Balancing Plates: The Honest Truth About Being an Entrepreneur During the Busiest Season of the Year

Entrepreneurship is rarely described the way it actually feels.

People love the highlight reel, flexibility, passion, “being your own boss,” the sparkle of freedom.

But if we’re being honest?

Entrepreneurship is less like juggling and more like balancing a table full of spinning plates while someone keeps handing you new ones.

You think you can set one down, another wobbles.

You fix one problem, three more call your name.

You tend to your business, your family needs you.

You tend to your family, a client pings you.

You take a breath, and your team suddenly needs direction or support.

And with the holidays approaching?

Every plate spins just a little faster.

Entrepreneurs aren’t superheroes (no matter how much we try).

They’re humans holding up a lot, their work, their people, their clients, their home life, their hope, their dreams.

But here’s the good news: You can balance it all… but only with sturdy, supportive foundations beneath you. No amount of hustle replaces structure. No amount of passion replaces people-first systems.

So here are five solutions that actually make the balancing act sustainable to avoid a crash out of plates.

1. Build Systems That Offload Your Brain

You cannot scale a business, or survive a season, when every process requires your constant, 100% , active mental effort. Documenting workflows, creating templates, automating small tasks, and setting up repeatable processes is not “extra work.” It’s creating your second brain.

When you have:

• A hiring flow that runs the same every time

• Onboarding steps written down

• Training materials you don’t have to reinvent

• Clear communication norms

• Templates instead of blank screens

You remove dozens of decisions a week, and decision fatigue is one of the biggest sources of burnout for entrepreneurs. Systems aren’t rigid. They’re liberating.

They give you a sturdy floor so the plates can spin without crashing.

2. Strengthen Your People Operations (So You Aren’t the Only Plate-Spinner)

This is where most entrepreneurs struggle the most. We build our businesses, nurture them from scratch, know every inch of how they run, so we assume we’re the only ones who can “do it right.” But if you don’t build clear, kind, flexible people ops frameworks, expectations, check-ins, communication rhythms, team values, you’re setting yourself up to be the emergency contact for every single thing.

A well-supported team reduces “Hey, do you have a sec?” by 80%.

People who know what’s expected of them, feel valued, and have clarity around how to work…

don’t need to be micromanaged.

They don’t need to be babysat.

They don’t need you to solve every problem.

They can balance their own plates.

People ops is not (just) HR paperwork. It’s the emotional infrastructure of your business.

3. Create Boundaries That Protect Your Energy (and Model Them for Your Team)

This one is uncomfortable, because the world loves telling entrepreneurs that rest is optional. It’s not. Rest is a strategy. Boundaries are oxygen.

Especially during the holidays.

Your team watches how you work. If you never shut off, they won’t either. If you’re always overwhelmed, they’ll walk on eggshells. If your boundaries collapse, so do theirs.

Set clear and consistent:

• Office hours (yes, even as the owner)

• Slack/DM expectations

• Your own cutoff times

• Buffer days

This isn’t selfish. It’s sustainable leadership. It keeps the plates spinning at a normal speed, not at a panic pace.

4. Build a Culture Where Your Team Supports Each Other, Not Just You

Too many small business owners accidentally make themselves the center of the spiderweb. Every thread connects back to them. Every update. Every task. Every decision.

When you create a collaborative ecosystem, where team members support each other, check in on each other, brainstorm together, you remove yourself as the bottleneck.

Especially during the holidays, when personal lives get heavier and work becomes more unpredictable, a supportive team makes all the difference.

They help distribute the load so you’re not carrying everyone’s emotional labor and all the operational pressure.

Team-building isn’t cheesy. It’s structural. Your culture is an invisible plate that supports all the others.

Besides the support and better communication within your teams, who wants to go to a work holiday party where no one really wants to be there.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Be a Human With Limits

Here’s a truth entrepreneurs rarely say out loud: It’s okay to not love every moment of the grind. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay to put a plate down without labeling yourself “lazy” or “failing.”

Your business needs the best version of you, not the exhausted, depleted, running-on-fumes one. Your family needs the present version of you, not the resentful, mentally absent one. You need space to breathe, reflect, and recalibrate.

Self-care isn’t always bubble baths and scented candles. It’s choosing sustainability over spectacle. It’s allowing yourself to be supported by your systems, your team, and your boundaries.

You can balance it all, but only if you are part of what’s being taken care of.

You are not failing because the plates are spinning. The plates spin because you care. Because you’re building something real. Because you’re showing up in every part of your life, as a leader, a partner, a parent, a friend, a human.

And with the right systems, the right people ops, the right boundaries, and the right care…

You won’t just keep the plates from falling. You’ll build a table sturdy enough to hold them, today, tomorrow, and in the busiest seasons of your life.