Why Running a Small Business Feels So Hard (And How to Simplify It)

Being a small business owner isn’t for the faint hearted – it can be really tough!

You probably started your business because you’re great at what you do – you’re the expert.  You might have wanted to be the master of your own destiny as well – and running your own business can offer this freedom.

The realities of running a small business don’t always compare to what you thought it was going to be like though.  Because running a business can be hard.

Why running a small business feels harder than expected

Running a business can be so tough that sometimes you might even question whether you’re good at it or not.  You might have imposter syndrome, and feel like you’re just muddling through, not really knowing what you’re doing.

That’s because you’re brilliant at what you do – but the business side of things is trickier.

They don’t teach you how to run a business in school, or as part of your on the job training. 

This can all make running your business feel far heavier than you were expecting it to – even when the business itself is doing alright.

You don’t just run the business – you become the business 

As a small business owner, you don’t just get to do the thing you started the business to do – you become the entire business!

You’re:

• The salesperson
• The marketer
• The admin department
• The finance team
• And the problem-solver for everything. 

 You wear all the different hats, of every element of the business.

Why wearing all the hats leads to firefighting

Most often this means you become a reactive person, reacting and firefighting the tasks, issues, roles that crop up each day.  You, essentially, become a swan – looking very serene from the outside to your customers and competitors, but under the water your legs are working three-times hard than anyone can see or could imagine.

It’s pretty exhausting.

This is because you’re spending all of your time working in the business and you aren’t spending any time working on the business.

The difference between working IN and ON the business

There’s a distinct difference between working on the business and working in the business.

Working in the business is the doing the do – it’s:

• Serving clients
• Answering emails
• Completing tasks
• Invoicing customers etc

Working on the business is when you take a step back, and look at the big picture, and what you can do better, or to make life easier.  Working on the business is:

• Improving Systems
• Improving Processes
• Decision making
• Goal setting
• Planning
• Structure

Why the most important work rarely feels urgent

Most small business owners don’t avoid working on the business because they don’t care – they avoid it because it feels indulgent or unrealistic when everything else needs doing.

In reality, the things on the ‘working on the business’ list are the most important!

These are the things that will help you be more proactive in the future, and not just reactive.

This is the time where you prevent future problems from happening, before they even occur.

This is also the time you spend making sure all of the activity in your business goes to making you money, and how you prevent losing profit along the way through inefficiency.

Most small business owners spend their time working in the business, because that’s what feels urgent — emails, clients, problems — because those things shout the loudest.

But the work that actually makes the business easier usually isn’t urgent at all.  It’s quieter.  It gets pushed aside.  And that’s why it never gets done.  Even though it’s the most important.

It’s also how you work smarter, and not harder.  You don’t want, or need, to be working longer hours and exhausting yourself with the effort of running your business.

Structure matters more than effort

What you want, and need, is structure.

Now I don’t mean corporate systems or rigid rules here, I mean having a clear way of running your business. 

You’re going to need to work in the business, but you should also set time aside to work on the business.

Then, when you have that time to work on the business, you need a targeted way of making improvements and/or changes that are going to make a difference to you.

You can’t tackle everything all at once!  And you shouldn’t try to!

You need: 

• Clear priorities
• Simpler ways of working
• To understand which part of the business really needs attention
• To plug any gaps where you might be losing money through inefficiencies
• And to increase productivity through efficiencies so you can earn more, without working harder

You need to fix, change and improve things in the right order!

That’s what will make you feel less like a manic business owner spinning all the plates, and more like a cool, calm and collected business owner, bossing your business.

Awareness is the first step

So what’s causing the most pain in your business right now? 

Not to fix it.

Not to solve it.

Just to notice it.

Is it the constant firefighting?

Is it the admin?

Is it the feeling that everything relies on you?

That awareness matters more than you might think — because you can’t improve what you can’t see clearly.

And if this has resonated, the most important thing to know is this: feeling this way doesn’t mean you’ve failed.

It usually means your business has grown beyond the way it’s currently being run — which is a very normal stage for small businesses to reach.

At Next Steps for Business, everything we do is about helping business owners step back, simplify, and build a business that feels easier to run — not heavier.

Whether that’s through our free content, or through our paid Steps where we walk through improvements calmly and in the right order, the goal is the same: to help you spend more time working on your business, not just in it.

If this has helped, the easiest next step is to follow Next Steps for Business on social media.

We share practical, jargon-free guidance to help you spend more time working on your business — not just in it.

A few minutes here and there really can make a difference.