FIVE YEAR FLAMEOUT

Posted by Jim Van on December 1, 2010 under entrepreneur | Read the First Comment

Recently, in a blog that centers on Logicomm’s industry, managed IT services, there’s been some mention about burnout, and how many owners of IT practices are fairly burned out and looking to get acquired by larger competitors, and about how many have not realized the income and growth that they anticipated a few short years ago.

Reading the posts and responses (you can read them at http://www.mspmentor.net), I reflected on how common this is among us entrepreneur types.  After all, it’s not like it was in corporate America, with regular vacations and holidays.  Most of us live, eat, and breathe our businesses, sometimes to the detriment of our families, and almost always to our own detriment.  Being in business, even a successfull one, is often tantamount to wading through knee-deep mud, given all of the challenges.  It’s a solo act in most cases, even when we’re surrounded by employees.  With the excitement of the initial ‘aha moment’ that caused many of us to take this gnarled path heavily tarnished by the near constant challenges, changes, asnd intense energy required to make that great idea work, it’s no wonder so many of us go into flameout, and worse yet, fail.

Cruelly, although the five year mark usually defines success at your enterprise, it also marks the burnout factor that we’ll call Five Year Fatigue.
You’ve probably experienced some of the symptoms, even if you haven’t made it to the five-year mark yet:

The Great Idea has become rather stale looking.Your business has become more of a job than a creation.Nobody else seems to ‘get it’.You dust off that old resume and start looking at the help wanteds.

Any of these factors really affects the major quality that has taken you this far:  your creativity.  It takes enormous energy to maintain the creativity that it takes to bring an idea to successful fruition.  I often think of the energy expended as that of a jumbo jet, positioned on the runway, at full thrust.  Or, perhaps, the volume level of a Who concert.  Either way, it takes an incredible amount of personal energy to build the lift required to make a business take off, and then to maintain the momentum.  Is it any wonder that almost all entrepreneurs experience some form of the Five Year Flameout?

So, what’a  body to do?  Actually, there are a lot of things, most simple, that one can do to help pull oneself through:he things I did to help pull myself through:

1. Find peers:  Say what you will about Norm, Cliff and the Cheers gang.  They were peers.  They had each other to lean on, to bouce things off, to discuss life.  I’m not saying that, as a group, we entrepreneurs are antisocial, but, well, in a sense, we are.  We spend all our time focused on our businesses.  Any friends we have that aren’t entrepreneurs generally aren’t peers, and most likely don’t understand the whole entrepreneur ‘thing’.  That leaves peers.  The problem is:  how to find them?  The chamber?  Probably not.  Professional groups?  Not likely, as most entrepreneurs aren’t active participants.  Groups such as BNI?  Maybe, but there’s a significant committment of cash and time.  Meetups (http://www.meetup.com)  Maybe.  Some groups have lots of active members.  Most groups have many members, but generally fewer than 5% actively participate.  Still, if it’s a group that’s 300 strong, that means that 15 regularly meet.  A possibility.  The real key is in actively networking, which you should be doing for your business anyways.  You’ll encounter peers that way…
2. Participate in your community:  If you have school-age children, you probably already do this, to some degree.  Try and go beyond ’cause-based’ groups.  Perhaps teach a course at your local learning connection, get involved in local government or a mentoring program like Junior Achievement, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Literacy Volunteers of America.  Local church or synagogue groups also offer some chances to do something different.
3. Take a break.  I know, it costs money, takes you away from the business, which, of course, will fold without you.  Do it anyways.  Even if it’s a 3-day weekend spent with a significant other/family in a hotel with an indoor heated swimming pool.  Just get away.  And do it several times a year.  Camping excursions are inexpensive (or can be), and can be combined with all sorts of activities.  Your getaway doesn’t have to be a $5000 Caribbean getaway…
4. Find a hobby.  One of the most clicheed phrases: “get a hobby” just might be a great answer.  Pursue some outside-the-business interests.  Cooking and wine collecting are two of mine.  And in the summer, sailing, which also means boat maintenance in the spring.  Even reading a cheap detective novel is a sort of hobby.  The main point, it gets you away from the business and gives your pressure-cooked brain a chance to cool off.
5. Read a book.  A good, trashy detective novel works wonders for me.  Anything that’s NOT business-related.

These all sound simple because they are.  As a rule, we entrepreneurs are fairly complicated people. and we forget about the simpler things.  Having fun without spending money to do so is becoming a lost art.

It’s really important to avoid the trap of becoming your business, which is the leading cause of burnout.  Given the economic realities these days, few of us are going to get rich overnight, at least not without a winning lottery ticket.  Realize that you’re probably in for the long haul, and understand that you’re only human.  Diversions and human interactions are all critical fuel to keep that creative brain burning brightly…