure to build next, that’s exactly the kind of scaling challenge Waters Business Consulting Group helps owners solve. Schedule a free consultation to map out what’s holding your growth back. Contact Waters Business Consulting Group