It’s no secret that being an entrepreneur is stressful. You’ve got a million things on your plate. From ordering inventory to dealing with customer concerns, to staying within budget and beyond, the stress of daily responsibilities can wear on you. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to reduce stress so that you can have a clear mind when making business decisions, pitching, or dealing with customers.
Get Organized
The best way to reduce stress as an entrepreneur is to get organized. When you feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to get done, organizing your tasks can help you to prioritize and knock them out one by one. Find an app that can easily keep track of your to-do items. If your tasks are time sensitive, you may find it easiest to use a calendar app. Schedule out time to get tasks done. Set reminders so that they pop up on your phone or computer. You may find that a simple checklist app helps you to keep track of tasks and to get things done. Some find that a good ol’ fashioned planner book works best. Every entrepreneur has a different style of how they accomplish things. Attempting to get organized can help you to find the right tools and to figure out what works best for you.
Take Time for Yourself
When you spend so much time growing your business that you forget to take time for yourself, you may find your stress levels skyrocketing. It’s important that you take time for yourself when running a business so that you don’t get burned out. Carve out time during the week for things that are important to you personally—time with family, exercise, hobbies, etc. When you take time for yourself, you’ll find your stress levels decrease, and you’ll be happier overall. Finding a balance between work and play can actually help you to be more productive. These personal breaks from your work help you to recharge and reset. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day, so make sure you’re making time for yourself each week.
Delegate
You don’t have to try to do everything yourself. At times, it’s a struggle to hand things off to other people in fear that something might get dropped. However, delegating tasks can lighten your workload, create more efficiency, and a fresh perspective from another person may help your business to grow. Start off by getting organized and prioritizing your tasks. From there, you can decide which tasks you feel comfortable handing off to someone else in your organization. Allow yourself to trust this individual and check in with them to make sure they are on the right track to getting the task done. Delegating will help you take small or tedious things off your plate so that you can focus on more important things—like growing your business.
Stay Informed
If you have employees, you’ll need to find a balance between running your business and micromanaging. However you choose to do it, be sure to stay informed about what is going on within your business. It’s important to know how things are going financially, if your employees are being efficient, and any customer feedback about the experience or products. The more informed you are, the less blindsided you’ll be if something goes wrong.
Understand Your Industry
This last point is relevant to many areas of being a business owner, but it can also help you to decrease overall stress as an entrepreneur. When you understand your industry, the choices you make for your business become second nature. Having a deep understanding of your customers—their wants, needs, and how to communicate with them—takes some of the burden off of you as you are growing your business. This will help you to market better, pitch better, and serve your customers better—thus improving the overall state of your business. When you have a healthy business, you’ll be less stressed as an entrepreneur.
