How to avoid small business owner burnout

It takes vision, organization, firm boundaries and a system to help you track success to avoid small business owner burnout. Luckily, our simple yet powerful Grid™ method and our brand-new Grid Introduction Training are here to help!

Small business owners juggle a lot, making burnout highly likely

Running a small business is a lot like having a baby. It demands all of your attention 24/7. This is why many small business owners face a high risk of burnout. Feeling as if everything is more or less up to you can be a major source of stress, as is having always lots to do on your plate. Therefore, it can be hard to take time off to rest or even understand what exactly stresses you and how. At Make Time Count we champion independent men and women with a vision. It’s what they’re doing as well.

Real stories from small business owners and Grid adopters

Many of our clients are small business owners who faced or came close to burnout. They run small companies or work as independent consultants. In each case, what they like about our Grid system is its flexibility and how it allowed them to bring everything into one place. Here’s what they have to say.

Katie’s 6 months gridding

“Things kept falling off my ‘to do’ list and I was being pulled in many different directions at once. I was trying to juggle everything at once and feeling guilty about taking time for myself. Because the Grid is flexible and adaptable, it really works for me. I no longer have endless ‘to-do’ lists in several different notebooks! Everything is clearly outlined on one sheet of paper.”

Christelle’s business success

“Since I have started Gridding, I get things done, and I move toward my goals faster without burning out or losing myself in the process. And, self-care is never at the bottom of my priority list anymore…”

Helen’s story

“Prior to using the Grid Method, I was a chronic list maker! I would often have so many lists here, there and everywhere that I often found myself in a muddle and consequently progress in all areas of my life was hindered! Grid method has been a complete game-changer for me. I have done so many courses over the years and sure, some things stick with you, but not in the way the Grid has done. I would honestly be lost without it. I am so grateful to Magdalena for sharing her magic with me.”

Grid helps professional coach Maggie Grieve with work-life balance and business

Maggie’s life-saver

“The Grid was particularly helpful as a means of creating a picture to work from and develop. I was constantly beating myself up for feeling so overwhelmed and concurrently feeling like I wasn’t achieving anything – even though I was!

My affection for the Grid grew and grew and, as I found myself juggling more with the development of my business, my studies, my property business, my family, and the pressures and pleasures of home. I simply had to give it a try for myself. At that point, I was feeling the self-imposed pressure to keep so many balls in the air at the same time whilst trying to find direction and traction for my new venture.”

Abi’s sanity method

“I was inclined to go round in circles with goals setting and habit management, constantly rewriting rules only to abandon them, and aware I was missing something in my process. Grid gave me one place for everything and I abandoned the monthly planning sheets and deleted the apps.Grid has helped me build self-compassion and a sense of self-worth. It has done this through drawing my attention to my more compulsive goal-setting tendencies. Grid has allowing me to calibrate my approach, and focusing attention on accomplishments instead. As a result, I feel my life is becoming more rounded. I can’t help but wonder if I’d need the year out from the MSc had I discovered Grid sooner.

It’s been our goal over Covid to create a stand-alone course that can teach this powerful method and help more small business owners succeed and avoid burnout. We believe small business owners are a vital link in the economic ecosystem. Hence, with our online course, we can now support you irrespective of where you live, in the comfort of your own homes, and at your own pace.

How the Grid™ Introduction Training can aid a small business owner

We designed our Grid Introduction Course to be a 5-module online personal development course to help you:

Stop and get organized
Build a coherent vision for your life and your business.
Define and set clear goals.
See and celebrate progress as it happens.
Ensure you take time off.
Help with creating and keeping healthy boundaries.
Motivate you each day if you use the Day Grid.
Prevent burnout and support wellbeing.

We achieve this by putting neuroscience and psychology to work on paper. All you need is your mind, a pen, and a highlighter. Then, you can discover how you can advance your business, deliver results, and ensure you keep a healthy work-life balance and good health from Day 1 – all with our method!

Avoiding small business owner burnout requires balance

We’ve built the course around Dr. Magdalena Bak-Maier’s Grid™ method, which gives you a useful framework, process and tool to stay productive across multiple agendas. This means you learn to build healthy routines that join up your vision with your daily and weekly activity and where you matter, too.

