You have probably heard the term “quiet quitting” getting kicked around about corporate workers doing just enough, or slacking, or not being willing to put in the time like the rest of us did or do. This got me thinking about how you (or I) may quiet quitting in our business.

Arianna Huffington in her post “Why Quiet Quitting Is Not the Solution to Our Burnout Crisis” gives the background on the origin of this term:

“Quiet quitting.” It’s a term, and an idea, that’s not-so-quietly gathering steam. I first noticed it in July, on the heels of a viral TikTok video by @zkchillin. “You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” he says. “You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life. The reality is, it’s not, and your worth as a person is not defined by your labor.” Since then, like an invasive species, the term has caught on, with recent write-ups in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, USA TODAY and The New York Times among many others.  

How could this play out as a business owner?

Being reactive

As a small business owner, there are always emails to answer and fires to put out. If you were quiet quitting, you might only respond to problems and not reach out proactively to ask questions or upsell existing clients. In short, you might be missing out on some easy opportunities to increase revenue.

Not keeping yourself accountable

One of the biggest problems for small business owners is letting things slide – especially the scary thing or the tedious thing. If you don’t have the accountability of a partner, board, mastermind group, or something else in place, I guarantee that at some point you will make excuses that you couldn’t get something done, when in reality, you could have.

In these cases you need to be honest with yourself. Maybe it just wasn’t a priority? Own it.

Or, maybe you did something else that needed to be done, but didn’t need to be done then. This is a very common way people block themselves. It often happens when what you have to do is unknown and out of your comfort zone.

Not setting audacious goals

If you are just getting by and phoning it in, you are likely not setting audacious goals and will not be moving the needle in your business. If you want to be growing, you need to be increasing revenue, which likely means you need to be selling more of what you already offer or launching something new.

Launching something new can feel like an audacious goal. Launching something new requires planning, preparation, and perspiration. Launching something new is the opposite of quiet quitting.

I challenge you to look objectively at how you are running your business and see if there are places you may be just sliding by.

As a gentle reminder, you’re the boss, so the only person you’re hurting is yourself.