00:02
Welcome back to Callahan’s Corners where you ask the

00:05
questions. We have some live right here on Facebook. Well,

00:08
got a really good question. Was answered or asked in a Facebook

00:11
group about owner or business owner burnout. Um so, I’m going

00:15
to open up my phone here and actually read the question. So,

00:19
um it was it a uh contractor’s group. So, this is applicable

00:23
to any service business but the the question itself kind of hit

00:26
home because I’ve been here several times. Uh so, how do

00:28
you deal with burnout? I’m finding it harder and harder to

00:31
get out of bed each and get to work Coming off the winter

00:34
season. I’m always excited and ready to work but by July,

00:37
that’s all gone. I’d start, I’ve still got another 3 months

00:41
of mowing to do. So, it’s interesting. Um Anthony here

00:45
made a comment and I don’t disagree with Anthony’s comment

00:48
but I’m going to kind of give you the four maybe five things

00:51
that I recommend to avoid owner burnout and how to actually go

00:55
in and get over this hump. Um so after scaling two seven

00:59
figure businesses, trust me, I’ve been here more than a few

01:02
times. Um so, there’s certain things that I’ve learned on my

01:05
own as well as having mentors and going and doing some

01:08
research. I’m going to break this down for you but uh

01:10
Anthony’s response, I I guess I don’t totally disagree with

01:13
this. He says, it’s because you’re stagnant in your comfort

01:16
zone. Do something crazy like expand your company to a point

01:19
where you can work on the business instead of work in it.

01:21
Well, uh II think before you go to expand that business when

01:27
you’re burned out, that’s not going to be the ultimate

01:29
answer. Because I’ve done that. We’ve gone out and we’ve gone

01:32
out and grown by fifty or 100% um year after year and simple

01:36
growth and just doing that isn’t going to stop the

01:40
burnout. Actually, sometimes that will accelerate the

01:42
burnout um especially if you don’t have the right key people

01:45
on your team or processes or systems. So, the first thing

01:49
I’m looking at here is building a team. We need to build a team

01:53
to delegate. So, I don’t know Um if John’s question here, if

01:57
he is an owner operator, if he has a team a small team but I

02:02
guess it really doesn’t matter where you’re at. If you’re a

02:05
solo entrepreneur or a company that owns multi-million burnout

02:09
for the owner is a real thing. So, the first thing I’m going

02:12
to think about is building a team. Now, if you’re a solo

02:16
entrepreneur in the field, doing everything you may think

02:17
about, well, Mike, how would I build a team? Well, if you’re

02:21
not building an internal team that you are utilizing a field,

02:24
we’re in the office, I’m going to recommend building a team of

02:28
virtual assistants. So, going in and getting a bunch of

02:31
people to take some of the things off your plate that you

02:33
just are going to cause burnout or you’ll never get to if

02:35
you’re burned out. So, that would be handling a virtual

02:39
assistant like a pink collars or hiring a CPA, and a

02:42
financial accountant to make sure that these certain things

02:45
are being taken care of. The the bill, the scheduling, Um so

02:49
on a high level, that’s what we’re talking about. Building a

02:51
team that can support you but really that’s not going to help

02:53
the burnout. So, what I’m going to recommend is for simple

02:57
things that you can do immediately to Alleviate

03:00
owner’s burnout. The first one is going in and literally

03:03
blocking out your schedule. So, if you are not using G Suite

03:06
for business, I recommend getting G Suite for business.

03:09
It’s going to be able to get you a web-based domain Email.

