4 Ways To Avoid Summer SMB Burnout

The summers are hard for a lot of people. Business slows down and the calls of the beach and BBQs make it mentally difficult to stay inside and focus on growing our businesses. And even though you love your business and providing value to your customers, you start to feel a little burnt out and you’re less productive than you should be. We’ve all be there. But here are 7 ways to help avoid the summer burnout, so that you can enjoy your business and the nice weather.

Put more focus on the things you value: Go grab pen and paper and write down everything that you did last week. Note how many times you tweeted, how much time you spent on email, every task that you completed during the day. Then cross off everything that you did that didn’t provide value to your business. By doing that you’re likely to find that you waste a lot of hours doing work that you don’t really have to do, stuff you just picked up along the way. Use the summer months to rid yourself of these “extra” tasks to help you re-focus your effort on the things that do provide to your business. Doing so will increase your productivity and make you more excited about the work you’re doing. Re-adjust your work and your priorities to focus on bringing direct value to your business.

Revamp your business: It’s not the amount of work that causes us to feel burnt out; it’s the type of work. When you’re working smart and being innovative, you feel like you can go all night. It’s when you’re stuck in the mundane that your body starts longing for a 3-month nap. Your body isn’t tired, your mind is. To jumpstart it, put some life back in your business and revitalize it. That means spicing up the way you do things, using different channels and thinking outside the way you’ve always done things. If the summer is slow, it makes it the perfect time to get a little daring. Doing so will help you come up with exciting new marketing plays for your business and it will also help you mentally reinvest in what you’re doing.

Re-adjust expectations: Our lives tend to get a little busier in the summer. In the Winter, maybe you could work 12 hours a day without much slack from the people in your real life, however, the summer means increased family time (darn school letting out!), graduation parties, BBQs and more social requirements. If you’re starting to feel a little burnt out trying to squeeze in the same amount of work in a shortened amount of time, it may be time to readjust your expectations. Shorten your To Do list and allow yourself some extra slack. Your sanity will thank you later. So will your children.

Treat yourself: Put the fire back in your business by taking some time to invest in it and in yourself. The summer months are often chock-filled with networking opportunities. There’s an increased number of conferences, seminars, webinars and networking events – take advantage of them. Or, maybe take an online course to help you get up to speed on social media or a news sales technique. However you decide to do it, the best way to feel inspired is to arm yourself with new information and techniques for growing your business.

It’s natural to feel a little less excited about working your SMB during the summer months. However, by changing things up a bit, realigning your expectations and finding new ways to fuel your flames, you’ll find that this summer may be the most exciting one you have yet. How will you spending your summer as a SMB owner?