Brando CalPankian
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Pine City, MN
I know all owners hit this stage. How do you deal with it?
In our businesses short existence we've accomplished so much. At the same time there's exponentially more pressure on me. The last few months have been so much to handle. Our growth plans are still hitting every mark faster than I planned, but mentally I'm declining.
I'm rarely home. The size and volume of jobs is increasing. My employee demands are increasing. Our needs to support the company are increasing. It just feels like it's all take take take.
I try to run a servant company. I believe businesses should exist to serve their customers and employees. I work really hard to make that happen. That said, I get very little from this. We make minimum wage to support the growth. I have been working 90+ hour weeks non stop. My wife has been working a ton on the back end and support. We're burnt out.
This week was eye opening. We had been doing about 50-60 hours of production a week. Our employees don't want to work that much, understandably. We tried 40 this week and just couldn't get enough done, mostly due to weather and an employee having issues with her mental state that hampered her growth for the last couple of months.
It's crushing to be trying to offer all of this yet constantly dipping into the "how can I make all of this work" territory, or the "I could lose everything" territory.
I don't get to do the things I'd want to do. I've never had a real vacation in 20 years of working, and that's becoming more obvious as a problem as an owner. The amount of stress builds and without proper time away I can't decompress. But I haven't built things enough to take time off and my network of other professionals in this area don't perform at the level we do. I.E I don't have anyone who I could sub out some production to and trust it to be done well.
I'm grateful that the business pays for my continuing education, and I know most companies won't support that sort of growth. But I am having more days than not where I feel like I'm stuck in a pit with no way out. Everything is so reliant on me.
I'm working on hiring another hand and moving one employee to a support role in the office. I hired one amazing hand who has been helpful in many ways. We're well equipped with equipment and skills, but I'm lacking anyone who can actually put stuff on the ground, sell, consult, advice, manage, or otherwise do anything but run equipment or drag brush. There's no escaping that.
That said, aside from hiring or chancing another dud foreman who sets me back by months, how do you deal with burnout as the owner? Especially in "startup" years? We're on track to triple our revenue from last year, and I don't know if there's some way to push through this burnout for one more year to see how things improve so I can truly take a week or two off.
Sorry for venting. I'm sure many others are in or have been in this situation. I'm very grateful for what we have and what we've done, and it feels wrong to be so beat up by it all. It just never stops. It's all consuming.
In our businesses short existence we've accomplished so much. At the same time there's exponentially more pressure on me. The last few months have been so much to handle. Our growth plans are still hitting every mark faster than I planned, but mentally I'm declining.
I'm rarely home. The size and volume of jobs is increasing. My employee demands are increasing. Our needs to support the company are increasing. It just feels like it's all take take take.
I try to run a servant company. I believe businesses should exist to serve their customers and employees. I work really hard to make that happen. That said, I get very little from this. We make minimum wage to support the growth. I have been working 90+ hour weeks non stop. My wife has been working a ton on the back end and support. We're burnt out.
This week was eye opening. We had been doing about 50-60 hours of production a week. Our employees don't want to work that much, understandably. We tried 40 this week and just couldn't get enough done, mostly due to weather and an employee having issues with her mental state that hampered her growth for the last couple of months.
It's crushing to be trying to offer all of this yet constantly dipping into the "how can I make all of this work" territory, or the "I could lose everything" territory.
I don't get to do the things I'd want to do. I've never had a real vacation in 20 years of working, and that's becoming more obvious as a problem as an owner. The amount of stress builds and without proper time away I can't decompress. But I haven't built things enough to take time off and my network of other professionals in this area don't perform at the level we do. I.E I don't have anyone who I could sub out some production to and trust it to be done well.
I'm grateful that the business pays for my continuing education, and I know most companies won't support that sort of growth. But I am having more days than not where I feel like I'm stuck in a pit with no way out. Everything is so reliant on me.
I'm working on hiring another hand and moving one employee to a support role in the office. I hired one amazing hand who has been helpful in many ways. We're well equipped with equipment and skills, but I'm lacking anyone who can actually put stuff on the ground, sell, consult, advice, manage, or otherwise do anything but run equipment or drag brush. There's no escaping that.
That said, aside from hiring or chancing another dud foreman who sets me back by months, how do you deal with burnout as the owner? Especially in "startup" years? We're on track to triple our revenue from last year, and I don't know if there's some way to push through this burnout for one more year to see how things improve so I can truly take a week or two off.
Sorry for venting. I'm sure many others are in or have been in this situation. I'm very grateful for what we have and what we've done, and it feels wrong to be so beat up by it all. It just never stops. It's all consuming.
