Employee to CEO - Stressors for Business Owners
This is not a history lesson. But before we learn what the stressors are regarding changing the mindset from employee to CEO and the stress factors that come along with it, we have to understand what stress is and where it came from.
Back in the 1920s, physics major Hans Selye saw one thing in common with his patients. They were under a lot of physical stress.
Stress is unavoidable, but it’s up to you how you manage it to not feel all the negative effects from it.
It's important as a business owner to understand stress, the triggers and why it's important to manage stress. In this blog post, you’ll learn,
Understanding Stress for business owners
What Are Common Stress Factors
Navigating Stress
Understanding Stressors for Business Owners
By definition, stress is a state of worry, or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. It is a natural human response when we’re faced with challenges in our lives. Everyone is going to experience stress at some point. Now the way you respond to this stress makes the difference.
How does stress impact workplace productivity:
Stress has a widespread effect on your work, which leads to consequences you don’t want to face such as increased errors, poor performance and burnout. This never ending cycle will ultimately lead to conflict externally and internally. Although stress is unavoidable, it can be a cause for concern with its negative impact on your business operations which is not in your favor.
A high turnover rate is a direct consequence of severe stress. Have you ever worked with someone that was constantly stressed and work was being missed? Now put yourself in those shoes and imagine if that was you? A high over meaning your clients. If you’re not managing your stress well, your clients are seeing this and will go elsewhere. If you have a team, they may feel under pressure from your stress levels because again, you don’t know how to manage your stress and therefore they will leave.
All of this is going to cause a disturbance in your business.
Being in a professional setting can put you in difficult situations but the goal here is to not let it get in the way of your work. By asking for support, applying stress management techniques and taking care of yourself, you’ll be off to a great start.
You want to strive to build a workplace environment that allows open discussion to address stress. By promoting this, you are now striving for success and helping everyone around you.
By putting steps into place, you’ll decrease the stress levels, maintain healthy relationships and remain ahead.
What Are Common Stress Factors
Financial Pressure:
Often, starting a business can mean taking on a financial risk. You are dealing with uncertainty, especially at the beginning. And this alone is stressful. Now, not all business owners have to worry about this especially for those that only require what they already have such as internet and a computer if you’re based online but not disregard the overhead that comes with running your business as you grow such as the software you buy, the website host you have, the team you hire. The list goes on and on. Always have a plan in place. I would encourage you to reach out to a financial advisor if you need help in this area.
Fear of Failure
I’ll be transparent with you, last year I wanted to throw in the towel. This whole owning a business thing is scary but you know what helps, thinking of your why. I want this to grow into something bigger. But guess what, it’s normal. No matter what you do in life, this comes up.
Other factors of fear of failure:
Decision Making because it's all up to you
Financial Consequences because you bought something or invested in something you shouldn't have- Lesson learned, right?
Other factors that come with the territory:
Workload responsibly
Change
Work life balance
Isolation
Navigating Stress
As mentioned, stress is unavoidable, but as a business owner, there are ways in which you can navigate stress to help you increase your productivity.
Delegate Your Workload
What’s that saying, oh right, in order for your business to grow you should invest? I get it can be daunting to even think about. But this should be something you should implement from the beginning. I made the mistake of not doing this, but once I brought on a team member, I could focus on other tasks.
You will reduce your stress as a business owner because while you delegate, you too will increase your productivity. It’s scary at first but the feeling after is great. It frees up valuable time and mental energy, which can help you make better decisions.
Read here for more information on how to manage a team
Time Management
As you plan for your day, week, and month, you want to set clear goals and establish priorities. The way to do this is to break down each task into manageable, small ones and put them into action. You can use project management tools like Asana or Monday to help you create a plan of action. This will help you stay organized and can complete each task in a timely manner.
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Setting Boundaries As a Business Owner
When you started, you probably said yes to everything because you were building. Again, this was another mistake that I made. Took on whatever work as I can, working way more than I should have and allowing myself to say YES to it all.
But let me stop you right now, because this doesn’t need to happen. I see this way to often, others saying yes and getting themselves into a mess of things that should have never happened.
Here's how you can set those boundaries:
Establish boundaries RIGHT AWAY
Set YOUR designated work hours
Prioritize self-care
Create a workspace that’s not surrounded by distractions
Time Management (Time Blocking)
COMMUNICATE those boundaries
By establishing said boundaries, you’ll allow space and structure for both your personal and professional life.
Employee to CEO
Listen, we’re all human! Situations are going to come up that are challenging and some are just out of our control. Everyone is going to experience stress at some point. Now the way you respond to this stress makes the difference.
First, figure out what your stressors are, take a step back and reevaluate the situation. Have conversations, reach out to others and take the pressure off yourself because you are not alone.
Embrace it all! I am proud of you for coming this far, whatever state you are in!
To learn more about this topic, check out Entrepreneur Encounter Podcast!
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