It may only be the start of the second month of the year, but do you know what I’m seeing from a lot of successful, high-performing entrepreneurs like yourself? They’re feeling overwhelmed, and more than a little burnt out.

If you’re feeling this way too, know that this is not at all uncommon and is actually one of the top reasons business owners reach out to me for help.

In today’s new post, I’m digging into the root causes of overwhelm for small business owners and showing you what you can do about it to change the course of your year.

Read on below to find out how a carefully crafted exercise - when done right - will be a massive game changer in your business and in your life.

The Main Causes of Entrepreneurial Overwhelm

Do you ever feel like your business is running you? That your business dictates your life and how you spend your time?

My clients and the prospects that I've been speaking to have been experiencing that feeling a lot. Here are a couple of the most common reasons so many small business owners find themselves overwhelmed, and why they end up coming to me for help.

Do any of these feel familiar to you?

1) You feel like you've reached a financial cap.

A “financial cap” is what I would call a financial upper limit. This is a situation where you feel like it's really hard to keep bringing in more sales, and thus feels like you’re unable to earn more money. A big part of the reason why it feels really hard to bring in more sales is because you secretly know that if you bring in more sales, you are going to have to do the work. And it's not that you don't enjoy working, but you are already working so much that if you bring in more sales and have to do more work, you may never live your life. I'm exaggerating a bit, but I hear this so often with a lot of my high performers. They’ve gotten to this point of literally feeling like if they bring in more business to make more money, it's going to kill them.

And that's not why you create a business.

You create a business for the joy and the freedom - the time freedom and the money freedom. But how are you supposed to have this freedom if you're working all the time?

2) You’re doing all the things and wearing all the hats.

Not only are you overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work on your plate, but you’re stuck in not knowing who to hire or when to hire when it comes to support. Outsourcing and delegating are something we’ve covered on this show a bit, and they’re a big focus in my mastermind group, but I know it’s not easy to get started in this arena. Not having support where you need it is a major cause of entrepreneurial overwhelm.

3) You haven’t created multiple revenue streams.

Here’s something many entrepreneurs fail to realize: your business doesn't have to rely on one method of serving your clients, one to one. What if you had multiple - many! - revenue streams in your business? Some of your services could be one to one, some could be a group offering, some could be digital downloads or courses that don’t require your time at all.

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Do any of the above feel familiar? I see a combination of these things happening and causing burnout in the lives of highly successful entrepreneurs. They’re ready to take their businesses to that next level - multiple six figures, or even seven figures - but they aren’t sure how to get there without burning themselves - or their businesses - into the ground. That’s because in order to do so, they have to make an identity shift first.

Stepping into the CEO Role in your Business

This is one of the number one things I work with my clients on, especially those in my mastermind group. This is because stepping into the CEO role in your business is more than just giving your resignation as your own employee and saying, Okay, I'm the CEO now.

Stepping into the CEO role is actually about passing the baton from yourself to yourself in a whole new way. It's looking at yourself with a brand new identity - an identity that already exists because YOU created the business.

When people begin to step into that CEO role, they realize that it solves a lot of these problems of overwhelm because CEOs realize that they don't have to do it all. And it's not that they can't do it all, but it's that they get to delegate. They realize that they get to trust in team members. They realize that they can create enough revenue to create profit and to create the amount of money needed in order to hire a team. And CEOs begin to take on these new identities of leadership that they didn't take on when they were the employee.

What does your org chart look like?

This is a really good way to determine if you need to step into the CEO role and step out of the overwhelm, fear, and all the things holding you back from reaching that next level you’re seeking in your business.

Look at your org chart. What are the main business drivers like? Who's responsible for sales? Who's responsible for customer support? Who's responsible for onboarding, client communication, sending out proposals, and following up? Who’s actually doing the work that you’ve sold to your clients? If your name is in more than one place, then it's likely you need to step into your CEO role.

In the beginning of a business, it's typical, especially as a solopreneur, that you will be doing a lot of things. But if you’ve reached those first tiers of success in your business and there's still no one else's name on your org chart, you’re headed straight for burn out.

How is your business serving you?

I want you to look at your business more critically and ask, How is my business serving me?

What are some of the things that you want to do in life? What if you began to create multiple revenue streams and began to diversify your business in such a way that it actually supports the lifestyle that you want to live?

One of my goals in business is to work the least and make the most amount of money there. I want to spend my time playing tennis, hanging out with my husband and stepdaughter, and playing with my dogs. I want to have time to walk on the beach and appreciate my life. And I want a business that supports that lifestyle.

If that sounds like something you’re seeking too, in order for that to be a reality, it’s time to step into that role of CEO in your business. This - I promise you - will be THE game changer that allows you to level up and live the life of your dreams, the whole reason you likely became an entrepreneur in the first place.

It won’t be easy, and it will require you stepping outside your comfort zone. But once you embrace this new identity and act accordingly, this is where your business evolves and grows, and your life begins to open up and expand.

Get Support in your Journey to CEO

If you need help stepping into that CEO version of yourself, I am a master at helping people do exactly that. All you need to do is literally DM me on Instagram, and we can get the conversation started. This doesn't mean you have to sign up to work with me. And hey, maybe you'll get some free advice. Who knows. But do you know what? Let's at least begin that conversation. Let's see where you're at. We can see if maybe you’re a good fit to join the mastermind, because the doors are open right now for a limited time, or we can see if it makes sense to do one on one coaching with me.

I believe in your ability to become the CEO you and your business need to thrive. Let’s make it happen.