In today’s age, it’s becoming more prevalent than ever to follow your dreams and begin your own small business. You have the drive, dreams and goals, but sometimes, stress could overshadow your business plans, motivation and even mental health. When you’re busy cultivating relationships, earning money, keeping tabs on your day-to-day tasks and more, you may not take the time to find the root cause of your stressors. How can you work past stress and other mental health issues so you can be your best self in your small business role? Here are five tips to manage stress as a small business owner –
Realize that you can’t always be in control.
You may have started your small business because you want to be your own boss. That’s a normal aspiration, but as a business owner, you have to learn to let go of control. With those with anxious or obsessive-compulsive tendencies, this can be challenging. You will still be working with clients, colleagues, vendors, investors and more.
That means information could still be behind, preventing you from creating that brochure that your client wants in a screen-to-print time frame. Realize that you will receive positive and negative results with your work, which are both out of your control. Learn to appreciate your successes, as well as your missteps. You will cultivate immense knowledge from both scenarios. Learn all you can about expanding your small local business.
You cannot do it all, even if that is your goal.
The sooner you realize that you can’t handle everything all at once, the better you will be. Multitasking may seem like something that will aid you on your small business quest, but you’re only being half as efficient as you could be with a task. Prioritize your time.
If you’re a small business owner who works from home, try to have a general work-day schedule. If you work better in the mornings, grab your cup of coffee and work for a few focused hours. After all, you can only do so much in one work day. Cut yourself some slack.
Take time to relax.
Many small business owners work 70 to 80 hours per week. That leaves little to no time to relax to recharge your brains and motivation. Take time to step away from your tasks at hand. Take a 30-minute lunch break.
Have a conversation outside of your work bubble. When the work day is done, engage in your favorite hobby. Learn what sends you over your boiling point by taking some time to study to understand and manage stress.
Take time to react.
If you’re overwhelmed already and an email hits your inbox that causes you even more stress, then wait to respond. If you’re angry, overwhelmed or another mood or emotion, then it could make or break your response.
Even if you’re not in the public relations industry, pull a PR move out of your repertoire and wait to respond. Think about your key points and give yourself 12 hours to respond. If someone sends you something at the end of the day, then wait until the next morning to respond.
Sure, some people check their email accounts on their smart phones in the evenings, but use that time to create a professional response that will provide some give-and-take for you and the respondent.
Talk with other like-minded individuals.
Find a network of other entrepreneurs locally and online to talk about your current and previous business issues and solutions. Sometimes, you can’t figure out things on your own, whether that pertains to your income tax forms or how to deal with a troublesome customer.
Talk with colleagues, family members, friends, mentors or anyone else you trust. Just talking about your stressors could open up your brain space for other tasks at hand.