10 Things People Hate About Running A Business

Do you have tasks that you hate doing in your business?

These things can seriously take the joy out of running a business and can make you dread doing them.

It can get so bad it can make people either sell or close it down.

So, what are some of the most common complaints business owners have about running a business?

And do you agree with any of these?

And how do you deal long term with having to get these tasks done?

 

1. Always being ‘on.’

 

Often, you are the go to person in your business. You do the job. You pay the bills. You deal with customers and staff. You do the marketing. It is all you.

And days when you aren’t in there, chances are, you are the person that staff call when they are sick. Or if something happens at work and they need help.

Depending on how many days a week you trade, you are always ‘on’ when your business is operating, And even when it isn’t, staff might be calling you about not being available for the next day.

Being a business owner can be a constant 24/7 gig and for some, it gets to the point where they are really tired from being ‘on’ all the time. Is this you?

 

2. Having your plans change if someone calls in sick.

 

Depending on how many people you have helping you, you can be the person that has to cover if one of your team isn’t able to work. They might be sick. Their child might be sick. They might need to attend a funeral or sit an exam.

If you don’t have other people to step up for you, then it is often you that has to change plans to cover the team member.

This can lead to disappointment with kidlets when you have to cancel something.

And it can have your spouse uttering comments like “you have to work AGAIN?!”

If this happens too often, it can lead to a business owner asking themselves questions like;

“Where is all the flexibility of time I am supposed to get when I am my own boss?”

And, “I’d probably be better to have a job, so I at least get time off.”

Is this something that you are experiencing in your business at the moment?

 

3. Having the dreaded paperwork waiting for you when you are done with “doing” the job.

 

For most people, this is the worst!

Paying bills, sending out quotes and invoices, doing the BAS (Quarterly tax payment, for all of our overseas readers), entering all the invoices and sales into an accounting system.

This is the number one job we hate in our business. Looking at numbers on a screen sometimes make us go cross eyed!

And having to do this after a full day of running the business is the absolute pits.

We know it is a key part of running a business, but this is one that makes us go “UGH” whenever we think about it!

Do you agree?

 

4. All the rules and regulations that surround running a business.

 

This has become even more full on.  The constantly changing rules with COVID.

The new requirements regarding Single Touch Payroll and Superannuation changes (Australian based.)

Staying compliant in all areas of your business can take a lot to keep up with it all.

This falls in the category of paperwork but is over and above all the financial stuff we have to do.

And that is why it is a hated part of running a business. It can feel like a full time job in itself, trying to keep up and make sense of all the rules.

Do you hate it too?

 

5. The financial stress that can hang over your head at times.

 

Everyone seems to think that business owners have money raining down on them at all times!

Often no one sees the financial pressure that business owners can be under.

Cashflow issues. Tax bills. Supplier invoices due when customers are late paying. Equipment breakdowns and repairs.

There can be bills coming at you from all sides when you run a business and often they aren’t $100 due. Often they are hundreds and thousands of dollars.

And you can lay away at night sometimes, trying to figure out a way to juggle funds to pay things that are due.

Sometimes, you are even paying staff way more than you are taking out of the business yourself and that can just SUCK when you are busting your butt everyday.

Financial pressures can be a killer for business owners. Are there days that you feel financial pressure too?

 

6. Cranky customers/Difficult customers.

 

We need customers spending money in our business to survive. But sometimes, there are those that we just wish would disappear off the face of the earth! 🙂

Difficult customers can really try your patience! They can also make you wonder whether being a business owner is a good idea at all, if you get a run of them in one day!

Truly though, you can get 9 great interactions with customers in your day and then 1 bad one, and you can just disregard the others and stew on the bad.

It is human nature to do this, but it can play with your mind.

And make you wonder whether you are doing a good job, if you should do something different etc, etc.

How many of you hate cranky and difficult customers the most in your biz?

 

7. The inability to have time off when you want to.

 

This is one thing that we are dealing with at the moment.

We have had a turnover of our baking team. Some of our team has finished their apprenticeships and moved on, leaving a very new, developing skills team.

That means that we are in there training, increasing our time in our business.

While we will see the results in a couple of months time once they know what they are doing, we can’t really take a vacation or even a string of days off at the moment.

Sometimes when people decide to own a business, they think that they will be able to take time off whenever they want.

And seasoned business owners can tell them that sometimes, that isn’t the case!

Do you have a business that is restricting your plans at the moment, like ours?

 

8. The mental exhaustion that comes with having to make constant decisions.

 

There is a growing number of business owners that are experiencing decision fatigue and mental exhaustion.

When you are constantly ‘on’, and operating under stress, without being able to take time off to rest, it can make you feel so tired. So drained.

And as the go-to person in your business, often staff are asking questions, looking for answers.

You have to deal with changes in regulations and relay them to your team.

Not to mention the financial side of the business too.

Business owners can make literally a hundred decisions in a day and often they have to be done ‘right then and there.’

This can lead to burnout. When you come to hate making decisions in your business, it is a sure sign that you are nearing the end of your capacity in that moment.

Is this something that you are experiencing in your business and is making you hate being a business owner?

 

9. Having to market your business/cold calling.

 

Some people hate marketing. Some people hate cold calling. Some hate having to get out there in any way and push their business.

They would really like to just open the doors and have all their customers flow in to buy from them. Wouldn’t we all! 🙂

You can employ someone to do this for you, but what if you don’t have the cash to pay for them?

Then you are it.

When you are the type of person who likes doing the job, not the marketing part, this can be a necessary part of business that you don’t enjoy.

Is this the bug-bear in your business?

 

10. You ‘work’ differently to your employee family members and they don’t get your work hours.

 

When you are the only business owner in your family and everyone else is an employee, it can be very hard for them to relate to all these points.

They don’t get all the phone calls. They don’t understand the financial pressure. They don’t see why you have to work on the weekends or late at night to get everything done.

It can be hard to be different from everyone and sometimes you question whether you should become an employee too. At least you get some dedicated time off.

You also have someone higher up, who can take over the worrying from you and you get to go home and forget about work!

Do you think about this from time to time too?

 

 

These are some very common scenarios and tasks that business owners hate about their business!

That said, they can be a necessary part of running a business and we have to do them.

So we have looked for ways to deal with them, like hiring a bookkeeper as an example, so they get done.

 

Get rid of one of these tasks YOU hate! 

 

Join us for our upcoming free 3 day challenge, where we get you to identify what you hate doing in your business and would LOVE to never have to do it again!

We will go over some ways to be able to ditch or hand off these tasks you hate doing in your business, and ease the pressure they make you feel.

We even talk about how to pay for the help, as that can be a barrier for some people to actually getting the help they need and want.

Click here to join us.

It’ll definitely be worth your time. 🙂