Burnout as a coach is a very real thing — and it can sneak up on you unexpectedly. The warning signs include hitting your snooze button consistently, procrastinating projects on your to-do list, having writer’s block with your blog or social media, and feeling ‘blah’ about your coaching calls.
There are a lot of things that can contribute to burnout, and identifying the cause is not always easy, but there are some ways you can prevent it from happening to you.
Five Ways To Avoid Burnout in Your Coaching Business
- Interview your potential coaching clients. The free consultation (or discovery call) is not only where the client investigates you and your offer — it’s where you scope out the client. Not all clients are created equal, and there are some clients who aren’t ready or in the right place for coaching. Your job on the consultation is to weed out these people who aren’t a good fit for your coaching and won’t do the work it requires to get results. The constant struggle to keep these clients on track will drain the energy right out of you, and you’ll find yourself wanting to do anything else but coach. Save yourself the stress, and reject the clients who send up red flags.
- Outsource, automate, or ditch the things you don’t need to be doing. There are a lot of tasks involved in running a business — things that need to be taken care of, and just as many that we assume we need to be doing, but actually don’t. You can eliminate a ton of stress by outsourcing or automating the things that take too much of your time away from what actually makes you money — like coaching your clients. Do an inventory of all the tasks you spend your time on. Once you have your list, seriously ask yourself what you can automate, what you can delete completely, and what you can turn over to an assistant. And if you’re not to the point where you have an assistant, be twice as ruthless about automation and elimination.
- Create a schedule and stick to it. No matter how you structure your working schedule, you need one. And I’m not talking about working set hours in a day. I’m talking about how you schedule your tasks. Block schedule your biggest projects and tasks, and don’t let anything infringe on them. Or, set specific days where you coach clients, and other days where you work on your content or marketing. However you do it, when you have your tasks scheduled, you can commit to them. Don’t let scrolling on social media distract you. Don’t let people schedule calls outside your availability. Don’t switch things around at random. Consistency in your schedule helps you not feel overwhelmed, which keeps you away from burnout.
- Make sure you’re charging enough. Underpricing your coaching services is one of the fastest ways to burn yourself out. Any client that feels like a larger time/energy commitment than you expected will wear on you if you feel like they’ve underpaid. Don’t devalue your time or services by pricing yourself too low. If you’ve already found yourself in that boat, it’s time to increase your prices and let your clients know that at their next renewal, the cost of coaching with you will increase.
- Set aside time for self-care. The fastest way to burnout as a business owner is by not taking care of yourself. That can include working long days, not taking weekends off, sleeping poorly, not eating well, and so many other things. You’re much more productive when you’re well rested and refreshed, so make it a priority to walk away from your business. Working 24/7/365 will NOT get you further, faster. Hustling too hard can actually make you sick, increase your burnout, and is, quite frankly, irritating. Don’t get irritated, get refreshed.
Burnout as a coach means you’re pushing yourself too hard in some way. But it doesn’t have to be inevitable. If you’re starting to feel resentful of your business in any way, slow down.
Take inventory of what you’re spending your time on and how, then make an action plan to help you be more intentional and loving towards yourself. After all, you are your business. If you aren’t feeling it, your business is going to suffer.
About The Author
Hey! I’m Cass, a Certified Brand Coach and a Co-Founder at Lovely Impact. I help coaches elevate their businesses with beautiful branding and websites. Here on our blog, my content focuses on branding, web design, and storytelling.