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If you’re like most small business owners, you’re buried in repetitive administrative tasks. Bookkeeping, payroll processing, data entry and endless spreadsheets. These are the kinds of tasks that seem to suck hours of your day but don’t really contribute to business growth.
And here’s the thing…
Nearly all of it can be automated. The right small business accounting software will slash your admin time and free up hours each week.
Less time crunching numbers. More time building your business (and life).
In this article, you’ll find:
- Administrative Burnout is Real
- Why Small Business Accounting Software Helps
- What Tasks to Automate (Right Now!)
- How to Build Your Burnout-Proof Workflow
Let’s go!
Burnout is Killing Your Business (and Your Sanity)
Did you know that most small business owners underestimate the amount of time they spend on administrative tasks?
Hours upon hours are sucked into bookkeeping, payroll, invoicing and data entry every week. Time that could be spent on marketing, sales or connecting with customers.
And it’s slowly killing your business.
Work that produces no revenue is a one-way ticket to burnout.
When you’re bogged down in admin, it’s easy to become exhausted. You start making poor decisions. You lose motivation. Before you know it, you’ve gone from running a business to running on fumes.
The workload only increases as your business grows.
Small business owners wear many hats. Operations, marketing, customer service… you name it. Usually, accounting and payroll fall at the owner’s desk too. Without proper automation in place, it’s a setup for disaster.
Small Business Accounting Software Can Help Prevent Burnout
Small business accounting software can reduce your administrative burden. When configured correctly, it will take over many repetitive accounting tasks that steal your precious time and mental energy.
Not all software is created equal though. The best programs for small businesses automate the biggest pain points. Like bookkeeping, tax prep, invoicing, and payroll. A desktop payroll tool can automatically calculate payroll, do tax filings and ensure compliance. All without lifting a finger from your daily tasks.
The goal with any small business accounting software is to automate repetitive tasks. That way, business owners have more time to focus on growing their business (and enjoying life).
Automation is important because it allows you to tackle the high-value tasks. It also keeps you from burning out by doing rote work yourself.
Workplace Burnout is at an All-Time High
A recent report found that workplace burnout increased by 39% from 2023 to 2024. In other words, HALF of employees are experiencing burnout at some point during the year.
Small business owners are especially susceptible. Where other employees may have admin teams to support them… you probably don’t.
Administrative tasks are time-consuming. According to research from Sage, small businesses spend over 120 days per year on average handling accounting and admin. That’s 1/3 of your entire year spent on tedious tasks that don’t help your business grow!
When you combine that with the fact that workload increases as you grow, it’s a wonder anyone survives as a small business owner.
Thankfully, small business accounting software can change that.
One study showed that automating accounting tasks reduced time spent on those tasks by 70%. If you’re wondering how to avoid administrative burnout, that’s a good place to start.
What Tasks Should You Be Automating?
If you’re wondering where to start… don’t worry. Start with the biggest time drains.
Here are the main tasks you should be looking to automate right away:
- Bookkeeping – Software can automatically categorize transactions and match up bank records. No more manual data entry.
- Invoicing – Send invoices automatically. Add payment reminders so your cash keeps flowing.
- Payroll – Let software run payroll calculations, tax withholdings and automate tax filings. Payday will process itself.
- Expenses – Capture receipts with your phone. Software will do the rest.
- Taxes – Use automated tax software to keep your financials organized all year long. Making tax time a breeze.
Start with one or two of these at first. Create your perfect workflow around the tools that fit your business. Over time, you can add more processes to be automated.
Once you figure out where you’re spending your time, it’s time to make things more efficient.
How to Build Your Burnout-Proof Workflow
As mentioned before, small business accounting software won’t solve all your problems. But it can help you create a workflow that is more sustainable.
Here are 3 tips to create a workflow that stands the test of time.
1. Audit Your Time
This can’t be stressed enough. You’ll never know where to improve if you don’t know where your time goes. Track your time for a week (or even just a couple of days). You’ll be surprised where it goes.
Once you know where you’re spending your time, it’s time to take action.
2. Pair Tasks With the Right Software
Once you know where you’re wasting time, find software to automate it. If bookkeeping takes up too much of your time, look for software with automatic transaction categorization. Does payroll have you stressed? Find software with easy payroll functionality.
Match your time-wasting tasks with software solutions that can fix them.
3. Schedule Regular Check-Ins
Technology improves every year. Make sure you’re set up to take advantage of it by scheduling quarterly reviews. Check in with your workflow and see if there are any areas you can improve or tasks you should start automating.
Small business owners should be growing a business, not burning out.
As your business grows, you should be doing less grunt work. Period. Unfortunately, that’s not always how it works. If you want things to be different for your business, you have to take action.
Use small business accounting software to find and automate your biggest time drains. Schedule regular check-ins to stay on top of things. And always be improving your workflow.
Over time, you’ll spend less time doing repetitive tasks. Less burnout. More growth.
Pick Your Software and Get Started
Alright, now it’s time to pick the software you’ll use to save your sanity.
When picking small business accounting software, look for the following:
- Is it easy to setup?
- Can it automate bookkeeping?
- Will it run payroll functions and automatic tax filings?
- Can it integrate with other software you use?
- Does it scale as your business grows?
Small business accounting software should feel like it’s running in the background. Putting your mind at ease while you work on growing your business.
Invest in the tools that will save you the most time. Then sit back and watch the hours add up.
Conclusion
Burnout from administrative tasks is overwhelming small business owners. But it doesn’t have to be you.
By using small business accounting software, you can automate many of the tasks that cause you stress. Here’s a recap:
- Figure out where you spend most of your time.
- Invest in software to automate those tasks.
- Focus on automating payroll, bookkeeping, invoicing and expenses.
- Build workflows that you regularly review and update.
Once you have everything automated, take a deep breath. You’ve earned it!
Qamar Javed