02/ 02/ 2007
by Emily McMackin
Chances are, you built your business on your passion. You took the risk of becoming an entrepreneur because you wanted to spend every day doing what you love and sharing it with others. In the early days, you could work with little more than five hours of sleep and coffee to sustain you. But now that your business is running smoothly, you find it hard just to drag yourself into the office each morning. What happened to the insatiable drive you once had? Burnout is hard to avoid when you've dedicated years of your life to building your business. Learn how the following business owners tackled tedium and discovered how to stay inspired.
Every day is a party for Marley Majcher, literally. As owner of The Party Goddess, the Los Angeles event planner coordinates the decor, cuisine and entertainment for some of the swankiest soirees across the country. But as exciting as her work sounds, running her business isn't always a bash. Three or four times a year, Majcher gets tired of it all. While she doesn't want to walk away, she doesn't feel as passionate as usual. The monotony doesn't happen at her busiest or slowest time; it sets in when everything is going well.
"Your cash flow is fine, everything is fine, but it's just not exciting anymore," she says. "It's like what happens when married couples get into trouble--there is no romance, but it's not because anything is necessarily wrong; it's just not fun anymore. You have to figure out how to make it fun and how to turn it around."
After decades of paying off debt, adding new technologies and working around-the-clock to make her Pittsburgh security firm profitable, Sandra Hunter, owner of Ace Lock, was finally experiencing the success she deserved, only she couldn't enjoy it. "It felt like it was one day after another," she says.
Seeking a diversion, she accepted a job with a new client as an independent security consultant. With one of the buildings located in a different city, Hunter was traveling and working 100-plus hours a week just to keep up. Time off was reserved just for sleeping and chores. Soon the work that once brought her joy became drudgery. "When you work too many hours, you lose a lot of creativity, and you get diminishing returns," Hunter says.
Her lack of enthusiasm became so obvious that she worried about its effect on employees and clients. If she couldn't get excited about her business, how could she expect them to? "I realized that I had to start making some changes, or it was going to be detrimental to my business," Hunter says.
Only three years into building a company that started out making vintage caps inspired by minority baseball leagues from the early 20th century, Erik Stuebe, CEO of San Francisco-based Blue Marlin, appeared to have reached the top. He had snagged premium accounts with Nordstorm, Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Barneys New York. Movie stars like Bruce Willis and George Clooney had been spotted wearing his caps. A secondary market for the product had even emerged.
Orders were pouring in, but Stuebe was discouraged. "It felt like Blue Marlin was fully defined at that point--nd that was hard because part of the fun was creating what it was," he says.
The intricacies of running the business overshadowed the thrill of growing it. Instead of focusing on what he loved--designing, collaborating and marketing--Stuebe spent all his time on quality, delivery and pricing issues. And as Blue Marlin added more retailers to its distribution, the company had to implement more procedures to deal with legalities. With no time to brainstorm on ways to develop the brand, Stuebe dreaded going to work in the mornings. "Complexity creeps in, and suddenly you're managing a much more difficult business than you had when you started," he says.
Entrepreneurs commonly suffer burnout when they feel like they no longer have any challenges or room to be creative in their work, says Steven Berglas, clinical psychologist and author of Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout (Random House, 2001). After investing lots of time and resources into building a company, achieving success can paralyze business owners if they feel they must follow it up with an even bigger accomplishment.
Ignoring boredom and failing to look for stimulation can cause owners to either walk away from their businesses or commit "entrepreneurial arson"--self-destructive acts that eventually sabotage the company. You can avoid this by creating new challenges for yourself and finding ways to rediscover the passion that sparked your entrepreneurial spirit in the first place, Berglas says. "It's not building the dream but sustaining it," he says.
Get Unstuck
Most days, Marley Majcher truly loves her work. But sometimes the party-planning goddess gets stuck in a rut--mostly when she has to focus more on the nuts and bolts of running her business than the creative side.
"Entrepreneurs typically go into business because they want to do something they love," Majcher says. "Most of us do not go in with a corporate takeover approach."
Reviewing and paying yearly insurance premiums, reprimanding contract workers, drafting procedure sheets and working with dull clients who want nothing more than chicken and pasta at their events sap her energy. When she feels drained, Majcher seeks stimulation--outside of the office. She might go to an art gallery, stop at a newsstand to browse through magazines or visit a neighborhood she hasn't been before.
"I like to go to L.A.'s Chinatown and look for what is cool there," Majcher says. "It's like being in a different world—the colors, the smells, the people and the energy, it somehow unsticks me."
When she doesn't have time to take a break, she listens to motivational tapes in her car while driving between appointments. "It helps me look at things from a different perspective," Majcher says.
Sometimes stepping away is the best solution, especially when she is spinning her wheels on a project or not making a dent in her inbox. "Even though I want to sit at my desk and keep plowing through, that's the wrong thing to do when I'm overwhelmed," she says. "It builds resentment."
