Running a business can be stressful. Sometimes, it’s hard to see the end of the pressure in sight. But, it’s important to know the steps that you can take as a creative business owner to reduce stress and enjoy your work life a little bit more. You shouldn’t feel stranded in your struggles. Hopefully, this can help you know where to start when it comes to getting the support you need and taking the right steps toward effective stress management.
Don’t Take it All on Yourself
A good first step in decreasing your stress as a business owner is by looking at all the tasks you’re taking on, and deciding which ones you can get support on. You can’t take everything on yourself, so work towards building a trusted support network of specialists in different fields to help you out!
You should be using these specialists to support you in the areas of work you’re not as good at or despise working in. For example, look into people who can help you in the accounting, marketing, project management, or legal fields. By establishing these support systems you empower these professionals to build out systems and standard operating procedures (SOP). These systems and processes will improve the operations of your business and help take some stress off of you!
Once you have SOPs in place, you may want to think about hiring a full-time employee to help you out. Having systems and operating procedures as an established guide to work from makes for a much more seamless onboarding experience with your new employee. Oftentimes, small business owners feel as though they are isolated and don’t have many people to turn to. It’s important to recognize the value of hiring additional employees as well as leaning on family and friends for emotional support.
Once you have established your teams to support you, you should be focused on increasing your sales and servicing clients with good customer service. Don’t stress about ways to save every dollar possible. It’s important that you allow your accounting team to help with saving dollars and keeping your finances organized so that you can focus on your clients. Remember, if you have sales then you have options but, if you don’t have sales then you won’t have the resources and you cannot expect to do anything except do all of the work yourself!
Have Some Rough Goals
Setting yourself up for reduced stress also means having some rough goals for yourself and planning your day to fit your work style. Pay attention to yourself and the way that you work throughout the day, and set limits surrounding that. For example, If you are most creative in the afternoon then don’t allow for any non-creative meetings to be scheduled during those hours; save them for the morning. Another good tip is to frame your work day and schedule your work. You should be able to look at your calendar and know exactly when you will start and end your day and certain tasks. This will make sure that you are making your personal life a priority, while still achieving everything you need to at work that day.
Taking the time to design your business means scheduling time for business planning and looking ahead to keep the end in mind. When doing this, you can ask yourself what success means to you and build towards that as a goal for your business. Setting goals should be used to reduce your stress so work backwards and identify 5-year, 1-year, and quarterly goals that support your long-term vision. Always keep in mind that if you don’t achieve these timed goals at the exact mark you set, it’s okay and it can be used to motivate you rather than stress you out!
Work with the Type of People you Like
It’s important that you’re working with like-minded people and the types of customers that you like. After all, this is your business and you set the rules! Look inwards and reflect on what your core values are and then seek out others that match those values.
To avoid the stress of not knowing if someone fits your values, make sure you are upfront and honest about what is important to you in the professional relationship you are building with the person. This will let the person you are interested in working with be aware of your values and have the opportunity to walk away if they don’t feel like a right fit.
When seeking out new clients, you’ll want to define who your “ideal client” is. Through this process, you’ll be able to market directly to your ideal clients. However, just because someone asks you for something does not mean you are entitled to give it to them. Don’t be afraid to say “no” or turn away someone if working with them is not a good fit for you.
Educate Yourself
Educating yourself and always being open to learning new things and new ideas is extremely important, you never know what you might learn that will help in your journey as a business owner!
Looking into various educational subscriptions can be a good place to start on your journey of constant learning. Some to check out include:
- Audible
- Podcasts
- Coursera
- Masterclass
- YouTube
- Conferences and Professional Associations
If you learn better through direct communication with others, then joining or starting a mastermind group with other creative business owners, finding a mentor, or reaching out to people on Linkedin may be a good route for you. It’s good to keep in mind that people who have found success, often have others to thank for it and want to pay it forward!
Designing your business starts with getting a clear look into who you are and what you want from life. Sometimes, reducing stress as a creative business owner is as simple as acknowledging your goals and ideal lifestyle. You always want to build something that is custom to you, it’s your business and you are the boss.
As long as you are making choices in alignment with your core values and creating something that makes you happy, you will find yourself far less stressed. When you are happy in your life it shows, and that positive frame of mind will ultimately attract more success into your life!
When it comes to getting accounting support in your business, not knowing where to look is stressful in itself and sometimes makes the transition to getting support overwhelming. At UpSide Accounting, we try to make it as seamless and stress-free for you as possible. If you need help reducing your stress as a creative business owner and think we would be a good fit, contact us. We are here to help!