Stress can be a killer when it comes to business. When you’re stressed, you begin to make mistakes, fall back on plans, and become so clouded in memory that you begin making bad decisions. A vicious cycle tends to ensue.
I’ve had successful launches and ones that were utterly dismal. The ones that failed were the ones where I hadn’t fully planned the execution which, as you’d guess, caused me to be nervous and stressed to the point that I had to walk away.
Launching a business is hard enough. You don’t want to have the weight of how you’d react to a data disaster, legal troubles, or employee conflicts on your mind when you’re trying to focus on the branding, sales, and marketing.
Keeping your head in the game is what allows you to be successful, so here are some ways to mitigate the stress that comes from being an entrepreneur (which you may not have considered):
Data, data, and data
Your data makes or breaks you as a new startup; if you’re not collecting it then you have very little to work from and if you do and happen to have a disruption (such as a cyber-attack) then you’re in the same boat. In short, you’re going to have a bad time.
A way to mitigate the stress is to have a plan of action that not only has privacy in mind but a fallback in the event the data is corrupted, lost, or stolen.
I, for example, found reliable and certified hard drive data recovery services in Toronto (where I’m based) so that if I had an issue and one of my workstations died then I could quickly run over, hand over my drive, and be returned the data I need to continue to operation.
Other helpful ways to go about it is to do regular backups (on-site and offsite), limiting access to data, and applying regular updates to security patches and passwords.
Working within legal boundaries
I’ve seen many small business owners launch with starry eyes but after enough time they start to dull because they skipped over the legal aspects of the business operation. There’s nothing quite as hampering as not doing the appropriate accounting, failing to obtain a business license, or not providing employees with their rightful coverage.
For this I would highly recommend that you source a lawyer for your business before you take it to the next level. You can scoot by in the beginning when you’re just testing the waters but you will want legal representation, resources, and guidance the moment you expand to make sure you’re covering yourself on the legal areas which may set you back.
Get to networking
Entrepreneurs tend to get into this bubble where everything needs to ride on their shoulders – this is a terrible way to go about business because it creates a single point of failure.
There are things that need to be done that alleviates the stress of it being on just you:
- Document the process of the work (so it can be handed to others)
- Trust in the skills and expertise of those that are hired
- Continually conduct research and development
You never know what may happen at your business. For instance, someone may leave without notice and if you relied on them for a key task without fully understanding their process then that’s going to be a real pain when the next person steps into their place – this is why you want to document everything.
The others are placing trust in those that know what they’re doing (you did hire them for a reason, you know) and that part of the time you’re spending with others at the business goes toward exploring new ideas to stay ahead of the competition.
Removing the stress that happens when someone leaves and that which comes from keeping up with goals and competition is a great weight off your shoulders which needs to be core to your business development and growth.
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You’re going to be hyper nervous from operating a business either way (trust me, I know) but at least you can mitigate some of that nervousness by using appropriate services, resources, and tapping into the expertise of others – you must learn to let go and say “yes” when you need help.
It’s better you know (and act on these) now then trying to when you’re at the cracking point. Your business longevity depends on your ability to manage stress so do put these three suggestions into order so it all doesn’t come crashing down.
What ways do you handle stress during your business operations?
