Where does the stress come from?
There are lots of reasons why you might be under stress when running your business. The biggest one is having to take all the burdens of your business on your own shoulders. You need it to succeed because you need the income – and because you are personally, financially and emotionally invested in your venture. But getting to that point of ‘success’ is very hard work. You can end up working seven days a week, long hours and never switching off.
And it doesn’t stop there. As soon as your business starts to grow and you are thinking about taking on employees, you are giving yourself another level of responsibility, and that can add to any stress you already have.
But there’s no need to panic. Instead, take some time out, think about the issues or tasks that add to your stress, and work out how to manage them. These include:
Time management – instead of working all hours, set yourself some boundaries. Always give yourself a lunch break, have time off in the evening and try not to work at weekends – or if you have to, limit the time you need to work. Building a work-life balance into your business from the very beginning will help you to keep your work stress more manageable.
Consider outsourcing – there’s an increase in start-up businesses and small companies looking for virtual assistants to take on some of the everyday tasks that take business owners away from actually running the business. You can decide what to outsource to a virtual assistant – it could be diary management, bookkeeping, social media – or all of those tasks.
Celebrate the wins – you’ll hear about the importance of appreciating your employees, and it’s just as important to appreciate your own successes. Instead of spending time focusing on the things that may not be working as well, take time out to celebrate your successes, achievements and how far you have come since last week, last month or when you started the business. It helps to keep things in perspective.
Remember that everyone is different – worried about messing up your books? Instead of spending hours trying to work things out, get someone else to do it for you. This is one of the best virtual assistant services to use – it takes complex tasks off your hands and you can be confident that everything is being done properly. The same applies if writing isn’t your thing – outsource your content or marketing to allow you to get on with the things you are best at.
Invest in helpful tools – there are lots of systems, apps and tools on the market that can help you to automate some of your tasks, removing some of your stress and also making your business more efficient. These range from accounting packages to social media scheduling tools – take advantage of anything that can make your life easier.
Join a business network – many small business owners think of networking as just a way to find new business. But if you approach them in the right way, they can be an incredible source of support and advice. Everyone is in the same boat, and your networking friends might have people they can refer you to – like top virtual assistants, for example – or be happy to spend an hour over a coffee just listening and supporting. These networks are valuable in many ways, so think about taking advantage of them.
If you are a small business owner and you’d like to reduce the stresses of your everyday working life, feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above to find out how virtual assistant outsourcing can support you.