I am exhausted and see hard times ahead. Do I have the ticker?

Aunty B,

I am exhausted running this bloody business. My staff want pay rises, my business needs an overhaul and the silly season is approaching – when I am expected to float around being an optimistic entrepreneur when all I want to do is lie on a banana lounge and speak to no one except a waiter holding a large margarita in Port Douglas.

Honestly, it has been a great five years but I see harder times ahead and I just don’t think I have the ticker for it.

Is it time to quit?

Peter R,
Fitzroy

Peter R,

Take some deep breaths. You are just having the equivalent of an entrepreneur breakdown. They don’t last long fortunately (at most three weeks) before your natural entrepreneurial resilience will reassert itself.

The holiday is a fantastic idea. Have it now – and if you think the office can’t run without you, you are deluded.

Spend the first few days NOT thinking about the business. Swim, get fit, and only one margarita.

Then you need to think about this:

First, your personal journey. Rethink your long-term goals and ask yourself some questions:

1. Have you successfully achieved what you wanted?
2. Are the outcomes what you want? Is it time to move on?
3. Are you still having fun?
4. Is work exciting?
5. Can you imagine life without this business?
6. Can you extend your vision to the next stage?

If you decide at the end of this self reflection period that yes, you want to stay, that there is more to do, then start to think how you can change things. Is the answer a general manager? Can you change roles around so you are doing more of what you love and jettisoning any jobs that wear you out? How about finding a good mentor or joining a leadership team like The Executive Connection?

If you are still feeling flat at the end of the three weeks, it is time to have another conversation – maybe this time with some other people – and it could well be time to leave your baby and move on to your next big thing.

But I suspect that you will emerge reinvigorated. And when have hard times stopped true entrepreneurs? It’s just time to feel the raw excitement of the challenge all over again!