5 Tips for The CEO/Founder Burn Out
Some of you may know that I started my own organization right after I graduated from undergrad in 2011 for girls in my community. It lasted about 2 years which my last event was a scholarship essay contest I did for the AVID program at the high school I graduated from. I had stopped doing what I loved because I was burnt out! Lets be honest, this role as CEO/Founder isn't easy especially if you're building the organization from the ground up. Because I've experienced and done my own research I'd like to share 5 tips that you can utilize along the process without stepping away from your baby.
Focus: focus on one thing at a time until you are able to have assistance and build your dream team. Being organized is must and utilizing your phone calendar, planner, notebook and the strength to say "no" sometimes will allow you to not feel overwhelmed and unorganized.
Help: This is not a 1 woman show. If you have volunteers or people willing to lend a helping hand, you need to delegate those tasks to them and be okay doing so (trust).
Purge: purging goes hand-in-hand with being organized. Let go of things and people you don't need. This is a process, and sitting down to figure this out is a must.
Mentor/accountability partner: find someone that is doing what you're doing and keep one another accountable. If you can find a mentor who's willing to pour into you, especially when you feel like "hey this may not be what my community needs" you need a mentor who can tell you from experience and speak life!
Vacay away from work: take a few days off from posting, answering calls, texts, emails regarding your organization. This doesn't mean leave it unattended, if people are trying to reach you they aren't aware as to what's going on. Use automatic messages for your voicemail/email. Schedule your posts so it appears you're still around and when you come back you can respond. If you have a team, then you are able to allow them to respond if it isn't regarding decisions you normally make. Also, stepping away from your team is a must too, let them know this is needed and they have the option to do the same. If you're organizaed they are aware they too can do this & notify you (if possible) that they plan on taking time away as well. This goes back to being organized and I cannot stressed that enough.
I hope these 5 tips can help someone to not make mistake of giving up. Share below what has you burnt out...