03:11
So, Mike at Simple Growth Systems.com um but it’s going

03:15
to give you better email deliverability but what also G

03:18
Suite for Business is going to do is get you access to AG

03:23
Suite calendar. So, whether you have one person on your team

03:25
just being you or 100 people on your team, you can have access

03:29
to these calendars of your team members but what I’m going to

03:32
recommend just for today’s talk is blocking out certain things

03:35
in your day throughout the week that are for you. So, you may

03:39
block out time to get your **** done. You may be blocking out

03:42
time for equipment maintenance. You may be blocking out time to

03:45
go over your financials. Whatever those things are but

03:48
within those blocks, we need to block out time for you to

03:52
either work or relax or reset and we also need to block in

03:56
some time for you just literally to do nothing but

04:00
focus on the strategy and the vision of the business because

04:05
that time, whether you’re reading or out for a walk or

04:08
whatever that is, that can be just as important, if not more

04:10
important than actually going out in the field or managing

04:12
the guys and girls in the field doing the work. So, we need to

04:14
go out and block your schedule. So, um tip number one is block

04:18
your schedule in G Suite um for business blocks or if you’re

04:23
using another calendar program, we need to block out the time

04:25
you’re working in the business on the business Most

04:28
importantly, in the time that you’re resetting from the

04:31
business, you gotta guard those blocks uh with your life or if

04:34
your admin is there, those blocks are not to be touched in

04:37
unless absolutely needed and it has to have prior approval but

04:41
I’m in my schedule. I’ve got times on Tuesday, Thursday

04:43
where I block out strategically. So, I am not

04:46
getting burned out Next step number two is no matter the

04:51
size of the business, we need to figure out how to go in and

04:53
spend a little time upfront, how to organize the business,

04:57
and then automate the business and eventually, we can use that

05:00
system to go out and dominate your market but the main thing

05:03
is we want to go in and organize all the systems and

05:06
processes. The three main areas we want to look at right off

05:08
the bat are our sales and marketing systems. So,

05:11
basically, sales systems, we want to automate and organize

05:14
our employee system. So, employee recruiting, training,

05:17
and onboarding and then the third is have something I call

05:20
repetitive tasks All the daily, weekly, monthly coeur d’alene

05:23
annually things. So, burnout will happen when you having

05:27
these repetitive tasks and use the business owner have to go

05:31
out and tell everybody what to do. So, it’s time to handle the

05:35
accounts receivable. It’s a time to go out and sharpen the

05:37
lawn mower blades. It’s time to do equipment maintenance. It’s

05:40
time to do the estimate and if you as the business owner have

05:43
to tell everybody what to do, when to do it, how to do it,

05:45
and if it’s not getting done, you have to follow back up.

05:47
That is going to be a key source of burnout and

05:51
frustration. So, what we want to do is block our schedule and

05:54
step number two is and then automate our sales. employee

05:59
and repetitive task systems. So, all the mundane and

06:03
repetitive things that are burning you out right now will

06:05
come to an end or get significantly better Next

06:09
thing, tip number three is we want to go in and within

06:14
blocking that schedule. If you don’t have someone to do this

06:16
for you but a virtual assistant would be a great option or your

06:20
internal office staff is we want to track our KPIs, our key

06:23
performance indicators, and Tip number three, you might say,

06:27
well, Mike, that’s adding more work to my plate. Why would I

06:29
want to do that? I’m I’m worried about burnout. Well, a

06:31
lot of times burnout and frustration is having the lack

06:35
of in your business and knowing what’s going on. So, is it cash

06:40
flow? Is it the amount of jobs? Is it cancellation not knowing

06:43
what’s going on can lead to frustration and burnouts? We

06:46
want a clear picture of our key performance indicators. So, the

06:50
main things that I’m going to be looking at are going in is

06:53
how many clients do we have How many clients have cancelled and

06:57
what are our net new clients. So, we’re looking at client

07:00
acquisition and retention and satisfaction all in one KP.

07:05
Second one is going to be financial KPIs. So, account

07:10
receivable and accounts payable. We need to go in and

07:12
build a budget and we need to track at least on a weekly

07:15
basis how much people owe us. How much is current, How much

07:19
is past due from one to 30 days? thirty-one to 6061 to

07:23
ninety, and ninety plus. So, we’ve got our KP. We’ve got our

07:27
financial money. KPIs. So, people start owing us money and

07:30
things start spinning out of control That’s going to cause

07:33
burnout and stress. So, you want to have an idea on that as

07:35
well and then your third KP, I’m going to leave that open

07:38
for you. Um there’s a lot of things you can do but I

07:41
recommend only three main drivers that we’re focusing on.

