If you've caught yourself saying "I'm just so tired of this" about your own business, this episode is for you. Karin Velez walks through what burnout actually looks like for solopreneurs and small-team business owners, why the first two to three years are the hardest stretch on the typical growth curve (and often the stretch right before things turn really good) and how the sunk cost fallacy sneaks into your decision-making right when you need clarity most. You'll leave with a short set of honest questions to help you tell the difference between "I need rest and better systems" and "it's time to close this chapter." Pull up a seat and let's get into it.

References:

"Entrepreneurial Burnout: A Systematic Review and Research Map" — International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2021)

A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative research on burnout specifically in entrepreneurship.

https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJESB.2021.115883

Christina Maslach — Three-Dimension Model of Burnout

Maslach's original tri-dimensional framing of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism/depersonalization, reduced sense of accomplishment) remains the standard clinical reference point for burnout research today.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280939428_A_Multidimensional_Theory_of_Burnout

Arkes and Blumer — The Psychology of Sunk Cost (1985)

The classic behavioral economics research establishing the sunk cost fallacy as a measurable, predictable bias in decision-making.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0749597885900494

Howard Love — "The Start-Up J Curve"

Love's framing of the predictable dip-then-climb pattern in new business growth is the source for the J-curve concept discussed in this episode and supports the argument that the hardest financial and emotional stretch often precedes the turn toward profitability.

https://amzn.to/4btpu3e

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Business Employment Dynamics, Small Business Survival Data

BLS survival rate data showing that roughly half of new businesses are still operating at the five-year mark, with meaningfully better odds for those that make it past that window.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/1-year-survival-rates-for-new-business-establishments-by-year-and-location.htm

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If you want a place to talk this through with people who get it, solopreneurs and small-team business owners doing this same hard, honest work, come join us in The Growth Table Small Business Collective. https://growthtablesbc.com