Article Summary:
Running a small business can be overwhelming, with hidden traps that erode your leadership effectiveness and wellbeing. Here we offer ways to overcome common pitfalls and protect your quality of life so you and your business can thrive.
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Running a small business is like navigating a stormy sea. Constant demands. Gyrating costs. Uncertain cash flow. Putting out fires. Your health and relationships may start to slide.
Thriving as a small business owner isn’t just about surviving the chaos. It’s about building a life and work that energize you, sustain your business, and help you lead with clarity and conviction. Here we explore how you can thrive in your life and work as a small business owner.
The Challenges of Being a Small Business Owner
Running a small business can be brutal sometimes (and magical). Unpredictable cash flow. Rising costs. Competitive threats. Meanwhile, you must wear multiple hats—managing operations, marketing, hiring, finances—all at once. Long hours. Persistent stress. Decision-making under pressure with little margin for error.
Your list of challenges is long. Something like this perhaps:
- attracting and retaining customers
- marketing effectively
- managing costs and supply chain
- maintaining cash flow and access to capital
- hiring and retaining talent
- competition and market changes
- keeping up with technology
- strategic planning and growth
- time management
- juggling between work and life commitments
You may be sacrificing your health and relationships while trying to keep your venture afloat. Thriving in life and work as a small business owner requires more than grit. It calls for intentional practices and systems that protect both your business and YOU.
Maintaining Your Quality of Life as a Small Business Owner
You find yourself juggling endless tasks, all while striving to deliver great products and/or services. This relentless pace can take a real toll. The constant pressure leaves precious little time for rest and reflection.
Over time, neglecting your own needs, relationships, and health can lead to stress and burnout. Without guardrails, the very intensity that fuels your business can silently diminish your quality of life—and with it, the energy and clarity you bring to everything you do.
Just as businesses benefit from regular reviews—including inventories, audits, and performance checks—your life deserves the same thoughtful attention. You’re wise to pause periodically and evaluate how you’re doing across key areas, such as:
- Personal core
- Health
- Spouse or partner (if applicable)
- Family
- Friends
- Education
- Work
- Service
- Activities
- Financial
Take my Quality of Life Assessment to check in and see how you’re doing in these areas.
Quality of Life Assessment
Evaluate your quality of life in ten key areas by engaging with our assessment. Find your strongest areas, and the areas that need work, then plan accordingly!
A few guidelines and recommendations as you go through this process:
- Be honest with yourself.
- View it in perspective (the context of your current chapter of life).
- Take focused action. (Don’t try to address too many things at once.)
- Share and discuss it with others. (The online tool has sharing functionality built in.)
- Revisit it periodically. (The tool has reminder functionality, asking if you want an invitation to take it again in three months.)
The process isn’t about perfection or self-flagellation. Instead, it’s about gaining clarity—appreciating what’s going well, acknowledging areas that need attention, and giving yourself GRACE. A simple yet powerful rhythm—assess, reflect, act—can help you realign your life with what truly matters.
“The busier you are, the more intentional you must be.”
-Michael Hyatt, executive and author
Escaping the Traps Holding Small Business Owners Back
Running a small business often means pushing hard to make things work. Yet the very drive that powers your venture can also pull you into common traps that chip away at your effectiveness and wellbeing. You might find yourself overthinking. Or wrestling with self-doubt. Or you might overwork yourself out of perfectionism or fear.
“Overwork sucks us into a negative spiral, causing our brains to slow down and compromising our emotional intelligence.”
-Annie McKee, Author and founder, Teleos Leadership Institute
Here’s the good news: These traps don’t define you. They’re patterns you can interrupt and reverse. By identifying where you’re slipping, you create an opportunity for change. It’s powerful to pause and ask:
What trap is hurting me most right now, and how am I reinforcing it?
Take the Traps Test to see what’s getting in the way of your happiness, quality of life, and fulfillment.
Take the Traps Test
We all fall into traps in life. Often we’re not even aware of them. Check out these common traps of living to see what’s inhibiting your quality of life and fulfillment.
Instead of trying to fix everything at once, pick one or two traps to focus on. Then take targeted, small actions—like setting a clear decision deadline, scheduling time for rest, or challenging negative self-talk when it creeps in. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about awareness, taking your life back, and building momentum for growth and change.
Overcoming Your Leadership Derailers
Running a small business means showing up wearing many hats—owner, leader, manager, strategist, innovator, problem-solver—only to find that hidden habits often pull you off course.
You might avoid conflict or side-step tough decisions to keep the peace, only to see issues fester. You might be a bottleneck, trying to manage everything yourself and inadvertently slowing things down and creating dependence. Maybe you don’t delegate because you fear others won’t meet your standards. Or you hold back on giving forthright feedback regularly. These are examples of leadership derailers—subtle behaviors that limit your effectiveness and undermine your potential.
