3 Sustainable Ways to Avoid Burnout When Growing Your Business

Julie Starr • June 18, 2021



The pressure of scaling a business can be too much, even for the most passionate entrepreneurs in the land.

While the stress of shouldering financial losses, handling employee problems, and dealing with consumer demands comes with the territory, striking a balance between your well-being and building your business is vital if you want to avoid burnout.

Here are four sustainable ways you can stay healthy as you grow your business to the next level.

Outsource

The “control freak syndrome” is a problem affecting most budding entrepreneurs. Due to fear, pride, or lack of resources, you may feel the need to take on everything yourself.

However, this move often proves counterproductive as you either end up too tired or lack the skills to solve each problem effectively. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, you must be humble enough to know when to ask for help or delegate. When you’re unfamiliar with specific departments like IT, for example, reaching out for professional IT services relieves you from the pressure of fixing such problems on your own.

Outsourcing is also a great way to direct your energy on other essential tasks you are good at within your organization.

Remove the Excess Clutter

If your office is always in a constant state of mess, this can be the reason you hardly get anything done in time. Besides taking up most of your working space, excess clutter can be stressful and even unhealthy because it causes burnout.

To boost your performance, improve your working mood, and increase your overall productivity , begin to declutter through the following steps:

Assess Each Item

Do a complete evaluation of each item in your office and categorize them into three – keepers, archive, and junk. 

Carefully place each material in its pile, depending on how often you use it. The keeper category should only contain items you use daily, while the archive should hold essential documents that do not serve immediate use. Donate or sustainably destroy items that land on the junk pile.

Divide and Conquer

Instead of throwing items inside your drawers or shelves recklessly, use dividers to segment sections for different things. Organize materials such as manuals, binders, and files on hanging shelves to have a more elegant display.

Compartmentalize

As an entrepreneur, it is never easy to draw a line between work and rest. You always have a burning desire to work round the clock and maximize every minute.

While this mentality may bring short-term success, it only leads to burnout long term.

If you want to take your business to the next level , learn to separate your working hours from your downtime. When you’re at home with your family or out with your friends, be present in those moments, and avoid checking for work emails or accepting any duty calls at all costs.S

Sustainably Grow Your Business

Sustainably growing your business means taking care of your mental and physical well-being. If you do one and leave the other, you may experience burnouts that prevent you from operating at high levels.

Incorporate the above ideas into your work life, and you’ll have a much smoother entrepreneurial journey, one with no burnouts or health challenges.

5 Everyday Items That Can Quietly Boost Your Brand

By Julie Starr • July 17, 2025
The best branding doesn’t always come from big campaigns or expensive graphics. Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff that leaves the biggest impression. Things people actually use, touch, or carry with them. That’s where your brand can quietly make its mark without needing to shout about it. If you’re only focusing on social media and business cards, you’re leaving a lot on the table. Here are five overlooked ways to get your name out there that feel natural, useful, and more personal. Thank-you slips If you’re already sending out orders, there’s no reason not to include a short thank-you slip. You can easily get these made through any decent online print shop , and they’re usually pretty cheap to run off in small batches. Just a simple note that says thanks, maybe with a reminder to follow you online or a cheeky discount code for next time. It’s quick, thoughtful, and makes the whole order feel more finished. Customers notice that kind of detail, especially when everything else they buy online comes with zero personality. You don’t need a complicated design either. Just something clean with your logo, a message that sounds like you, and maybe a social handle. The point is to give them a reason to come back or remember your name without it feeling forced. Branded zip pouches If you sell physical products, offer services, or run events, small zip pouches are surprisingly effective. Think of the kind you’d use for stationery, receipts, or travel bits. You can get your brand printed on the side and hand them out with purchases or include them in welcome packs. People keep them because they’re actually useful. They get tossed in handbags, school bags, or glove boxes and your logo just keeps turning up. Cleaning cloths for glasses or screens This one works brilliantly if you’re in tech, health, beauty, or anything involving screens or eyewear. A simple microfibre cloth with your branding on it can go a long way. Everyone needs one. Whether they use it for glasses, a phone screen, or their laptop, it’s something they hang onto. It’s not the kind of thing people throw away, and that means your name sticks around too. Receipt envelopes You might already use little envelopes to hand over receipts or business cards. Branding those envelopes is a small change that makes a big difference. Instead of someone getting a scruffy bit of paper in a plain sleeve, they’re handed something that feels a bit more finished. You can even add a message inside. Doesn’t need to be anything dramatic. A simple “thanks for visiting” or “see you next time” is enough to add a personal touch. Wet wipes or mini hand gels If your business is in hospitality, food, or anything hands-on, branded wet wipes or pocket-sized hand gels are surprisingly popular. People actually use them, especially at festivals, food stalls, pop-ups, or kids’ events. They end up in handbags or cars and stick around longer than you think. They don’t scream “marketing” either. They’re practical, and when done right, they make your business feel thoughtful. That’s what good branding does, it shows you’ve thought ahead.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.