Self‑Employed, Not Superhuman: Avoiding Burnout

Slug: self-employed-not-superhuman-avoiding-burnout
Excerpt (150 characters):
You’re driving, lifting, booking jobs, and running a business. Burnout doesn’t wait. Spot it early, stop it on your terms, and keep the job working for you.

You Aren’t Just a Driver. You’re Setting the Pace.

The van’s your office. The job’s your day. Your business is your life.
But here’s the thing: the longer you carry all three without a break, the more the wheels spin — and the mileage costs you more than fuel.

Research on self‑employed people shows that excessive job demands without matching resources lead to mental exhaustion and burnout. Frontiers+1
For drivers it plays out like this: you push through the next job, the next week gets heavier, you miss breaks, and suddenly you’re doing the job you once ran — you’re being run by it.

What’s Really Happening Behind the Scenes

• You start the week strong. By Wednesday you’ve done three jobs, eaten on the go, still taken calls at the van.

• You put off maintenance because there’s a job — then the van breaks down.

• You book another job because it has to be done, you’re tired, but you can’t stop.

• Over months that turns into fatigue, irritability, slower loading/unloading, and the phone stops ringing like it once did.

In other words, burnout isn’t sudden. It’s the sum of too many high‑demand days, too little rest, and too few boundaries.

Science Speaks: You’re Not Imagining It

The Job Demands‑Resources (JD‑R) model shows that when demands go up and resources go down, you’re walking into burnout territory. Wikipedia+1
Add to this the Conservation of Resources theory: when you keep giving (your time, your body, your van) without getting back (rest, repair, reward) you’re at risk of resource loss‑fatigue. Wikipedia

Yes — you grind to earn. But your body, your brain, your business gets the bill if you don’t match it with recovery and strategy.

Five Real‑World Moves That Work

1. Schedule a non‑negotiable “down” day
   Even one half‑day off the van matters. Your body needs it. Your brain needs it.

2. Set limits to jobs you’ll take
   Agree only to jobs you know you can finish by night. Don’t stretch for that “easy extra” if it means you crash the next day.

3. Track and protect your “load” of physical & mental work
   Load isn’t just the gear in your van. It’s your body, your time, your decision‑making. If you keep loading beyond your limit, you’ll pay.

4. Use your business tools for you, not just clients
   The same systems you use to quote, schedule, and track jobs — use them on yourself. Audit your week. Notice when you’re carrying extra.

5. Allow the gear to wait if needed
   If your van breaks or you’re not right — take the day. Jobs will wait. If you keep going under strain, you’re risking bigger damage. Bigger job losses. Bigger cost.

Why This Matters For Your Website & Business

If your website shows a relentless work‑machine, you attract bookings.
If you show you’re a business that works smart, not just hard, you win trust.
When you say:

“Experienced man & van. Licensed, insured and ready.”
It means more when you sound like you carry the work load and know your limits.

Final Word

You’re good at what you do. Real good.
But being self‑employed isn’t the same as being superhuman.
Burnout is real. It’s not a badge of honour. It’s a risk to your business, your health, your van.

So run your business.
Don’t let it run you.

And if you want a website built for your business — one that shows trust, clarity and means you’re in control, VanWebsites can build that for you.ing.