Donna Hann 0:00
Hey lovely, and welcome to today's podcast. It's Donna here your business buddy. And I'm going to share with you my secret sauce to success without burnout. In today's episode, we'll be discussing burnout, what it is, how it can impact you and your business and the strategies you can implement to really avoid it. And it comes from experiencing business burning myself, and the impact that that had on my personal health and my most treasured relationship with my husband. And then the depths of that experience, I realized that the choice to reshape my business with aligned action, and intentional changes was what flipped the outcome for me and my family. So I'm going to delve into that today. It's going to be a heartfelt heart on your sleeve cutter episode, along with lots of tips to help you if this is what you want to do in reshaping your business, so that it aligns with the kind of lifestyle that you want to have with your family. Let's do it.
Donna Hann 1:14
Hello, I'm Donna Hann, a business coach, and an online course creator. And this is the She's in Business podcast. You can think of me as your business bestie, who's a few steps ahead of where you are right now. As a month fueled with ambition and determination. I've created and sold three businesses. I've learned the lessons made mistakes, and I understand the daily juggle in the hustle. I also know what it's like when relationships fray and burnout taps you on the shoulder. That was my world until I reshaped and transformed the way I ran my six figure business. Today I help women to transform their businesses and go from being the overwhelmed entrepreneur to becoming the thriving entrepreneur feeling energized, empowered and fulfilled within their business lifestyle. I want to inspire your business journey and help you to stop spinning your wheels, because I want you to burn bright instead of burning out. And I'll invite other entrepreneurs to share their real life stories too, because I want you to know that you're not alone. You can be the savvy entrepreneur that you were born to be, and enjoy the freedom to do the things and be present with the people that mean the most to you. So if you're ready to rise to the next level and build a business by design, this is the She's in Business podcast for mums who are made for more.
Donna Hann 2:34
So we've all experienced burnout at some point or another, whether it's a little bit of burnout, or you know, you've gone to the full extent of being really in the trenches with it with it. Throughout life as an entrepreneur or a busy parent. We've all been there at some point. And let's face it, it's not fun. But in this episode, I'm going to be sharing with you some tips and tricks on how to avoid burnout and find success without sacrificing your health and your relationship. And I'm speaking from experience here, when I share all of this stuff with you. But first, let's start with what exactly is burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. It's like the annoying little sibling of stress and overwhelm. And it can affect anyone. It's like hitting that brick wall. And then suddenly, you can't seem to muster up the energy to keep going. It's like your mind and your body are saying Enough already. And it can be a massive, huge roadblock to your path to success. And I want you to know that you're not alone.
Donna Hann 3:54
As I mentioned in the intro, I've been in this very place myself and I see a lot of women on this road to burnout. I help a lot of women in my private coaching and in my group coaching programs where they feel like they're on that hamster wheel. And I've certainly felt like that too. I've been on the hamster wheel where I'm going as fast as I could to keep up but I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. And I felt like you know that sense of being completely out of your depth. When self doubt and overwhelm and lack of clarity. Just has you feeling completely lost. And that was how I was feeling. I questioned my capabilities. I was left wondering how other successful women managed to do it all. But then, when I really sat down and I got clear and I started to pull my business apart, I found the secret sauce and I reshaped how I viewed all the things, all the things I was doing inside of my business, and completely flipped that and reshaped what I was doing. So maybe right now you're feeling like you're out of your depths, maybe you're feeling like you're spiraling into self doubt, self doubt and overwhelm. And it all just feels too hard. And you know that you've got no clarity, you know that you're feeling lost. And you look at these other successful women in business, and you wonder, What the hell do they do at all, you want to go to that next level, and go beyond that next level, but you're just feeling really stuck. And you sometimes have the thoughts of like, I feel like I don't want to do this anymore. But, you know, you, it's not so much that you don't have the capacity or the potential to do it. It's just that you don't know what the next steps are to change the way your business runs, so that you can run it rather than it running you. And I've been in that place before. And I have many, many women say to me, I just want someone to tell me what to do. And maybe this sounds really familiar to you. Well, the good news is that you don't have to live life like this forever, you can flip the script, and you can start thriving in your business without burning out. And for me, when I think back, you know, I really remember standing on the edge of true burnout for most of 2018. And 2019 was really when I realized that my business wasn't what I wanted it to be. It wasn't serving me and my family in the way that I wanted it to. It has morphed into this beast, this hungry beast, that it didn't matter what I did to feed it, it was still always hungry.