Over the 5 modules (excluding Preparations and the Final Review) of the course, you will see and learn how to:

use Grids to construct your life and business,
apply neuroscience insights to be more effective,
discover how to address the number 1 killer of all small business success – procrastination!

If you’re reading this blog, then this approach and course could be for you. The Grid Introductory Training course can help you craft an approach to your life and business that delivers flexibility, results, and a good night’s sleep. This translates into greater confidence and more business.

A quick run through the course modules

Module 1

First, we help you create great conditions to learn by taking you through the key materials and getting you into the right mindset. We help you establish your starting point so you can compare it with the results you’ll get at the end!. The best way to avoid small business owner burnout is to create an approach to work that eliminates the risk altogether.

Module 2

We introduce you to the 7 Grid Principles and the neuroscience and psychology that make this method so effective. We also help you complete your first reflective exercise around what you and your nervous system need to truly thrive. This is a must if you’re going to venture on your own in your business.

Module 3

We help you create a healthy vision for the future of your business and you. We teach you how to set goals that are meaningful and resonant to what you value and how you want to live. Having the theory down, we then invite you to try out many of the aspects of the Grid™ method using Day and week grids so that you can see for yourself how easy it is to advance multiple agendas and self-care for you and those you love.

Module 5

Here you see how personal life, wellbeing, your business, and career success add up together(both on the Grid™ and during your day). You also learn how to surf your energy to get things done and be far more effective without getting tired! Let’s face it seeing results makes taking a break far easier!

Module 6

We conclude the Grid Introduction Training with a thorough comprehension check to ensure you got all you need before sending you off into the world and a Bonus module on how to beat your procrastinator and stay resourceful!

Small business owner burnout thrives in isolation

Part of the reason why small business owner burnout occurs is that people working for themselves can often feel isolated. Having to deal with everything on your own is energetically demanding. At the same time, many networking opportunities can often feel like a waste of time. This is why we’ve added a lovely extra to our course.

Signing up for the course gives you an automatic FREE place on one of our small-group live Grid tutorial clinics where you can:

network with other people
check your technique
ask further questions
get support with your specific issues.

How to take the next step

Small business owner burnout is real and it can really derail your life and business. Head over here and enroll on the Grid Introduction Training today!

So, if you want to explore our Grid™ method further, you can:

Start by checking out Dr. Magdalena Bak-Maier’s Get Productive: Grid book.
Book on a 90-minute Grid Clinic to get a feel for the method as well as personalized advice on life’s little and big niggles. (P.S. We have included one FREE Clinic appointment in your Grid Introduction Training package. Yay!)
Read up on how other Grid adopters use the Grid to stay healthy and productive across life and work, studies or business.

Lastly, we invite you to join our email community to stay up to date with our advice, get free resources and be the first to know about our upcoming offers. It’s our way of helping you Make Time Count, as we say!

Q&A

Does the course cover what’s in the book?

No. The course is a personal development programme that uses the Grid method to overhaul your life or perform a good tune-up. This would be roughly equivalent to having at least six sessions with a professional coach. In the process, you’re also learning how to Grid. Pretty clever, we think!

Do I need to know what a Grid is to understand the course?

You don’t! You will learn all you need on the course. However, some people completing the course said the Get Productive Grid book was a useful additional resource. The book summarizes the method and includes great exercises to diagnose your starting point. It offers fun ways to measure your 3-month progress; the course does this too, but in a different and more in-depth way.

Do I need any additional aids or products to take the course?

We recommend that you take the course on a desktop instead of iPad or mobile. Access to a printer is helpful when using our PDF worksheets if you like to write by hand. If you’re a fan of the digital, you can annotate the PDFs on your favorite device or make notes using your preferred method.

Is there a time limit to the course?

Once you gain access to the Grid Introduction Training, you will have 14 days to complete all the modules. The material is broken down into bite-size units, making progress easy while also ensuring that you keep up the momentum and get worthwhile results!