Running a business is no piece of cake, and like with everything else, it’s rife with so many berserk buttons for stress that can be triggered by just about anything. Letting all your work-related frustrations can eventually take its toll on your health and the success of your business — and you wouldn’t want that to happen.
Of course, there’s no denying that stress is a significant part of having a business, and it’s perfectly normal to feel the pressure from time to time. Undergoing all that hardship is what makes your success worth it, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t alleviate some of it to make things a little easier for you as you tackle the day-to-day processes within your company.
Here are some actions you can take to run a stress-free business, both in the moment and in the long run:
1. Find a balance
The source of stress often comes from the imbalance of priorities. Entrepreneurs have their businesses at the top of the list, with every other aspect of their lives taking the back seat. This adds further stress to your life, precisely because they prevent you from taking a break from your work to recharge.
With more energy and a rejuvenated mindset, you’re more likely to succeed in tackling problems head-on and finding better solutions than when you were making your business the only aspect of your life.
Find time to unplug from everything — and truly unplug. Enjoy the scenery and all the little things you miss out. It doesn’t count when you’re off your computer but are checking your files and communicating with people involved in your business on your phone anyway. Maintain a healthy work/life balance by making sure you’re not overbooking your day with so many tasks that necessities seem like distractions rather than breathers.
2. Delegate tasks
A common mistake that business owners make is trying to do everything themselves, especially if they are a small company. Of course, these are responsibilities that your business can’t neglect, but it doesn’t mean that you must do them all by yourself. These tasks can pile up and add more stress to your work schedule, all while leaving you with less time to fulfill your actual responsibilities.
The main concern over this, however, is the cost of hiring more people to do work that you think you could do yourself. This is a valid worry, but in today’s world, there are so many people in the industry whom you can outsource some of these tasks to.
For example, you can tap a skilled person to take care of content creation for your social media profiles for a low price. This already opens a slot in your schedule that you otherwise would’ve dedicated to conceptualizing, creating, and publishing posts, giving you more time to devote to another task or to even relax.
You can even delegate administrative tasks to freelancers and part-timers who may produce a better job than you would, mainly because they’re focused on it and are not juggling several other concerns on top of it.
This not only saves you valuable time but also helps regain the money you are losing doing these tasks by yourself.
If you’re worried about trusting others with these tasks, especially with the quality that you’ve established and if they’re knowledgeable enough to take over the job for you, it shouldn’t still stop you from delegating these smaller tasks to others. Training them to match the standards you have may take some time, but it’s for the long-term growth — not only of the person you’re putting in charge but of the company as well. Having someone accomplish those tasks while you simultaneously work on more critical details saves you time, energy, and resources in the long run.
3. Automate and digitize
The beauty of living in the digital and technological age is the fact that there are countless tools out there that can immensely help with completing your tasks faster, more efficiently, and with better quality control than you ever would by manually accomplishing tasks.
Three-quarters of marketers have reported that saving time has been the most significant benefit of automating tasks, along with increased customer engagement, more timely communications, increased opportunities such as upselling. Four in five users also saw increased leads and conversions through marketing automation software.
This, however, doesn’t mean that you should jump the gun so quickly. Using a software may have an impact on your business’ budget, not to mention that you’ll have to dedicate time into learning how to use it, establish a system that your whole workforce will need to get acquainted with, and figure out how to migrate all your files and documents to the program.
To make sure that you’re able to maximize your efforts correctly, it’s essential that you choose the right software for your business. Consider vital factors such as company needs, level of security provided, ease of use, and affordability among other aspects before you commit to a decision. Otherwise, you’ll just be sending money down the drain.
4. Use mobile apps
With the fast-paced, on-the-go condition of the world today, it’s vital that you can access your work even when you’re not sitting in front of your laptop, especially when something goes wrong. Using mobile apps in your business processes saves you the unnecessary hassle of trying to find a secure laptop and having to access all your databases from scratch (and remotely) when you need to check something pronto.
Most programs now have mobile versions to cater to the increasing mobile usage of people around the world. The software(s) you’ve chosen in the above step may have a mobile version readily available in Google Play (for Android users) or the Apple App Store (for iOS users) that you can download and use quickly. Some may even have offline capabilities that will allow you to create, edit, and store files from your phone that will sync in the app’s Cloud server when you go online.
5. Keep your environment tidy
While it’s more convenient to just leave things wherever you feel like when you’re working, an untidy environment can cause you to become more stressed. Wayne Dwyer, a renowned personal development guru, says that a person’s state of mind is reflected in the state of their car — a principle that can also be applied by the state of one’s workstation.
Disarray is most likely a manifestation of a cluttered state of mind and can make you feel as if you have no control over the situation. Taking charge of the orderliness and general state of your workstation, office, and even home (if you work remotely) will increase your feelings of control in your situation which, according to behavioral psychologist Martin Seligman, is strongly correlated to each other.
Stress is a regular part of being a business owner but having a stress-free business can be a saving grace in the fast-paced, perfection-driven world we live in today. Which method are you most excited to try out today?
Dana Mia Kim is an online marketer with six
years of experience — she has been helping several start-up clothing companies
to establish their brands, getting them closer to their desired goals and
success. You can contact her on her twitter
account.