You’ve seen or heard of this creature: the stressed-out business owner, who’s running everywhere, can’t sleep at night, and is worried he/she won’t make payroll. I’ve seen them too. I’m not denying that they exist.
But I am saying that they shouldn’t exist. A large part of why they do exist is the failure to put stress in its rightful place.
Stress
We all experience stress to some degree. It can be defined broadly as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Your body produces hormones or chemicals to help you deal with that stress. When your body dumps a bunch of adrenaline into your system to help you outrun a predator you’ve come across while on a leisurely hike, that’s a good thing. When you, as a business owner, let yourself get stressed out over a 1-star review, that’s a bad thing.
That’s because business owners have context that those who are in jobs, who are in less control of their situations, do not. Just because you get a bad review, or an employee performs badly or even quits, or you have a miscommunication with a vendor doesn’t mean your life is bad. Sure, you may have had a bad day, but the worst day you’ll have as an entrepreneur, as someone controlling your own destiny, will always top the best day you have as an employee, in which you have limited control over what happens to you.
Put another way, business owners who don’t let stress control them realize that it’s simply a part of the daily grind of running a business. In the early days you’re not going to be able to take time off or slow down, so you’ll need to be prepared to take on that stress at first. But once your business is up and running, there are easy ways to de-stress:
- Slow down (make sure you are taking at least a little time for yourself every day)
- Change your expectations (you don’t need to double your revenue every week, scale it back a bit)
- Take some time off (part of why you are putting in the work you do is to have some freedom, so use it!)
Dysfunction
There are some business owners who actually love stress and love to tell others about how stressful their business is, but I really think these people are doing it wrong, and worse, they are giving entrepreneurship a bad name.
Action
Remote Local Entrepreneurs definitely have added opportunities for stress, given that they aren’t often physically present with their employees and may be several time zones away. Lean into those challenges. Know that sometimes things are going to come up. In my business a classic example of something that would stress me out before I learned to put it in context was a cleaner calling out sick. My mind would start racing - we have to replace him/her, what will the client think, are we going to lose business, etc. But things happen. People really do get sick. Businesses are made of people, not of machine parts, and people, just like machines, do break down occasionally. A mature business owner examines moments of stress and asks if those moments are really meaningful or just part of a regular business day.
Don’t let stress take over your business or personal life. Put it in the proper context and go back to being in charge of your life.
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
