An Analysis of Burnout in Owner-Operated Businesses

This project explores what professional burnout is in the context of owner-operated businesses. The topic was selected based on my own experiences of burnout in my business. After just a few years of working without boundaries, I began to feel the lingering symptoms of stress. Pushing through the stress of running a creative business on my own eventually led to a state of debilitating burnout that caused me to stop all operations and allow my business to run on auto-pilot. Results of this study show a potential beginning of modern-day professional exhaustion which dates to the 17th century when the term hustle first began to be used with a negative connotation. Additional topics were discussed such as the mental load of women, how various personality types affect stress, the symptoms of burnout, essentialism, the ethics of self-management, sustainable growth, and reversing the signs of burnout. The greatest takeaway is that it is much better to acknowledge stress and recognize when it is time to make what could be seen as drastic measures in order to avoid a full-blown case of burnout.

Leslie Madison