After spending nine hours one day recently trying to catch up on cash-flow reports and e-mail from clients, Majcher made herself go to dinner with a friend and take a power walk afterwards, even though she wasn't finished with everything. "I knew that I needed to clear my head and get out of the box--I did, and it made all the difference," Majcher says.
Once she got so weary of her business that she considered quitting altogether. Instead, she traveled to Asia for two weeks to rejuvenate. "I came back fired up and ready to go after I had seen all of these new things--new ways to present menus, new foods to try, new design," Majcher says.
While spending time away from her routine recently, Majcher found a way to liven up mundane office work. When some colleagues asked if she would help them teach a profitability class at an event-planning conference, she was hesitant since accounting always bogged her down. While researching the topic, she discovered ways to make budgeting more interesting and productive.
And she tries to keep things as light as possible for her employees, occasionally taking everyone out for pizza or cheeseburgers when work gets stale. "I try to remember that we're in the party-planning business--this isn't brain surgery--so we need to have fun."
Broaden Your Vision
Blue Marlin's Erik Stuebe left the investment banking world to start a business because he wanted the freedom to choose his own path and create his own brand of apparel. But once his vintage baseball cap company plateaued, selling the same product over and over only bored him.
So Stuebe hired a board of directors to bring fresh ideas to the company. From his board he learned that he could put as much creativity into managing his 40-person business as he could developing his brand.
"Many entrepreneurs associate creativity with product design or marketing," Stuebe says. "But building a business itself takes a lot of creativity, from finding the right people to expanding in a way you normally wouldn't have."
With a stronger team in place, the company was able to find the right niche, returning to its vintage roots in its design of a new premium clothing line and creating a spin-off brand, Five Star Vintage, whose lower-priced sportswear celebrates the minority baseball leagues Blue Marlin modeled its caps after.
Since then, the company has expanded its classic American sportswear line so much that hats now account for less than 5 percent of its business. Best of all, Stuebe has learned to devote his time to his strengths in the business and delegate the rest. "Not being good at something frustrates me, so I've learned to bring on partners who are good at what I'm not," he says.
With Blue Marlin outsourcing much of its production oversees now, Stuebe is seeking a vice president of operations to negotiate prices with factories--a task he doesn't enjoy. But he has found interviewing candidates as exciting for him as designing brands. "When there is a certain chemistry at the office, it invigorates everyone," he says.
Ease Up
Sandra Hunter of Ace Lock can't wait to get to work in the mornings. The complexity of the corporate security systems her firm installs fascinates her. But at quitting time, she is content to leave.
"There is always another memo to write or another letter to compose; it's endless," Hunter says. "It helps to have a starting and stopping point, and to realize that tomorrow is another day."
It wasn't always this way. Hunter's long hours used to be a source of pride. She handled every detail of the business and was reluctant to give responsibility to anyone else.
"Letting go is the hardest thing for us business owners," Hunter says. "But pretty soon, you realize that your business has moved on, and you have to, too."
For Hunter, that realization came when she joined PowerLink, a group of Pittsburgh executives who volunteer to coach women-owned businesses. Her mentors there helped her stop micromanaging and regain balance. She began cutting back on her hours, delegating duties, setting more realistic deadlines and hiring more people. Handing over some tasks was easier than others.
"I hired a full-time person to concentrate on sales and marketing, and it occurred to me he was getting to do all the fun stuff," Hunter says. "But I've been able to move into a different role, and now we can blend our ideas together to come up with a much better plan."
Easing up has allowed her to focus on the big picture instead of getting lost in all the minutiae. She now has time to focus on streamlining her operation, finding new technology and meeting one-on-one with each employee.
"Burnout is often caused by feeling like you should be good at everything--but no one is," Hunter says. "You may need to understand everything as a small- business owner, but that doesn't mean you have to be the main point person."
Having time for a life and interests outside of work also leaves her more relaxed, which helps with creative problem solving. "Whenever you are in the heat of the battle, you can't really make the best decisions," she says. "You have to allow yourself time to step back and contemplate."
Though she only works 25 hours a week now, she gets much more done in less time--and she enjoys it again, too. "You have to like the path that you have set before you," Hunter says.
Take a Productive Break
NFIB's Area Action Councils are a great way to get away--while helping your business
Ever feel like taking a break from your business, but feel too guilty to head to the golf course? Joining your local NFIB Area Action Council might be the answer. With groups all across the country, AACs give NFIB members the chance to play a more active role in NFIB as well as network with other small-business owners.
The amount of time you commit is completely up to you. Most AACs meet officially about three times a year. But there are always opportunities to pitch in for the small-business cause, such as working to elect pro-small-business candidates, educating colleagues about important small-business issues and helping NFIB increase its membership and clout with lawmakers.
Participation offers a break from your daily grind, yet you won't feel like you're abandoning your business. Instead, you'll be helping it even more! Find the AAC nearest you by going to your state Web page at www.NFIB.com/stateabbre viation (Ex: www.NFIB.com/AL) or by calling (800) NFIB-NOW.
NFIB.com
Find simple and low-cost ways to recharge in the "Web Extras" section of www.NFIB.com/toolsandtips
