Donna Foran, from This N That, a gift shop in Gilgandra has run her small business for 17 years and finds the workload reaches far beyond the open and close times.  

These long hours are a common issue across small businesses and have been recognised as seriously stressful, prompting Australia's Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson, to encourage business owners to take stock of their mental wellbeing. 

“When you own a small business, it is just as important to spend time working on your business as it is to spend time working in your business,” Mr Billson said. 

Ms Foran recognises self-care is important but says it is often difficult to find the time. 

"With the business also operating on-line, it's more like running two businesses," she said. "I go home from work and then work at home, filling orders and that type of thing." 

Research published by Treasury just before Christmas confirmed that many small business owners struggle with mental health challenges. 

One-in-five of those surveyed had been diagnosed with a mental health condition by a doctor or health professional. In some industries such as manufacturing, retail trade, accommodation and food services it was one-in-three. 

"I sometimes tell myself I need to take time to go for a walk or something like that, but there never really is the time and I just don’t do it. While I have staff, basically the business begins and ends with me," Ms Foran said. 

Ms Foran's comments were echoed in the research which showed small business owners feel acute pressure to "do it all" and to keep up the appearance of being fine even when they were struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. They feel others – family, business partners, employees, and suppliers – depended on them. One of the respondents to the survey said: It all rests with me. 

"I'm lucky I have an understanding husband who I bounce a lot of things off," Ms Foran said. "Being a private person, I haven't been involved in industry groups or anything like that, but my husband takes a lot on board and will talk through things with me," she said. 

The finding that small business owners state "there is not enough hours in the day", also resonates with Ms Foran. 

"During Covid, we were forced to shut for around eight weeks," she said. "My daughter has set up social media for me and now that we are also an on-line shop, there was still plenty to do. I manage okay, and am lucky to have staff, but the shop is my passion and so it's hard to go away and really relax." 

The Ombudsman said it was important that policy makers, program designers and regulators understand that a time-poor small business does not have the same bandwidth as a big business. 

“A small business isn't a shrink-wrapped version of a big one,” he said. “They don't have a slightly smaller HR department. There isn’t a smaller team of compliance people running around. 

“No one got into business for the ‘back end’ of running the business. It’s unrelenting obligations and duties, and typically it is one person doing everything after-hours."