Today, I want to tackle the important topic of burnout. What it is, what it’s not, how to prevent it, and how to get past it if you find yourself in a state of burnout.
Because here’s the thing — without struggle, there’s no progress, but how much is too much? When does “rise and grind” become unsustainable?
In this episode, I’m sharing 14 strategies that have worked for me and Side Hustle Show guests over the years, both in terms of your day job and your side hustle, in preventing and overcoming burnout should it happen to you.
Listen to Episode 682 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:
- The difference between being tired and true burnout
- 4 key prevention strategies to avoid hitting the wall
- 10 tactics to recover if you’re already feeling burnt out
- Real stories from entrepreneurs who’ve been there
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What is Burnout?
Burnout isn’t just feeling tired after a long day. It’s a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.
Key symptoms include:
- Feeling emotionally drained
- Detachment from your work
- Sense of reduced personal accomplishment
- Underlying hopelessness or helplessness
What separates burnout from regular fatigue is that sense of being stuck with no light at the end of the tunnel. You’ve been pushing through a challenging period for months, but there’s still no relief in sight.
The term “burnout” was first coined by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s. While the diagnosis is relatively new, the feeling certainly isn’t.
If you’re dealing with burnout, get professional help. BetterHelp has been a sponsor of the show and offers accessible therapy options, but there are other resources as well.
Prevention: 4 Essential Strategies
1. Find Your Why
“Do what you love but call it work.”
Most people say they want a side hustle to make extra money, but extra money is just a tool. Why do you want that extra income? What will it afford you?
Go 5 whys deep to find your true motivations. A couple of prominent guests have recommended the perfect average day exercise: In 5 years, what’s your perfect average Tuesday?
This comes from Jaime Masters (episode 345), who initially thought visioning was “super woo-woo” until she started interviewing millionaires and it came up repeatedly. The beautiful thing is you’ll find small tweaks you can make right now to start living your vision today.
As Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
2. Build a Nightly Shutdown Routine
I use my own 3 Question Journal for this evening practice:
- What did I accomplish today?
- What am I grateful for?
- What are my top priorities for tomorrow?
This helps you recognize that tomorrow is another day, take stock of progress made, and make a brief plan to win tomorrow. It’s crucial for preventing burnout and one practice I absolutely recommend.
3. Build Sustainable Systems
The key word here is sustainable. Tyler Christensen (episode 656) saw many Amazon influencers burn out after working crazy hard for six months.
His advice: “Set manageable goals… do five videos a week, but do that consistently over a period of several months.”
The tortoise beats the hare every time. Find a pace you can maintain week after week, month after month.
Shelley Marmor (episode 573) puts it simply: if your limit is one blog post every two weeks, start there. “If you get burnt out, you don’t make it to 180. You don’t make it to four.”
4. Avoid the Comparison Trap
Jon Acuff said it best: “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”
This concept comes from The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan — we spend too much time in the GAP (comparing ourselves to others or our ambitious goals) instead of living in the GAIN (recognizing how far we’ve come).
If someone in your niche has way more followers than you, there are two ways to look at it:
- “They’ve taken all the market share” (Gap mentality)
- “Look at all that market validation — I know this works!” (Gain mentality)
Focus on your own progress, not everyone else’s highlight reel.
Battling Burnout at Your Day Job
5. Take Care of Your Physical Health
Your physical health plays a huge role in mental health.
As Brian Johnson (episode 427) would say, you’ve got to take care of your fundamentals if you want to give yourself a fighting chance of showing up as your best self.
Don’t neglect sleep, diet, or exercise — even though stress makes you most likely to make poor choices in these areas.
6. Find a Creative Outlet
Heather Johnson (episode 520) was feeling burnout in healthcare when she restarted her Etsy shop as a “must-needed distraction.”
She didn’t aim for full-time initially. It was just something creative to do after her shifts.
She set consistent intentions: 3-5 Etsy listings daily for two months.
That consistent action helped her get better at her craft while providing positive distraction from a draining day job.
7. Persistence + Patience
One of the most memorable lines from 12+ years of the show came from Sa El (episode 359): “I was afraid to stay where I was.”
Sa worked 9 months on his insurance website for just $100, but that fear of staying put drove him forward.
When you’re afraid to stay where you are — if that 5-year vision is terrifying — you’ll figure out the next steps.
Dan from Tropical MBA calls this the corner office test: If you eventually get your boss’s job and the corner office, is that a win? If not, stop climbing that ladder and start building your own.
8. Consider Short-Term Sprints
Sometimes a concentrated push can get you over the hump.
Rachel Pedersen (episode 190) described her intense 5-month period building her agency as “drowning while holding a laptop over my head, trying not to get the keyboard wet.”