Donna Hann 6:56
So in 2019, I spent a lot of time reshaping my business, because I knew I couldn't continue on that way. And it worked, you know, the business was running more efficiently. And effectively, profit was rising. I wasn't working as much. And it was amazing. But here's the kicker, which at the time was a blessing. But it really also felt like a kick in the guts. Because in early 2020, after spending 2019 really reshaping everything in my business or working hard to get it to where I knew it needed to be. In early 2020, my marriage came tumbling down. And it was like, although I'd gotten the business to really great place, it was almost too late. You know, my relationship, my most treasured relationship with my best friend with my husband was in tatters. On the flip side, be because my business was running so well without me because I put all that time and energy into reshaping it in the year previous, I could trust that my team had everything under control. And therefore I could truly focus on rebuilding my marriage, which is what I did. And things are wonderful now, thank goodness. And that's where it was, like, as I said, you know, it was that thing where it was a blessing, because I was able to do that. But it also felt like a real kick in the guts because I'm like, I've done all the hard work, I've got the business to where I want it to be. And it means I can be more available to my family and all of that sort of stuff. But, you know, my marriage had just reached that breaking point at that time. And you know, when I think back to that time as well. Or even was there you know, it was early 2020.
Donna Hann 8:56
So, my business also was at a really tough time where we've gone from in person dance classes, to everything being online. So as you can imagine that happening. My marriage being in tatters me moving out of the family home. Ah, it was, it was fucking horrible. Let me just say that it was fucking horrible. But you know, this is why I do what I do as a business coach is because I don't want that for you. I want you to take action earlier, to reshape your business so that you don't have to experience the things that I went through when I you know, had to rebuild my relationships.
Donna Hann 9:40
So when we come back from the break, I'm going to spill the beans on the secret ingredients that I believe are important for you to continue on the path of success with your business without burnout and without it impacting the other areas of your life like the relationships you have with your family and friends. So no more paddling madly, just to keep your head above water, it's time to gain some direction and some clarity, and to find that inner peace that you've been craving. So get ready to take some notes and buckling for some aha moments after this break.
Donna Hann 10:16
Did you have a vision of working within school hours and in great money and having your own thing as a mum, and at the start, it was invigorating and exciting. But somewhere along the way, the responsibilities of running a business kind of household now feels really heavy and draining. And the equilibrium you wish you had in life seems kind of unattainable. Right now. I'm here to tell you that you're not alone. And I'm here to tell you that there is a way to experience the freedom that you set out to achieve rather than continually chasing the dream of being in your shoes. I've broken that cycle. And I want to show you that you can do it too. I'm a creative business strategist. It's one of my superpowers, I have the ability to visualize your ideas, objectively see things from the perspective of your customers, understand the potential benefits for your business, and then guide you towards making that vision a reality. I coach no more than 10 Female business owners to accelerate their business growth strategy, and shape a business by design so that they can take advantage of the freedom that comes from owning a business. My private coaching sessions are focused, action orientated. And they're all about getting you either unstuck, solving a problem, or giving a direction to where you're wanting to go to grow and reshape your business. But currently, you don't know where to start. Maybe you've got a great idea you'd like to develop, but you want to run up fast and unbiased expert, who's walked in your shoes and show you the holes in it and hold you accountable to get it done. All my sessions are on Zoom, making it easy to access the support you need from anywhere in the world. private coaching always starts with a discovery call. It's free. And it's your opportunity to chat with me about your goals, your business where you're currently at, and where you want to get it to. You can ask all the questions currently racing around in your head as to how I can help you as your business coach, to bring value to you, your business and your lifestyle. You can book a free discovery call right now. It's donnahann/freecallbooking. I'd love to chat with you.
Donna Hann 12:31
So my first ingredient to my secret sauce is setting realistic goals. This is crucial to set goals that are aligned to your values and your vision for your business while also considering the season of life that you're in setting unrealistic goals can lead to burnout, and have you feeling unmotivated. When we break down big goals into smaller, achievable milestones to make progress without feeling overwhelmed, that's where we can get that aligned action. So the first secret sauce ingredient is realistic goals. I know as a business owner, I know as an entrepreneur, we have our brains are wired for like amazing big ideas. And we get really excited about those things. And when we put it all together, it's like, whoa, that's huge. Where do I even start? So where you start is by taking those big goals, which are very important to have, and chunking them down into smaller, achievable milestones so that you can make that progress without feeling overwhelmed. And it is those small micro steps that make the biggest difference to your business in the long term. So that's my first one.
