I am sick of the daily unprofitable grind. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

My small business is two years old and I am sick of it! Every day I get swept up in the day-to-day details. There is so much to do and I feel like I can’t rely on anyone but myself to do the job.

I know it’s Christmas and I need a holiday – and I am taking one – but I look at next year and think, what’s going to change? Nothing! I keep wishing I were back in my old job where I was paid more and had no responsibility. I know I am going to spend Christmas day an exhausted wreck, feeling like the turkey I am serving up for lunch, worrying about money and facing yet another profitless year. Help!

Leonie T,
Brisbane

Dear Leonie T,

Take a deep breath. This is what you are going to do. You are going to cancel everything you don’t have to go to – and that means almost everything. You are going to get some early nights, eat well and cut down on your drinking. And you are not going to think about next year until after Christmas. The idea is to get you to Christmas in working shape and then to get you in the right frame of mind for a good rest after Christmas.

Then after at least two weeks holiday not thinking about work, you are going to sit down and write a to do list.

Number 1: Review your staff. Why can’t you trust them to do their job?

Are you a control freak or have you hired badly and they are in the wrong job or not up to the job? Start to reconfigure the staff and build a structure with a few key people you can rely on.

You may well need to let a few people go as the staff you hire at the beginning are often not the people you need to expand the company.

Number 2: Get a mentor. This may be an investor, a non-executive director or a friend who has had a lot of entrepreneurial experience.

Their role is to make you look at the big picture. They don’t care if you need to spend a few hours sorting out IT. They want to know how you are going to reach your sales target and how your strategy will bring you in the increase in revenue to take you to the next level.

Number 3: As for Christmas day – stuff the turkey. Tell everyone there is a change of plan this year and in true Aussie spirit you are holding a BYO picnic. Why women, after a frantic year, fall obliged to spend the start of their holidays cooking massive feats, I will never know!

So get yourself a deck chair, a nice glass of champagne, lie back and watch everyone tuck into a feast that you haven’t prepared!

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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