Take the Leadership Derailers Assessment to see what’s inhibiting your leadership effectiveness.
Thankfully, you can overcome your derailers. The key is to regularly pause and ask:
What’s getting in the way of my leadership right now?
Pick your top derailer and choose a small, intentional action to address it. Over time, repeated, focused actions like these build confidence and momentum.
Remember: excelling at leadership isn’t just about what you should do. It’s also about noticing and systematically undoing the things you do that hold yourself and others back.
Leadership Derailers Assessment
Take this assessment to identify what’s inhibiting your leadership effectiveness. It will help you develop self-awareness and identify ways to improve your leadership.
A Checkup for Small Business Owners
Thriving in life and work as a small business owner isn’t just about work ethic and will power. It’s about smart strategy and daily habits and practices that help you win each day and show up at your best, both personally and professionally.
Use this checkup table to help you stay on track:
Small Business Owner Thriving Checkup
| # | Thriving Practice | 1 Needs Work |
2 Doing Fine |
3 Thriving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | set clear priorities | |||
| 2 | focus on high-impact tasks | |||
| 3 | maintain a consistent morning routine | |||
| 4 | schedule regular time for strategic thinking | |||
| 5 | delegate non-core tasks | |||
| 6 | track finances closely and review cash flow regularly | |||
| 7 | invest in ongoing learning and skill development | |||
| 8 | build and nurture strong worker and customer relationships | |||
| 9 | develop a reliable support network or peer group | |||
| 10 | manage time with ruthless discipline | |||
| 11 | say “no” gracefully and frequently to protect your precious time and priorities | |||
| 12 | limit distractions | |||
| 13 | review goals and progress weekly | |||
| 14 | keep up with technology and industry trends | |||
| 15 | communicate openly and frequently with your team | |||
| 16 | recognize and celebrate wins (big and small) | |||
| 17 | seek frequent feedback from workers and customers | |||
| 18 | regularly revisit and refine your business strategy | |||
| 19 | continue aligning and re-aligning your team | |||
| 20 | plan ahead for succession and business continuity | |||
| 21 | take breaks and protect personal downtime | |||
| 22 | exercise regularly and maintain healthy eating and sleep habits | |||
| 23 | establish clear boundaries between work and personal life | |||
| 24 | engage in rejuvenating self-care and renewal routines regularly | |||
| 25 | take time to appreciate the people around you and all you have |
Thriving in Life and Work as a Small Business Owner
Running a small business is demanding. You must deliver results while juggling so many responsibilities. It’s easy to lose sight of your own well-being, fall into hidden traps, and develop bad leadership habits that gradually—and then increasingly—hold you back.
Your business can only thrive over time to the extent that you thrive as its leader. That means caring for your quality of life as intentionally as you care for your bottom line. And developing your self-awareness and leadership capacity.
By regularly assessing your quality of life, noticing where you’ve slipped into common traps of living, and identifying your leadership derailers, you create the self-awareness needed to course-correct. Over time, this rhythm of reflection and action helps you lead with more clarity, energy, and purpose.
Small business owners, listen up!
Keep fighting for your quality of life.
Be an entrepreneurial athlete who toggles wisely between intense activity and necessary rest.
Climb out of your traps.
Keep working on your leadership derailers.
And don’t settle.
Make sure you’re thriving in both your life and work. And help those around you do the same. Here’s to creating not just a successful business but a life and work you’re proud of.
Wishing you well with it!
–Gregg
Tools for You
- Quality of Life Assessment so you can discover your strongest areas and the areas that need work, then act accordingly.
- Traps Test to help you determine what’s inhibiting your happiness and quality of life
- Leadership Derailers Assessment to help you identify what’s inhibiting your leadership effectiveness
- Crafting Your Life & Work online course to help you design your next chapter and create a life you love.
Related Articles
- “Taking Stock of Your Quality of Life”
- “The Common Traps of Living: Which Are You In?”
- “What Are Your Leadership Derailers?”
- “Ten Keys to Self-Leadership”
- “A Guide to Life-Boosting Activities”
Crafting Your Life and Work Course
Regain clarity, direction, and motivation for your next chapter, starting with a powerful foundation of self-awareness and commitment to your values and aspirations.
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Gregg Vanourek is a writer, teacher, and TEDx speaker on leadership and personal development. He is co-author of three books, including Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations (a winner of the International Book Awards written with his father, Bob Vanourek) and LIFE Entrepreneurs (a manifesto for living with purpose and passion, written with Christopher Gergen). Check out his Leadership Derailers Assessment or join his rapidly growing community. If you found value in this, please forward it to a friend. Every little bit helps!