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Picture this… you are making good money, sales are higher than predicted, and the clients keep rolling in.  The dream of running your own business, escaping the 9 to 5 and nailing the holy grail of work-life balance you aspired to a few years ago is finally coming to fruition. It’s amazing, but….Strange things are starting to happen that are causing you alarm.

You’re worried and stressed, and some days, you feel like the business is sucking the life out of you. You feel like a victim of your own success and the small lifestyle business you nurtured so well has grown into something much bigger than you imagined it could be.

Let’s throw in some guilt, overwhelm, heavy responsibility and a duty to get things right. Does this all sound familiar?

If you can relate to the above, then some of the following scenarios may also sound familiar. Below are 15 common signs you’ve reached your first Operational Tipping Point®.

How many ring true for you?

• Instead of working less, you are now working 24/7 trying to get everything done, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and you have no idea how you got yourself into this mess.
• You have those middle-of-the-night moments, waking up in a cold sweat thinking, “OMG, did X get done? Shit! I don’t think it did…”
• A client complains that you didn’t fulfil a commitment and they want a refund. You thought everything was great and you’re not sure what went wrong.
• You realise that a team member didn’t do something that you emailed them about a few days ago, and now YOU have to scramble to get it done on time.
• You feel like you don’t know what everyone on your team is working on, and wonder if stuff is getting done at all.
• You are tired of everyone bugging you all the time with questions – why can’t they just do their work and leave you alone?
• Because so many to-dos keep coming up at the last minute, your team is starting to get seriously frustrated with a seemingly constant flow of “Urgent, need this now!” requests, and you’re worried they could leave.
• Your assistant is the only one who knows “how things are done around here,” and you feel trapped and worried that if she leaves, what happens then?
• You have a certain way that you want things to be done, but it seems like every time someone else on your team works on it, they do it wrong or miss key pieces.
• Your calendar is out of control. You have no more time to book anything, you’ve missed calls, and have even been double-booked a few times (which never used to happen!).
• You’re not sure where the money is, and have no way of knowing if payments are coming in on time (or not!).
• You fly by the seat of your pants, not sure what you are going to offer next and suffering from the roller-coaster ride of last-minute launches.
• There is so much work to be done – simple things like replying to emails – that you never get to the important things that could grow your business.
• Sadly, your spouse and/or kids are asking you why you are working so much, and may even be begging you to turn off the computer for once so they can spend time with you.
• You wake up in the morning dreading the day. What once felt like a lot of fun is now heavy and feeling too much.

The bottom line is that you are tired, frustrated, and starting to wonder what the heck you’ve got yourself into. It’s one thing to GROW a business, but it’s another thing to RUN a business – which is what many of us are unprepared for.

The Leaky Bucket Syndrome is a term I use to describe the way many businesses focus on getting more into the bucket (sales, marketing, and clients), but neglect to make sure that the bucket itself (the behind-the-scenes part of your business) is strong and sound. This often leads to a business that is constantly leaking money, time, and energy.

To avoid the Leaky Bucket Syndrome, it’s important to focus on creating systems and infrastructure that will support your growth. This includes things like automating tedious tasks, implementing processes to streamline your workflow, and investing in quality tools & resources. By taking care of these things now, you will build a strong foundation for sustainable growth.

Because it is so easy to get into business these days, many people do so without knowing what it takes to run a business – all that behind-the-scenes stuff that many entrepreneurs find boring, confusing, or altogether scary. And yet your behind-the-scenes business operations are ESSENTIAL to your success – if you don’t put the right structures in place in your business, it will cause all kinds of chaos and headaches, and can actually end up costing you a lot of money. This is your Operational Tipping Point™ and you now have some decisions to make.

The good news is this: ALL of these things can be solved with the right systems and team in place.

The even better news is this: there are service professionals out there for whom building teams & systems is their superpower.

In my Operations Consultant role this is how I support my clients – making sure the right things are getting handled, in the right way, by the right person, so you can fall back in love with your business, get off the hamster wheel and regain that lifestyle balance you aspired to back at the start.

If you’re reaching your first Operational Tipping Point™, it’s normal to feel like things are out of control. The good news is that this stage doesn’t last forever. With a bit of purposeful support, you’ll be able to get through it and come out stronger on the other side.

Here are a few things that can help:

First, take a step back and assess your situation. What are your goals? What are your priorities? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can start to develop a plan to achieve them.

Second, delegate or outsource some of your work. This will help you to focus on the most important tasks and avoid getting bogged down in minutiae. Finally, make sure you take care of yourself both physically and emotionally. This is a difficult time, so it’s important to stay healthy and balanced. If you can keep these things in mind, you’ll be well on your way to success.

If you’d like to learn more about saving your business from the leaky bucket syndrome, get in touch today, or go ahead and get straight to work with my intensive 90-minute BOSS call, my best-selling operational strategy session for when you need the answers fast.

As always, I’d love to hear your story. Reply in the comments if you have something to share, and let’s support each other to do more.