We’ll begin with a point that we’ve brought up time and time again in the past: founding and successfully growing a small business is hard. Entrepreneurship often comes across as an attractive enterprise, a liberating, self-directed experience where one can truly pursue their passions and make a legitimate living out of their interests in the process. While it’s fair to romanticize the concept of starting your own business, it’s even more important to realize the challenge at hand. Getting your very own company off the ground often requires years of hard work, patience, and even personal sacrifices. So, in light of the many successful small businesses that currently exist, it’s important to remember that things aren’t always so easy.
Fortunately, there are a number of resources out there designed to help the average small business owner. This is where we segue in…
Growing Your Business and Your Life With Commercial Financing
Here in the United States, we’re fortunate to enjoy a free-market economy that encourages the foundation and growth of many different small businesses. From adorable dog costumes to small-batch, organic beard oils and just about every imaginable product and service in between, entrepreneurship is truly something to celebrate. Realizing the value that small businesses bring to the economy, our working capital lending experts at The Commercial Finance Group are ready to help you and your company grow.
We know that it’s not easy to truly thrive in today’s demanding small business climate, and that’s why we provide asset-based financing and other commercial financing services to provide you with the proper funding that countless businesses depend on. Below, our Burbank and Los Angeles small business lenders are going to cover some practical stress management tips for entrepreneurs. Investing great amounts of your time, money and effort can be stressful when business is slow and times are tough, but rest assured that The Commercial Finance Group can help you get the working capital funding you need. Learn more about our signature approach to lending today.
Now, let your business-related stress melt away in your daily life with the help of these tips.
Don’t Forget To Take Breaks
When we’re busy and our days are go-go-go, it’s easy to forget to take care of ourselves. From skipping lunch to sitting at your desks for hours and hours at a time, don’t get too sucked into your work. The longer you work without even a short break, the more likely you are to get burnt out and make questionable decisions that could actually end up harming your business. On the bright side, if you’re constantly spinning your mental wheels but not getting anywhere, taking a short break might be all you need to find that breakthrough. Stepping away from a stressor, physically and mentally speaking, can refresh and calm you.
Don’t be afraid to do something that relaxes you, and if anything, do something (ideally, multiple things) that relax you every day that you’re working. Whether it’s stepping outside to go on a brief walk, getting some coffee, calling a friend or watching a series of funny videos online, take a break and don’t do anything business related for awhile. You’ll thank yourself later when you have fresh energy to tackle a task at hand, and besides, stepping away from your stressors might even open your eyes to a new and better way to do something.
Prioritize Your Tasks
No one can tackle everything at once – multitasking aside (some studies suggest that focusing on one thing at a time is actually better, but we digress), one of most common causes of stress in the business world is from having so many things to work on once that none of them get done. Think of this as cognitive overload, or more accurately, obligation overload. Seriously, if you try and tackle everything at once by completing a little bit of each task, in reality, you’ll only complete a few of them. This is why prioritizing your goals is so important.
By tackling your daily tasks one at a time, you’re bound to perform better, producing quality results. Ranking your tasks from most to least important is a great way to make sure that time-sensitive matters are attended to. All things considered, if you have many things to get done, don’t get overwhelmed by your sheer number of responsibilities. Instead, just focus on what you need to do next and move on from there.
Celebrate Your Successes
In light of all the entrepreneurial challenges you face – vendors falling through, failing to have enough working capital (cough cough, we can help you with that one), struggling to hire the right person – it’s important to remember what’s going right with your business. As you’re building up your business, it’s easy (and almost automatic, to an extent) to focus on the things that are going wrong. More often than not, you can become stressed when you’re looking at all the things that are behind schedule, underfunded or need to be fixed.
One of the most important things you can do to manage and mitigate entrepreneurial stress is reminding yourself of the successes you’ve worked hard to achieve. It might sound silly, but list out all of your accomplishments and any small business milestones that you’ve achieved. What you’ll probably notice is that there are more than you realize, so don’t neglect even the smallest of accomplishments! So long as you’re putting in honest and hard work, you should be proud of your business and personal efforts. Long advice made short, whenever you feel stressed out about all of the things that are going wrong, just take a moment to remember all of the things that have gone right.
Take Care Of Your Health
We can’t “stress” this point enough – you can’t effectively run your business when you’re sick! You might be able to give it your best shot as you’re sniffling and pounding multiple packets of Emergen-C, but let’s face it, you’re not going to make the best decisions or think clearly when you’re feeling ill. That’s just a matter of fact. Running a business takes a lot out of you, complete with long nights, early mornings, no weekends and no sick days. When you add stress on top of the strain you’re putting on your body and mind, it’s imperative to take good care of your body. Hydrate frequently, get adequate sleep, regularly eat healthy, eat supplements, and in general, just take good care of your physical health. Exercise is a key method of stress management, providing your brain valuable endorphins that naturally wash away the mental pollution of the day. Even a spirited walk around the block can help ease your mind!
Taking The Stress Out Of Small Business Funding
So, there you have it. Regardless of what industry you work in or whatever your business does, our commercial financing experts know that you have plenty to think about as it is. Why worry about having enough working capital to run your company? With asset-based financing and receivable financing solutions available to help you get things done, you shouldn’t have to worry about your finances. Take the next step to de-stress your small business finances by contacting The Commercial Finance Group today.