Donna Hann 13:52
The second one, which is one of my favorites is self care. So self care is critical for avoiding burnout. And we know this right? But I'm not talking about bubble bath and face masks and those things. They're important. But to me, that's also just part of hygiene, right. That's just part of looking after ourselves as a human being. But self care at a deeper level is usually the first thing to go when all of the other priorities seem to be more important. So, yes, it's essential to make time for activities that help you relax and recharge. It's also important that we have something that takes us outside of our business so that we don't become our business because we are more than our business and our heart and our soul. We are not just what we do inside of our business that can be a really dangerous slippery slope to be on and can really damage of self care because a business never stops. There will always be more to do inside of your business. And if you associate your identity with your business, then you're never going to stop it So the first thing to do is separate yourself and understand and appreciate and celebrate and remind yourself that you are not your business. And instead, make sure that you've got things you can do outside of your business, maybe a hobby, maybe some exercise, spending time with your loved ones, scheduling in some self care into your calendar and prioritizing it. And that's what I always do when I am mapping out my 90 day plan for my business. And we do this inside of my programs, I give you all the templates for creating your own 90 day plan. And the first thing that we do is we put self care, we block out days where we won't be working, whether that be weekends or holidays, and moments for you to just hit pause. Even if it's for 10 minutes, we make it part of the routine, so that you give yourself permission to slow down to stop and connect with yourself and connect with your loved ones. Because it gets all of those good endorphins pumping. And you will feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the harder things to jump back into your business when you've had the opportunity to unplug.
Donna Hann 16:11
My third thing, my third ingredient is to delegate tasks to others who can handle them competently. This, of course, is going to reduce your workload and enable you to focus on the tasks that really require your attention and your level of expertise that no one else in the business has. Automations systemising, streamlining, these can all help you tremendously, especially if you're a solopreneur. Like we all have our superpowers. And I want you to be able to focus on yours. And delegate the tasks that feel tedious that other people can do for you, or that you can set up an automation for that software can do for you. Because if you don't have a team member, you are a solopreneur, then what you can do is get the right software in place and it can be just as effective.
Donna Hann 17:05
Yes, it takes time to set up and learning any new software can be tedious. And let's face it, it can be frustrating when you know there are other tasks backing up. But I promise you, it will be worth it. Once you've set it up using automations. And system software running in the backend of your business will help to reduce the overwhelm because you know that it's going to happen automatically, that the quality of whatever it is that you've set the automation up for it's going to be top notch, there's no room for human error if you set it up properly. So it is totally worth spending the time it takes to set up your software, find the right software, set it up for your business, it would totally be worth it. Trust me on that one. You can also outsource tasks around your home. So to ease the pressure and the stress of juggling those responsibilities. Things like you know, having a cleaner or a meal planning subscription can save you hours of time that you can use elsewhere, maybe setting up that new software for automatic. So really important to think about how you can do that.
Donna Hann 18:22
The next step, the next tip is to have a support system to lean on. This is a network of mentors, maybe peers, other professionals that can provide you support and guidance. These people will be your lifesavers. In nit with other people, I can't stress this enough. seek advice, gain valuable insights into business practices and skills that you might be lacking, but your head out, reach out for help and say hey, I'm stuck here Can someone give me an ad. And having a business coach can provide you with those invaluable insights and that support in navigating the unique challenges that you will face in the business world. There is nothing like being a business owner, it will test you on so many different levels. And having the support of a business coach or peers or a mentor to help you work through this is in valuable and I will guarantee you will change the business trajectory that you have in front of you the options the opportunities that you have in front of you to level up to step into your potential to grow to profit eyes, your business. It is next level when you have a support system to lean on. So if this is something you've been thinking about for a while, I do offer free discovery calls where you can have a chat with me about your business, the direction that you want to take it and I would love to help you on your business journey. So I'll put the details in the show notes where you can book a free discovery call with me. If it's something you've been thinking about, just hit the link, I'm gonna have a chat.
Donna Hann 20:04
This is another one that's really big. So the next one a lot of my clients struggle with, especially if you're a people pleaser, this is going to really resonate for you. And this is boundaries, setting boundaries and sticking to them. Oh my goodness, the sticking part is the tricky part, right. So it could be things like do not check emails after a certain time of the day, or scheduling time off to spend with family and friends, making time for activities outside of work. And don't let work related things creep into that time. And it is hard. I know it is hard. But I am a huge believer in saying no, when it doesn't feel right to opportunities. It's so hard to say no in those moments, but you need to trust your inner knowing, and have the courage to say no to the things that don't align either with your values, or just not sitting with you, or perhaps and not right for the season of life that you're in, or the season of business that you're in. Because when you have the space to say yes to the other things, the things that light you up, the things that bring value to your business, the things that get you closer to your business goals, and the things that build closer relationships and connection with your family and your friends, the stuff that really lights you up. That's where the gold is.
