The Hidden Cost of Disorganised Admin (What I See Behind the Scenes)
I see it a lot… and yes I have definitely been guilty of disorganised admin in my 30+ years of working. But that is what has led me here today helping you and so many other business owners.
So many come to me feeling like they’re drowning not being able to catch a breath in their business and usually, they don’t even realise it’s their admin quietly holding them under.
It’s not the piles of paperwork you might imagine or messy desks or missing invoices. Those are easy fixes. The real cost is a lot quieter… but it sneaks into everything.
It’s mental load.
It’s that constant background stress of thinking, “Am I forgetting something?” I’ve had clients say, “I woke up at 3am worrying about whether I sent that invoice last week,” or, “I keep checking my inbox because I’m scared I missed something important.”
And over time? It wears you down. You may find your confidence dips, decisions take longer and everything feels heavier than it should.
The best thing to know, is that this isn’t about being bad at business. Most of the people I work with are incredible at what they do. They’re smart, capable and passionate and bloody amazing in their businesses.
Disorganised admin usually shows up when your business grows faster than your systems or when you’ve been doing everything yourself for too long.
I’ve seen it in so many different ways:
One business owner said, “I literally have invoices saved in three different places and can never find the right one when the client asks.”
Another told me, “I spend more time organising my team then organising myself and business”
And one just laughed and said, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing anymore”
We like to believe that admin is the enemy, however it’s just reacting to a business that’s grown faster than its systems.
The good news? You don’t need to overhaul your entire business or buy every new tool and system under the sun. Often, it’s small changes that make the biggest difference:
Clear, simple systems that actually work for you
Support you can rely on
Processes that free your headspace instead of cluttering it
When your admin is under control, something shifts. Decisions come easier. Work feels lighter. You stop reacting.
So if your business feels heavier than it should, here’s my gentle reminder: it’s not about working harder. It’s about sorting what’s in front of you, accepting help where it matters, and giving yourself a calmer place to start.
When your admin works for you instead of against you everything else falls into place a little more smoothly.