Minna Hu, Founder of AI Bookkeeper, is committed to helping small-business owners free up the time they spend on bookkeeping.
As a business owner, the mindset of “I can do it” has served me well. My husband and I bought an inn just one month before the pandemic hit. We renovated it, kept it running during the crisis and even built a loyal customer base along the way. Running a property management company remotely? No problem—I could do that too. Over the past few months, I’ve faced some of the most overwhelming stress of my business ownership. Normally, when I hit a rough patch, I need about a week to recalibrate, regain clarity, and push forward. But this time was different. Here’s what I’ve learned recently about happiness and being a business owner:
It’s OK to admit that you need help and cannot do it all.
I found myself drowning in responsibilities: taking over property management work after our property manager left, hiring and training new managers, handling bookkeeping for all my companies during tax season, managing tenant requests and property issues remotely during a snowstorm disaster, and acquiring a new property that required a significant financial commitment. The usual “try harder” approach wasn’t working. I hit a breaking point, crying in the middle of a conversation with my husband and blurting out, “This business journey to freedom is all a lie. I can’t do it anymore.”
That moment of despair led to an important realization: My “I can do it” mentality was the very reason I was buried under never-ending work and responsibilities. What if the opposite were true? What if I needed to let go and admit that I simply couldn’t do it all?
I listed out the tasks I least enjoyed that consumed most of my time. The answer became clear: Bookkeeping and directly managing tenant requests had to go. Even though I worried about hiring the wrong bookkeeper, I had to take the leap. I let the new property manager handle more responsibilities and refocused my energy on developing people rather than taking on multiple roles myself. Sometimes, happiness isn’t about pushing through—it’s about stepping back, taking care of yourself and focusing on what you do best. Letting go of the worry and finding help lifted a weight off my shoulders.
Recognize that people do better when they can.
When my team members failed to meet expectations, my instinct was to jump in and fix the problem myself. But that meant I was constantly solving their problems instead of helping them develop the skills to solve them on their own. That changed when I read The Explosive Child, a parenting book that surprisingly taught me valuable leadership lessons.
Parenting and leadership are alike in many ways. We want to develop people, help them grow and help them be independent. At the same time, we need to resist the urge to do everything for them. Too often, when employees fall short, we assume they’re not trying hard enough or lack responsibility. But in reality, they may be putting in all the effort they can and still lack the skills needed to meet expectations.
Take, for example, a property manager who struggled with handling maintenance requests efficiently. Instead of assuming he was irresponsible, I started asking him questions: “What were your biggest challenges? What support do you need?” Together, we found gaps in his process and worked on a solution.
I’ve learned to engage my team members in collaborative problem-solving by asking about their challenges, sharing my concerns and working together to find solutions. It’s not easy. It takes more time, and I often fall back into the habit of providing quick fixes. But with practice, I’m seeing the benefits—it’s far better than carrying all the burdens myself while resenting the fact that I’m always the one solving the “big and difficult” problems.
Clear your mental and physical space.
Have you ever kept old spices in your cabinet or food you didn’t like in the fridge, thinking that one day you might use them? But then every time you see them, they feel like clutter? The same thing happens with mental space in business.
For a long time, I felt like I was running on a treadmill—never enough time to deal with existing problems while new demands constantly piled on. Just as we were still ironing out issues with our property management process and team, we were already diving into acquiring another building, bringing an entirely new set of problems. The never-ending cycle drained my confidence and left me stressed and exhausted.
Turns out, you need to take charge and be intentional about managing your physical and mental space. I started small—clearing out clutter in my home and then removing some tasks from my plate at work. Even though it meant missing out on some opportunities or losing money when I had to back out of commitments, the lightness I felt afterward gave me more energy to focus on what truly mattered.
Happiness as a business owner isn’t about grinding harder—it’s about being intentional. It’s about knowing when to delegate, how to develop people instead of just fixing problems, and creating space for clarity and focus. By embracing these lessons, I’ve found not just success but also a deeper sense of happiness and fulfillment in my work and life.
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