07:44
So, what it depending on what point of your business, what’s

07:48
going to drive you strategically to the next step

07:51
where you want to go um but sales and customer retention is

07:55
probably definitely be one in financials as a second. The

07:57
third, you’re going to figure out what that is um and I’ve

08:00
got some ideas around that but I’m going to leave that one

08:03
open up to you. What is the main thing that’s stressing you

08:05
out? You want clarity on to avoid that burnout Now, we

08:09
block the schedule. We’ve organized and automated it and

08:12
we’ve tracked the KPIs that are going to give you clarity. So,

08:16
the next thing logically is we need to take a freaking

08:20
vacation. Sounds crazy. How do we take a vacation in the

08:23
middle of the season? Well, I will tell you whether it’s a

08:26
long weekend. I’m recommending a whole week if you can do it,

08:28
if you’re not in the field still doing the work, we to go

08:31
out and block out a vacation and I will tell you that some

08:34
of the biggest wins in my business have come when I’ve

08:38
actually disconnected from the business for five to 7 days or

08:40
10 days um because once you reset as a business owner, even

08:45
if you’re sitting by the pool, having a cocktail, the mind

08:48
starts working but what you can do and you’re you start

08:52
thinking about the strategic things, the strategy, and the

08:55
visionand that’s what a business owner is supposed to

08:57
You set the vision and you set the strategy and hire a

09:01
team to implement it. Whether it’s subcontractors, internal

09:03
employees, virtual assistants but your job as a business

09:07
owner is to set the vision and the strategy to that vision but

09:10
if we’re in the grind day to day burned out, it’s not going

09:13
to happen. So, yes, I suggest you take at least a three,

09:17
probably a full week vacation if we can and block it out and

09:21
right here, I’m telling you right now, this phone will be

09:24
the detriment of that vacation. So, when I used to go on

09:27
vacation in the early days before I became disciplined and

09:31
build a team that could fully run the business is I literally

09:34
took my phone. If we’re going to a hotel and locked it in the

09:38
safe and literally and once I put it in there, I actually had

09:42
my wife put the code in there so, I wasn’t tempted to do it

09:44
with the keypad and I could not get into that safe unless it

09:47
was an emergency and if there was an emergency, my crew

09:51
leader and the guy running the company had my wife’s cellphone

09:54
and he would call her directly but that forced me to

09:57
disconnect. So, the thing is if you can afford to do it for

10:01
that blacked out time, whether it’s an hour, hour and a half,

10:03
do it throughout the week. Disconnect from the phone and

10:07
use that strategy or that break to really disconnect and focus

10:11
on the strategy of your vision or have a mental reset um but

10:15
without doing such, you will burn out and you continue to

10:17
burn out. So, the main idea here is the top four things we

10:21
need to block our our schedule to protect ourselves and block

10:24
our schedule for the things that have to get done so we

10:26
know when they’re going to get done and it’s not stressful

10:29
We’re going to organize and automate. We’re going to look

10:31
at our KPIs. That’s going to be our our customer numbers, our

10:34
sales retention, and cancellations. Second, KPI is

10:37
going to be our financials. Third one is going to be

10:39
whatever you decide to go strategically to grow to that

10:43
business, to the next level, that clarity um to be able to

10:46
see everything on a daily and weekly basis is going to make

10:48
you less stressed. Um we’re going to hopefully start eating

10:51
healthy and working out. I’m preaching to the choir here.

10:54
I’m trying to get back in the gym a little bit Um in the

10:56
fourth is take a vacation 3 days if you can. at a minimum,

11:01
I’m recommending seven to 10 days. Take your cellphone, put

11:04
it in the hotel safe, and do not answer that phone unless

11:08
it’s emergency and if you have a friend or a spouse with you

11:10
or girlfriend, have that phone number, their phone given to

11:14
whoever’s in charge and they call only if it’s an emergency.

11:17
That way, you are not tempted to start checking your Email

11:21
and you’re not returning phone calls and you’re not getting

11:24
back into. that because what you’ll find a lot of times is

11:26
when you get back is you’re actually the bottle of growth.

11:28
You’re you’re actually implement. You’re hindering the

11:31
growth of your business and you trying to micromanage

11:34
everything is really causing all the stress and burnout. So,

11:37
I will tell you after scaling two seven figure businesses,

11:40
these are just a few of the takeaways but if the business

11:42
owner is not going to take care of themselves and take time to

11:45
themselves and focus on the strategy and vision and focus

11:49
on blocking the schedule going out and automating the

11:52
business. So, what should happen always happen without

11:54
them. The KPIs, key performance indicators, and taking you’ll

11:59
be stuck in a perpetual state of in and out of burnout in the

12:02
final closing thought here is if you are burned out or you

12:05
feel burned out, coming in, reset now because the biggest

12:09
issue and especially in a seasonal service business is

12:12
that you’re fixed in general ministry of overhead. Your

12:15
expenses are all being recovered from March or

12:17
February depending where you’re at in the country up through

12:20
the end of November to December. what you’re going to

12:23
see is the end of September beginning of October, you’ve

12:25
recovered of those fixed costs. So, your cost of doing

12:30
business, your overhead is already recovered. So, anything

12:32
you can push and drive extra profitable sales at the end of

12:36
the year and Q four our bottom line profits and just like this

12:40
gentleman’s question, he’s burned out. So, by the time you

12:43
get to get to the fall, you foot off the gas pedal and

12:45
you’ve literally lost out on the majority of the profits.

12:49
you’re going to make all the profits you could make. So, I

12:51
want to see you go out and break some comments on this

12:54
whether it’s live recorded, get a hold of you, calendars. Block

12:57
your schedule. I want you to organize and automate it. I

13:00
want you to check your KPIs, or clarity. So, there’s less

13:02
stress and I I want you to take a vacation and if you’re

13:05
watching this recorded, if you haven’t taken a vacation,

13:08
commit to yourself, write down. Hey, Mike. I’m doing a 4 week

13:11
vacation or I’m doing a week vacation. I’m doing it a long

13:13
weekend and let’s hear about it. I want to see publicly

13:17
commit to taking some time off to reset and put the phone in

13:20
the hotel safe wherever you’re going and let your team have a

13:24
contact that’s with you. if it’s an emergency, We’ll see

13:26
you again at Callahan’s Corner. Great question. We’ll see you

13:28
again tomorrow. Callahan’s Corner US Questions. We have

13:31
some live right here on