When you're a Junior Business Manager in an ESN and feel overwhelmed by trivial tasks

You just started your job as a business manager. You don't have any consultants to follow yet. No clients to visit yet. And yet, you're already overwhelmed. Tired. As if you had a minister's schedule. But when you look at your day, you haven't done that much. In any case, not things that move your business forward.

If you see yourself in this, rest assured: you are not an exception. You're just... experiencing exactly what 80% of junior BMs go through. And if no one talks about it, it's not because it doesn't exist. It's because many prefer to pretend.

So let's talk about it. And see together why this is happening to you... and how to get out of it.

You haven't learned to manage your time

You're in a job where you have to manage clients, consultants, candidates, meetings, follow-ups, appointments... but no one has trained you to organize your time.

Result? You misjudge the time tasks take. You spend 30 minutes rewriting an email or 1 hour choosing the right words to call someone. You block 2 hours on your prospecting file instead of prospecting.

Business Manager Academy advice: a framework, simple tools, a method. For example, learning to differentiate between visible tasks and useful tasks. To prioritize according to what creates value, not what flatters your need to check boxes.

Your manager doesn't clearly tell you what to prioritize

It's a double whammy: you're asked to be autonomous, but you're not clearly told what you need to do to become competent quickly.

You receive vague instructions: "find assignments," "follow the consultants," "bring in business." But where do you start? Who do you call? What do you post? What do you say to a client? Which consultant do you propose?

BMA advice: clear priorities at the start. Example: block a time slot each day for active prospecting. Make X calls. Follow a script. Source Y profiles for a need. You move faster when you know what's expected.

You want to do too well

Your perfectionism slows you down. You want to make a perfect email, a neat sheet, a call intro worthy of a TED Talk. You waste time polishing things you could have sent or said "just like that."

BMA advice: integrate a truth: in this job, what counts is volume and regularity. Not the beauty of the file. It's not a PowerPoint contest. What matters is the number of sales conversations you manage to initiate.

You work based on your desire, not your goal

You don't block your actions in your agenda. You go "with the flow." You gravitate toward tasks you prefer: sorting, searching, rephrasing... And you push back those that challenge you: calling, following up, pitching.

BMA advice: serious planning. Not just a to-do list. Time blocks dedicated to high-impact actions. Prospecting is not when you have time. It's an appointment with your future.

You don't measure the real effort required

You think that a few calls will suffice to sign an assignment. That 10 sourced profiles will make a recruitment. You're sincere... but you underestimate the effort needed.

BMA advice: understand the conversion cycle. Sometimes it takes 20 calls for 3 interested people, for 1 appointment, for 1 proposal. And that, you have to do it every day, not occasionally.

You move forward in fits and starts

One day you're prospecting intensely, the next day you're only doing administrative tasks. Then nothing for two days. Result: you don't create momentum.

BMA advice: a regular rhythm. Better to do 1 hour of prospecting every day than 6 hours in one go every 10 days. This job rewards consistency.

You confuse activity with effectiveness

You feel like you're working, but nothing moves. You may be very active... but not on the right subjects. Sourcing an unnecessary profile, following up on an unreachable candidate, organizing your CRM... that's not moving forward.

BMA advice: an impact dashboard. Does what you're doing today contribute to getting a client appointment or starting an assignment? If not, it's not a priority.

You switch all the time

You go from an email to a file, from a file to a Slack message, from a message to LinkedIn, from LinkedIn to your phone. Result: zero real concentration, and therefore zero substantial results.

BMA advice: blocks of total concentration. 45 minutes on a task, without notifications, without distractions. Call, follow-up, write — but fully.

You always have a good excuse not to act

You're waiting for your script to be perfect. You're not sure what to say. You haven't validated the pitch yet. You put it off until tomorrow. You always have a good excuse... but you don't act.

BMA advice: take action, even without being ready. It's by calling that you become good. Not by waiting to be good to call.

You are a victim of time thieves

Slack, emails, WhatsApp, Teams... you're notified every 3 minutes. And you respond. And you reread. And you lose your thread.

BMA advice: interruption-free times. Close the apps, turn off notifications, and work. Really.

You don't get quick feedback

You're moving forward, but you don't know if you're heading in the right direction. No one tells you what is going well or what is not. So you doubt. And when in doubt, you slow down.

BMA advice: a personal feedback system. Measure your conversion rate. Ask for feedback every week. Correct quickly. And move forward.

You want everything validated

You want your manager to validate every action. You're afraid of making a mistake. So you block. You wait. You stagnate.

BMA advice: a clear scope of autonomy. What you can do alone. What you need to validate. And act in the rest without waiting.

You were "onboarded" in the blur

You were told you were going to "manage your own business." Except you have no training, no method, no processes. You're in the deep end. Without floaties.

BMA advice: a structured framework. Training that helps you prioritize, plan, execute, correct. All in practical mode, not theoretical.

And sometimes... you tell yourself the problem is you

You wonder if you're really cut out for this job. You see others advancing (at least seemingly), and you're stuck. So you doubt. You feel guilty. You start thinking you're not good enough.

BMA advice : in the majority of cases, it's not you that's unsteady, it's the system around you. Poorly structured. Poorly explained. Poorly supported.

Well... let's be honest. Sometimes, it's also you. And not in the same way as the system. But it's not a fatality: you just don't have the right keys yet. And that, you can recover. If they are given to you.

This job can be exciting. But not without method

You can love this job. You can enjoy it. You can become a true business developer, an effective recruiter, an involved manager.

But not if you spend your time chasing things that have no impact.

You need to learn to choose your battles, structure your schedule, manage your energy and produce concrete results without burning out.

And this, it doesn't happen by chance.

Want to go faster without burning your wings?

That's exactly why we created the FastTrack BM Challenge. A 6-week program to help you master the fundamentals of the job. You'll build your routines, your method, your pipeline. You'll be coached every week. And you'll quickly see the difference in the field.

No bullshit. No theoretical courses. Just what you need to do your job correctly, with pleasure, and with results in mind.