7 ways to build resilience as a founder

When you are building a business, there is a lot to think about, act and deliver, especially when you have ambitious plans and goals. It can certainly lead to exhaustion and what many founders describe as ‘burnout’, where you eventually run out of energy and risk losing all the momentum you’ve built.

The most common pitfalls tend to be trying to do too much with too few resources too soon.

When you’re starting out, you might only have a small team, which is why we’ve talked about the importance of setting SMART goals and focusing your efforts rather than exhausting them.

How to avoid the burnout trap

Here are a few practical ways in which you can avoid falling into the burnout trap:

1. Capacity to achieve

The first one is to be very clear on what you have the capacity to achieve and what you do not. This will reflect in your business plan and forecast and should consider financial resources as well as the physical capability to get the actual work done.

2. Build a great team

Building a team that you can trust to get the job done will be imperative. As a founder and business owner, you need to learn to delegate, but this only works when those you’re delegating to are confident and capable of getting the job done! It is not unusual for founders to have high expectations and perfectionist tendencies that can get in the way here, so start by hiring competent people and you’ll feel more at ease handing over projects and tasks that you’d otherwise be tempted to simply do yourself.

3. Fail fast

A lot of founders talk about the philosophy of ‘failing fast’. We touched on this idea in the activity on-road testing your product or service, and how critical it is that you allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them quickly – something which will almost certainly build resilience. Allowing yourself to get it wrong, fail along the way, and be told ‘no’, will only train your mind to be more resilient in the long run.

4. Competitors as inspiration and motivation

This might also mean seeing competitors as a source of inspiration and motivation, rather than as a threat to your progress or ability to win market share. Having a belief that there is enough space for you and your ideas, is paramount to a successful entrepreneurial journey, and one that is full of adventure rather than self-doubt.

5. Invest in personal and professional development

If you feel you’re lacking resilience at any point, a great way to get a boost is to invest in your own personal and professional development. This might take the form of reading an inspiring book, an entrepreneurial memoir or researching the journeys other entrepreneurs have taken online.

6. Listen to podcasts

Listen to Welltodo’s Business of Wellness podcast and you’ll hear just how challenging the journey can be. In listening, you’ll also be privy to the enormous highs that come from being a founder and seeing your idea progress and evolve.

7. Find a mentor or coach

Reaching out to a mentor, coach or seeking out an experienced industry professional to advise you, are all additional ways in which you can lean on the experience and resilience of others, in order to build your own.

If you’d like to learn more about growing a business in the wellness industry, check out the full online course from Welltodo, below.