“This Is Not How a Business Should Feel”

25/11/2025

(And What To Do If Yours Does)

There's a moment almost every SME owner hits, where you look at your phone, your inbox, your bank app… and you think, "If this is success, I'm not sure I want it."

You're working harder than anyone you know. The calendar is full. The WhatsApps don't stop. People say, "You're doing so well." But your gut says something else. You're tired. You're juggling too much. You're never really off. And month-end still feels like a cliff.

If that's you, let me say this plainly: This is not how a business should feel.

Not because business is meant to be easy or dreamy, but because the way many SMEs are set up almost guarantees constant panic, leaks, and guilt. The problem isn't you. The problem is the structure (or the lack of one) around you.

What "wrong" feels like in a business

You don't need a consultant to tell you something is off; you feel it in your body.

You say yes to work you shouldn't, because you're scared to say no.
You start the month at zero, every month, wondering where the money will come from.
You're answering messages at 22:30 because you feel bad making people wait till morning.
You're doing quotes for ghosts – people who "just want to see numbers" and then vanish.
You feel guilty taking a day off, because you know the whole machine depends on you being awake and reachable.

On paper, you might even be "busy and growing". In your chest, it feels like standing on a moving train trying to change your shoes.

A business that constantly makes you feel anxious, behind, ashamed of your boundaries, and scared of your own numbers is not "just how it is". It's a sign that key parts of the business are missing or upside down.

The hidden cost of running on fumes

The danger isn't only burnout. A business that feels like this starts to twist you as a person.

You start doubting your own value, so you discount more.
You start resenting your clients, even the good ones.
You snap at your family because your brain never gets to switch off.
You get used to chaos as "normal" and quietly lower your standards just to cope.

That's not entrepreneurship; that's survival with branding.

And if you're a Christian, there's another layer. You feel the tension between what you believe – stewardship, rest, honesty, fairness – and how you're actually operating because of pressure and fear. You don't feel proud of how you're running things, even if you're not doing anything "wrong" on purpose. That inner conflict is exhausting.

The truth no one tells SME owners

Let me put something on the table that most "hustle" content won't: A healthy business is boring in the right places.

You don't need more adrenaline. You don't need more "grind".
You need more predictable:

Predictable ways work comes in.
Predictable ways work is delivered.
Predictable ways money flows.

Most SMEs I meet don't have a marketing problem first. They have a structure problem. They are built on informal promises, unspoken expectations, and flexible boundaries. It works in the beginning when it's just you and a handful of clients. Then it doesn't.

The good news? You don't need a corporate-sized system to fix this. You need a handful of very unsexy, very powerful shifts.

Shift 1: Stop doing "favours", start making clear promises

Many businesses feel bad because everything is blurry.

You say "I'll try" instead of "This is what I can do, by when, and at what price."
You allow people to assume things instead of writing them down.
You rely on your memory instead of a simple record of commitments.

One of the easiest ways to make your business feel lighter is to get serious about promises:

After a conversation, send a short confirmation message: what you'll do, by when, and what you need from them.
Give each promise a single owner – even if that owner is just you, with a notebook or a simple tool.
Decide in advance what you don't promise. This is just as important.

Clear promises protect your integrity and your energy. You can't feel good about your business if you're always worried you've dropped a ball you never wrote down.

Shift 2: Money must have a simple, daily rhythm

A lot of the "this feels wrong" in a business is actually "I have no idea what's going on with my money until it's too late."

You don't need a CFO to change that. You need a daily money rhythm.

Set aside a small, non-negotiable block of time each working day – even 20–30 minutes – where you sit down with nothing else open except your numbers: invoices, quotes, payments, upcoming expenses. No WhatsApp, no email. Just money.

In that time you:

Check what came in.
See what's overdue.
Decide who you're following up with.
Look at the next two weeks and see where the gaps are.

Doing this consistently changes how your business feels faster than almost anything else. The unknown is what creates dread. Once you look it in the eye every day, you might not like the picture at first, but at least you're not walking in the dark.

Shift 3: Boundaries are not a luxury – they're part of your product

Many SME owners feel guilty drawing boundaries, as if good service means "I'm available whenever you want me."

But think about it honestly: if you're half-present with your family, half-present with existing clients, and half-present chasing new ones, no one is getting your best.

Strong boundaries aren't selfish; they are part of how you protect the quality of your work and the people who depend on you.

This might look like:

Deciding reasonable response windows (for example, messages answered in business hours, urgent support via one clear channel).
Setting cut-off times for work and sticking to them.
Saying, "No, we can't start Monday," when you know you'll have to cut corners to deliver.

When you run a business as if your body, your marriage, your kids, and your mental health are expendable, you're preaching one sermon with your mouth and another with your calendar. A business that honours God and people has limits built into it.

Shift 4: Use tools to serve you, not to impress anyone

It's tempting to think the answer is a new app, CRM, or AI tool that will magically fix things.

Technology is powerful. I work with Martech and AI all the time. But tools cannot save you from decisions you refuse to make.

The right order is:

Decide what promises you're making.
Decide what information you need every day or week.
Decide what routines you and your team can realistically keep.
Then use tools to make those routines lighter.

A simple shared inbox, basic automation for repetitive admin, or a one-page dashboard in a tool you actually open is worth more than a complex stack nobody logs into.

The test is simple: does this tool make the business feel calmer and clearer, or more complicated and noisy?

So… what do you do if your business feels wrong?

Start small, but start deliberately.

This week, choose one thing:

Write down every promise you make for three days and send confirmations.
Block off a daily money check-in and keep it, even if you only sit there for 10 minutes.
Choose one boundary (like no WhatsApps after 19:00) and communicate it clearly to new clients.
Pick one messy process (like quoting or onboarding) and write down the steps as they actually happen today.

You don't fix a heavy-feeling business with a single dramatic decision. You fix it by building a simple, honest structure around the work you already do – so that your effort actually translates into stability, not just exhaustion.

Your business will still have hard days. Mine does too. But the constant dread, the shame, the feeling that you're failing at work and at home at the same time? That is not the mark of "being serious about business." It's a sign the foundations need attention.

If anything in this piece sounded uncomfortably familiar, you're not broken and you're not alone. You're just running an SME the way most people are taught – on hustle, hope, and heart alone.

There is another way to build: one where the numbers are honest, the systems are simple, the tools are servants, and the work sits under something bigger than this month's invoice run.

This is not how a business should feel.
And with a few brave, practical changes, yours doesn't have to keep feeling this way.