Her strategy: “This is a sprint. This is not a marathon.” She could see the light at the end of the tunnel and had a specific end date.
Warning: This only works if you have a clear endpoint and can see the finish line.
9. Give Yourself a Deadline
Drew Ackerman (episode 363) used “permission to quit” dates, meeting with himself every few months to decide whether to continue his podcast. This helped silence his internal critic between evaluation periods.
Set quit dates 90 days out. This avoids day-to-day decision fatigue while collecting data on what’s working.
I use this for all side hustle experiments — 90-120 days to test something without questioning it daily.
What to Do When You’re Already Burnt Out
10. Hire Help
In my shoe business, I felt like every hour not working cost me money. When I finally hired my first assistant, something magical happened: work was getting done when I wasn’t working.
Start with a time audit — track what you’re spending time on for a couple of weeks. You’ll likely find hours of low-level administrative tasks perfect for delegation.
Two types of outsourcing:
- Tasks you’re already doing – If you can teach it, you should delegate it
- Skills you don’t have – Hire experts in areas outside your core competency
As John Jonas from OnlineJobs.ph (episode 343) puts it: “If you hired correctly, you’ll never have to do it again.”
Here’s the list of where you can hire people (even remotely):
- OnlineJobs.ph – John’s platform for Filipino VAs
- Upwork – Freelancer marketplace
- Fiverr – Project-based services
- Indeed – Traditional job board
Start with a time audit. Track what you’re actually doing for two weeks. You’ll probably find hours spent on repetitive tasks that someone else could handle.
11. Sell the Business
Sometimes the best solution is to cash out and move on. Justin Tan (episode 540) realized he didn’t enjoy management and lacked “founder-market fit” for his video editing service.
So he brought in a general manager with experience he didn’t have. The business became less dependent on him, which ironically made it more valuable.
This was also my mistake — holding onto the shoe business too long instead of selling when it was worth around half a million dollars.
12. Change Your Routine, Spark Creativity
Sometimes you just need to shake things up:
- Work from a coffee shop instead of home
- Visit a new city
- Attend a conference
- Take time off with family
Give your brain new inputs so it can make new connections. As entrepreneurs, having an exciting new project tends to breathe life into old businesses.
13. Consider a Pivot
Abbey Ashley (episode 284) was getting burnt out on client work when she tested a new idea. Instead of asking her email list what they wanted to learn in general, she proposed a specific virtual assistant course.
Result: 16 people bought from her list of 1,000, making $8,000 before she even created the course. And her sales page was a simple Google Doc.
Ask yourself: Is there something adjacent to your current business that would excite you again?
14. Mindset Shift: “I Get To” vs “I Have To”
This doesn’t apply if you’re commuting 2 hours to a job you hate, but it definitely applies to entrepreneurs: We chose this path.
It’s a privilege to be the boss. We get to help customers, learn new skills, and improve our financial well-being.
When I was stressing about my TEDx talk, my wife reminded me: “Just remember, you chose this.”
Important reminder of “get to vs. have to.”
To recap, we covered how to prevent burnout and some different tactics you might find effective in reducing it in your life.
- Find Your Why
- Nightly Shut Down Routine
- Build Sustainable Systems
- Avoid the Comparison Trap
- Take Care of Your Physical Health
- Find a Creative Outlet
- Persistence + Patience
- Short-term sprints
- Give yourself a deadline; set a quit date
- Delegate and outsource the parts you hate
- Sell the business
- Keep it Fresh, change the routine, spark some creativity
- Consider a Pivot,
- Mindset shift: I get to vs. I have to.
If you’re battling burnout, don’t think it’ll magically go away. I encourage you to seek out some professional help, beyond the advice of your friendly neighborhood podcast host.
Final Thought
The Side Hustle Show recently had its 12th birthday. A friend asked if it ever gets boring or repetitive.
The answer was immediately no. There are repetitive parts to the process, but the individual stories and strategies keep it exciting. When you’re doing work that aligns with your values and energizes you, it doesn’t feel like work.
That’s what we’re aiming for with your side hustle too.
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Until next time, let’s go out there and make something happen!
Episode Links
- BetterHelp
- 5 whys deep
- Jaime Masters (episode 345)
- 3 Question Journal
- Tyler Christensen (episode 656)
- Shelley Marmor (episode 573)
- The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan
- Brian Johnson (episode 427)
- Heather Johnson (episode 520)
- Sa El (episode 359)
- Tropical MBA
- Rachel Pedersen (episode 190)
- Drew Ackerman (episode 363)
- John Jonas (episode 343)
- OnlineJobs.ph
- Upwork
- Fiverr
- Indeed
- Justin Tan (episode 540)
- Abbey Ashley (episode 284)
- Nick Loper’s TEDx talk
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