Donna Hann 21:42
The next one, and you might not like it, but I'm gonna say it anyway, is planning, plan, plan, plan, plan plan. The reason that I say you might not like it is because often it's the thing that business owners don't do, because they're too busy to do it right. But what I know to be true, is when you spend the time planning inside of your business, it is game changing. And the women that have gone from being like, I'm not a planner, I like to fly by the seat of my pants, I love to be spontaneous. And I'm just not a planner. It's just not me when they give themselves a bit of a nudge. And you know, I imagine them along as well, let's be honest. And they actually plan. They're like, Ah, this is why I get it now. So learning ways to streamline your business processes, optimizing your workflow, which all happens when you plan is what's going to save you the most amount of time and avoid you from getting bogged down in those tedious tasks. It's going to help you to stay organized. And it's also the key to preventing burnout. So using tools like weekly productivity planners and project management software, you can download my free planning tool that's available on the homepage of my website, if you just go to donnahann.com/slashfreeplanner, and I'll put the link in the show notes as well. It's as a tool that can help you to stay organized and prioritize your tasks. And it has helped hundreds of women to get organized. So if you don't already have it, go get it and start to plan out your time and your business vision.
Donna Hann 23:32
And lastly, having a growth mindset is essential. Embrace challenges and learn from failure failures. So that's basically what a growth mindset is, if you're unfamiliar with that term, it's where if something comes your way that is challenging, that you've never done before, or that perhaps is a mistake inside your business, we embrace it as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than getting bogged down, or stopped in our tracks by fear of failure. And don't give it a good crack, or we are really hard on ourselves because something didn't go well. And therefore it feels like we want to give up, right? We see this a lot in kids. Like if you think about your kids, when they are trying something for the first time, they might be really resistant to give it a go. Or if you know they're doing some homework and it's on a subject that they know that perhaps they make a lot of mistakes and that they feel they're not good at it, then it can be really challenging to get them motivated to keep trying but if we teach them the growth mindset to be that it doesn't matter if you make a mistake, we can learn from those mistakes and we can continue to grow and we can embrace the opportunities and the challenging things that we have in life because when we embrace that, and we give it a go, we always learn something. That's the growth mindset. So we view our setbacks as opportunities for growth and development, and maintain a positive outlet, a positive outlook, to avoid the burnout. So seek out learning opportunities, attend workshops, take courses, things that are continually going to improve your skills in business, but also things that are going to continually improve your mindset in business, because I really feel that it's like a 60/40 split, you need 60% of business skills, you know, always stretching yourself in that way to learn and grow. But you also need to work on 40% of mindset, because as a business owner, and you would know this, you can have all the business skills in the world, you can know exactly what you're doing. But if you don't have a mindset that goes with it, when times get tough, it's very easy to throw in the towel. So make sure that you've got both business growth, around business skills, and also opportunities to help improve your skills in mindset as well. I love working in both of those areas.
Donna Hann 26:13
Oh, so that was a lot to take in, wasn't it. But I hope that you found these ingredients to my secret sauce to success really helpful. My final reminder that I want to leave you with today. And one thing that business owners forget to do is celebrate your successes. So no matter how small, take the time to acknowledge your accomplishments, and celebrate with your team, if you have one, with your family, with your friends, or just with you take yourself out for a coffee like celebrate you take yourself out for a glass of wine, it's really important, and this is why it's also important to have that six that that team around you. And I'm talking team as in a support team, not necessarily like a team that work in your business, but a support team. You know, cheerleaders that be your business peers, a business coach, and mentor people who really get it, I know that your family and friends, you know, they try and celebrate with you. But it's next level. When you celebrate with people who really get it, they get what it's like to be a business owner, and juggle a family and all those things. So make sure you've got those people around you. And if you do have those people around you celebrate the small stuff, put it out there into the world. And it feels it feels so good. When you do that it keeps that positive attitude going. It keeps that sense of momentum happening, even during challenging times when you can celebrate the tiny things as well as the big things. Because after all, you deserve it right? You work hard for this beautiful life. This beautiful business that you're creating burnout can be debilitating, but with the right strategies. And with the mindset skills, you can avoid it and success is on the other side of that success without sacrificing your health and your relationships.
Donna Hann 28:07
So go out there and conquer the world be amazing like you know you are that remember to take care of yourself along the way.
Donna Hann 28:16
If this resonated with you today, I would love love love for you to drop me a DM and let me know which parts of the podcast really hit home for you. I would love to connect. And, you know, jump on a discovery call with you if this is something you want to talk more about. And you know, the thing that really lights me up inside of my business is I love connecting. I love hearing your stories. It's one of my biggest joys as a business coach. So please get in touch. Thanks for listening today and have the best day. Bye.
Donna Hann 28:51
Thank you for listening to this episode of The She's in Business podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on Instagram and Facebook and I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a review on iTunes. Be sure to include your business name and your Insta handles so I can give you a shout out to if you want to know more about what I do the programs that I offer and how you can work with me then head over to donnahann.com and follow me on Instagram at donnahann_coach. I hope this podcast inspires you to be courageous to step into your potential and take action on building a successful and profitable business beyond what you thought was possible.